I mean, you’d definitely think a company like SE has the money to make something like that genuinely possible.
And yet, they literally can’t even afford to make ‘normal’ versions of content lol. Where exactly is all they money make going? What is my sub even for at this point?
I’ve long supported the idea of adding an instanced option to supplement the scarcity of ward housing. One, so everyone has an actual plot, and two, because there is so much more that can be done with instanced areas. Imagine if you had a regular housing plot in an instanced area… like Island Sanctuary showed us, you could expect to be able to place a lot more outdoor furnishings than you’d ever get in the wards! And the potential for innovation is limitless… beyond the basic housing plot, they could create different backdrops for your housing scenery, along the lines of how they add new house skins periodically. Or even make a brand new housing-lite feature of custom instanced spaces like campsites, cave homes, big estates with multiple dwellings… etc. Other MMOs that don’t even require a sub have these features.
As others have said, a pity system isn’t really going to help you, because outside of mass demos like we had the last two rounds, everyone but the winner is going to get the same amount of pity and go into the next round with it, so no one really gets an edge.
Relocators shouldn’t be locked out either. We already lost our priority to snap up any available plot, after being told for years to “just get anything you can now, you can always relocate later.” They could’ve kept that and still allowed it to work only during results period, but they didn’t. I’ve been trying for the same spot for almost 3 years now and I lose to sprouts almost every round already, even without any first-timer pity or priority system. It’s all random now, so it’s more “fair,” but nothing makes up for some people just having horrible RNG luck, first-timer or not.
An instanced system where I could choose my background scenery would take me out of the wards entirely and free up a plot for someone who wants one. I just want to decorate and create my own little space. They never did anything with those cloud servers they had us test out. (And as an added bonus I had the best connection with those than I ever had with the existing servers!)
I understand OPs anger and agree with it 100%. I didnt used to be an instanced house advocate, but at this point it feels like that may be the only way to let people out of this endless torture. Plus the whole.."we need wards to have a neighborhood feel" argument..it just doesnt stand anymore. At all. I spend 90% of my time in my ward. It's only ever me and one other person. No one uses their houses. Everytime someone wins, they run around with glee outside for the first few days, and then never use it again and stubbornly show up once a month to step in it and keep hoarding it. That's it. There's no neighborhood feeling, there's no sense of community-FFXIV housing is the AirBnB of MMO housing. You can't get a friend to be your neighbor to save your life, it's just soulless bots buying up properties to say they have one while never using it, never hanging around-keeping your entire ward dead and ugly the whole entire time. Literal ghost towns-what's even the point lol.
While I'm here, I'm going to be a thorn in Yoshida's side and point out the obvious. He has failed to deliver more wards.
Here we have a summary of when Housing first started, as well as a chart of how often more wards and plots were implemented.
To pick up where that person left off;
2.1 14 Dec 2013 3 5 1 450
2.3 7 Jul 2014 3 6 1 540
2.38 16 Sep 2014 3 8 1 720
2.4 27 Oct 2014 3 8 2 1440
3.3 6 Jun 2016 3 12 2 2160
4.1 10 Oct 2017 4 12 2 2880
4.2 5 Feb 2018 4 18 2 4320
5.1 10 Oct 2019
5.35 15 Sep 2020
6.3 26 Dec 2022
So, in 2013, 2014 (3 times), 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022 new wards were added.
What happened to adding houses in 2023, 2024, and 2025? Looking at the previous consistency, it was just about every single year.
What happened that made them not add any wards for 3 years straight? I don't want to hear about COVID, that's irrelevant. I don't care, I'm not listening to that. I'm not listening to "well, we added foundation housing-" I don't care. They're lazy. 3 years??? What's the excuse. Now I'm not satisfied hearing whatever upcoming changes, I want to know what's going on that the game is this behind and this comfortable with being a disappointment now.
You need the players to make that system work. Housing enthusiast are a minority. Most other players are just gonna decorate it and move on. And given there's no reason to be in the ward unless you want to be out there.
If you had a ward, full players who enjoyed housing and actively use the system it wouldnt be a ghost town.
If the players don't use their houses then they aren't truly that interested in it. They wanted a plot because plots are hard to come by but once they obtain it they realized that they don't really care past tinkering with the system for a little while.
If you had several housing enthusiasts. Venues and hangout spots. The wards would be very lively. But instead plots are mostly gotten by those with no long term interest in housing
I kind of look at it and go if they change it to an instant system.Nothing's really going to change.It's gonna settle right back into where it already is. Those who don't care about housing are still not going to visit it. Those who like housing are still going to be using it. Who prefer to hang out in the hub are still gonna prefer the hubs
Does not take away the fact that they need to fix it, because as it stands... "Those who like housing are still going to be using it" except a lot of those who would use it CAN'T within the current system because of people who like to horde things like housing plots because of how rare they are. take away the 'rarity' and the horders will stop hording them which will ALSO reduce load on the system overall.
I agree with you in part. I would like them to tackle the level 7 Fcs that own plots to merely sit on. Then remove the mixed ward designation. It's only making it easier for dummy fcs to buy them and sit on it.
I disagree on the "cant" part. But it's because you define housing a little differently than I define it. As I would define housing as the ability to decorate a space.
But, i'm very much a fan of doubling triple and quadrupleing quintopoling the wards, cant they do it? I cant say. And either currently either then cant, or that's not on the priority list at the moment. Idk im not systems engineer or anything, just my my idea of what could be goin on.
True it would make them a given, and it'll just lose that mysticism and that allure about them. I do think having that feeling on prestege or mysticism is good for the game in some ways. Though it comes with its own set of drawbacks.
My solution would be to add more wards. Of course not every single player is going to be able to get a plot. But it's just another carrot on a stick to chase.in a game all about chasing carrots.
"On a distance island, far away from civilization.."
SandIslandExpansev2.carrd.co
A hope is that bright light burning within each and everyone of us!
I remember at the LA Fan Fest when Yoshida said something akin to "...and I've managed to sort out expanded housing item limits for everyone! Who's excited for that?" and the crowd was pretty muted in their response. At that point I kind of said "oh, no - he was excited, the crowd isn't - he's going to see that as housing upgrades not being a priority." And that seems to be how this has played out, to some extent.
It made me wonder, though, how much of that muted audience response was just down to people at the Fan Fest not being able to get houses to begin with, or being angry at the state of the system on their servers.
A hope is that bright light burning within each and everyone of us!
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