Housing Scarcity is manufactured

[Stormpeaks]

Someone taking a 3 month break would only have to pay $15 for a single month's subscription to keep their house, not $40. Enter house to reset demo timer on the day before game time runs out and the break begins. After 4-6 weeks, resub under monthly payments then cancel sub once the first month is charged. Enter the house to reset demo timer on the first and last days of the subscription period. Take another month off without paying the subscription, then resubscribe as the break ends.

OOOOOOOOOR, they could just fix housing, I know that's absolutely crazy, they could add more wards so people can have houses, or have self-creating wards for when all of the wards reach capacity.

t's the player's decision as the paying consumer whether or not the house is worth the subscription fee while they take their break (other than the 1 minute they have to log in every month or so to reset the demo timer).

What we are also not going to do is blame the players for SE's business practices to force people to subscribe to keep their houses.

If they don't think it's worth it, then they should give up the house. While getting the same house back on their return would be unlikely, getting another house would only require a little patience unless they only play on a super congested world like Balmung or Mateus. They can still get an apartment for each of their characters that they wouldn't lose so they wouldn't be completely without housing. With Island Sanctuary now allowing outdoor furnishings, the most they have to give up is gardening and most players don't bother with that.

Yeah lets go from a large to an apartment or a small house because they left the game for a little bit too long, what a great idea, surely they'll love it when they come back

You could say that players shouldn't have to make such decisions. I actually agree. It's why I still push for SE to add an improved instanced housing system to the game. With instanced housing, there is no need for demolition. Every player can get their dream location without impacting the ability of another player to do the same. Players can take a 2 year break from the game and return to find their housing just as they left it.

And also de-value housing entirely by giving everyone welfare shiro 60's and lb41's or m35's, so no, have your instanced housing on the island though, that's fine.

But until that happens (if it ever does, though what they're doing with Island Sanctuary shows they're capable of giving us a decent instanced housing system) we have to work with the system that SE provided. As long as the ward system is the only way to get a house, players will have to maintain a staggered subscription at the minimum to keep a house.

As long as SE keeps on refusing to fix the housing system because it racks in subscriptions due to people not wanting to lose their houses, is what you mean.

[Reap00]

The demolition thing is probly the most scummy thing i can think of with ff14, i hate that they tell us to take breaks but if you have a house, you better not if you want to keep it

There is nothing scummy about it. If you are playing the game you have nothing to worry about. If you are not other people that ARE playing the game will be able to access all of the functions available. Is this tough for you to grasp? I sure hope not.

[Stormpeaks]

There is nothing scummy about it. If you are playing the game you have nothing to worry about. If you are not other people that ARE playing the game will be able to access all of the functions available. Is this tough for you to grasp? I sure hope not.

Actually it is very scummy because they could fix housing if they wanted to, they refuse to because it racks in cash from subscriptions that people are forced to keep because of their houses. That is scummy.

[PintyMcEars]

Or, square could change the toxic business practice and extend the demolition timer, or remove it and do something about accounts with multiple houses locked down causing the issue in the first place.
Then just allow alts on the account to teleport to your house and alter it as much as wanted

Its an MMO. Its entire model is to keep as many people subscribed for as long as possible.

[Stormpeaks]

Its an MMO. Its entire model is to keep as many people subscribed for as long as possible.

Yeah so lets not encourage change or call them out on their practices, let's just say it as if it's fine and perfectly okay

/s

zzz

[PintyMcEars]

Yeah so lets not encourage change or call them out on their practices, let's just say it as if it's fine and perfectly okay

/s

zzz

Thats just how MMOs work. Ya its scummy but its the whole genre. aint gonna change. Thats just being realistic

[LianaThorne]

I think it's time we stop calling it a housing scarcity and actually call it just people wanting a specific plot and being too picky to take anything less than that.

Looking at Paissa, there are at least 250 plots on every server in NA with 40-50 of them being private plots and some servers going up to almost 70 (outside of Balmung because obvi reasons, they seem to be sitting at under 40 and all of Dynamis because again, obvi reasons). Some have been sitting for weeks on end without a bid.

The plots are there, there's no shortage. It's just people want what they want and will scream that there is one instead of just acquiring housing and waiting to upgrade. I'm sure when we get more NA servers that people still won't want to move to get a chance at the housing they want and instead continue saying that there's a shortage.

[VelKallor]

Yeah lets go from a large to an apartment or a small house because they left the game for a little bit too long, what a great idea, surely they'll love it when they come back

Or just buy a small ( there are LOADS of them ) and let your imagination do the rest. I have to ask this, and I am dead serious, why is a small "not good enough for you"?

I think it's time we stop calling it a housing scarcity and actually call it just people wanting a specific plot and being too picky to take anything less than that.

Agreed

Liana, wanna hear a funny story?

I got my two houses ( had one , relinquished it when I left Kujata for Zurvan ) BOTH in literally the same place / plot with the following exact same conditions:

Been there empty for months.

LITERALLY the same site. Im not kidding.

I bid on it unopposed BOTH TIMES. First time I watched it for three weeks, no one wanted it, walked up and click, mine. Second time bid was a formality as again, no one wanted it.

Right now: Goblet, Kujata, Ward 26 plot 2, open to both private and FC...its been vacant at least six months. There are are least fifty alone like that.

Doesnt look scarce to me.

[Nav_Fae]

Yeah people want specific plot locations and specific sizes is a factor. The advancement in house decorating has likely had an influence on wanting the bigger homes. Not enough slots in Smalls compared to Mediums and Larges.

[LianaThorne]

Or, square could change the toxic business practice and extend the demolition timer, or remove it and do something about accounts with multiple houses locked down causing the issue in the first place.
Then just allow alts on the account to teleport to your house and alter it as much as wanted

Unless we all get surprised in 7.0, I highly doubt that we'll ever have the ability to interact with our other characters since we, at one point, could via a glitch and they removed it.

The only people who are owning multiple houses are doing it by Square's rules ironically. You can't own a 2nd private house on the same service account, so acquiring a 2nd one on a 2nd account is completely allowed. As far as FCs go, the line states that you can't have a 2nd FC plot on a character on the same world with the same service account that purchased and maintains a plot. The keyword here is "purchased" since it's already obvious that people can maintain more than one FC. The system physically locks you from buying a 2nd FC plot when you're still a member of the original FC plot you purchased, however, inheritance completely ignores that (which is something that is needed in an FC setting if the lead goes inactive and the keys need to be automatically handed off to someone else at the point they lose their ownership). So, if you have an FC on your main and have an alt in another FC (Idk maybe you want to be social sometimes) and the lead goes inactive with you being handed the role, the system will allow your alt to take over.

The demo timer is already 45 days and gets shut off randomly for months on end when crisis' around the world happen. The pandemic literally shut everything down for a year. Houses moved even slower than they do now. Extending the timer isn't going to do anything to fix any problems and just cause more people to scream that there's a shortage like it did when we had it off for that year.