How many housing lotteries do I have to enter before I win?

[dspguy]

It didn't have to be days long past. Ishgard release could have been first come first serve with lottery reserved for demolished plots. The upcoming housing release could have been first come first serve. Even assuming the player base has doubled in the past few years, it would still be a better system. Last time I raced to get a house I saw around 4-5 runners in the same subward. So now, that would be around 8-10 runners per 30 plots. Better than 10+ lottery tickets on every single plot. A nice little bonus back in the day was that you could get a house next to your spouse or your fc. Not anymore.

I said this lottery system would be bad and people argued with me multiple times.

FCFS gave an advantage to those that can login when the servers come up.
Placard spamming** gave an advantage to people that can dedicate hours of their life to spamming a placard against dozens of people probably using clicking bots (who also had a clear advantage).
Lottery doesn't give an advantage to anyone.

So, if you feel into the FCFS/Placard spamming groups, then from a completely self-centered standpoint, the lottery system is bad - for you.

However, on the whole, and for the rest of the playerbase - the lottery system is superior. It was never designed to resolve the housing shortage. It was designed to mitigate advantages for some and disadvantages for others.

** Placard spamming was really just lottery for those willing to stand there and click (or have a bot click) the placard. 100 people present at the placard? Probably a 1/100 chance of winning.

[Nepentha]

It didn't have to be days long past. Ishgard release could have been first come first serve with lottery reserved for demolished plots. The upcoming housing release could have been first come first serve. Even assuming the player base has doubled in the past few years, it would still be a better system. Last time I raced to get a house I saw around 4-5 runners in the same subward. So now, that would be around 8-10 runners per 30 plots. Better than 10+ lottery tickets on every single plot. A nice little bonus back in the day was that you could get a house next to your spouse or your fc. Not anymore.

I said this lottery system would be bad and people argued with me multiple times. I said there would be 10x the competition per plot and getting a house would become harder, not easier. Well, enjoy it folks. I can't help but feel schadenfreude whenever I see these complaint threads. Especially the ones asking for increased chances for themselves like they are special (not this OP).

Edit: me before Endwalker, I was pretty close with my prediction lol.

As many have already said, FCFS only favors people who can be up and active the moment the servers went live. Caused lobby errors and crashes and a lot of other headaches for the devs.

It also gave rise to people using third party software to bot their way to homes. Bots had become sophisticated enough to plot out courses to a desire plot, auto mount or auto pop speed boosts, and auto relocate or purchase a home. Some even had hacking tools enabled, allowing them to merely teleport to the house in question.

FCFS was fantastic for people reselling houses for gil or RMT. Not so much for everyone else.

[justausername]

Not to mention FCFS was a massive disadvantage to PS players who had longer load times for porting into wards etc even IF you don't account for bots and plug ins and stuff that no one should be using but if they do, PS players can't use at all. And when wards opened and it required a game update, even if it let us update hours before the game went live, some people also don't have the BEST internet, and it can take hours to download a new patch, meaning they aren't always done right at launch time, another disadvantage.
So have I lost 26 lotteries now? Yes. Am I bitching about it to my friends? Hell yeah. Do I think the new wards are going to fix things? Hell no. But I certainly have no question this lottery is much better then FCFS. At least I have a chance. I wouldn't stand a chance in FCFS with my internet, ping, and load times.
Maybe I'll get a nice little Shiro beach front small when the new wards drop. We will have to see.

[tsuchii]

I say ranging from 1 more lottery or 100 more... or more than that.

[Kitsu]

FCFS gave an advantage to those that can login when the servers come up.
Placard spamming** gave an advantage to people that can dedicate hours of their life to spamming a placard against dozens of people probably using clicking bots (who also had a clear advantage).
Lottery doesn't give an advantage to anyone.

This is incorrect. Lottery has a different advantage for shell FCs. With the new ward splits, people that created shell FCs are able to bid up to 8 times per server per account if all they care about is owning a particular plot.

[Reinha]

So have I lost 26 lotteries now? Yes. Am I bitching about it to my friends? Hell yeah.

Why are you bitching if your own chances are better? You should feel thankful every time you pick up your money since you got to participate and that's all that matters according to you.

[dspguy]

This is incorrect. Lottery has a different advantage for shell FCs. With the new ward splits, people that created shell FCs are able to bid up to 8 times per server per account if all they care about is owning a particular plot.

I suppose in certain circumstances, one can find advantages and disadvantages to any system. Back when we had an entirely new housing area, this wasn't a problem. For people late to the game, they are at a slight disadvantage.

[Battler-Ushiromiya]

I'm going to keep participating in lotteries when available until I win.

Hello, it's me again. I just wanted to offer my condolences for your lost bid this cycle. Keep your chin up, keep practicing, and you'll earn the house one day soon.

[Elkanah]

I moved to dynamis dc on seraph and immediately obtained a house when they opened the plots. No bids besides me lol. and i won without hassle

[justausername]

Why are you bitching if your own chances are better? You should feel thankful every time you pick up your money since you got to participate and that's all that matters according to you.

Pardon? My chances are better? Where the heck did I or anyone ever say my chances are better? Participating isn't all that matters. Winning is what matters. And so far, I haven't. The heck are you reading?