Major changes needed for housing

[Jojoya]

Also apartments don’t include gardening which is really the main point of owning a house for most.

Then why do so many houses lack a garden plot in the yard, or if there is one placed there is nothing being grown in it, but they do have plenty of other decoration?

Fewer house owners and potential house owners care about gardening than you think. Most are just looking for a piece of the game world they can consider theirs and can decorate as they want.

[Awha]

The dev team has very bad foresight at times, but they should (key word being should) have seen this coming a mile away. It is this sort of thing that makes me wonder if they really understand an MMORPG player base at all. Or human nature. Sure, they will never be able to account for everything but this...was a pretty obvious oversight if this wasn't their intention.

I agree they lack foresight when it comes to how western MMO players think.

[LianaThorne]

Camping is not a game mechanic put in place by SE. It is a player driven mechanic. I do not think SE intended for people to camp out hours for plots. Sure it is a byproduct of their design choices but was never the intention.

This. ^ No one is forcing anyone to camp for 24 hours straight, people do it because they think they have to. It's not hard to do research on the average times plots pop for purchase (there are multiple discords that can help you with that) and focus your attempts at grabbing the plot at prime hours. That way you don't have to waste your entire day and feel burnt out after, you can just use a couple hours of your time instead. I've seen people show up for an hour and walk away with it.

After I camped the first time for 14ish hours, I decided that was a waste of my time and looked into whether or not there were any ways to make my life easier. Turns out there are and that's how I got my houses without putting myself through unnecessary pain.

[Tommara]

Just gonna say this:


P.S. For the person who asked where I'm coming from with things being taken from people, it's been said in the comments that everyone should be limited to 1 house regardless of whether or not they're actively exploiting the system (i.e. normal people who have a personal house and an FC would also have that taken away from them). It was also suggested that FC leaders only should be forced to give up their housing and be satisfied with having only an FC while everyone else in said FC has access to personal housing. Therefore, if that was to be implemented I would not only lose my personal house but lose my right to having privacy simply because I am an FC leader. It's not fair for people who haven't done anything wrong to be forced to give up what they worked hard to get simply so other people can have access to an easy house and it's not fair for FC leaders to be punished like that simply because we want to help people. Strip them from the people who own half of a ward in Goblet and are actively exploiting the system, not your average Bob and Sally who sat and camped and beat out people for their house and are minding their own business now. I'm all for making changes but not ones that punish people who don't deserve it.

Just to be clear, I don't advocate that at all. I'm not trying to remove anything that people have now.

What I'm advocating is additional instanced housing that includes garden plots. Something along the line of condominiums in the US, or row housing with a backyard.

[Tommara]

FF14 Housing, what you are seeing is the culture difference between Eastern and Western, in another word, individualism vs collectiveism
Most of NA players has no interest in Housing when it first installed (no EU at that time) because there is no private ownership.
When Personal Housing is available the just want it for status symbols, not really because they cares or will actively use it (Not saying everyone, but majority of us)
You will see the claim for Garden Plot, but everyone knew that is just a fat lie and excuse.
No matter how good apartment is, people will still want House for status symbol

As I said before, I understand the cultural differences. I was born in Japan, but raised in the US. Basically, in Japan, they are trying to preserve resources for future generations. I think they're right for doing so, but I also recognize that won't work in the US for a variety of reasons.

Modelling Japanese values for resource conservation makes no sense in a video game. Video games are all about indulging fantasies.

Someone earlier mentioned that SE is also bound to server hardware that they trust, which I can't fault them for (although it reminds me of IBM's fate, which I watched in the US since my Dad worked there) and that these servers can't handle instanced housing for some reason.

It's not clear to me why they can handle apartments without gardening, but can't handle them with gardening. But if that is a real issue, maybe it would be a good opportunity to test another server provider.

[Drkdays]

It definitely is a game mechanic put in place by SE. That's the whole point, isn't it? To make it so anyone can get a plot if they have the money and DETERMINATION(read willingness to camp)to get it. How can you say it's not intentional when it's the only way? No one in their right mind could expect a player to get to a plot, see there is someone already there, and say to themselves , "Well, he was here first, guess I'll go away."

That would require the naivety of a child. It's clearly functioning as intended. And it would work fine if they updated the requirements, but it's like a half-finished project that was abandoned with the way it is now.

It could be great, if only they just tweaked it a bit!

Well, at least they added more houses.

[LianaThorne]

It definitely is a game mechanic put in place by SE. That's the whole point, isn't it? To make it so anyone can get a plot if they have the money and DETERMINATION(read willingness to camp)to get it. How can you say it's not intentional when it's the only way? No one in their right mind could expect a player to get to a plot, see there is someone already there, and say to themselves , "Well, he was here first, guess I'll go away."

That would require the naivety of a child. It's clearly functioning as intended. And it would work fine if they updated the requirements, but it's like a half-finished project that was abandoned with the way it is now.

It could be great, if only they just tweaked it a bit!

Well, at least they added more houses.

It's not a mechanic, you can easily come check out the plot, hit it twice and then leave and try again later. Where does it say you have to stand there all day and camp? It doesn't, some just think they have to because of the hope that it will pop right away and that's how you waste your time and day.

I've seen plenty of people show up and leave only to come back hours later. That's literally how I lost my first plot.

[Tommara]

It's not a mechanic, you can easily come check out the plot, hit it twice and then leave and try again later. Where does it say you have to stand there all day and camp? It doesn't, some just think they have to because of the hope that it will pop right away and that's how you waste your time and day.

I've seen plenty of people show up and leave only to come back hours later. That's literally how I lost my first plot.

You lost me. Why exactly is that not a mechanic?

[LianaThorne]

You lost me. Why exactly is that not a mechanic?

Because game mechanics are intentionally put into the game. The placard system (i.e. buying from the placard in general) is the system and mechanic. Camping for hours on end is an effect of that system, not an intentional mechanic. Like I said, people for some reason think the plot is gonna right away and dont bother to look into the devaluation timer (which can tell you how long a plot has been available for) and average pop times (usually between 8-10 hours after plot first pops). You can literally write down the plot number, go about your day, check on it every couple hours and closer to prime hours go back and do your camping.

Please point out where it says you HAVE to camp for x amount of hours. If it's written out in the official rules/guidelines for housing that you HAVE to wait for hours on end in front of a placard, I'll take back everything I've said.

[Drkdays]

But it could pop quickly. You never know. Nor can you know for certain how long a plot has been open. The only way to be certain you have a real chance at getting the plot is to...

Finish it with me...

If it's an unavoidable aspect of the game you must do for realistically serious chance at success it's a...

Finish with me...

Hearing people say you don't HAVE to camp for a house to me sounds the same as people saying you don't HAVE to do mechanics to beat a current content primal ex.

Like, ok but, you'll never beat it unless you do. And other players can't carry you to get a plot. It's just you against the world.