WoW's player housing will have no FOMO and private housing wards

[Clockworks]

XIV just need to put instanced housing. Not everyone like neighbours and just want to be able to get a hub for themselves and decorate.

Nope, FFXIV has ward housing and it should stay as such, there are enough games with instanced housing people can go and play.

What would help is to adapt the wards based on usage, Dynamis is a great example, the new servers barely have any houses at all that are used, those should be used somewhere else, take off resources from dead servers, houses aren't attracting that many people to make it worth it, put those houses where housing is extremely scarce (Balmung,Mateus only to name those, there's a lot more).

Everyone should at the very least have a small house.

[genuine_stranger]

Nope, FFXIV has ward housing and it should stay as such, there are enough games with instanced housing people can go and play.

What would help is to adapt the wards based on usage, Dynamis is a great example, the new servers barely have any houses at all that are used, those should be used somewhere else, take off resources from dead servers, houses aren't attracting that many people to make it worth it, put those houses where housing is extremely scarce (Balmung,Mateus only to name those, there's a lot more).

Everyone should at the very least have a small house.

Or… we could just get instanced housing, which would free up plots in the wards for those who actually want to engage with that messy, outdated system of limited public housing.

What’s the argument against implementing instanced housing?

"I like it being limited because I was lucky enough to get a plot and it makes me feel special"? Yeah, no. Screw that.

Wards sound good on paper, but in execution? A disaster. Just take a stroll through any ward and you’ll see mostly empty streets with decorated plots.

Instanced housing would eliminate the need for constant new wards. Honestly, they should just rework apartments into instanced housing at this point.

[Clockworks]

Or… we could just get instanced housing, which would free up plots in the wards for those who actually want to engage with that messy, outdated system of limited public housing.

What’s the argument against implementing instanced housing?

"I like it being limited because I was lucky enough to get a plot and it makes me feel special"? Yeah, no. Screw that.

Wards sound good on paper, but in execution? A disaster. Just take a stroll through any ward and you’ll see mostly empty streets with decorated plots.

Instanced housing would eliminate the need for constant new wards. Honestly, they should just rework apartments into instanced housing at this point.

Instanced housing would eliminate the need for constant new wards.

It really wouldnt, because a majority of people would use instanced housing while waiting to get an actual ward house since the ward system is public and will always be superior to anything instanced. The amount of bids in lotteries would stay close to the same.

"I like it being limited because I was lucky enough to get a plot and it makes me feel special"? Yeah, no. Screw that.

I literally said everyone should get at the very least a small house...

Wards sound good on paper, but in execution? A disaster. Just take a stroll through any ward and you’ll see mostly empty streets with decorated plots.

The same will happen with instanced housing, people will take it just because they can and then a lot will ignore it. The difference is that with ward housing, it makes SE money thanks to auto demo, instanced would not, except if you also want auto demo of instanced houses which might sound okay on paper but people will be very unhappy about it since they'll have to re-do their designs from scratch every time, you cant seriously believe SE will give up all the money from people with ward houses basically locked to the game (except if they want to bid again for months if not years for larges) and get nothing in exchange at all.

[genuine_stranger]

It really wouldnt, because a majority of people would use instanced housing while waiting to get an actual ward house since the ward system is public and will always be superior to anything instanced. The amount of bids in lotteries would stay close to the same.

You’re assuming that most players who want a house actually want it to be in a ward, which just isn’t the case.

People want housing for self-expression. Right now, the only option that allows for that is ward housing, which is why so many bids pile up on a single plot. It’s not because players care about being in a ward, but because it’s the only way to get a personal, customizable space in the game.

If SE gave people another option, the bidding wars would drop significantly. Nobody in their right mind would willingly subject themselves to the current housing system if an alternative existed.

I literally said everyone should get at the very least a small house...

Yes, everyone should have access to a small house. And I’m sure you can guess what my answer to that would be.

The same will happen with instanced housing, people will take it just because they can and then a lot will ignore it. The difference is that with ward housing, it makes SE money thanks to auto demo, instanced would not, except if you also want auto demo of instanced houses which might sound okay on paper but people will be very unhappy about it since they'll have to re-do their designs from scratch every time, you cant seriously believe SE will give up all the money from people with ward houses basically locked to the game (except if they want to bid again for months if not years for larges) and get nothing in exchange at all.

Why should that even be a problem? Both systems can coexist.

Casual players who just want a personal space could use instanced housing, while those who enjoy the neighborhood feel, and willingly subject themselves to SE’s antics, could stick with the wards.

It’s literally a win-win. SE would earn goodwill from the player base, while still keeping the more dedicated players locked into the ward system, which clearly works in their favor.

[Shougun]

It really wouldnt, because a majority of people would use instanced housing while waiting to get an actual ward house since the ward system is public and will always be superior to anything instanced. The amount of bids in lotteries would stay close to the same.



I literally said everyone should get at the very least a small house...



The same will happen with instanced housing, people will take it just because they can and then a lot will ignore it. The difference is that with ward housing, it makes SE money thanks to auto demo, instanced would not, except if you also want auto demo of instanced houses which might sound okay on paper but people will be very unhappy about it since they'll have to re-do their designs from scratch every time, you cant seriously believe SE will give up all the money from people with ward houses basically locked to the game (except if they want to bid again for months if not years for larges) and get nothing in exchange at all.

Hard disagree on that instance vs ward comment. Massively hard. Id much rather have an ESO system than what we have. (Or Wildstar....)

[Clockworks]

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You’re assuming that most players who want a house actually want it to be in a ward, which just isn’t the case.

Instanced housing by its nature would be inferior to ward housing, one is public, one would basically be what islands are and basically be friends only.

People want housing for self-expression. Right now, the only option that allows for that is ward housing, which is why so many bids pile up on a single plot. It’s not because players care about being in a ward, but because it’s the only way to get a personal, customizable space in the game.

People want housing so much because its a limited resource, instanced would be for everyone, a lot people wont care about it because of that, it wont take much pressure off of ward housing because as I said, not only is it hard to get, but it's also simply superior to instanced housing because its public.

If SE gave people another option, the bidding wars would drop significantly. Nobody in their right mind would willingly subject themselves to the current housing system if an alternative existed.

That's very false, the bids would be the exact same or close to the same because of what I mentioned above, ward housing is unique, instanced wouldnt be since everyone would have it.

Yes, everyone should have access to a small house. And I’m sure you can guess what my answer to that would be.

/shrug, housing should be available to everyone, as I said at the very least to have a small house, with the new system coming later this year, people will be able to use medium and large interiors which makes them just as good as bigger plots.

It’s literally a win-win. SE would earn goodwill from the player base

Goodwill doesnt get SE money.

[Eastwall]

Housing is the only way SE can hold hostage subs. They're never going to give that up.

I can see them unsub and go play wow just for housing. This strat of se might backfire soon

[Sho86]

It really wouldnt, because a majority of people would use instanced housing while waiting to get an actual ward house since the ward system is public and will always be superior to anything instanced. The amount of bids in lotteries would stay close to the same.

Actually made me login to the forums, just to give a resounding NO. I would absolutely stick with a personal instance, especially if it was made Rift/Wildstar style for scenic views.

Instanced housing by its nature would be inferior to ward housing, one is public, one would basically be what islands are and basically be friends only.

Bzzt, wrong. Instanced allows so much more for the player to create since its not trying to load an entire neighborhood, where we all have to share the demand. Games that had/have instanced made it easy enough to check out other peoples creations, give a thumbs up which lead to a leader board style ranking in some ways.
I'd argue even BDO's idea of neighborhood style is better thought out (just not fully executed well) if people want a lively area, unlike the 90% dead zones we have.

Giving players a choice is never a bad idea, especially when it can reduce your demand on the servers. They had a PRIME opportunity with island sanctuary which I'm still baffled why they skipped that.

Goodwill doesnt get SE money.

Yes, it does. Games that ignore players altogether rarely stay live long. Given that this is SE's cash cow/lifeline while they blow the money elsewhere, not the best idea to make bad PR.

[Bibine_Bine]

It's insane that we're now in the timeline where WoW is stealing systems from FFXIV and just doing it better.
First follower dungeons, now housing. Holy shit.

[Clockworks]

Actually made me login to the forums, just to give a resounding NO. I would absolutely stick with a personal instance, especially if it was made Rift/Wildstar style for scenic views.





Bzzt, wrong. Instanced allows so much more for the player to create since its not trying to load an entire neighborhood, where we all have to share the demand. Games that had/have instanced made it easy enough to check out other peoples creations, give a thumbs up which lead to a leader board style ranking in some ways.
I'd argue even BDO's idea of neighborhood style is better thought out (just not fully executed well) if people want a lively area, unlike the 90% dead zones we have.

Giving players a choice is never a bad idea, especially when it can reduce your demand on the servers. They had a PRIME opportunity with island sanctuary which I'm still baffled why they skipped that.



Yes, it does. Games that ignore players altogether rarely stay live long. Given that this is SE's cash cow/lifeline while they blow the money elsewhere, not the best idea to make bad PR.

Agree to disagree on most of your points, especially the last one.

SE has shown times and times again they want to keep the ward system, so obviously to them that system is more worth financially than to focus on good will and give up on all the people with houses that are locked to their subscription if they dont want to lose their house.

One gives them money, the other is being "nice" to the community, I'll let you guess which one any company would pick.