Why FFXIV’s Housing System Is Failing Its Players, and Why It Must Change

[s32ialx]

Small corrections:
Snip

You're absolutely right that apartment buildings come with shared amenities like chocobo stables, summoning bells, and marketboards. But these are communal utilities, not customizable features. The stable outside an apartment building is not the same as owning one on your personal plot:

• You can’t decorate or place the stable yourself
• You can’t control access or personalize its use
• You can’t integrate it into your outdoor design

So while technically available, it’s a limited and impersonal version of what plot owners enjoy.

On FC Workshops and Instanced Housing

I agree that FC workshops are tied to FC plots, and private estates don’t have them. But that’s exactly the problem, access to workshops is locked behind housing scarcity. If instanced housing were implemented, it could easily include workshop access for FCs, with safeguards to prevent abuse.

As for the concern about RMT bots exploiting workshops: they already do. Bots farm gil through gathering, crafting, and even housing resale schemes. Denying legitimate players access to features out of fear of bot abuse is punishing the wrong group. The solution is better bot detection and moderation, not withholding content from the community.
Multiboxing bots bidding on houses, and then selling them.
Bots buying housing.

On Auto-Demolition and Player Requests

Yes, auto-demolition was introduced to free up inactive plots, but that doesn’t mean it’s fair or humane in its current form. Players asked for housing access, not punitive timers that erase thousands of hours of effort. And while you agree the possibility of requesting extensions, there is no formal system for this. GMs rarely intervene, and players facing medical emergencies or mental health crises are left with no recourse.

The system needs:

• A grace period for emergencies
• An opt-in preservation option
• A way to pause demolition for verified cases

This isn’t about entitlement, it’s about compassion.

Apartments and shared stables are better than nothing, but they’re not a substitute for true housing. And defending the current system by citing bot abuse or technical limitations only reinforces the need for a complete overhaul, one that prioritizes player well-being, creativity, and fairness.


I think we both want a better FFXIV, we just see different paths to get there, and to make it perfectly clear with your statement that you don't think FCs (or anyone, specially private estates) should be given a workshop for free. I don't recall saying any of this had to be free?

[Shistar]

The stable outside an apartment building is not the same as owning one on your personal plot:

• You can’t decorate or place the stable yourself
• You can’t control access or personalize its use
• You can’t integrate it into your outdoor design
• You can’t use it for gardening or crossbreeding, which is exclusive to estate plots

The stables in apartments are better than the ones you can place in your own plot because you don't have to waste an item slot or any of your own resources obtaining and placing it, if someone else cleans it you also benefit from it. Unless you're strategically placing your stable on top of your crops so your chocobos can "fertilize" your crops in your imagination, I don't know what that last point has to do with everything else... they're two different things that never interact with each other. The only customization stables can have is dyeing them, and there's generally no point in placing a chocobo stables if you are in an FC that already has them or have an apartment, it's just a waste of item slots for the majority of players. Of course, they can choose to place it if they want, but it's not the smartest thing to do imho. Specially since it has very limited uses, in a system that is largely outdated nowadays. And this is coming from someone who has trained multiple chocobos.

I think we both want a better FFXIV, we just see different paths to get there, and to make it perfectly clear with your statement that you don't think FCs (or anyone, specially private estates) should be given a workshop for free. I don't recall saying any of this had to be free?

I generally agree with your point, I'm just making corrections because many of the things you're saying are flat out wrong and are easy to prove as such... if you're making a post like this, it's a good idea to double check that everything you're saying is correct before posting, or at least correcting the information if you find out you made a mistake for the future readers.



"For free" in the sense that if all FCs have access to a house, then all FCs will simply have a workshop because it's dirt cheap to build one. If you have the gil to get even a small house, you absolutely have the gil to make a workshop or will have it very soon. I understand not wanting to block players from engaging with the content, but you're also making it extremely easy for RMT bots to do their thing if you just enable it as it is. Just because it's already happening doesn't mean you should let it run rampant and make it even easier for them to do so, quite the opposite.


Instanced housing for personal estates, I'm all for it. I don't care what people do with their personal houses. For FCs, the system will have to be much, much more strict about who can make and maintain an FC and the requirements for a workshop should be even stricter. A real group of players would be able to meet them realistically, but it'd be enough of a bother for bots to have to shell out more money and time maintaining this stuff. Or you know, they could actually crack down on them harder, but that's not really our business unfortunately lol if the appropriate safeguards to prevent abuse are put in, again I don't care what people do with their houses, I hope they have fun! But this is SE we're talking about; they'd sooner remove the workshop than prevent bots from exploiting it without having players face the repercussions...

[s32ialx]

The stables in apartments are better than the ones you can place in your own plot because you don't have to waste an item slot or any of your own resources obtaining and placing it,

Ha, well clearly I was getting my wires crossed in anxiety thinking about crops and plots and misreading land permissions, And since I've never really looked too much into stables or FC stables I figured you could do Chocobo breeding for the Gold Saucer or something more unique. I agree, accuracy is essential when pushing for reform. I’ve acknowledged that one of my earlier points was off, and I appreciate you helping to keep the conversation grounded.

But even with that, the core issue remains unchanged:

• Plot-based stables allow personal placement, creative integration into your outdoor layout, and the ability to control access, none of which apply to apartment stables.
• The ability to choose what goes in your space and where is a huge part of why personal housing matters to so many players, even when the functional difference is minor.
• You can help care for your friends or FC members Chocobos in a personal or FC stable. At least from my understanding how the permissions work at least?.

Calling something a “waste” because it isn’t functionally optimal misses the point for players who care more about expression than efficiency. FFXIV isn’t just a game about systems, it’s a game about stories, imagination, and customization. That includes the freedom to use space in ways that aren’t strictly utilitarian.

And above all, this thread isn’t just about stables. It’s about mental health, compassion, and how the current housing policies, especially auto-demolition, fail players who step away to care for themselves. That’s what I came here to advocate for, and that remains my focus.

If you have the gil to get even a small house, you absolutely have the gil to make a workshop or will have it very soon. I understand not wanting to block players from engaging with the content, but you're also making it extremely easy for RMT bots to do their thing if you just enable it as it is. Just because it's already happening doesn't mean you should let it run rampant and make it even easier for them to do so, quite the opposite.

You're right that workshops are relatively cheap once a house is secured. But the real barrier isn’t the gil, it’s housing availability. If FCs can’t get a plot, they’re locked out of workshop content entirely. That’s why many players advocate for detaching workshops from housing, or making them accessible through instanced systems.

As for RMT bots: yes, they’re a problem. But punishing legitimate players by withholding features isn’t the solution. The better path is implementing safeguards, like:

• Requiring FC rank or member count to unlock workshop access
• Adding cooldowns or contribution thresholds for workshop projects
• Monitoring suspicious activity more aggressively

These ideas have already been floated in community discussions, and they strike a balance between accessibility and abuse prevention.
"The real fix to the housing crisis."
Why are workshops and extra rooms FC-exclusive?

The heart of my original post was about mental health, and how auto-demolition punishes players who step away to care for themselves. Whether it’s a solo player or an FC leader, no one should lose their home because they needed time to heal.

So while I welcome corrections and deeper discussion, I hope we can keep the spotlight on the bigger picture: building a housing system that’s fair, compassionate, and resilient, not just technically functional.