Current Housing issues - The Lack of Actual Housing

[Oizen]

Very debatable, but thats your opinion. Also if anything, if instanced housing was to be put in the game, ward housing should be the "superior" housing and have added things that instanced doesnt have, not the opposite.

I would say the objective truth is the system that can scale to player demands rather than exist as a piece of FOMO artifically scarcity held by elitists who act like its a good system.

[Solowing]

I dont understand this idea that adding instanced housing requires us to delete the current wards. The players without houses already do not go to your ghosttowns of wards anyway.

As somebody who spends most of the time near my own plot. What reason do you have for coming to my ward if you don't have a plot here? What activities outside player created ones direct you to it? I am here because I enjoy the quiet from the hustle and bustle of Limsa in a space of my own creation. It would be nice to have more active neighbours. But once you have a set housing design and you feel "finished" there's no reason to stay out in the wards unless you create your own fun within it or you enjoy the quiet.

Everyone comments about a housing crisis but also comments that wards are dead. Seems like housing is a must have, until they have it. Players build what they want, have their fun and then move on to other things, the actual dedicated that are using their plots/Apts actively, venue owners use their plots and apartments, housing designers, and those who enjoy the quiet away from the masses are a minority. Most get the thing that's so hard to get, decorate it, move on and maintain a subscription to not lose that investment.

Now if they, say, reworked the housing system to bake plots in the main city hubs of Limsa/gridonia/uldah, it would be used FAR more since its visible and not out of the way in hub areas while still having access to hub city services. Like Stormwind but if the houses around the city actually had a player who owned that plot. So if you get bored you would wander in and out of peoples plots, and from that you might run into some emergent adventures.

[Solowing]

Square Enix won't add instance housing because they want to chain you to a limited, hard-to-get digital plot so they can easily take $13 from you every single month.

The players asked for this and I was one of them. Do you remember when the demo timer didn't exist? When their were plots that were long abandoned by players who had no intention of coming back, and the plot was just an abandoned fixture to the ward? Would you rather that system back?

The system is there to always make sure any house that isn't actively used goes back into the pool of available housing. You thought the system was going to be disabled when you got your plot, so you can do the very thing players like myself complained to S.E to put a stop to?

If you care about your house and want to keep it, what's the price of a fast food meal once a month? If you feel like the money is better spent elsewhere, then let the plot go and allow someone else who will invest the time into it.

It does benefit S.E to keep the system this way, but it was the players who asked them to change it to this system.

[Lylix01]

So, I actually like the current housing areas and how they are like neighborhoods. I just wish they would make more of them. They only have 18,000 houses on each server and 30 million registered users. Even if you take into account that not all are playing and those who don't even care about housing, there are still I would say 20 million who want a house. They could also open up places in Idyllshire, Rhalgr's Reach, Radz-at-Han, Mor Dhona, or the Old Sharlayean. If they really want to go out on a limb, they could open up places in The Crystarium or Eulmore. I had one but lost it because I was deployed and couldn't log on for some time.

As for the instanced housing, if that is the same as how Star Wars Online is set up, I don't care for that.

[Solowing]

Because it is a good system. The fact that they can keep player subscribed to not lose it speaks volumes.

Players in an instant's housing system do not stick around if they get tired of the game because well it's a given and it'll always be there.

We're here if you decide to quit, And one day return you won't have a plot. So maybe you should just keep the subscription active to keep the plot if you really wanted that bad? If you don't want to pay that then just let it go.

It's not like you don't have something to decorate.You have apartments.You just don't like it, And that doesn't make it a bad system.

The players wanted a Fair bidding system and they got just that they wanted, players who didn't have time to play accounted for and they got just that...

Let's say if they switched it to a instant system tomorrow. I'm cool everybody gets a house. But venues are now a thing of the past. The likelihood of anybody just visiting your plot goes down drastically if they are outside your friends list, Why?
Would I go to your house? If it's likely going to be friends, list locked and there's nothing for me to do there and there's only a limited pool of players who can go there? You start bumping into island sanctuary problems. You want them to have both an instance and ward system? So why does instance housing players get to keep their house no matter how long they quit, but anyone with a plot has to stay subbed indefinitely? Or would you complain if they put the demo timer on a instance house to make it a bit more fair? Or should ward housing have unique traits exclusive to it.That instance houses can't get?

Instance housing isn't a silver bullet.It creates its own set of problems. Just like ward housing, it has its upsides and downsides.

[Khryseis_Astra]

You want them to have both an instance and ward system? So why does instance housing players get to keep their house no matter how long they quit, but anyone with a plot has to stay subbed indefinitely? Or would you complain if they put the demo timer on a instance house to make it a bit more fair? Or should ward housing have unique traits exclusive to it.That instance houses can't get?

Instance housing isn't a silver bullet.It creates its own set of problems. Just like ward housing, it has its upsides and downsides.

Instanced doesn’t need to be subject to auto-demo because it’s not a limited resource like a ward plot. If a ward plot wasn’t demoed, that unused plot is both keeping others from owning a plot as well as taking up server resources to keep it permanently loaded in its neighborhood. Instanced only loads when in use, and doesn’t keep anyone else from getting their own instanced plot. Makes perfect sense… the ward housing comes with the risk of auto-demo, so the only reason to go for one would be truly liking the neighborhood aesthetic, wanting to have venues, all the other reasons people prefer ward housing. Those who just want a place to call their own and decorate, who don’t care about visibility, or even more importantly those who just get a plot for FOMO can choose the instanced version, giving everyone a plot that will always be there for them. If they ever actually created instanced alongside the wards, I think there would probably be a pretty even split, and those choosing instanced would leave more space for those that prefer the wards.

Should the ward housing have “better” features? No. The whole point of instanced is to offer an alternative that is functionally the same. But the reality of the issue is that instanced housing can support more features than ward housing can. The limitations are holding them back. It’s why the Island can have 100 outdoor furnishings, while a ward mansion gets like 40? It’s why we’re getting interior remodeling and the possibility of upgrading the interior size, because the insides are instanced. There’s so much variety and innovation we’re missing out on. Yes the neighborhood idea is cute and some will always prefer it. But we need more added alongside that. Not just for the lack of supply, but to keep to their goal of being able to compete with other games for another decade. Older games already offer more housing variety, without even requiring a sub. We pay a sub, we should have more options.

[Solowing]

Instanced doesn’t need to be subject to auto-demo because it’s not a limited resource like a ward plot. If a ward plot wasn’t demoed, that unused plot is both keeping others from owning a plot as well as taking up server resources to keep it permanently loaded in its neighborhood. Instanced only loads when in use, and doesn’t keep anyone else from getting their own instanced plot. Makes perfect sense… the ward housing comes with the risk of auto-demo, so the only reason to go for one would be truly liking the neighborhood aesthetic, wanting to have venues, all the other reasons people prefer ward housing. Those who just want a place to call their own and decorate, who don’t care about visibility, or even more importantly those who just get a plot for FOMO can choose the instanced version, giving everyone a plot that will always be there for them. If they ever actually created instanced alongside the wards, I think there would probably be a pretty even split, and those choosing instanced would leave more space for those that prefer the wards.

Should the ward housing have “better” features? No. The whole point of instanced is to offer an alternative that is functionally the same. But the reality of the issue is that instanced housing can support more features than ward housing can. The limitations are holding them back. It’s why the Island can have 100 outdoor furnishings, while a ward mansion gets like 40? It’s why we’re getting interior remodeling and the possibility of upgrading the interior size, because the insides are instanced. There’s so much variety and innovation we’re missing out on. Yes the neighborhood idea is cute and some will always prefer it. But we need more added alongside that. Not just for the lack of supply, but to keep to their goal of being able to compete with other games for another decade. Older games already offer more housing variety, without even requiring a sub. We pay a sub, we should have more options.

I'm with with you on the instanced plot that lacks visibility. But I'm worried they might go the nuclear route. And just change the entire system over and just let the chips fall where they may and not revisit the topic.

I like the emergent community the ward housing brings and would like to keep it that way, I'm with you on instance private plot that lacks a demo timer and visibility.

But when I hear instanced housing, I go "yea not a fan of an entire shift to instanced" But your ask is abit more of something I can get behind.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I'm with with you on the instanced plot that lacks visibility. But I'm worried they might go the nuclear route. And just change the entire system over and just let the chips fall where they may and not revisit the topic.

I like the emergent community the ward housing brings and would like to keep it that way, I'm with you on instance private plot that lacks a demo timer and visibility.

But when I hear instanced housing, I go "yea not a fan of an entire shift to instanced" But your ask is abit more of something I can get behind.

Understandable… I doubt they’d go the route of just scrapping the wards altogether though, whether it’s just because the devs have a fondness for them, or just because a substantial number of the player base would revolt! lol

I just want an alternative that exists as an option, so that bare minimum, everyone gets an actual plot, regardless of server location. But ideally I would like to see them use that as a canvas for further innovation, to see the variety and features of other games’ housing systems in the game I love best.

When I saw Cozy Cabin 4 on the Island (which I still have thanks to the glamour prism feature) with those open air balconies, I was just struck by all the possibilities that instanced could provide, especially in the areas of home design and outdoor decorating, that we will likely never see in the wards. Granted the Island cabins didn’t allow interior customization, but there’s no reason they couldn’t create something similar that would! And you can change the ground, the walkways, etc. independently of the buildings!

Bare minimum for instanced, I would like a regular plot, with the ability to choose the background scenery. But beyond that, the sky’s the limit! Different shapes and sizes and places to call home from any part of Eorzea…

[Aniya_Estlihn]

Square Enix won't add instance housing because they want to chain you to a limited, hard-to-get digital plot so they can easily take $13 from you every single month.

Inaccurate and your join date explains why you are under this misconception. Yoshida and the dev team languished over and debated adding the demolition timers after months and years of players demanding it. It's not something they wanted to do, when asked about it to this day he still doesn't like it. It may benefit Square Enix indirectly, but the reason for the timer is player-borne, exclusively, as the housing issue actually used to be worse than it is now, as houses would never go up for sale. We had to wait until they added new numbered wards or a district every other expansion; or longer, for there to be a chance of anyone getting a house.

If you want to cast blame and point fingers, blame all of us who had absolutely no chance at having housing before you were even playing the game because people would quit and just have their empty status symbol of a plot sit vacant and abandoned for years on end.
We demanded that they do something about squatters who quit and they listened. The demolition timer was the, by their own admission, "imperfect solution."

[AudraFoster]

Instanced housing sucks. Go play ESO a while and you’ll see why. Our neighborhoods are an asset to community.

Are large plots being traded offline now?