For the love of god, add a priority system.

[Oizen]

Instanced housing would go a long way towards helping, but its not the unlimited supply that people seem to think it is. You know all those times of high server stress when you can't enter your house or your island?

Don't misunderstand, I think instanced would be better than what we have now. I just want people's expectations of it to be realistic.

If Islands are in unlimited supply, so would instance housing. The insides of housing already are instanced, and we've already seen that literally every player on the game can get a free island with no upkeep that can hold more outdoor furnishing than any house can.

Its not only entirely feasible, but completely standard. Games have been doing it for decades, games even older than FFXIV have done instanced Houses.
FFXIV itself even has a form of instance housing, it just this nasty problem of segregation of problems and solutions and never really implemented it in a way that makes sense.

I just find its hilarious that its taboo to bring this up, and its taboo to expect this completely standard feature from a Subscription based game.
Not only have way older games landed on this solution, but all the pieces of it already exist in FFXIV.
Its not unreasonable, its completely achievable for the game, the developers are quite literally just choosing not to do it.
It undermines every new housing design, every new furniture design, but they chose this none the less.

Its either a misguided artistic choice, or they do it to force subscriptions to remain active.
But if the game can handle near-infinite apartment interiors, and quite literally infinite islands, its completely, 100% feasible and realistic.

[ICountFrom0]

That way if you didn't get picked for housing one week, then you get placed in a pool of higher priority for the next week. That way if you KEEP losing the lottery, EVENTUALLY THROUGH ENOUGH SUFFERING, you will EVENTUALLY be guaranteed a house.

So you think you should have a better chance then anybody else? That's not how fair systems work. Either everybody has exactly the same odds, or it isn't fair.

[PredatoryCatgirl]

If Islands are in unlimited supply, so would instance housing.

You can have an unlimited number of islands. You can't have them all at the same time. That's my point. In times of heavy server load, you literally can't enter your house. Now multiply that times two for an instanced house.

Again, I believe instanced housing would be an improvement, but its not the magic fix everyone thinks it is.

[Ayan_Calvesse]

It's unfortunate that the housing system is communicated so poorly to players when they're first learning about it. I've seen so many people thinking that if they just get enough money to buy a house, they can get one. Then they finally get the money and think they're at the finish line, only to slam face-first into the reality that they haven't even started the race yet. Definitely a bummer.

Also they would have to somehow reduce the global gil supply as gil is EASILY produced in FF 14 with any well established player being able to generate millions a week.

Honestly easiest fix is...
Make everything Cross-DC (FC's, Party Finder etc) and there would be more houses then you think...sure some folks will never be happy but this problem seems more or less unique to NA; heck EU, JPN,OCE have almost entirely empty wards.

[Ayan_Calvesse]

but completely standard. Games have been doing it for decades, games even older than FFXIV have done instanced Houses.

Can you point out a currently thriving sub based game that does it?

[Jojoya]

Can you point out a currently thriving sub based game that does it?

Considering WoW is the only other MMORPG that is technically sub-based (even if the B2P and F2P MMORPGs also offer a sub option they aren't sub-based), clearly the answer would be no.

But then no one could prove that it was housing that caused past games to fail, either.

[Ayan_Calvesse]

Considering WoW is the only other MMORPG that is technically sub-based (even if the B2P and F2P MMORPGs also offer a sub option they aren't sub-based), clearly the answer would be no.

But then no one could prove that it was housing that caused past games to fail, either.

Except them....not being around...assuming that a game failing is more then 1 factor.

[Jojoya]

Except them....not being around...assuming that a game failing is more then 1 factor.

But that wouldn't be proof.

If you want to know why a game failed, read the player feedback. There's usually plenty to be found online unless the game only had a few thousand players at best. The one failed subscription MMORPG I can think of that had housing frequently mentioned was Wildstar yet their housing was highly praised, not a source of dissatisfaction.

By itself, housing is not going to save a MMORPG when it's optional side content. But it can prolong interest in a game by giving players other things they want to do outside of the main content focus.

[lennit]

i know this lotto is still not grate , but it could of been worst if the add a fee, regardless of winning. like a rl lotto. a participation fee as a gil sink

I'm not suggesting it but it could have been worse


there was a medium house next to my small house and i wanted it so bad , but i lost the bid , it happens, but i keep trying to upgrade. and yes i have a small and it sad not everyone can have one too. and it lucky for you they changed it because players like me that have one would run up and take it while you were clicking for hours, just so they could relocate or upgrade. so there good and bad with the system. it is not grate. and yes they could of added instant housing or made apartments your own instant housing that could upgrade . but they didn't , they added more wards. That filled up in a day and a island for everyone. housing is the hardest content to get in this game, and while players that play other game and only have a sub to keep there house , makes it harder because of the availability is not there. i don't say players that play other game should lose there house, but its mind bubbling to me. but they don't want to play this game until there is other content, they want to do, but they will to pay a sub to keep there house, shows this housing system is so hard they don't want to give it up. most houses you see up for sale now, are mostly from players that forget to walk into there house once in 45 day or have quit. i have seen so many of my friends win a house decorate it and then forget months later to go into there house. and get on to realise they lost there house. it is also mind bubbling to me, they wanted it back, when they let it sit for that long with out going into it once in 45 days. i have had my small house on siren for close to 2 years now and my large on bismarck for a year now and i check my retainer in my houses and craft in my houses and plant shard in my gardens, all the time. if you want a house so bad use it don't lose it. but for players, that don't have one keep trying your day will come. just remember it is one of the hardest content to achieve.

[Stormpeaks]

You can have an unlimited number of islands. You can't have them all at the same time. That's my point. In times of heavy server load, you literally can't enter your house. Now multiply that times two for an instanced house.

Again, I believe instanced housing would be an improvement, but its not the magic fix everyone thinks it is.

It also wont do much to the actual housing supply because people will want ward housing anyway, bids would stay more or less the same as they are now. A majority will just keep on bidding for ward housing, instanced housing is not the savior people think it is.