You're not supposed to stay up all night clicking to buy a fake house in a game..

[Kaiproberts]

When I said “old school”, I was referring to how I expect resources to be finite in game, and that not everyone can get everything they want; the parts you omitted in the quote.

There’s no question the current placard-clicking system is terrible for everyone involved. But at the heart of the issue is that people are fighting over a finite resource. There will be winners and losers.

If this were a house decoration game, then it’d make sense for everyone to expect housing. But this is an MMORPG. Housing is but one aspect of the game; one that was introduced as one of ultimate goals for players to aim for, even.

It is not realistic to expect this coveted neighborhood housing to become readily available for all players.

With that in mind, I think it would be more beneficial to try and think of ways that could make the house-buying process smoother, or make the apartments more appealing so that players do not feel that they absolutely need a house, and thereby decrease demand. (Yes I know, it’s supposed to be SE’s job. But it won’t hurt to put in suggestions. The more people you can get to brainstorm, the more chances you get at coming up with a feasible idea)

I know the idea of lottery had been shot-down multiple times on this forum, on the basis that removing barrier to entry would increase competition. But if you really want everyone to be on equal footing, there’s probably no “fairer” method than to leaving the decision up to the god of RNG.

Obviously restrictions need to be placed on simultaneous entries. And they can either require full house price as deposit for the entry, or go with less expensive, but non-refundable lottery ticket. (AKA gil sink)

If having lottery every time a plot is vacated is too much burden on the system, they could make it a once per month drawing. Odds of winning will depend on number of plots vacated in the previous month, and the number of entries. If no plots opened upon the previous month, then no lottery is held that month.

Alternatively they could raise the price of housing back up again, adjusted to server inflation level like they did before. But that’s probably going to create a bigger backlash than simply switching placard-clicking model to lottery entry.

IMHO a lottery system is better than having to rely on coffee/energy drinks and dealing with sore arms for days. But maybe that’s because I’m too old to be able to easily recover from long hours of clicking.

You can't even do a lottery system because then botters just win by sheer numbers. The only thing SE can do is bite the bullet and dynamically add wards.

[Awha]

You can't even do a lottery system because then botters just win by sheer numbers. The only thing SE can do is bite the bullet and dynamically add wards.

I do think is they had the available resources for dynamically adding wards they would have done so long ago. As a modder client side coding does not seem that much of a mess granted that is only one part i have access to so my guess is things get real murky when server communication comes into play between client and server, and that is not an easy fix. Since adding more server space would not solve the inherent problems between both sides.

[Arazehl]

I'll be completely honest; The only thing this system accomplishes is making people absolutely and utterly hate each other.

Repeating yourself in this thread as well as another about how everyone hates each others isn't going to fix your housing problem. Why not research how housing began up to the point that now plots were put on a timer. Seems to me though housing is still flawed, that botting/RMT are a much bigger problem and been allowed to run rampant since launch of FFXIV. Matter of fact bots have been around since the very first mmorpg launched. That's the real problem that needs to be eradicated. Until then happy clicking.

[Tommara]

If this were a house decoration game, then it’d make sense for everyone to expect housing. But this is an MMORPG. Housing is but one aspect of the game; one that was introduced as one of ultimate goals for players to aim for, even.

It is not realistic to expect this coveted neighborhood housing to become readily available for all players.

Why, exactly? As I've said before, I've played MMORPGs with much better housing and much more useful guild halls.

So what you said is a complete non-sequitur to me.

[Tommara]

My opinion of FF14 housing is that it's a time-waster/money sink only for people into decorating and status.

My only reason for posting here is that the OP's title caught my eye: "You're not supposed to stay up all night clicking to buy a fake house". To which I completely agree, having played MMORPGs with housing beginning with Asheron's Call, Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and Everquest2 , then much later, added to the original Everquest, Lord of the Rings Online, Rift and Wildstar, (all MMORPGs) none of which required "clicking to buy a fake house".

Although Asheron's Call houses were also non-instanced, all you had to do was find an empty one, which were spread across the world, instead of of a few instanced zones, which didn't exist in Asheron's Call, so it didn't need the "clicking to buy a fake house" mechanic.

Instead, you had to explore the world and find an empty house. (this was back in the days when there were not as many MMO players, so probably wouldn't work now).

But the best of the lot were Everquest2 guild halls (instanced, and available to all who could afford to buy one, with rent requirements, which if you let lapse, easily accessed again by paying the current rent, with no requirement for paying lapsed rent), for the simple fact that you could dump crafting mats there, available to all guild members without them having to locate where the mats are stored, i.e. no need to go through the retainer rigmarole (which BY FAR is the worst inventory management scheme I've ever run across in an MMO and I played Everquest in it's stress beta, and of course, the day it was released, and even a whole lot worse than the first Final Fantasy game I played, like FF2 or 3 - I get confused over the Japanese vs English version numbers.

But another time waster that I believe is intended, as are the housing issues (because I don't believe the FF14 devs are stupid, not by a long shot, but the inventory time waster has caused me to leave this game many times). While their housing doesn't hold my interest at all, since I'm not into decorating or status, and if I did, there are other MMO's that have better housing.

[Seleni]

Why, exactly? As I've said before, I've played MMORPGs with much better housing and much more useful guild halls.

So what you said is a complete non-sequitur to me.

Just because it’s done in one game doesn’t mean it’d be done in another. For example, some games have seamless transition between maps while others have to zone in/out.

Either by design or due to coding/hardware limitation, FFXIV has not offered “neighborhood housing” for all of its player. And all indications are that they don’t intend to do so anytime soon. Simply asking for it to happen on a game forum is not likely going to change their mind, or budget, or code.

They have offered apartments as a more available housing option. It’s just that many players are not interested.

And MMORPGs are all massive time-/money-sinks by design anyways; thats how they keep players subscribed/paying for items.

[Tommara]

Just because it’s done in one game doesn’t mean it’d be done in another. For example, some games have seamless transition between maps while others have to zone in/out.

Either by design or due to coding/hardware limitation, FFXIV has not offered “neighborhood housing” for all of its player. And all indications are that they don’t intend to do so anytime soon. Simply asking for it to happen on a game forum is not likely going to change their mind, or budget, or code.

They have offered apartments as a more available housing option. It’s just that many players are not interested.

And MMORPGs are all massive time-/money-sinks by design anyways; thats how they keep players subscribed/paying for items.

So now you've changed your tune from:


"If this were a house decoration game, then it’d make sense for everyone to expect housing. But this is an MMORPG. Housing is but one aspect of the game; one that was introduced as one of ultimate goals for players to aim for, even.

It is not realistic to expect this coveted neighborhood housing to become readily available for all players."

Whatever.

I do have to add that despite playing Final Fantasy games long before they were MMO's, and FF14 since it was released, I've left many times before ONLY because of it's silly time sinks, although I have to admit housing is not one of them. Just not interested in it, having known much better. The inventory/retainer stuff is already getting to me again, after just one month. (i.e., their time sinks aren't working for me to stick with this game, despite my fondness for Final Fantasy games in general)

And I used to be an Evercrack addict, and MMO's are my favorite genre, so don't presume to lecture me on that.

Edited Note: I'm pretty sure I'll move on to another MMO before my second month's sub expires, this time around.

[Awha]

So now you've changed your tune from:


"If this were a house decoration game, then it’d make sense for everyone to expect housing. But this is an MMORPG. Housing is but one aspect of the game; one that was introduced as one of ultimate goals for players to aim for, even.

It is not realistic to expect this coveted neighborhood housing to become readily available for all players."

Whatever.

I do have to add that despite playing Final Fantasy games long before they were MMO's, and FF14 since it was released, I've left many times before ONLY because of it's silly time sinks, although I have to admit housing is not one of them. Just not interested in it, having known much better. The inventory/retainer stuff is already getting to me again, after just one month. (i.e., their time sinks aren't working for me to stick with this game, despite my fondness for Final Fantasy games in general)

And I used to be an Evercrack addict, and MMO's are my favorite genre, so don't presume to lecture me on that.

Edited Note: I'm pretty sure I'll move on to another MMO before my second month's sub expires, this time around.

What MMO are you thinking of?

[Tommara]

What MMO are you thinking of?

Probably WoW, Anarchy Online, The Secret World/Legends, Everquest 2, or Lord of the Rings Online. I haven't yet played Elder Schools Online, and it's probably time to play it.

[Seleni]

It’s not a change of tune. For a house decoration game housing would be a requirement. You can’t decorate a house if you do not have access to one. So every player can expect easy access to housing.

In an MMORPG housing is optional; it’s not the core content from a developers point of view. So it’s entirely up to the developers whether they even want to implement a housing system, where they want to place it, and what they want to do with it.

SE’s stance so far seems to be that they want neighborhood houses to be coveted. So that’s how I based my expectation on its availability.