Please consider allowing some first come first served wards in Empyreum on 6.1 launch

[Nakira]

Having just watched the LL, I have a lot of mixed feelings. The relocation change surprised me, but I could technically accept that...if it wasn't being added directly alongside the largest housing ward launch since ARR.

Housing is my endgame. I have owned a house since mid ARR, when they first added the subdivisions. I hauled butt to the house I wanted and managed to get it. I loved my little house, decorated it with friends, spent a ton of time in it. When 3.0 launched, I fell love with Ishgard, and immediately started wishing for Isghard housing. I kept track of every housing update avidly to see if it was going to be added. Any of my friends can attest to this.

Shortly before 4.1, they said they had no plans to add Ishgard housing, and, broken hearted, I decided to settle for my next choice and gunned it for a house in Shirogane. So once again I braved the masses and managed to survive Shirogane Savage, and got the house I wanted.

When it became clear that Ishgard housing WAS coming, I was over the moon, I've dreamed of this for SIX LONG YEARS. I started saving to relocate, clearing out my storage to move, looking at the plots and picking the one I wanted, so I could be ready. I wanted to relocate to a large, and picked out the one I want.

Today, I found out that not only will I not be able to relocate, I will also have to enter a lottery to even have a chance at that house. AND I can only enter one lottery. I'm on a legacy server where some players have large amounts of money, competition for those larges will be intense. I realized that if the entire Empyreum housing ward is on a lottery, I'll have one single shot to buy a house anywhere in Ishgard. To say I'm disappointed is the understatement of the century.

Now for the not so personal opinion on it, for those that understandably think I'm a big old spoiled baby: It would be mayhem to make 24 wards all lottery at once. Imagine that many people trying to move at once. Each of those people will get one shot. On smaller servers, this may not be a big deal, but on medium to large servers like mine, it's guaranteed all 1k+ of those houses will have at least one, if not more, bids on them. So everyone will get one shot and that's it. So now I have to choose between bidding on the large I want and having an incredibly small chance of winning, to bidding on a small that I'll likely STILL have a rather small chance of winning. And if I don't get it? I'll have no chance for at least 45 days to even try again. It won't be like before where it someone beats me I can try again at a nearby house.

This will also delay the opening of houses on other wards, because no relocations will happen, which means that people who want a house but not necessarily in Ishgard may still attempt to get one and make the competition more severe because, like before, any house is better than none. Then they can just apply to relocate the following week, and someone that wanted an Ishgard house will have lost that chance.

It wouldn't really make the houses sell slower, they'll all still sell in one large lump after the lottery's up. People will STILL settle on any house they can get because it's still the only house they have the best chance on. Essentially, this is still similar to camping a plot, except you're camping a plot remotely for 7 days.

I actually don't care that relocation's subject to the same timer. What I do care is that all of Ishgard is now gated behind a lottery, when none of the other housing districts were. I understand the need for it, and I do agree that it's better than the old system. But I am admittedly sad that I basically just lost almost any guarantee that I'd get a house in the one location I've wanted it in for years.

All I ask is that some of them be open for first come first served, so people can openly buy or relocate to them like previous ward releases. Not all of them, just some, so I at least have some sort of chance to try for one I like.

I'm aware there's another thread on the relocation aspect, but I felt this wasn't the same topic, so I'm sorry if that bothers anyone.

[Ghola]

Being an Australian player, this lottery also terrifies me - the thought of having to fend off every expat fleeing to the (recently announced) Materia DC, if all plots of land are opened up at the same time, that's just going to cause so much Chaos we may just create a 400 year time loop... Ahem... But, seriously, iirc from the clarifications a few weeks ago about how the lottery system was going to work - and I fully understand that things may have drastically changed since then, as I haven't actually caught up on the LL content itself - then I believe we could lot on many properties at the same time, and if we get one, then the other bids get returned as cancelled. This, however, does not explain what would happen if you somehow win the bid on multiple properties at once - do you get to choose which to hold on to? Or only the first that drops?

At any rate, there are a number of questions that I've been mulling over the last few weeks, while planning what to do once I get to OCE (Materia, must remember that now...), and it's looking kinda bleak - at least until more information is revealed... Such as:
- All plots at the same time? Or staggered release?
- This new information about ditching relocation services - I'm guessing that means that one must fully relinquish existing property before even having a CHANCE at bidding, so not only could you suffer bad RNG and not win any bids, but you're also out of your old hard-won house?
- (Materia Specific) Opening all wards in all districts at the same time? Or, again, staggering releases?
- (Materia Specific) Opening housing wards on day one? Or waiting a certain period of time before opening them to get a measure of Server Wealth (And therefore be able to set prices low/high accordingly)?
- (Materia Specific) What are our new World Names going to be?!!!! Wait, sorry, that's not housing related...

[Mezzoforte]

Being an Australian player, this lottery also terrifies me - the thought of having to fend off every expat fleeing to the (recently announced) Materia DC, if all plots of land are opened up at the same time, that's just going to cause so much Chaos we may just create a 400 year time loop... Ahem... But, seriously, iirc from the clarifications a few weeks ago about how the lottery system was going to work - and I fully understand that things may have drastically changed since then, as I haven't actually caught up on the LL content itself - then I believe we could lot on many properties at the same time, and if we get one, then the other bids get returned as cancelled. This, however, does not explain what would happen if you somehow win the bid on multiple properties at once - do you get to choose which to hold on to? Or only the first that drops?

At any rate, there are a number of questions that I've been mulling over the last few weeks, while planning what to do once I get to OCE (Materia, must remember that now...), and it's looking kinda bleak - at least until more information is revealed... Such as:
- All plots at the same time? Or staggered release?
- This new information about ditching relocation services - I'm guessing that means that one must fully relinquish existing property before even having a CHANCE at bidding, so not only could you suffer bad RNG and not win any bids, but you're also out of your old hard-won house?
- (Materia Specific) Opening all wards in all districts at the same time? Or, again, staggering releases?
- (Materia Specific) Opening housing wards on day one? Or waiting a certain period of time before opening them to get a measure of Server Wealth (And therefore be able to set prices low/high accordingly)?
- (Materia Specific) What are our new World Names going to be?!!!! Wait, sorry, that's not housing related...

You can only bid on one single house. When you make a bid it locks you out of all other houses.

[Nakira]

You can only bid on one single house. When you make a bid it locks you out of all other houses.

This. And you also can't rescind your bid, so you can't swap to another house later. So if you bid early on a house you see that has no one bidding, a ton could flock to it and you wouldn't be able to pick another. This may just encourage people to wait til the last minute to bid.

Also, you CAN relocate to a plot, you don't need to relinquish your current plot, it's just weighted the same in the lottery as a new buyer. Which I also have some issues with, but they're minor.

As for the OCE server, I don't believe they mentioned it, but I believe when they added the new EU servers, they delayed it for a while, I could be wrong, though.

[GarretStrongstaf]

To say I'm disappointed is the understatement of the century.

Your hyperbole is my spirit animal. Thank you <3 :-D

[Kenky]

I believe they stated that not all wards will be Lottery-locked. I decide to take that as a "Some wards will be the old system, while some with be the new" until they can find a true middle-ground.

With that in mind, I imagine one can easily instant-relocate to *some* of the houses in the first couple of wards, while the others are forced into a lottery system for new house buyers to have their shot.

Either way, there will be more houses and the % chance of new buyers getting into the market is going to be quite high when 6.1 drops.

[Risvertasashi]

Not being able to withdraw from the lottery seems to be the oddest thing about the new system to me. Like... I get the penalty *after* the drawing happens if the winner doesn't purchase, but, it wouldn't affect others negatively in any way to let someone go "Hm, I don't want to enter afterall." If anything, it might lead to some plots being unclaimed after the drawing and having to start the lottery process over again - because if someone does decide they don't want it afterall and they go on to win, eating the penalty is their only option (and wealthy players won't care that much).

[Starshower]

I think it's a bad system because it'll be harder to get the specific plot you want. Fairer sure but harder overall. I really hope there is a good quantity of wards that are first come first serve, that way they can please everyone.

[Dustytome]

Not being able to withdraw from the lottery seems to be the oddest thing about the new system to me. Like... I get the penalty *after* the drawing happens if the winner doesn't purchase, but, it wouldn't affect others negatively in any way to let someone go "Hm, I don't want to enter afterall." If anything, it might lead to some plots being unclaimed after the drawing and having to start the lottery process over again - because if someone does decide they don't want it afterall and they go on to win, eating the penalty is their only option (and wealthy players won't care that much).

I could see a bunch of players flooding a plot with bids to discourage others from bidding on a plot and then pulling bids last minute so a particular person has better odds at winning. I think that scenario would be extremely rare, but not unheard of.

[Risvertasashi]

I could see a bunch of players flooding a plot with bids to discourage others from bidding on a plot and then pulling bids last minute so a particular person has better odds at winning. I think that scenario would be extremely rare, but not unheard of.

But the system as described by SE will encourage people to wait until the last minute to submit their bids, giving a false perception to early committers that they will be relatively likely to obtain the plot - and this doesn't even require working together, it will just be the natural outcome of people trying to ensure the best odds for themselves.