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.