Fix Housing Megathread

[Seleni]

For truly free housing, there’s always the inn room. It’s not customizable but it’s still a place to yourself for some peace and quiet. I used it for crafting before I could get an apartment. (2 players painting the floor continuously was the final straw for me to start avoiding crafting near city summoning bells. That was before I found out much later that you could mute other players effect sounds. But to this day I still tend to craft indoors.)

I agree that they need to advertise apartments better. Outside blogs did a better job advertising apartments for them. But I don’t think lowering of GC requirement is going to help much. You can save up 500k much more easily than 3 millions, but many people still opted to join the house-hunting savage without bothering with apartments.

[Jojoya]

I agree that they need to advertise apartments better. Outside blogs did a better job advertising apartments for them. But I don’t think lowering of GC requirement is going to help much. You can save up 500k much more easily than 3 millions, but many people still opted to join the house-hunting savage without bothering with apartments.

Of course they're going to go straight to house hunting when the game plays up how wonderful houses are but doesn't mention apartments. When the only housing other players want to talk about is a house because they're "good" but not about apartments because they're "bad".

I'm not expecting every player to go "hey, apartments are perfect, I don't want a house after all" but making apartments accessible faster than houses can lead to more satisfaction with apartments. Dropping GC rank needed for apartments and FC private champers would help create a gap the player can use to explore the features apartments offer before they decide if they want to spend another 3+ million to get a house.

Best case scenario is that demand for houses decreases as some players decide that apartments offer all they really need. Worst case scenario is that demand remains unchanged from what it is now.

Of course, for me this is dependent on whether SE is going to remain stubborn and stick with the ward system as is or if they're going to fix the housing system so every player that wants a house is able to get one. I'd still rather see everyone with a house or at the very least apartments with house-size interiors to choose from.

(Also, an inn room isn't housing any more than the WoW Garrisons are housing. Housing needs to be customizable by the player. We're not getting it just to have a bed to log out on.)

[Seleni]

Grammar

Dropping GC rank needed for apartments and FC private champers would help create a gap the player can use to explore the features apartments offer before they decide if they want to spend another 3+ million to get a house.

Apartment still costs 500k. Unless it becomes free, dropping the required GC rank is probably not going to make a difference. Most people don’t drop 500k gils just to check things out. (Which was why I tried to suggest a demo/trial experience quest for apartment before.)

And I seriously doubt they’d just let it become free with or without GC rank requirement. They probably don’t have enough capacity to provide apartments for every single character created on all the servers. I haven’t actually gone to check it out, but someone already claimed on the forum that apartments on Balmung are full.

Of course, for me this is dependent on whether SE is going to remain stubborn and stick with the ward system as is or if they're going to fix the housing system so every player that wants a house is able to get one. I'd still rather see everyone with a house or at the very least apartments with house-size interiors to choose from.

I don’t think SE is sticking to ward system solely because they are stubborn/have certain design vision. They are sticking with it because it already exists.

Short of doing another realm rebirth and making yet another new version of XIV altogether, existing wards are not going away. And as long as they exist, those wards are using up resources and driving house-hunters toward them. (I haven’t gone beyond the end of HW on MSQ, so I can’t tell if a realm rebirth might a possibility at the end of Endwalker/Hydaelyn arc. But if they are planning a complete destruction/rebirth of Eorzea then there’s even less incentive to change things now.)

I see them kind of in a bind and just decided that they might as well direct possible additional resources toward adding wards, instead of betting on a new version of instance housing that is unproven (as a business decision).

[Almagnus1]

Apartment still costs 500k. Unless it becomes free, dropping the required GC rank is probably not going to make a difference. Most people don’t drop 500k gils just to check things out. (Which was why I tried to suggest a demo/trial experience quest for apartment before.)

How about 200k then? That's still low enough that most players should be able to afford it. IMO there still needs to be a buy in cost because if it's free then EVERYONE gets an apartment because they can.... which doesn't really help things IMO.

I see them kind of in a bind and just decided that they might as well direct possible additional resources toward adding wards, instead of betting on a new version of instance housing that is unproven (as a business decision).

Yeah, it's a risk vs reward thing for them... and SE is being cautious with it (which as infuriating as it is is a good thing).

[Seleni]

How about 200k then? That's still low enough that most players should be able to afford it. IMO there still needs to be a buy in cost because if it's free then EVERYONE gets an apartment because they can.... which doesn't really help things IMO.

It’s hard to say, since everyone’s situation is different. For me a throwaway buy would be around 100k. But that’s probably too cheap and people might just buy it to throw in random indoor furnishings they get from drops etc.

Yeah, it's a risk vs reward thing for them... and SE is being cautious with it (which as infuriating as it is is a good thing).

Yeah, given that the current housing situation is directly tied to their past reactive decisions, they have reasons to be cautious. lol

[Almagnus1]

It’s hard to say, since everyone’s situation is different. For me a throwaway buy would be around 100k. But that’s probably too cheap and people might just buy it to throw in random indoor furnishings they get from drops etc.

Eh.... the price itself needs to be something that will keep players that don't want to experiment with housing out, but not enough that the apartment gets overlooked as it's seen as not worth the investment. The concern here, however, is not that of an elitist gatekeeper (although I can definitely see how it may come off as such), but rather I don't want to introduce lag or an apartment shortage into FFXIV because I'm fairly certain there are far more players without a house nor apartment than there are apartments and I'm fairly certain we'd probably hit technical limits with the apartments if they were scaled up to allow for everyone to have a house or appartment.

[ItMe]

Eh.... the price itself needs to be something that will keep players that don't want to experiment with housing out,

It also sounds like, for better or worse, they want the price to be able to drain some gil from the game.

[Jojoya]

Apartment still costs 500k. Unless it becomes free, dropping the required GC rank is probably not going to make a difference. Most people don’t drop 500k gils just to check things out. (Which was why I tried to suggest a demo/trial experience quest for apartment before.)

And I seriously doubt they’d just let it become free with or without GC rank requirement. They probably don’t have enough capacity to provide apartments for every single character created on all the servers. I haven’t actually gone to check it out, but someone already claimed on the forum that apartments on Balmung are full.
.

I'm not suggesting that the apartment price be lowered or removed.

The required GC rank actually would make a difference. GC rank isn't earned by doing MSQ outside of the rank you get when you first join. It's earned through side content the new character is ignoring as they work their way through MSQ. That (not to mention the general distaste for doing Dzemael Darkhold and Aurum Vale) slows down how fast they get to the higher ranks.

A veteran player being aware of content that requires 2nd Lt might focus on getting that rank faster. New players generally don't because the game doesn't give them that information. They only learn when hear other players mention the locked content they've never seen and start asking questions.

Lowering the GC rank requirement for an apartment would definitely get some players into apartments faster, especially if at the time they get the relevant promotion there's a message stating "you're now eligible to purchase an apartment in Mist, Lavender Beds or Goblet". What do most players do when they get a message they're eligible for new content? They go try it out.

I'm really confused why you're against this idea when you're the one that thinks players should be using apartments instead of getting houses.

[Almagnus1]

I'm not suggesting that the apartment price be lowered or removed.

The required GC rank actually would make a difference. GC rank isn't earned by doing MSQ outside of the rank you get when you first join. It's earned through side content the new character is ignoring as they work their way through MSQ. That (not to mention the general distaste for doing Dzemael Darkhold and Aurum Vale) slows down how fast they get to the higher ranks.

A veteran player being aware of content that requires 2nd Lt might focus on getting that rank faster. New players generally don't because the game doesn't give them that information. They only learn when hear other players mention the locked content they've never seen and start asking questions.

Lowering the GC rank requirement for an apartment would definitely get some players into apartments faster, especially if at the time they get the relevant promotion there's a message stating "you're now eligible to purchase an apartment in Mist, Lavender Beds or Goblet". What do most players do when they get a message they're eligible for new content? They go try it out.

I'm really confused why you're against this idea when you're the one that thinks players should be using apartments instead of getting houses.

I'm reading it more as the apartments costing too much and need to have a bit more relaxed GC requirements tbh. I could see there being a barracks of sorts for each grand company as a low tier form of housing (in addition to the inn room) as the GC would want to make sure that it's members are well rested for battle. Once someone reaches Sergeant Third Class, they gain access to an apartment (which would be an actual space for themselves), and players would be able to get the house at Second Lieutenant as that's the lowest officer rank (many of us that care about that are probably Captains at this point). That would also follow the ingame rank divisions you see at the quartermaster (see https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/G...ortal%20Flames ).

As far as gil goes, while 500k to you or me may not be a lot of gil... how much is that to a new player? Would 200k make more sense? 100k? 400k? 600k?

Tbh, I'm really seeing both of you in more agreement with the overall idea, just a couple of details that need hammered out.

[Seleni]

I'm reading it more as the apartments costing too much and need to have a bit more relaxed GC requirements tbh. I could see there being a barracks of sorts for each grand company as a low tier form of housing (in addition to the inn room) as the GC would want to make sure that it's members are well rested for battle. Once someone reaches Sergeant Third Class, they gain access to an apartment (which would be an actual space for themselves), and players would be able to get the house at Second Lieutenant as that's the lowest officer rank (many of us that care about that are probably Captains at this point). That would also follow the ingame rank divisions you see at the quartermaster (see https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/G...ortal%20Flames ).

As far as gil goes, while 500k to you or me may not be a lot of gil... how much is that to a new player? Would 200k make more sense? 100k? 400k? 600k?

Tbh, I'm really seeing both of you in more agreement with the overall idea, just a couple of details that need hammered out.

Umm, for the apartments to serve as the “free housing” that Jojoya wants, it’d probably need to be practically given away free through MSQ like the inn rooms. But SE probably doesn’t have capacity for that.

So I was mistaken when I said that apartment probably serves as the “free housing”. It’s more of a tier 1. (Inn room = tier 0)

IMO if it costs anything more than what is considered spare change to a player, people who are not interested in houses won’t bother with it, regardless of GC rank requirement. And people who ultimately want a house would pursue the GC rank required for a house anyway, so lowering GC rank does not add much appeal to the apartments.

If GC requirement is to be dropped for FC/apartment rooms, they might as well drop it all the way down to Corporal, which is attainable simply by turning in GC seals. Most people probably already gotten seals through FATEs, so it’s 0 additional effort for them to become eligible for FC/apartment room purchase.