Housing Solution Proposals

[Ransu]

Well, we either need more wards, at least two new housing zones, or instanced housing. Based on the number of bids I saw on personal placards this cycle, I would estimate that at least 1000 players have entered this lottery already on Balmung, and there are probably more who either did not play this week or have not placed a bid yet who also want a house. It is not quite as severe on other worlds, but all (except maybe oceania ones) have a shortage. I am not a programmer but I would guess that instanced housing would be the least demanding solution in terms of server use. Either way, I am hoping we can get Square Enix to notice this issue and do something about it. Any kind of added housing would be helpful at this point.

I would argue they don't see it as an issue because their intent was never for everyone to have a house. They want players to share houses with their FC because they want the housing to be a neighborhood. Everything outside of the MSQ has always focused on some type of social design and housing is no different.

[Kaiproberts]

Except it turns out that people already have to share living spaces with others in real life because housing is prohibitively expensive. No one wants to share a house in a VIDEO GAME. On top of that, the item placement limits are abysmal for more than 1 designer. Most of us use 1 floor in our house to decorate and block off the other 2 floors. The whole system was designed for an older game and it was left largely untouched. They need to modernize it somehow, maybe instanced wards, maybe more wards, who knows.

[Kailani]

I would argue they don't see it as an issue because their intent was never for everyone to have a house. They want players to share houses with their FC because they want the housing to be a neighborhood. Everything outside of the MSQ has always focused on some type of social design and housing is no different.

People can change their minds. And hopefully when they see how how much demand there is for personal housing, and how many players want a house or even an apartment and cannot get one under the current system, they will change their minds and make it so everyone can get a house if they want one. Also, they are currently working on island sanctuaries, which are primarily solo content, customizable, and instanced. The social aspect is that you can invite people to see them if you choose to. A new form of instanced housing could easily work the exact same way, and in my opinion, would make sense to have on the same island as the gardening and chocobo content.

[Ransu]

People can change their minds. And hopefully when they see how how much demand there is for personal housing, and how many players want a house or even an apartment and cannot get one under the current system, they will change their minds and make it so everyone can get a house if they want one. Also, they are currently working on island sanctuaries, which are primarily solo content, customizable, and instanced. The social aspect is that you can invite people to see them if you choose to. A new form of instanced housing could easily work the exact same way, and in my opinion, would make sense to have on the same island as the gardening and chocobo content.

That "demand" has been a thing since 2014. I wouldn't expect them to change their stance on it. Island Sanctuaries is likely their answer to the content locked behind housing like gardening.

[not_ya_wify]

Reinventing the already spinning wheel isn't a solution (#2). Instance the existing structure, I've laid it out how it could be done in another post.

#3 - Stop this mindset. Throwing more wards is not a long-term solution. Instancing an existing structure is one. I refer to this as the 'same turd, same smell scenario'.

#1 & #4 - We can't even get enough housing for people. Your proposals aren't solutions to a problem, they are really making more of a mess of an existing one, IMO.

Y'all need to stop saying "instance houses" and ruin the neighborhood experience. WE HAVE INSTANCED HOUSING. It's called apartments. Rather than ruining the experience for people who already have houses in neighborhoods and want the foot traffic by making everything instanced, just take the instanced housing that is ALREADY IN THE GAME and make it better. Give us options to make apartments and FC rooms bigger. Let us share our apartments and rooms with other players. Give us a balcony with a little garden section. Boom problem solved without fucking with the system already in place that a lot of people are enjoying as it is.

[Aldotsk]

WE HAVE INSTANCED HOUSING. It's called apartments

You have to be trolling at this point.

[Kailani]

Y'all need to stop saying "instance houses" and ruin the neighborhood experience. WE HAVE INSTANCED HOUSING. It's called apartments. Rather than ruining the experience for people who already have houses in neighborhoods and want the foot traffic by making everything instanced, just take the instanced housing that is ALREADY IN THE GAME and make it better. Give us options to make apartments and FC rooms bigger. Let us share our apartments and rooms with other players. Give us a balcony with a little garden section. Boom problem solved without fucking with the system already in place that a lot of people are enjoying as it is.

1. As I said earlier in the thread, there are not enough apartments to meet demand. Apartment expansion might work fine for a less populated server, but Balmung is frequently out of apartments.

2. Instanced housing would not ruin the neighborhood experience. It would be separated from existing housing wards. Both systems can exist at the same time, so players who want a ward house can keep trying to get one, and players who do not care (or actively dislike wards, like all the people mad about Paissa and candy houses) can stop worrying about lotteries and competition over housing.

3. Instanced housing could still be shared with players. The last MMO I played had instanced housing, as well as a public directory board that let people choose to open up their house to the public. Then other players could use the board to visit strangers' houses. Basically, it worked like apartments in that regard, except you don't see closed homes.

[Divinemights]

1. As I said earlier in the thread, there are not enough apartments to meet demand. Apartment expansion might work fine for a less populated server, but Balmung is frequently out of apartments.

2. Instanced housing would not ruin the neighborhood experience. It would be separated from existing housing wards. Both systems can exist at the same time, so players who want a ward house can keep trying to get one, and players who do not care (or actively dislike wards, like all the people mad about Paissa and candy houses) can stop worrying about lotteries and competition over housing.

3. Instanced housing could still be shared with players. The last MMO I played had instanced housing, as well as a public directory board that let people choose to open up their house to the public. Then other players could use the board to visit strangers' houses. Basically, it worked like apartments in that regard, except you don't see closed homes.

You really need to get off Balmung when you have a chance
Levithan is a big server and most of apartments are empty
Again, don't expect SE to fix this "Balumung" only issue

[Kailani]

You really need to get off Balmung when you have a chance
Levithan is a big server and most of apartments are empty
Again, don't expect SE to fix this "Balumung" only issue

I have one now, I just don't want other new players to have the same trouble finding an apartment that I did. Even if it truly is a Balmung only issue, they should still do something to fix it. And the overall shortage of houses exists on nearly all servers.

[Divinemights]

I have one now, I just don't want other new players to have the same trouble finding an apartment that I did. Even if it truly is a Balmung only issue, they should still do something to fix it. And the overall shortage of houses exists on nearly all servers.

Doesn't change the fact that new players shouldn't go to Balmung isn't it?
They should go to other servers to when first start playing