Fix Housing Megathread

[ItMe]

There are a lot of new threads lately where people are sharing their frustrations and dissatisfaction with getting a house in FF14.

With the hope that this thread can continue helping consolidate the conversation and keep the forum cleaner I'm gonna bump it.

[Nepentha]

I've helped a few fcs camp their houses now. After they had pretty much lost hope. I think the Invisible timer should not last more than 10 hours.

24 hours is crazy, there's no reason the plot should sit empty, longer than my work day. Camping the houses, half the time, the worst part is it just Not selling.

If it would sell to Someone, I could go do something else.

The relocation cooldown, also needs to be increased. Change it from 5 minutes to 24 hours, at least. Relocation is a benefit of being a homeowner, but even I've seen the 5 minute relocation be abused, It would have been nice to see that person get stuck in that spot for a while.

I've seen the other suggestion of showing the Invisible Timer. I know, then everyone knows when to show up, but right now, it's still a game of luck to obtain, you would still have to show up, and still have to get luckier than everyone else there, and you wouldn't have to be there for too long.

Most of these suggestions could help now, and shouldn't be that big of a change to the current system.

I'd rather a relocation cooldown than a timer. Relocation triggers a cooldown where you can't relocate again for X number of days (not minutes). And if you relocate often, the cooldown gets longer. For the majority of players this wouldn't affect anything other than make you pause to ask 'Do I really want to relocate to this plot? Because if I do I can't relocate again for x days'. But for the plot flippers, this would definitely put a crimp in their operations.

SE also needs to take a look at how transfers of FC master work. Right now flippers are buying up houses (using bots to do placard clicking) and selling the whole FC+house for 20 to 70x the original placard cost. All they have to do is get the money from the buyer and instantly give them FC master. It's how they adapted to the current housing environment. And the current placard timer situation only aids their sales. People don't want to spend hours placard clicking in hopes of getting a house, only to fail. Easier to pay some guy who botted their way to one 60 to 200 million gil (the price depends on the server) and be done with it.

[Almagnus1]

I'd rather a relocation cooldown than a timer. Relocation triggers a cooldown where you can't relocate again for X number of days (not minutes). And if you relocate often, the cooldown gets longer. For the majority of players this wouldn't affect anything other than make you pause to ask 'Do I really want to relocate to this plot? Because if I do I can't relocate again for x days'. But for the plot flippers, this would definitely put a crimp in their operations.

Why not both?

SE also needs to take a look at how transfers of FC master work. Right now flippers are buying up houses (using bots to do placard clicking) and selling the whole FC+house for 20 to 70x the original placard cost. All they have to do is get the money from the buyer and instantly give them FC master. It's how they adapted to the current housing environment. And the current placard timer situation only aids their sales. People don't want to spend hours placard clicking in hopes of getting a house, only to fail. Easier to pay some guy who botted their way to one 60 to 200 million gil (the price depends on the server) and be done with it.

Stuff like this is why I would like the FC's ability to own property tied to the number of active subscriptions in the FC, as these house flippers have poisoned the well for the legitimate micro FCs. That said, getting the workshop and garden out of housing and generally available is a must before anything like that goes live.

[Nepentha]

Why not both?

I'm not out to punish players twice. Going through placard clicking hell just one time is more than enough, I'm not keen on making people relive that hell a second time just to get a different plot.

I would actually entertain the idea that after x number of hours the plot can no longer be relocated into. (Like if a plot goes over 8 hours on its timer, it's no longer open for relocation.) Save people from camping at the plot only for some jerk to come along and relocate into it right as it enters prime time.

Stuff like this is why I would like the FC's ability to own property tied to the number of active subscriptions in the FC, as these house flippers have poisoned the well for the legitimate micro FCs. That said, getting the workshop and garden out of housing and generally available is a must before anything like that goes live.

I'll agree with you that workshop and gardening should be uncoupled from FC housing. No agreement whatsoever on tying FC housing to active accounts. Punishes FCs who have just lost members by attrition over time. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[Almagnus1]

I'm not out to punish players twice. Going through placard clicking hell just one time is more than enough, I'm not keen on making people relive that hell a second time just to get a different plot.

I would actually entertain the idea that after x number of hours the plot can no longer be relocated into. (Like if a plot goes over 8 hours on its timer, it's no longer open for relocation.) Save people from camping at the plot only for some jerk to come along and relocate into it right as it enters prime time.

That's why acquisition method is changing because the original problem that SE was trying to solve was people selling the house for real world currency (whether it's crypto or otherwise), which started us down this walk through hell.

I'll agree with you that workshop and gardening should be uncoupled from FC housing. No agreement whatsoever on tying FC housing to active accounts. Punishes FCs who have just lost members by attrition over time. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

You can thank the shell FCs for that one, as they are basically hiding amongst the micro FCs and it's going to force SE to do something no one likes (again) in an attempt to curtail behavior they likely never intended with the housing system, which likely means more house purchase/transfer restrictions along with a few more situations where SE determines that the house should be released beyond the AFK timer. I can understand SE holding the cards close on this one as the best way to screw over the shell FCs is to give them very little warning so the shell FC owners don't have time to react to whatever punitive stuff SE may decide to do - assuming they would ever do that.

[Nepentha]

That's why acquisition method is changing because the original problem that SE was trying to solve was people selling the house for real world currency (whether it's crypto or otherwise), which started us down this walk through hell.

You can thank the shell FCs for that one, as they are basically hiding amongst the micro FCs and it's going to force SE to do something no one likes (again) in an attempt to curtail behavior they likely never intended with the housing system, which likely means more house purchase/transfer restrictions along with a few more situations where SE determines that the house should be released beyond the AFK timer. I can understand SE holding the cards close on this one as the best way to screw over the shell FCs is to give them very little warning so the shell FC owners don't have time to react to whatever punitive stuff SE may decide to do - assuming they would ever do that.

Don't speak for SE, please. They've never taken housing away from people in the past, they're not likely going to do so now, shell FC or no. My FC currently has 3 active members in it, including me. The rest either quit the game or are taking a break until the next expansion. You'd see us lose our housing because you're on your same crusade to get to them thar Duke boys-- I mean those one percenters.

The shell FCs are less of a problem than the housing flippers bot clicking their way to homes and selling them for 20 to 70x the placard price (or RMT!). Stay on target.

[Almagnus1]

Don't speak for SE, please. They've never taken housing away from people in the past, they're not likely going to do so now, shell FC or no. My FC currently has 3 active members in it, including me. The rest either quit the game or are taking a break until the next expansion. You'd see us lose our housing because you're on your same crusade to get to those them Duke boys-- I mean those one percenters.

The shell FCs are less of a problem than the housing flippers bot clicking their way to homes and selling them for 20 to 70x the placard price (or RMT!). Stay on target.

I mean, it's not like the house flippers are selling the FCs that own houses, while creating new FCs to go get more houses or anything..... /s

[Nepentha]

I mean, it's not like the house flippers are selling the FCs that own houses, while creating new FCs to go get more houses or anything..... /s

Shell FCs aren't selling their homes. Most of them are doing it for submersibles. Stay on target.

[Almagnus1]

Shell FCs aren't selling their homes. Most of them are doing it for submersibles. Stay on target.

I'm not the one trying to throw up a smoke screen... besides, they say you get the most flack when you're over the target.

So prove your claim.

[Jojoya]

Shell FCs aren't selling their homes. Most of them are doing it for submersibles. Stay on target.

It's a combination. I don't think we can really know for certain which group is the greater percentage unless we could track their housing related activity.

In the long run, both are part of the group of players exploiting the housing system in ways not intended for personal profit. Players were not intended to be selling houses to other players. If SE wanted us to do that, there would be no purchase timer and they likely would have introduced a formal buy/sell system. Individual players were not intended to have access to workshops, let alone multiple workshops. If SE wanted individual players to have access to workshops, any house owner could buy one not just FCs.