Remove FC housing entirely

[Nobuyuki_Sanada]

Get rid of personal housing, or make it instanced. IMO it is too much of a niche feature to be denying players the experience of the housing system. Since FC housing offers it to multiple players it is more viable. Also give more incentives for people to use the houses. Buffs to crafting when in a certain area, or the accumulation of resting xp while still online (faster rate than offline). Getting people to congregate in a single location encourages social interaction which has already been proven to increase overall enjoyment of the game.

[Jojoya]

Get rid of personal housing, or make it instanced. IMO it is too much of a niche feature to be denying players the experience of the housing system. Since FC housing offers it to multiple players it is more viable. Also give more incentives for people to use the houses. Buffs to crafting when in a certain area, or the accumulation of resting xp while still online (faster rate than offline). Getting people to congregate in a single location encourages social interaction which has already been proven to increase overall enjoyment of the game.

Does that mean that SE should get rid of Savage and Ultimates as well? Those are even more "niche" as features considering more players own a house than participate in that content.

But then it's funny that you contradict yourself by saying that players should have even more reasons for wanting a house (getting access to your proposed buffs).

You're correct - getting players to congregate in a single location encourages social interaction. The wards do not encourage this because there are too many zones (including wards) per world to choose from. Let's say a world has 10,000 players online concurrently. All the other zones are having technically difficulties so all of those players are forced into the housing wards.

There are now 300 wards/subdivsions in the game. If those players split up evenly, you've got 33 players in each ward/subdivision and that's a fairly large area for those 33 to spread out. Not to mention some will no doubt be going inside of their house/apartment where they effectively stop existing to those still standing in the wards. You'll occasionally get members of FCs congregating together at their FC house but that will take more players out of other wards, and even then there aren't that many FCs that have more than 15-20 players online at the same time. Those players are far more likely to be sticking to their existing social circle more than they're going to spread out to socialize with other players they don't know.

Ironically, it's the apartment buildings where SE came closest to hitting the mark when it comes to the socializing and neighborhood potential of housing. You have a much larger number of players that have to funnel through a single entry point to reach their housing. That increases the chances the player will see other players and start socializing before entering their apartment. The drawback is that apartments are undesirable due to size and item limitations.

Can I make an apartment that looks something like a home with 100 items? Yes. Can I make it look like a home befitting the Warrior of Light? That would depend on the personality the player imagines their WoL to have and what things they imagine their WoL would have obtained through their travels. An austere WoL would do fine in an apartment. One that has collected items to remind them of their adventures and friends would not.


Look at all the trophy style housing items available (those items that are 1 per estate and require raid/trial drops to craft). Could you fit all those items into a single apartment in a way that would convey more than a sense that you're looking at the cramped room belonging to someone who suffers from a hoarding disorder? No.

Yet those same items placed in a house could be displayed properly while maintaining a separate orderly living area (and dang, I now have my next redecorating goal).

I appreciate that SE was trying to go for something different with their housing system but it has failed on so many levels when it comes to achieving its goal.

[Xelanar]

Get rid of personal housing, or make it instanced. IMO it is too much of a niche feature to be denying players the experience of the housing system. Since FC housing offers it to multiple players it is more viable. Also give more incentives for people to use the houses. Buffs to crafting when in a certain area, or the accumulation of resting xp while still online (faster rate than offline). Getting people to congregate in a single location encourages social interaction which has already been proven to increase overall enjoyment of the game.

Why is removing things from other players THE thing you are asking for, instead of... maybe asking for a solution to the problem that benefits everyone? I am genuinly curious, because you are not the only one showcasing this approach, so there must be something I am missing.

Also adding more benefits to houses does come with a drawback. For example I'd rather craft anywhere I want without having to go to a specific place only to not miss out on a buff. Having to return to my house anytime I log out is also more inconvenient than just logging out in any rest location. I would rather have the exact opposite: As long as not everyone / every FC can have access to a house, no more benefits should be included to them, and existing benefits should be made accessible to everyone. This goes for gardening and airships / submarines, storage etc. Content should not be gated behind a restriction that is based on limited supply.

[Reinha]

Why is removing things from other players THE thing you are asking for, instead of... maybe asking for a solution to the problem that benefits everyone? I am genuinely curious, because you are not the only one showcasing this approach, so there must be something I am missing.

This whole thread is just some finest quality salt. There will be another batch tomorrow when the lottery finishes.

[Nobuyuki_Sanada]

Why is removing things from other players THE thing you are asking for, instead of... maybe asking for a solution to the problem that benefits everyone? I am genuinly curious, because you are not the only one showcasing this approach, so there must be something I am missing.

Also adding more benefits to houses does come with a drawback. For example I'd rather craft anywhere I want without having to go to a specific place only to not miss out on a buff. Having to return to my house anytime I log out is also more inconvenient than just logging out in any rest location. I would rather have the exact opposite: As long as not everyone / every FC can have access to a house, no more benefits should be included to them, and existing benefits should be made accessible to everyone. This goes for gardening and airships / submarines, storage etc. Content should not be gated behind a restriction that is based on limited supply.

I'm assuming if a solution that made everyone happy existed and was possible that SE would be smart enough to implement it. So the choices we assume are available are, to either remove player housing to make room for more FC housing or vice versa. Since there are significantly more players I don't see removing FC housing as fixing the problem. I personally would like instanced housing since wards seem like a massive waste of resources as very few people utilize the ward in ways you couldn't by inviting someone to a instance.

The resting bonus idea was to apply to the player while they are online not just when they are logged out. The idea is that you are not missing out on xp by socializing with your friends. You can hangout and recoup the xp you would have gained during that time (only a percentage) when you go back to leveling. The buffs would not be mandatory. They would work similar to food buffs, nice but not necessary. The idea here is by providing a place where people can congregate to craft or do other activities that people would become more familiar with each other and bond.

I would just like to utilize the Housing in a more practical way. Not everyone cares about decorating.

[Jojoya]

I would just like to utilize the Housing in a more practical way. Not everyone cares about decorating.

But what practical ways could there be that are valued by the player base yet don't result in ownership being seen as mandatory or necessary for economic reasons?

Not everything in a game needs to have a practical value. Look at things like glamour and minions. Removing any practical uses for housing, leaving only decorating in place, would reduce the demand for houses. Adding more practical uses would increase demand and reverse the strides that SE has made in getting supply to catch up to demand this expansion.

[Xelanar]

I'm assuming if a solution that made everyone happy existed and was possible that SE would be smart enough to implement it. So the choices we assume are available are, to either remove player housing to make room for more FC housing or vice versa. Since there are significantly more players I don't see removing FC housing as fixing the problem. I personally would like instanced housing since wards seem like a massive waste of resources as very few people utilize the ward in ways you couldn't by inviting someone to a instance.

There exist solutions that would at least improve the current situation. For example the implementation of wards for personal houses only, where players are only allowed to bid, if they have no house at all - account-wide.

Some improvements would take a HUGE amount of time to implement. Like new / revamped wards with upgradeable plots from S to M to L (to get rid of M and L house scarcity entirely), providing S and M houses with an "outer Ring" of premade decoration to prevent S houses from looking silly on L-sized plots. It is not impossible to do. It just takes a ton of time and money, which honestly... a successfull MMO like FFXIV should have available at some point.

Same goes for a more frequent increase in wards, so people who came out empty-handed do not have to wait for a year or more until they get another chance. It's certainly possible. It just costs money to do.

So... there are possibilities we could ask for. Instanced housing being another one, like you suggested.

But instead some people are asking for some sort of "A deserves a house more than B"-solution. Why? Not only will this raise silly discussions where B and A start arguing about who deserves houses more. It is also pointless, because SE has proven already that they prefer solutions that do not retroactively take houses away from someone(i.E. when they implemented the 'one house per account per server' restriction).

THIS is the part I just cannot understand, because of the reasons I mentioned. When I read something like "remove FC houses entirely" it always sounds like people are not interested in improving the housing situation at all. Instead it sounds like they only want to improve the housing situation for THEMSELVES.

[Sindele]

THIS is the part I just cannot understand, because of the reasons I mentioned. When I read something like "remove FC houses entirely" it always sounds like people are not interested in improving the housing situation at all. Instead it sounds like they only want to improve the housing situation for THEMSELVES.

And we have a winner! This describes about 98% of the posts on this forum, for what it's worth - but people really, really don't like having this pointed out, so brace for your accusations of being purely negative or unhelpful or doomsaying for highlighting their selfishness.

[UkcsAlias]

And we have a winner! This describes about 98% of the posts on this forum, for what it's worth - but people really, really don't like having this pointed out, so brace for your accusations of being purely negative or unhelpful or doomsaying for highlighting their selfishness.

To be fair, FC housing has a major issue, that exists purely because of FCs: Someone that has a personal FC can have more houses than one who doesnt.

If FCs would lose that capability, it would at least balance that aspect. It would remove the ability to have 1 FC per char even. This is a major nerf towards ward takeovers, as from that point on each plot is on their own service account (and therefor those takeovers cost a lot more). If this would be done, they could even compensate by allowing an account to have 2 houses (and upon leaving the FC, the house will either be transferred to someone else that has a free slot, or after 45 days will automaticly be demolished - to enable someone in the fc to take it over)

But no matter what, solutions will always be dirty here. Simply because the current system is dirty anyway (too many exploitable parts).

[Themarvin]

THIS is the part I just cannot understand, because of the reasons I mentioned. When I read something like "remove FC houses entirely" it always sounds like people are not interested in improving the housing situation at all. Instead it sounds like they only want to improve the housing situation for THEMSELVES.

My only selfish drive is to have more actual neighborhs, if you want to put it like that, I got a personal Large House... and I got a medium Sized FC that I am building up.... and funny enough I won the medium house for my FC using the current lottery system, was a breeze as well to do it that way, but ensured I had something to live in at first FC wise that is, many complaints is about can't get a house because I bid on the most popular ones only and constantly make self standing with empty hands.

As for losing my Medium FC house to it being some kind og guildhall given by your Grand Company not affiliated with the wards as well as the Workshop will be a part of that guildhall, would suite me just as nice as for a working FC, you just need a guildhall of sorts.

It would rid of those corporations or in whatever way you put it.

The other solution is you can only have full officer/FC leader rights in one FC per account as in personal use of the workshop, where as only being able to put in materials and run for the next step at max with any other character, that can be locked down with a script of sorts and remove these 'omni' crafters as they claim to be which really mostly only is running submarines on multiple houses for profits.