How? Why? I'm so disillusioned.

[LaylaTsarra]

When you’re not a direct member of the FC and left for housing, things tend to go quiet. It’s just not the same, world travel or not.

I still have contacts with a few friends but, once you’re out, outside of close friendships it’s radio silence.

Must not be good friends then. I moved a Gilga alt to Hali and DC travel everyday to PVP with fiends on Siren. We have crossworld linkshells so we can all talk to one another. I did that on Gilga (this alt was born on Siren) and do it on Dynamis now. Sure FC chat isn't there but my friends are in those linkshells and the only thing I can say is missing is a FC buff but leveling is so easy nowadays those buffs aren't really much of a factor to begin with.

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

When you’re not a direct member of the FC and left for housing, things tend to go quiet. It’s just not the same, world travel or not.

I still have contacts with a few friends but, once you’re out, outside of close friendships it’s radio silence.

Linkshells, CWLS, if they truly are your friends, they'll join in a heartbeat. If they won't, then that says quite a lot about your 'friendship', doesn't it?
I am on Gilgamesh, but so many of my friends are on Crystal, so I spend a lot of time over there. I have absolutely zero troubles keeping contact, communicating, etc with my Crystal friend group.

[Barwara]

Sorry to hear that OP. It must be a server thing. Lots of available plots left here in Zodiark (at least in Ishgard). Me and a friend both bid on neighbouring plots and had 0 competition...

[Avoidy]

Alternatively, just make an alt, pay like 20 dollars to boost him through the boring MSQ reruns, and then pay some sprouts in Limsa to sign an FC petition. Then have a friend to invite some of your alts in to pad the numbers until you're at the quota, tell the sprouts they can leave or stay if they want, and wait a month. Literally what I did. Took several hours, dispersed over a few days, of grinding to get the FC to rank 6 from an alt with nothing on it, but I was able to get an uncontested FC plot that way. When the new wards released, I placed a bid on my main in a mixed ward on one of the plots with 0 bids towards the end of the cycle, but had a second guy come in and snipe it from me at the last minute despite plenty of 0 plots still existing )) thanks @ that guy, I hope you step on a lego every day for the rest of your life ))). Meanwhile, the FC alt pulled through and I finally got a stupid house.

Is it absolutely ridiculous that I had to go this route? Yeah. Am I inconvenienced by not being able to decorate on my main? Completely. Do I hate the fact that my friends can't just warp there easily by right clicking my main's name and going in? Yup. Am I often tempted to leave the FC I'm in now, to assume full leadership of my shell FC just so I can have travel benefits and ease of decoration? You bet. But it's better than nothing, and this is what we've gotta do in this wack-ass system if we don't want to move to a dead DC for one. Or you could just become one of the many, many Dynamis commuters who has a home on dynamis but spends the majority of his playtime congesting crystal. Up to you. Also this advice assumes you're in an FC that you don't want to leave for personal reasons; if this isn't true, you can far more easily make a solo FC on your main instead of an alt. As long as you're not gunning for a medium or a large, you'll get something in time if you take these steps. It's a pain in the ass but it worked for me and I'm on balmung which is like housing hell.

For whatever it's worth, I agree that the system basically brings out the worst in people and is utter trash. You could pluck a man off the street at random and he'd probably come up with better solutions than the ones we have now. Even first come first serve was better than this "wait a week just to lose" bullshit.

[Ayan_Calvesse]

Alternatively, just make an alt, pay like 20 dollars to boost him through the boring MSQ reruns, and then pay some sprouts in Limsa to sign an FC petition...

... It's a pain in the ass but it worked for me and I'm on balmung which is like housing hell.

For whatever it's worth, I agree that the system basically brings out the worst in people and is utter trash. You could pluck a man off the street at random and he'd probably come up with better solutions than the ones we have now. Even first come first serve was better than this "wait a week just to lose" bullshit.

CONGRATULATIONS! Balmungs mark is the "Ultimate" of housing purchase on Crystal.

This is soooooo true and really should be changed. The idea of FC lots is stupid to begin with; which I still do not see the point in the grand scheme of things because you can only bid once per lotto anyways. There should have never been "FC bid only" or "Private bid only" wards and the lotto duration should be a lot lower and without the added insult of the walk of shame. Getting rid of the FC only lots would reduce shell FC's a little; while enforcing the limit of "maintaining" one FC plot per service account would go even further to free up a fair bit of supply. (Maintaining in this context being that you may only have 1 FC owner per service account per world)

[Battler-Ushiromiya]

I have lost every clicking battle. And have lost every lottery result. Twice now I've lost to a 50/50 result, the new lots just got all filled and will only be harder now. I've waited years for a house in this game. I've played since 2.0 but back then housing was boring and not exclusive. THIS NEEDS A PERMANENT OVERALL FIX BEFORE 7.0

I CAN'T CONTINUE PLAYING.

And yes, this is that important to me. The housing, decorating, it's very important end game content. It's one of the only things to spend gil on. It's horrible to feel locked out of.

Sorry you haven't earned your house yet OP, I earned a beach house myself this last lottery so keep practicing and eventually you'll be good enough to win.

[Pablomaldito]

Round 2 begins. Zalera has more houses available for personal bids than it did at the launch of Empyreum. Furthermore, the competition pool should be significantly smaller due to all the houses that were sold last round. Play it smart and wait until the last day to assess the distribution of the bids. Don't do something ridiculous like bidding on a super popular plot that's going to be targeted by relocators.

[seerstone]

definitely did not wait until the last day.........

[Khryseis_Astra]

I can never wait that long… after being first on the plot and losing twice in a row, I forced myself to wait until lunchtime and now I’m number 6. Which is the number I lost to last time, so hope it ends up being lucky for me this time!

[Fandele]

I bid on my favorite small again, for probably the 10th time. I'm a glutton for punishment, and I'm well aware that this is why I'm still homeless.