My Infographic of the Results of the Latest Private Housing Lottery

[ChiefDork]

The only time SE ever did a housing rollout well was the last expansions in the 4 wards. They advertised it months in advance did not bring the servers up early and everyone who did due diligence had an equal chance to get a house. They should have done it for this rollout but instead made everything behind the scenes rng vs active rng.

[Jojoya]

The only time SE ever did a housing rollout well was the last expansions in the 4 wards. They advertised it months in advance did not bring the servers up early and everyone who did due diligence had an equal chance to get a house. They should have done it for this rollout but instead made everything behind the scenes rng vs active rng.

Uh, no. Let's not try rewriting history and claim that SE has ever done it well.

SE has never done a true rollout during ward additions. A rollout would imply part of the available supply is withheld to be released at staggered intervals to give those online later a chance to purchase. SE has never done that.

Everything was sold out (at least for NA) in the 5.35 ward addition within an hour of the servers of coming online. There were many, many players left out not due to a lack of due diligence but due to very long log in queues caused partly by players trying to get in on what they saw as their only chance to get a house.

Players unable to log on when the servers came online (real life obligation doesn't stop for most people) were left fighting over the placard scraps for the next several months.

The 5.1 ward addition only saw some plots still available weeks later because there was a personal purchase moratorium so only FCs could purchase in the new wards, or existing owners could relocate (no one was going to bother relocating to the less desirable smalls). Plots opened by relocation again saw a lot of placard camping. The small percentage of houses still available in the new wards when the moratorium was lifted also disappeared almost immediately.

Now back in 4.2-4.3 we saw houses available for months because they increased the number of wards by 50% and the player base hadn't yet experienced the massive growth that occurred at the start of 2019 and again in 2021. We're at a point now that it would take more than a 50% increase to meet demand, especially if SE is going to begin reserving the majority of wards for FCs.