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[Jojoya]

Transferring servers is not the solution so please stop suggesting it. Nobody should be expected to leave their established communities to get a house.

Please stop. There are better solutions out there, we just need to keep talking about them and perhaps someone will actually listen.

It's not the solution for everyone. It is a solution for some of those who want a house and don't have especially close ties to a social circle within their existing community. My cousin's FC just made the decision they're going to move to one of the new NA worlds because their social circle is just their FC filled with friends from other games. They're not going to be losing anything outside of some progress on their workshop and now they know what they're doing (plus have items they can take with them to help), they'll regain that progress faster.

Yes, there are better solutions that SE could turn to. But as Shibi says, that doesn't do anyone any good right now when we have to work with the current system and any changes will take time before being implemented.

It's nice to think that if players scream loud enough that SE will change things but there's no guarantee that will happen.

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.

To be correct, YoshiP did admit that it is a problem, especially for NA servers, back in one of the many Live Letters, interviews, etc that they did prior to Shadowbringers launch. They had plans to increase the number of wards per housing district then had to pull back on those plans when COVID hit.

Then when things started settling down, the massive WoW exodus hit and that switched it from not just being a problem with plots but with actual log-ins to the game and server capacity. The priority became new worlds, not just more houses, though more houses come with those new worlds to help relieve at least some of the demand.

Hopefully SE has now learned that the ward system does not work with a rapidly growing player base, that the instanced solution is needed. But it's still going to be a while before we see any results to that because new worlds for the overall increased population is still the priority.

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".

But we know from WoW's past experience that it doesn't work well. Players already on a world tend to expect other players to make the move so they don't have to be bothered doing anything. That's why WoW eventually gave up on offering the free transfers off congested worlds to low population worlds.

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.

[Siniztor]

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".

Well lets back up we did this allready SE had there chance when they split NA into 3 Data centers and added new servers .. SE set the numbers of players allowed per server,,, Back then there was only 4 wards i believe thats 5,760 houses you have to share with fcs... so not to over sell your product you do the messy math and do not allow more then 3k ppl per server have to share with fc's..

You my friend are a few steps behind. SE has tried adding more servers hell they made a whole new data center.. there problem is allowing x amount of people to be the cap...

Now that they allow 10k+ per server they need to find a way to allow well over 10k+ houses.. They made there bed now lie in it

with all due respect you have a newer account 2021 some of us have been fighting this for 4 to 5 years or more..

And We all ready gave SE a chance at your soultion and they failed

[Battler-Ushiromiya]

Housing is dogshit, people who defend it are delusional

Works on my machine. I got an fc small exactly where I wanted it and it's been a blast for months decorating it and hanging out on my lawn. The lottery fix is awesome!

[Yodada]

Well lets back up we did this allready SE had there chance when they split NA into 3 Data centers and added new servers .. SE set the numbers of players allowed per server,,, Back then there was only 4 wards i believe thats 5,760 houses you have to share with fcs... so not to over sell your product you do the messy math and do not allow more then 3k ppl per server have to share with fc's..

You my friend are a few steps behind. SE has tried adding more servers hell they made a whole new data center.. there problem is allowing x amount of people to be the cap...

Now that they allow 10k+ per server they need to find a way to allow well over 10k+ houses.. They made there bed now lie in it

with all due respect you have a newer account 2021 some of us have been fighting this for 4 to 5 years or more..

And We all ready gave SE a chance at your soultion and they failed

Its not my solution. It is what Square decided to do in the past and probably will in the future. They are just throwing hardware on the issue. Thats the only solution Square came up about housing in the past and probably is the only path they are willingly to choose as we can see with the recent announcement of new worlds and DCs.

Square also gives a f*** about 10k+ Players on NA/EU worlds. Only amount which Squares care are JP numbers. Thats their baseline. And if JP has no problem then the rest of the FF14 world has no problem. There internal goal seems to be just add new Worlds & DCs as long as those numbers are not met on NA/EU.

And if had to guess they see it as a cheaper invest from their POV to buy/maintain new DCs/Worlds instead of investing money into a bottomless pit so called instanced housing or whatever players begging for right now. And from their perspective its probably futureproof too. Not enough players/subs in 5 years? Easy shut down a few worlds here and there.

with all due respect you have a newer account 2021 some of us have been fighting this for 4 to 5 years or more..

And? Did Square came up with the player preferred solution instanced housing? No? See Square gives a f*** about what older and newer players want and fighting for as long as we are located in the wrong Regions.

[Jojoya]

Well lets back up we did this allready SE had there chance when they split NA into 3 Data centers and added new servers .. SE set the numbers of players allowed per server,,, Back then there was only 4 wards i believe thats 5,760 houses you have to share with fcs... so not to over sell your product you do the messy math and do not allow more then 3k ppl per server have to share with fc's..d

They didn't add new servers to NA, though. All they did was reorganize the existing 24 worlds from 12 each on 2 data centers to 8 each on 3 data centers. That was for better management of player log ins, which seems to initially start at the data center level. It wasn't to balance house demand.

At the time they did it, they had no way to predict that WoW would implode the following year, bringing hundreds of thousands of new players to FFXIV.

The reason why "more worlds" isn't a solution is because most players would rather keep complaining rather than use the solution presented, which is even more viable as a solution now that we have data center travel within the same region.

Not every player wants a house so there's no need to make certain that every player can get one. It's still a poor system, of course, but capping server population to match the number of houses doesn't solve any problems while it creates new ones.

[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.

[Silverbane]

Did Square came up with the player preferred solution instanced housing?

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.

[Pablomaldito]

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.

"Well, I have a house, so I would prefer that SE not waste resources on supplying those losers who don't have one, and instead focus on catering to my wishlist of glams."

[Silverbane]

"Well, I have a house, so I would prefer that SE not waste resources on supplying those losers who don't have one, and instead focus on catering to my wishlist of glams."

Lots are still available, and no one is bidding on them. For example,
the nice lot right next to the small my spouse and I recently picked up (without any competition).
Anyone who wants a house and doesn't have one has only themselves to blame for it.

Besides, why shouldn't I look after my own interests?
Frankly, most people who pretend they are doing otherwise are mistaken at best and frauds at worst.

[Brygd]

Lots are still available, and no one is bidding on them. For example,
the nice lot right next to the small my spouse and I recently picked up (without any competition).
Anyone who wants a house and doesn't have one has only themselves to blame for it.

Besides, why shouldn't I look after my own interests?
Frankly, most people who pretend they are doing otherwise are mistaken at best and frauds at worst.

I'm curious, which server are you on? Because I'll eat my hat if there are individual homes that aren't being bid on anywhere on Aether/Primal/Crystal data centers.