Fix Housing Megathread

[Seleni]

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.

I guess it’s somewhat based on personal experience. I learned of the GC rank requirement at the same time I learned about apartments and houses, from 3rd party article, and I started working toward it starting probably around level 30 or 40. So in my memory the last requirement to be fulfilled was actually reaching level 50 on a battle class.

FWIW “The heart of darkness” quest made zero impact. Embarrassingly I did not get the point of the quest. I actually never finished it until I started looking into housing. (I got stuck on the ward selection UI. LOL)

For a player already with the required level and gils, I guess the GC rank requirement could feel annoying. But if they are looking into housing that late, they probably already decided that they ultimately want/need a house, and the 500k would likely be a bigger deterrent than GC rank.

[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

[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.

[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.

[Jojoya]

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.

Where are you getting that I want free housing?

Housing of any type should still have a gil cost attached.

[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.

[Seleni]

Where are you getting that I want free housing?

ESO’s first housing option is a free room that you’d get from quest, from what I’ve read. So when you mentioned initial housing, and you did not think apartment qualifies as one because it’s not accessible to all, I thought ESO’s initial housing was what you were referring to.

Housing of any type should still have a gil cost attached.

Agreed. At minimum it should act as a bit of a gil sink.

[Garten]

In my opinion, the First step to improve housing experiece Is to give Every player and/or fc the possibilities that only housing gives: gradening cross and sub/aero. The reason why i got a house in the First place was only to get my thavanarian onions while they still costed an eye of my head. Could nota care less of decorating.
They could give FCs access to a workshop via the GC, and they NEED to find a way to make gardening works even without the weather and put It somewhere everybodycan access It, at least a plot.

[Imora]

I did a search on Rift and ESO and both of those have option for players to buy housing with real world money. It’s no secret that games with cash shops often have whales subsidize the free players, so it’s also possible that the “unlimited housing” is being paid for by those who purchased housing with real world money.

Personally I wouldn’t mind if there’s a Online Store purchase, or MogStation subscription add-on (like retainers), housing option available in addition to current ward system, so long as it’s a separate option. But iirc similar suggestions were shot down quite fervently by the community.

Would you support an instance housing system if it has to be paid for separately from monthly sub?

EQ2 had unlimited housing before they had homes on the cash shop. Even some homes were raid drops.

Their housing is all instanced though. Personally i had five mansions on one character, and others had them too. Different cities and stuff.

[Almagnus1]

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

Lower initial + rent would be more effective, as most players are going to see the lower initial price and go "AWESOME!" and buy in at the cheaper cost, but most aren't going to math out the rent...