Just Another Housing Complaint

[Themarvin]

No one is entitled to a house, that i my point of view, you get alot out of this game by just playing it and housing is just an extra feature, now made fair by a lottery system, further more if just want a roof over the head, get an apartment, it is the same as a house except the garden, and they are really nice as well.

Look at the wards, so many houses is never used and quite a bit even stand empty, and that is for a start.

[Fybrile]

No one is entitled to a house, that i my point of view, you get alot out of this game by just playing it and housing is just an extra feature, now made fair by a lottery system, further more if just want a roof over the head, get an apartment, it is the same as a house except the garden, and they are really nice as well.

Look at the wards, so many houses is never used and quite a bit even stand empty, and that is for a start.

Thanks for taking the time to read my complaint and responding.

Players are certainly entitled to having a reasonable chance to experience a basic, advertised aspect of a game that they pay for. Otherwise, said aspect would be false advertising. And, as it has always stood in FFXIV, players have never had a reasonable chance to experience housing. I don't think anyone has ever tried making the claim that getting a house is achievable, and from what I'm reading in your reply, you're not trying to make that claim either. Your point seems to be more along the lines of "Oh, this isn't available, so you should be happier with this other inferior product" - which isn't a very strong position for a consumer to take. I don't think you'd, for example, expect customers of Subway who want a meatball sub to be happy with a veggie sub instead simply because Subway falsely claimed they had a stock of meatballs when they really didn't. We would call that false advertising, and there would be apologies, refunds, and communication about meaningful steps they would take to correct both the issue as well as the corrupt corporate culture that led to the bold-faced lie in the first place.

As for your next point, I already mentioned, for some players - myself included - housing isn't an extra feature. It's a feature. Like raiding, crafting, pvp, story and exploration. But, if pvp were as impossible to participate in as housing, it would certainly receive justified complaints - and frankly receive much quicker corrective action because fixing it doesn't cost SE money.

SE can't, on the one hand, champion how many million more players they have, and on the other continue to be flabbergasted that adding a few hundred more houses isn't somehow enough to solve this obvious problem.

The current lottery system doesn't make housing "FAIR". It just makes player EQUAL in an UNFAIR system. I don't think anyone could reasonably say a 2% or lower chance of winning a house are "FAIR ODDS" for such a basic part of the game. Again, these aren't the RNG odds for the legendary, ultra-rare Ashbringer in WoW Vanilla we're talking about - it's the odds of getting the smallest house in the worst plot of land in the least popular housing district. That's just ridiculous, and, frankly, indefensible.

As for "If you want a roof over your head, get an apartment" - this is the textbook dismissive position. Your own follow-up shows that you're fully aware that the apartment system doesn't include over half of the content that housing does. No outdoor furnishings. No plot of land. No gardening (cutting players without housing off from being able to farm 100k gil thavnarian onions). It's not the same thing, and attempting to paper over the issue like that is just willful dismissiveness - the kind of apologist response that has allowed this problem to last for so long.

Finally, whether a house is used or not is entirely besides the point. It's not SE's business, or yours, or mine, what someone does with their house. If they never use it, the reclamation system will put that plot back in the pool. It's a non-issue.

The point is SE advertises that we can buy a house, but we cannot. They advertise we can buy medium and large houses, which is and always has been a near mathematical impossibility. These are (I don't want to say flagrant false advertising, so I'll say...) unfulfilled promises from the developer. They have had a very lucrative decade syphoning capital from the playerbase. It's time this basic part of the game was made available.

[Amenara]

No one is entitled to a house, that i my point of view, you get alot out of this game by just playing it and housing is just an extra feature, now made fair by a lottery system, further more if just want a roof over the head, get an apartment, it is the same as a house except the garden, and they are really nice as well.

Look at the wards, so many houses is never used and quite a bit even stand empty, and that is for a start.

I'm gonna disagree with no one being entitled to a house. If you are making me pay the same sub as the player who has access to a system I probably will never have access to with the current mindset on housing at SE, especially as the OP pointed out is advertised specifically on their website, I should have access to all the same game features as everyone else. As for your second point, that is the problem with wards. They were a dream that never came into fruition and should be enough reason for SE to accept defeat and come up with an equitable system so everyone can have access to housing, not just apartments.

[Roehann]

No one is entitled to a house, that i my point of view, you get alot out of this game by just playing it and housing is just an extra feature, now made fair by a lottery system, further more if just want a roof over the head, get an apartment, it is the same as a house except the garden, and they are really nice as well.

Look at the wards, so many houses is never used and quite a bit even stand empty, and that is for a start.

I agree with you in that no one is entitled to a house. I am not sure why people seem to think that just because they paid their sub they are entitled.

My wife, who has been playing since 1.0 has two mansions. One is her Free Company that was started years a go and the other one is a mansion in the new district. She worked and crafted and saved for these homes, furnished them and is proud of what she has done. I have only been playing for a little over a year and have a small house.

The people that want a house will get a house.. I spent countless hours clicking against the bots to win mine, but it's what mattered to me.. Some players spend countless hours in PVP or Savage and then want something given to them in the game because they feel entitled to it.. If you want something in this game, work for it and get it. Period. PVP doesn't just gift rewards to users.. The Best gear doesn't just drop into your inventory while you sleep.. Why is housing different? If you want it get it.

The lottery has certainly made it a fairer system. One step forward.. Now, they could open up some of the FC only wards for personal housing and that would be another step forward.... they could bring a new district online sooner rather than later and that too would be a step forward. Yes, SE can do things to make this better but user should NOT think they are entitled to it. You are entitled to nothing, everything in life even in a game, one must work for it if you truly want it.

As to the OP... if you have been playing without un-subbing for all these years and don't have a house yet, it's not the fault of SE, it's yours. Plain and simple, you just didn't want it enough to do what it took to get it.

[Fybrile]

Yes, SE can do things to make this better but user should NOT think they are entitled to it. You are entitled to nothing, everything in life even in a game, one must work for it if you truly want it.

As to the OP... if you have been playing without un-subbing for all these years and don't have a house yet, it's not the fault of SE, it's yours. Plain and simple, you just didn't want it enough to do what it took to get it.

This is truly a sad and terrible way to look at the situation. It's depressing to think people really think like this.

It's not that what you're saying is objectively wrong, it's that it's lacking all reasonable context.

I do want a house, and I have been prepared to sink countless hours into sign clicking. Early on, I even had fun pulling a 3-day, double all-nighter camping a sign, clicking it once every fifteen seconds. But, after growing up and experiencing a bit more of life, after having a child and generally being better able to appreciate better priorities, I came to realize that what SE is asking IS NOT worth the reward in question.

I have simply gotten better at recognizing when what is being asked is not worth the return.

You shouldn't be proud of the time you've wasted for something that's handed out for free in other games. You should be angry that the developers who forced you to do that when they didn't have to. I don't see you or anyone having a house as an achievement, the same way I don't see someone having a retainer as an achievement.

I'm more than ready and willing to sink whatever time and effort and skill is required to get what I want through playing this game - to repeat dungeons, to get better at my job, to wipe again and again and again - because it's doing what I paid to do... playing the game. Trying to get a house is irrefutably NOT playing the game. It has heretofore been just periodically hitting a mouse button while catching up on Netflix. It's something that could be (probably was being) easily performed by the most basic of mods.

I hope that you take some time to reflect and reconsider in the future before you tell someone how much they want things isn't enough. Here, you decided to do that without knowing me, without knowing my experience, and instead of assuming I'm a good guy that's had a real problem, you chose to assume I'm lazy and lesser than you, wade into my complaint to SE, and criticize me for your assumptions.

And, honestly, that's just not cool.

[XiaoShengwu]

....
I do want a house, and I have been prepared to sink countless hours into sign clicking. Early on, I even had fun pulling a 3-day, double all-nighter camping a sign, clicking it once every fifteen seconds. But, after growing up and experiencing a bit more of life, after having a child and generally being better able to appreciate better priorities, I came to realize that what SE is asking IS NOT worth the reward in question.....

So i'm going to stop the quote there, because you've given the answer.

YOU YOURSELF STATE, IT'S NOT WORTH THE TIME. ...so why are you complaining. you say you want a house at first, and then in the same paragraph turn your decision around and say you dont. ...problem solved.

[Fybrile]

So i'm going to stop the quote there, because you've given the answer.

YOU YOURSELF STATE, IT'S NOT WORTH THE TIME. ...so why are you complaining. you say you want a house at first, and then in the same paragraph turn your decision around and say you dont. ...problem solved.

I've seen you burning through the threads about housing the past day posting these drive-by rants, and was really hoping you wouldn't start in mine as well. I'm not looking for rude people or a flame war. TBH, I'm not even really looking for differing opinions. This is my complaint to SE, made in the manner they've insisted I make it. That's all. For any other product, this probably would have been an email.

If you disagree with the OP, the best thing you can do is not post at all, and let this thread become buried and insignificant so that the developers never see it.

But, I've a feeling you don't care about the OP or anything anyone says here. I think you just like finding something you can use as a catalyst to be rude or abrasive.

The simple response to your dismissive comment is this:

If a Nintendo Switch cost one billion dollars, I could say that it's not worth the price. That doesn't mean I don't want one.

Big brains recognize that wanting something and acknowledging that the prerequisites to get it are too ridiculous aren't mutually exclusive concepts. By providing feedback in the manner developers have asked for it, one might convince them to lower those prerequisites, thus achieving what one set out to do.

I think anyone who has read my posts and reads your comment claiming I ever said I DON'T want a house would laugh out loud. So, thanks for the chuckle I guess. If you could move on elsewhere, that would go a long way towards proving this isn't just a troll account.

It's really amusing how everybody that screams about rmt doesn't even understand that gil can be removed permanently. It's as if they are so far gone with JojoBa's Koolaid that they convinced themselves into thinking gil miraculously appears out of thin air for gil sellers.

Same thing for the big meanies with one or multiple gil caps. Nobody can sustain buying houses at gil cap endlessly, but somehow, you people convinced yourselves that its possible. Drop the Koolaid.

As someone brand new to the forum, I don't understand this post. What's JojoBa's Kooldaid?

[Burmecia]

YOU YOURSELF STATE, IT'S NOT WORTH THE TIME.

Maybe... they wish it wasn't so? Because houses are nice. Your own house is even nicer

[dspguy]

The people that want a house will get a house.. I spent countless hours clicking against the bots to win mine, but it's what mattered to me.. Some players spend countless hours in PVP or Savage and then want something given to them in the game because they feel entitled to it.. If you want something in this game, work for it and get it. Period. PVP doesn't just gift rewards to users.. The Best gear doesn't just drop into your inventory while you sleep.. Why is housing different? If you want it get it.

Initially, I sort of felt this response was a bit dismissive. But after reading it a second time... it is actually on the money.

I had a house when they first came out in ARR. I lost it in the first purge when I took a break. But back then, there were still a few plots available. By the time I came back, I was out of luck. I spent a long time trying to find an open plot. I eventually found a medium after many hours of searching. Shortly after that, my wife began her search for a large or medium. She spent many many hours checking the ward list for anything that would pop up. She lucked out and found a large up for sale (during the FCFS days) which was part of a black market deal gone wrong. So she snapped that up.

Some guy I know that came back from the game after a long break... he wanted a house for his small FC (friends/family). This was during the "spam the placard" times. He didn't spend those days leveling jobs or doing savage. He spent his free time looking for houses and spamming placards. Eventually he did get it.

Same story with an FC member. She tried on dozens of houses after the OCE data center came up and introduced abandoned plots. I think it took her about 2 months to finally get a plot. But that's what she spent her time doing.

Now... in today's system, maybe there isn't effort you can put in to increase your odds (other than shopping around for the plot with the least bids). However, players had many years to spend their time seeking out plots when it was FCFS or "spam the placard." Many of those players were rewarded with a plot for their efforts. However, for the players that didn't want to put in that effort and was just hoping SE would make it easier... well, they did. It is better than spamming a placard. But now they have to roll with the entire server on empty plots.

[Fybrile]

Initially, I sort of felt this response was a bit dismissive. But after reading it a second time... it is actually on the money.

But, it's not on the money. He's talking about the REWARDS for participating in types of content. We're talking about ACCESS to that content. They're different things.

We're not saying the rewards of housing, say, Thavnarian Onions, should just be dropped into our inventories. We're saying we're locked out of even participating. To make his analogy correct, you'd have to liken it to being locked out from participating in pvp or raiding altogether. If only 5% of players got to participate in pvp, you could be certain there'd be legitimate complaints and no detractors. Which is why it's so frustrating that this particular issue has its apologists. To stand against this complaint can literally only be that some few who have houses just don't want everyone to also have a house - which is a really garbage attitude.

The purpose of the housing mechanic in this game isn't just getting a house. It's not a real estate simulator. So trying to get one isn't playing the game. It's trying to play the game. And to say you should put more effort into just attempting to be allowed to participate is an exclusivist attitude that I don't agree with.