Locked content for Paying customers.

[Belor]

From what I remember of your post history, you believe everything related to housing is 'locked content'. I think the dead horse really, truly is dead this round of beatings. And, formatted in this very same wording.

I supposed your right to a point. If I'm in a relationship that is 99.9% awesome but has one thing that makes me frustrated.... I am faced with a lot of options. One is quitting the activity in question as you pointed out.

I could post quotes from lots of people like from the bible about having the wisdom to know the difference and such or other wise people but that isn't helping..... but I will give one anyway. Ignorance is bliss. If I was truly unaware of the housing system in all its aspects I would be happy with the game exactly as it is 100%. Fix this and its a perfect game for me.

I would like to say that the premise that housing is one of hundreds of unique things in the game that can totally be ignored is not entirely true. There are quests that giving housing items as rewards. As such quests and housing items are connected. Housing items are available for purchase in the Mogstation. Other players and whole zones are full of other players using said housing items they received through the quests and mogstation purchases. Im confident that if i spent more time on this thought I would find more connections.

"When you keep playing a game that doesn't make you happy, or you can only hyper-focus on problems, then we're edging into addiction territory"

Doing something over and over and expecting a different result is insanity.

"hyper-focus" has a negative connotation and insinuates that the person is childish ( this was further demonstrated by another stating "don't you have something better to do with your life?". I have never heard of anyone being cheered on for being hyper-focused on anything but a laser focus is always good for some reason even though the amount of focus is identical.

It seems that you are suggesting that we have no power and as such we just have to accept everything the way it is and if we don't like it we always just walk away or shrug and ignore it and if your frustrated at any point then YOU are the problem and we are not allowed to vent frustration in the spot designated to do so.

In my house I have a saying that I do with my kids.

I say " Life is What?"
they say " Not fair"

The reason we play video games or games at all is because the premise is that this is supposed to be fair. That the only barrier is our time and effort or lack there of. We do it to escape the "not fair" of real life and when you hit a wall like this its breaks the immersion and reminds you of real life.

/shrug

[Sotaris]

( this was further demonstrated by another stating "don't you have something better to do with your life?".

I agree, Almagus is a childish person.

[Shibi]

In my house I have a saying that I do with my kids.

I say " Life is What?"
they say " Not fair"

The reason we play video games or games at all is because the premise is that this is supposed to be fair. That the only barrier is our time and effort or lack there of. We do it to escape the "not fair" of real life and when you hit a wall like this its breaks the immersion and reminds you of real life.

You have a solution. It just seems you choose not to take it. Move server, or make an alt on a server with housing.

If you see an opportunity to get this "locked out content" but don't take it, whose fault is it?

Is it ideal? No.
Do we all want better? Yes.

But you can today make a move to let you grow your onions and put out your outdoor furnishings.

[Tibbroar]

You have a solution. It just seems you choose not to take it. Move server, or make an alt on a server with housing.

If you see an opportunity to get this "locked out content" but don't take it, whose fault is it?

Is it ideal? No.
Do we all want better? Yes.

But you can today make a move to let you grow your onions and put out your outdoor furnishings.

Drastically reducing your ability to interact with your friends and FC is not a reasonable solution to this problem and you know it. Not to mention that it isn't even available to NA right now.

[Shibi]

Drastically reducing your ability to interact with your friends and FC is not a reasonable solution to this problem and you know it.

I span both Aether and Materia, with my house on Materia and my friends and FC (which I lead) on Aether.

Again, you can be pragmatic and take what you can while always continuing to push SE for a better solution - as I do - or you can just throw your hands in the air and be homeless.

Is it perfect? Not by a damned longshot, but if housing is important to one, then it's a solution, house where you can, keep friends as you can - and importantly - never stop pushing SE for a better solution.

[Tibbroar]

I span both Aether and Materia, with my house on Materia and my friends and FC (which I lead) on Aether.

Again, you can be pragmatic and take what you can while always continuing to push SE for a better solution - as I do - or you can just throw your hands in the air and be homeless.

Is it perfect? Not by a damned longshot, but if housing is important to one, then it's a solution, house where you can, keep friends as you can - and importantly - never stop pushing SE for a better solution.

That's nice. I'm not making an alt to buy a house on another server. I'm not leaving my friends and FC to buy a house on another server. Is it A solution? Yes. Is it an acceptable one? Absolutely not. And I will absolutely under no circumstances give SE the impression that it is acceptable by utilizing it. I will quit the game before doing so. Everyone that does it is one more person that is telling SE that it's a solution that they are okay with.

And instead of addressing the problem they continue to demonstrate gross incompetence in this area by dedicating resources that could be used to help address the problem toward new servers and a private island that I completely finished in less time than I've spent decorating my stupid apartment. Instead of adding supply to the places where demand has completely outstripped supply they decided they should add it somewhere else that has no demand whatsoever. EU with their half empty housing wards on the new servers is a wonderful example of why adding new servers isn't going to solve the problem. Oceania has issues with server population. People don't want to leave their community. Not in FFXIV, not in WoW, not in any game. The quiet majority of MMO players play in large part due to the social aspect. They don't raid, they might occasionally do a dungeon, but they mostly play to hang out with their friends. I don't know how many times game devs (not just SE) need to see this before they get it through their heads that anything that would make that more difficult doesn't work.

And the kicker is that they have yet to even publicly admit this is a problem. It is mind-boggling that the same devs that can do so many things better than any other MMO developer can be so incredibly inept in this area when others have managed to solve it over a decade ago. It's enough to make me want to smack my head into a brick wall in frustration.

[Alycen]

That's nice. I'm not making an alt to buy a house on another server. I'm not leaving my friends and FC to buy a house on another server. Is it A solution? Yes. Is it an acceptable one? Absolutely not. And I will absolutely under no circumstances give SE the impression that it is acceptable by utilizing it. I will quit the game before doing so. Everyone that does it is one more person that is telling SE that it's a solution that they are okay with.

And instead of addressing the problem they continue to demonstrate gross incompetence in this area by dedicating resources that could be used to help address the problem toward new servers and a private island that I completely finished in less time than I've spent decorating my stupid apartment. Instead of adding supply to the places where demand has completely outstripped supply they decided they should add it somewhere else that has no demand whatsoever. EU with their half empty housing wards on the new servers is a wonderful example of why adding new servers isn't going to solve the problem. Oceania has issues with server population. People don't want to leave their community. Not in FFXIV, not in WoW, not in any game. The quiet majority of MMO players play in large part due to the social aspect. They don't raid, they might occasionally do a dungeon, but they mostly play to hang out with their friends. I don't know how many times game devs (not just SE) need to see this before they get it through their heads that anything that would make that more difficult doesn't work.

And the kicker is that they have yet to even publicly admit this is a problem. It is mind-boggling that the same devs that can do so many things better than any other MMO developer can be so incredibly inept in this area when others have managed to solve it over a decade ago. It's enough to make me want to smack my head into a brick wall in frustration.

Hear hear, this is exactly what I've been saying. Thank you for saying this.

Suggesting that transferring servers as the solution to this issue is part of the problem. Trying to shut down people's arguments about this appalling scarcity by telling them there is available housing in other servers IS PART OF THE PROBLEM.
It should not be the default reply to people raising this issue. We should be talking about about SE SHOULD be doing for the existing, established communities.

[Yodada]

Hear hear, this is exactly what I've been saying. Thank you for saying this.

Suggesting that transferring servers as the solution to this issue is part of the problem. Trying to shut down people's arguments about this appalling scarcity by telling them there is available housing in other servers IS PART OF THE PROBLEM.
It should not be the default reply to people raising this issue. We should be talking about about SE SHOULD be doing for the existing, established communities.

You know whats the standard ABC of an MMO is when servers reach a certain threshold of people on it? Guess you know it already. If not it will answer your question why Square is going to open just new DCs here and there with literally free houses as an incentive to move to the newly opened worlds. It may not your preferred solution (mine neither) but its what Square is going to do and sees it as solution to the "housing crisis".

[Shibi]

I've got a strong feeling that when the new NA worlds finally open, hopefully November but whenever that ends up being, that SE is going to slap all the existing NA worlds with the Congested status forcing all new character creation to be on those new worlds. Data center travel takes care of the friends being able to play with friends. There's no trade restrictions so you can give any friends new to the game items and gil to help them out.

That would be smart of them, yep. But SE are prone to doing real real weird things at the best of times. Still, not long to find out now. And I know I will be making my characters and FCs (on each server) on day 1.

That's nice. I'm not making an alt to buy a house on another server.

I hope you get a house one year. I really do.

In the meantime though, I will keep calling on SE to improve housing, and in the same breath I will keep telling people there are options that can suit some people.

And the kicker is that they have yet to even publicly admit this is a problem.

I am not actually sure SE see it as that large a problem. Housing was meant for FCs, people only got them as there was a surplus of them. Their actions in implementing the April ward split and not bothering to balance that per-server as they claimed they would suggests FCs are still high in their mind, with personals an also-ran -- partially solved with island sanctuary.

I also consider that SE are likely using housing as another lever in population balancing, and they are unlikely to mess that up any time soon. Which is why I think more people taking up those empty houses on the new servers will remove that particular balancing lever from SE's grasp and cause them to take another path.

But in general, too many people think too much of the devs.

[Jojoya]

I am not actually sure SE see it as that large a problem. Housing was meant for FCs, people only got them as there was a surplus of them. Their actions in implementing the April ward split and not bothering to balance that per-server as they claimed they would suggests FCs are still high in their mind, with personals an also-ran -- partially solved with island sanctuary.

The "housing is for FCs" excuse can honestly go away at this point. SE stopped making housing solely for FCs as of Patch 2.38, released 8 years ago this month. Clearly houses are for everyone now, though SE has taken a step to reserve houses for FCs via the ward designations.

As for the balancing per server, what servers have a large number of available plots left to be balanced outside of the new worlds where no one is having issue getting a house (though getting a specific plot location may not be possible).

I believe Balmung and Mateus are both sold out now (other than the very rare random opening). Coeurl was down to about 40 available FC plots when I last checked a couple of weeks ago, which might well be the cushion SE is targeting to make certain newer FCs have no problems getting a house when they're ready. I doubt any of the other Crystal worlds are in much better condition.

I have no idea what's going on for Aether and Primal (other than that Midgardsormr discussion in the other thread) but I imagine someone in the housing discords can pull up numbers easily.

If SE is not seeing problems, it's because they're focusing on the JP worlds that don't have even close to the population of the NA and EU worlds. Even once EU gets its next 4 worlds next year (assuming no further delays) their average population per world will still be slightly higher than all the JP worlds except Tonberry NA populations will still be well over 20k players per world once we get our new 8 worlds. To get NA down to JP average population levels, we would need 46 worlds not a mere 32.

They need to be focusing on where the problems are, not where the problems don't exist. I get that the industry supply problems are not helping the matter but trying to pretend everything is fine just because 30% of your customer base isn't affected is madness.

How did you conclude that instanced housing is "the player preferred solution"?
I hope you aren't using the volume level on the forums as your evidence, it's not even a valid sample of the players who read the forums, much less of the entire playerbase.

For a fact, not every player prefers instanced housing. I had that in SWTOR (a house on every planet that allowed it) and I prefer FFXIV's ward system. And the new FFXIV Islands doesn't float my boat.

The Islands don't bother me -- it's SE's game, they can add what they like -- and if SE adds instanced housing, I'll just shrug and continue enjoying what I enjoy. But I personally would rather the devs spent the resources on something else -- like more and better glams. Again, just my personal preference, and the devs are free to do as they wish. (At least we have Summer Sunset Sandals now.)

I like FFXIV for what it has. What it doesn't have that I would like doesn't change that.

I guess something that should be pointed out is that not every instanced housing system is the same. Some games have good instanced housing systems. Some don't.

SWTOR's didn't impress me when I tried the game and got a small taste of it.

RIFT's did. If you have a PC, I highly recommend checking it out because it's a F2P game and you can get access after just a couple of hours of play by doing a quest in a starting zone that gives you a free Dimension and a few housing items that will let you experiment with the control system not to mention the ability to visit other Dimensions set to public viewing. The art aesthetic can leave a bit to be desired but functionally it is superior.

ESO's instanced housing system seems to be similar to RIFT from the videos I've watched. Wildstar had some design differences but also was more or less the same as RIFT and ESO.

The apartments buildings show that an instanced system can be blended with a ward system so the wards would not have to be abandoned. Simply give the instanced house plots an entry point (or multiple entry points) within a ward just as apartments have. Players who want to fight over the always on display ward houses can continue to do that. Those who want their own private house can get that while still needing to return into the ward for marketboard and vendor access to create foot traffic. Unpopular opinion: remove most of the aethernet shards from the wards to force players to move around in the wards to get to where they want to be. That generates foot traffic that brings life to the wards.

Maybe it's coming from my WoW background, but the concept of a "solo" FC is utterly repugnant. MMORPGs are not solo games, they're multiplayer. In FFXIV, free companies should serve as the home to players to coordinate and play together. At least, that's the ideal in my head. Maybe I should start treating FCs like S-corps, a pseudo-corporation you form to lower your taxes and get benefits, not a social commune.

The rampant existence of solo FCs for housing is a symptom that Squeenix should have addressed at least 5 years ago. But I guess they don't have solo FCs in Japan.

FFXIV isn't the traditional western MMO, though. There's a point where you have to shed the WoW mindset (which I happily did after quitting WoW) and adapt to what this game is designed to be.

While FCs aren't intended to be solo player, SE has allowed the possibility. Players take advantage because of some of the crazy restrictions we have, like not being able to send mail to our alts and not being able to get a personal house because there are not enough to go around. Unless SE addresses those issues, solo FCs will continue to exist.

After playing around a bunch with an apartment and FC room, I can honestly say that housing in this game is a complete disaster. I'm not even talking about housing acquisition, because the stupid ward system is bad enough. I'm talking about the actual mechanics of the housing itself. The entire system is so barebones we might as well be limited to hooks like in swtor. Can only rotate on one axis, can't put anything on the ceiling, seriously asinine collision restrictions, hell, you have to jump through hoops just to put a stuffed animal on top of a fish tank.

Having an apartment killed my desire to save up for a house. At this point I honestly think that the only reason there is always so much buzz around housing is that for many it's impossible to acquire. Wanting what you can't get, etc.

As someone who used the hook system in LotRO, I'm really surprised you're calling that comparable functionally. It's not.

Even with the limitations of the system here, it's still far better than games using the hook system. I can put my bed where I want it instead of only on the "large furnshing" hook in the corner far away from the window. I might have to go to extra effort to get it up on a loft but I can still do it in FFXIV. I wasn't able to do anything similar in LotRO.

But as FFXIV compares to LotRO functionally, RIFT compares to FFXIV functionally. SE should learn from RIFT's housing system to see what is possible.