Instanced Housing: Ideas and Details

[CatStarwind]

Can someone explain what "instanced" is being used to mean in this discussion, exactly?

It essentially means any area created on demand. Dungeons for example are instanced, they only exist while there are players inside.

So in this context, instanced housing is housing that only exists when requested. Currently ffxiv offers instanced housing via Apartments. It's not pure instanced like in other games since there is still a "limited" number of 'entry' points but it's a pedantic technicality since there is no server cost to simply add more and to do so is literally just adding another row in a menu.

They haven't done much with them since release which is a big shame.

[Solarra]

I think a lot of people arguing against instanced houses are afraid they are going to lose something. I cannot imagine Square removing the wards, they are not in the habit of removing content from the game and the outcry would be massive if they did remove them. So, nobody would lose their house, the wards would remain. You might lose your neighbours though, but the sad fact is, for most of us, losing neighbours wouldn't even be noticed. When the new wards came online I was lucky enough to get a medium. I saw 2 neighbours the first week, recently, the only people I've seen in my locality have been the patrolling npcs.

I would love instanced houses that offer a choice of which way the house faces, even if it was just one of the two directions presently available in the wards.
I would also like my alts to be able to share.
I'd be happy with an instanced house accessed from any of the present wards. I think it would be nice if there was a communal area in the ward where people with instanced houses could access a summoning bell, a stable and maybe a post moogle too. It might even bea nice social place to hang out and would go some way towards keeping life in the wards.
I'd also like the option of choosing the size of house I'd like, or a system where you start with a small and then upgrade to a medium and finally a large. That would be a good gil sink.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I think a lot of people arguing against instanced houses are afraid they are going to lose something. I cannot imagine Square removing the wards, they are not in the habit of removing content from the game and the outcry would be massive if they did remove them. So, nobody would lose their house, the wards would remain. You might lose your neighbours though, but the sad fact is, for most of us, losing neighbours wouldn't even be noticed. When the new wards came online I was lucky enough to get a medium. I saw 2 neighbours the first week, recently, the only people I've seen in my locality have been the patrolling npcs.

True. The neighborhoods are already quiet just by virtue of people playing at different times. I have maybe one neighbor I see every now and then. And I don’t think having instanced housing would result in a mass emptying out of the wards either. There’s always going to be people putting in a bid on an empty plot when it comes up, especially in NA. The instanced option just lets those weren’t lucky enough in the lotto, or who really only care about having a house to decorate, to get one. There’s just not enough in the wards to go around, and there’s definitely not enough for all the people for want medium and large.

I love your other ideas too… some of the houses have the entrance facing the side of the plot instead of the front, and it would be nice to rotate that to your preference. I also think alts should be able to share housing; with housing being limited to account, it only makes sense that any characters on your account should be able to share! And the hub for the entrance to the instanced houses would be cool… maybe they could put it in the same place as all the housing vendors.

[Azuri]

I think a lot of people arguing against instanced houses are afraid they are going to lose something. I cannot imagine Square removing the wards, they are not in the habit of removing content from the game and the outcry would be massive if they did remove them. So, nobody would lose their house, the wards would remain.

Square is a small indie developer with a tiny team that barely manages. Every feature added is a feature taken. We've lost an adventure zone for Island Sanctuary of all things.

Squadrons still "remain" in the game. They just haven't seen an update in years after Trusts. Or Verminon. Or chocobo companion. Taking some of those "remaining" features out back will be a mercy.

Instanced housing will be the death of wards.

[Ramiren]

Square is a small indie developer with a tiny team that barely manages. Every feature added is a feature taken. We've lost an adventure zone for Island Sanctuary of all things.

Squadrons still "remain" in the game. They just haven't seen an update in years after Trusts. Or Verminon. Or chocobo companion. Taking some of those "remaining" features out back will be a mercy.

Instanced housing will be the death of wards.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic with the tiny team thing. FFXIV is pretty much the only thing keeping Square-Enix financially afloat right now given the high number of AAA flops they've seen. It's been their biggest earner for several years now. If Yoshi-P needs to pull in more developers to fix the god awful housing situation, the only response SE management should give is "how many do you need?". Especially given the fact that it's content we've bought, paid for, and continue to upkeep though subs, that most of us can't fully play.

In my opinion, instanced housing should be added for individual players as an addition to the island sanctuary, wards should remain for FC's. Ward housing should be reclaimed from individual players firstly through a buyback scheme which also grants a free house for your island sanctuary of the same size, then through attrition by preventing new purchases, shortening the demolition timer, and not pausing it for any reason.

FC's should require a number of members online at the same time ready to accept a prompt in order to complete the sale of a house, the number of members required should increase with the size of the house. 1 house per FC, 1 house per service account per server, accounts that already break these rules should be forced into the buyback scheme, then demolished after a decent period of time.

People are going to complain about this because they've invested a lot into multiple houses. But I pay a sub just like they do, I'm entitled to fully enjoy this content too, and at the end of the day management of the game and it's assets is SE's domain. If they need to break a few eggs, so everyone can play the content they pay for, so be it.

[Solarra]

There is a big difference between Square removing content and Square not developing content further. I am not a fan of Island Sanctuary but nothing was removed to make way for it.

If instanced houses really will be the death of wards, I think that would prove the wards aren't all that great and that the system doesn't provide what most players want.

If Square do decide to make instanced houses available (I'm not holding my breath), I think they should take into account what hasn't proved popular with the wards; Things like a lack of a view outside, weird orientation of the house, severe limits on the number of larger houses etc..

Instanced houses could be a great addition to what we already have and a major selling-point, so I would definitely not support making them limited or with fewer features just to keep the wards viable.
Housing is very popular in most MMOs, most don't have such severe restrictions on the number of houses a player can own and I don't know any others that force players to not only pay a sub but to log in and enter their houses every 45 days or so in order to keep them.
Housing should be an attractive feature that keeps people engaged and playing, instead it's more like a running sore that gets the odd band-aid slapped on every so often.

[Khryseis_Astra]

Yeah I really don’t want to see anything taken away, just added. Instanced would be easier to add over the long run than just throwing out more wards that need to be permanently loaded.

If the only way to get it is through Island Sanctuary, I’d take it, but I wouldn’t really be happy with that tbh. I think the cozy cabin should have been a real cabin with indoor furnishings and a small area for outdoor furnishings… like a vacation home type of thing. Housing on a smaller scale.

My vision for instanced is being able to have any of the existing ward plots, just in an instanced area. With all the same functionality, item limits (though I’m sure we’d like to see those increase across the board for all house sizes!), and costs. The wards will still be there for those who can luck into them, but for the unlucky or those that don’t want to play the lotto game at all, they should be able to get the same housing features as the ward homeowners get.

[Khryseis_Astra]

Lost. Again. It’s so crushing to keep getting your hopes up over and over only to lose every single time. Dream plot or random small, depending on what’s available, doesn’t matter, I lose them all. This time I had probably the best odds (ie: lowest number of bids) since the new wards opened. And still nothing. Some people really are that unlucky when it comes to RNG. And now there’s only going to be a random trickle of auto-demos left to look forward to… and those will have tons of bids too, since a lot of people are still going to be homeless after this lotto.

Housing should not be a prize to be won, it should be a given. It’s a game feature and we’re all paying a sub here. Seriously we need instanced already.

[Sourcy]

Same here, another loss. I fully expect to go an ENTIRE DECADE without a house. I have been attempting since patch 2.4, losing to placard clicking bots and body blocking FC mates has evolved into now just losing a lotto every week (usually to a Relocator because for some reason there is absolutely no penalty on losing as a relocator. It's not like first time homeowners should ever get a chance!)

It's to the point where you have to ask, is it false advertising? The website says there is a housing system, but I must be misreading it as I've never seen a hint of it over the EIGHT AND A HALF YEARS I've been trying to get one.

Is my sub worth less than housing owners or something? Is there just some reason they get access to a huge chunk of the game that I'm forbidden from because their money is just better than mine?

Or is it just that since housing was first put in the game, the amount of total available plots has been less than HALF the total number of active players on every NA server? There has been an artificial scarcity on housing enacted based on JP player numbers since the feature was added eight and a half years ago. Despite the fact that NA player count dwarfs the JP playerbase, we still are treated as afterthoughts. How long did that Ninja Mudra bug that only affected NA/EU go untouched?

Players on NA have been asking for more housing/instanced housing for almost a decade. But JP doesn't want it, so we just gnash our teeth before losing another 1 in 50 lotto every 9 days.

[Sindele]

I still just don't understand how anyone could have been trying since 2.4 and failing exclusively unless they were a) on Balmung, b) refused to settle for a small, c) only played during primetime, d) refused to wake up for any of the FCFS ward openings, and e) refused to ever consider anything other than direct placard purchases. Being present at opening was essentially a guaranteed small up through Shirogane, and even the later ones offered what I'd call 'pretty good chances' unless you got snagged in lobby crashes. Even pre-exodus, placard relinquishes could be bought below 2x placard cost at times, and prices didn't really start exploding on the grey and black markets until placard lockouts were introduced.

I owned somewhere in the region of a dozen different houses during that period, and always felt comfortable letting my sub lapse/letting one get demo'd/relinquishing because I'd be back in something next FCFS wave. Not anymore. I'm honestly more sympathetic to people who started after lottery, as there are truly no shortcuts anymore.

As an ironic aside, FCFS entry queues also made it much more likely houses went to mains - saturation attacks where you load a bidding pool with all of your alts were impossible on FCFS, as were multi-account placard attempts, and trying to relog to an alt or a second after a purchase was consigning yourself to the bottom of the queue. But hey - this is the system people thought would be more fair. Careful what you wish for, I suppose.