Another housing delay, imagine that.

[Belisaire]

I was one of those people who lost their job to Covid. I had to go back to school for a new degree. It was 3 semesters before I could play again, and I lost a personal house and a guild house while I was gone. I come back and there's zero houses for sale. Ever. I got NONE of my stuff back. But it's OK to make the whole suffer for just a few now? You didn't stop demolition for people like me. And this is a game, not real life.

Excuse me?

On 3/26/2020

Taking into account the world-wide spread of the COVID-19 (also known as “novel coronavirus”) and the economical effects of various cities going into lock-down, we have decided to temporarily suspend automatic housing demolition.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...211113e4ab392f

[kaynide]

They said, covering their eyes with their hands when every other game that spawned before, during, and after the release of XIV managed to do it.

Not to vindicate OP's post, but fuck I'm tired of hearing this drum being banged. "Come play XIV! Housing is a feature! HAHA, PSYCHE. SORRY. INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEMS. FOR EIGHT YEARS!"

It's not that they can't do it, it's that it would come at a huge cost that is not recoverable. Like, they can spend the resources developing a significant chunk of expansion pack, sell that, and recoup losses. Housing districts are pure profit loss.

Should they be looking into more budget versions like instanced housing? Yes. At the cost of an expansion? No.

[Jojoya]

What is your point?

I think the point is the current housing system is a failure because it can't serve the player base fairly and consistently.

Some players own multiple houses while other players can't get a single house. Some players lose their house to demolition and other players don't depending on when major disasters are happening in the real world.

Other major (and not so major) MMOs don't have these issues with their housing systems. Why does FFXIV?

It's not that they can't do it, it's that it would come at a huge cost that is not recoverable. Like, they can spend the resources developing a significant chunk of expansion pack, sell that, and recoup losses. Housing districts are pure profit loss.

Should they be looking into more budget versions like instanced housing? Yes. At the cost of an expansion? No.

Why do you assume updating the housing system would require the loss of an entire expansion?

[Belisaire]

Why do you assume updating the housing system would require the loss of an entire expansion?

I think what's she's saying is that it is clear that at the core of it, XIV just wasn't built to have a robust housing system available to everyone. If they had truly kept it available to only free companies, maybe they could meet the demand. But they opened it up to individual players and since then, have never been able to catch, and probably will never catch up (at least, not until the game is at its end of life, when/if that day comes).

It more likely than not is such a technological hurdle for them to solve the housing problem for everyone that it would probably end up being a trade for an expansion at the end of the day.

[M1551NGN0]

First, I want to say that I think what Russia is doing is an abomination. It's disgusting, both what is being done to the Ukrainian people, and the restarting of the cold war. This post is in no way intended to diminish anyone's tragic circumstances, in Ukraine or anywhere else.

That being said, it's time to accept the fact that there will ALWAYS be tragedy somewhere in the world, and it's not a legitimate excuse to ruin a huge aspect of your game, nor to ruin a large number of paying subscribers' experiences.

We need housing, and you have refused for a decade to invest in the necessary hardware required to give housing to everyone who wants it and can afford it. It's old. Your excuses are old. There would be no need for a lottery system if you had just provided enough housing to begin with. The fact that you are implementing a new system means you aren't going to invest in enough server space to give everyone housing even after the new neighborhood FINALLY drops, and including the island.

Why is a feature you advertise actually an unfair competition? That's what PVP is for.

I was one of those people who lost their job to Covid. I had to go back to school for a new degree. It was 3 semesters before I could play again, and I lost a personal house and a guild house while I was gone. I come back and there's zero houses for sale. Ever. I got NONE of my stuff back. But it's OK to make the whole suffer for just a few now? You didn't stop demolition for people like me. And this is a game, not real life.

Since you refuse to spend the money on hardware, the least you could do is start demolitions back up. But the real problem your refusal to provide enough housing in the first place. There should ALWAYS be a lot of every size for sale. Always. If there isn't, you aren't doing your job, and you're ripping us off.

Okay, Karen.

[kaynide]

Why do you assume updating the housing system would require the loss of an entire expansion?

Never said “entire expansion”, but to answer:

Because if it was easy to do in terms of money or work, they would have done it?

They obviously know people want it, it has been a major thorn in their side for several expansions. There is no reason for them not to do it unless there it would indeed be to the detriment of some other area of development… unless you are suggesting malicious intent? Or some other conspiracy?

This is not some minor back burner issue and indeed why I suspect island sanctuary is even a thing.

[LianaThorne]

I think what's she's saying is that it is clear that at the core of it, XIV just wasn't built to have a robust housing system available to everyone. If they had truly kept it available to only free companies, maybe they could meet the demand. But they opened it up to individual players and since then, have never been able to catch, and probably will never catch up (at least, not until the game is at its end of life, when/if that day comes).

It more likely than not is such a technological hurdle for them to solve the housing problem for everyone that it would probably end up being a trade for an expansion at the end of the day.

Also throwing in the fact that the exclusivity is kind of what Yoshi had in mind for housing. I recall this being brought up in another thread before and the reference of one of Yoshi's favorite games having a very similar housing system to the one we have now was given as a reason.

Personally I wouldn't put much stock in neighborhoods going away and instanced housing being a thing. If anything the Island Sanctuary thing is our compromise for instanced housing.

[Xrystofer]

Okay, Karen.

Technically you are wrong because if he is paying for the service he is actually entitled to that service.

[Poporito_Popoto]

Technically you are wrong because if he is paying for the service he is actually entitled to that service.

So you're saying that he needs to speak with a manager?

[MellowMink]

“I want the chance to steal a house from someone in Ukraine who can’t easily pay for a subscription and play the game because they literally lost access to their real-life house and are trying to stay alive, but Square Enix won’t let me.”

The original post of this thread is incredibly selfish and unbelievable. I would rather your effort go toward thinking of ways that Square Enix could help with the conflict, such as notable company donations to Ukraine charities.