I like the ward system

[Jojoya]

Call me crazy, but I really do like the current housing district/ward system. While I don't see many people in them on my server, just knowing that each house is owned by someone else makes it feel like a neighborhood. Coming from LOTRO, where IMO, they did instanced neighborhoods right, I still get a greater sense of community in this game than I did in that one.

Perhaps is the housing density and the fact that we can go inside our neighbors' homes, but something about the neighborhoods still feels alive even when empty of other players.

I wish they could get their situation straightened out enough to provide an opportunity for every player to have a house of their own in a neighborhood soon.

We could go into neighbor homes in LotRO just as we can here. It was up to the owner to decide if they wanted their house open to visitors.

The wards here feel more alive than the neighborhoods there because their decorating system sucked. Smaller item limits and items could only be placed on preset hooks which gave everything a generic feel. Housing was bland and boring so few players actively participated. People were more likely to get a house just for the shared storage chest with their alts than because they cared about the house.

Not everyone wants to live in a dense neighborhood, especially when that means having to stare at a Paissa house with a yard full of Namazu effigies (not me thankfully but it's happened to a friend). Many prefer to have a quiet place to themselves without neighbors. Some of those wards owned only by one or two players have nothing to do with running shell FCs for workshops and everything to do with wanting a quiet place without obnoxious houses and neighbors next door.

I think the game has room for both wards and instanced housing, but they need to give instanced housing a lot more love. Give instanced housing some major upgrades and you'd see a lot of players moving out of the wards, opening up plots for those who actually want to be in a neighborhood.