Housing Ideas and Feature Requests

[Himiko_Tani]

Citations in separate reply:
City-State-Specific Retainers: Introduce retainers as wandering NPCs in housing wards, dressed in region-appropriate attire (e.g., Lominsan pirates in The Mists, Gridanian botanists in Lavender Beds). These NPCs could offer localized mini-quests (e.g., delivering goods to neighbors) or sell exclusive furniture themed to their city-state1719.
Dynamic Events: Implement weekly events like market days in The Goblet (Ul’dah) or seasonal festivals in Empyreum (Ishgard), leveraging assets from existing city-state festivals. For example:
Limsa Lominsa: Naval parades with player-crafted ship decorations19.
Shirogane: Moon-viewing ceremonies with interactive tea-serving animations8.
Architectural Customization: Allow players to apply façade styles from other regions (e.g., Ishgardian stonework in Lavender Beds) while retaining the district’s core layout. This addresses player desires for personalized exteriors without requiring new wards18. At least, revisit the original wards to improve graphics, remove the spikey rocks around plots in Lavender Beds, add more vegetation between plots in Goblet and Mist, etc.
Quality-of-Life Improvements
Retainer Integration: Enable players to assign retainers as vendors, guards, or gardeners in their yards. FC houses could deploy squadron members as patrols17.
Shared Social Spaces: Add public gardens, bathhouses, or crafting hubs in each ward’s subdivision, using the FFXIV Fête system9 to encourage community interaction.
Ward Expansion: Short term, add 6 new wards per district in 7.2, prioritizing regions with high player density9. Longer term, invest in the socially grouped wards, based on FC or on-line status (allow players to choose a preference).
Progressive Housing Upgrades
Tiered Renovation System: Allow players to upgrade house interiors/exteriors via gil and craftable materials.
Furniture Limit Increases: Raise limits by 50% (e.g., 800 indoor slots for larges) and add vertical stacking for shelves/walls to optimize space10.
Auto-Demolition Adjustments
Extend the demolition timer from 45 to 90 days for all housing types16.
Introduce a “vacation mode” (14 days/year) to pause timers without requiring login.
New Housing Areas
Old Sharlayan
Theme: Academic enclaves with floating libraries and starlit observatories.
Lecture halls for FC crafting workshops.
Astronomy-themed furniture (e.g., orreries, star charts)15.
Accessibility: Unlocked after completing the Endwalker MSQ, avoiding spoilers for new players715.
Solution Nine (Dawntrail)
Theme: Futuristic cyberpunk towers with neon-lit terraces.
Interchangeable “holographic” walls that mimic other regions.
Mini-games like arcade cabinets or racing courses15.
Comparative Analysis & Player Feedback Integration
WoW’s Neighborhood System: Adopt persistent neighborhoods (50 plots) to maintain community while allowing instanced private zones12.

[Himiko_Tani]

Research Citations:
https://nosygamer.blogspot.com/2023/...l-fantasy.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...changed_in_71/
https://www.ign.com/wikis/ffxiv/FFXI..._Build_a_House
https://steamcommunity.com/app/39210...7784144076992/
https://mmorpg.gg/mmo-best-player-housing/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9EmrnFTpck
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ial_area_when/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwQp64dMCYw
https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Player_Housing
https://www.pcgamer.com/it-was-ff14-...r-at-fan-fest/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTgZ6BOJED4
https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...ook-at-Housing
https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Ala_Mhigo_(Nation)
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/461015
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._housing_next/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._hostages_and/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...inersstewards/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvCuY_pm5sQ
https://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-1...gane-empyreum/
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/481661
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/446412
https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comm...ing_right_now/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ousing_crisis/
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/465447
https://overgear.com/guides/ffxiv/ffxiv-housing-guide/
https://www.ign.com/wikis/ffxiv/Retainers
https://www.mmobomb.com/top-10-mmorpgs-player-housing
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/464387
https://www.pinterest.com/noidea1620/ffxiv-housing/
https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comm...using_in_mmos/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...R-CsMwA-WGAA9K
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...sizes_in_ff14/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...sing_district/

[Himiko_Tani]

Research Citations pt 2:
https://www.mmo-champion.com/showthread.php?p=51290730
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxivhomeandgarden/
https://www.thegamer.com/final-fanta...ide-retainers/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbzfrwSBMoI
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../housing_land/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU-Ie-ReZ5w
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._of_ala_mhigo/
https://vrykerion.com/ffxiv-stormblood-story-summary/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...utiful_i_hope/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QsWrvrESvI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_N_Rzd3caA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0QjrlYo2Yw
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...tion-Ala-Mhigo
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...926bda296b64a2
https://x.com/hgxiv/status/1462074295266557966
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI4QS0-m1XQ
https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/L...'s_Resolve
https://www.pinterest.com/ideas/ffxi.../930549480259/
https://astralflamesblog.wordpress.c...ns-story-text/

[Kytrin]

This is an interesting list, and parts of it I wholly agree with, but parts of it have me a bit baffled...

City-State-Specific Retainers: Introduce retainers as wandering NPCs in housing wards, dressed in region-appropriate attire (e.g., Lominsan pirates in The Mists, Gridanian botanists in Lavender Beds). These NPCs could offer localized mini-quests (e.g., delivering goods to neighbors) or sell exclusive furniture themed to their city-state1719.

An interesting idea, but I'm not sure I'd label them as Retainers. More like something akin to the Itinerant Moogles. Still, the idea of mini-quests or some flavor of weekly/patch housing themed thing to do would be very nice! That, I think, is one of the reasons the neighborhoods feel so empty is there's not really anything to do except attend to your own house and maybe poke your nose in your neighbor's.

Dynamic Events: Implement weekly events like market days in The Goblet (Ul’dah) or seasonal festivals in Empyreum (Ishgard), leveraging assets from existing city-state festivals. For example:
Limsa Lominsa[/B]: Naval parades with player-crafted ship decorations19.
Shirogane: Moon-viewing ceremonies with interactive tea-serving animations8.

Ambitious, but I love the concept. I hope we can get something like this in the future!

Architectural Customization: Allow players to apply façade styles from other regions (e.g., Ishgardian stonework in Lavender Beds) while retaining the district’s core layout. This addresses player desires for personalized exteriors without requiring new wards18. At least, revisit the original wards to improve graphics, remove the spikey rocks around plots in Lavender Beds, add more vegetation between plots in Goblet and Mist, etc.

I'm not sure I follow your logic here... we can already use any exterior/interior style in our houses?

Quality-of-Life Improvements
Retainer Integration: Enable players to assign retainers as vendors, guards, or gardeners in their yards. FC houses could deploy squadron members as patrols17.
Shared Social Spaces: Add public gardens, bathhouses, or crafting hubs in each ward’s subdivision, using the FFXIV Fête system9 to encourage community interaction.

I love the idea of having player retainers to do things other than stand around in the yard. Not sure I follow you on the patrols, but I like the spirit of the idea.

We already have some shared social spaces such as the pool in the Goblet and the bathhouse in the Firmament, but I agree that it would be nice to have more, and more variety. I particularly like the idea of a crafting hub and implementing a fete system in places other than Ishgard has potential if done correctly.

Ward Expansion: Short term, add 6 new wards per district in 7.2, prioritizing regions with high player density9. Longer term, invest in the socially grouped wards, based on FC or on-line status (allow players to choose a preference).

Not following your logic here at all... what would socially grouped wards even do, and how would that alleviate the problems high population servers have with too little housing?

Progressive Housing Upgrades
Tiered Renovation System: Allow players to upgrade house interiors/exteriors via gil and craftable materials.
Furniture Limit Increases: Raise limits by 50% (e.g., 800 indoor slots for larges) and add vertical stacking for shelves/walls to optimize space10.

Blessedly, they're working on letting us upgrade our interiors already, though it may be closer to 8.0 before we see that change. I doubt they'll ever let us upgrade our exteriors (even though it would be nice) simply due to size limitations on housing plots. To do that they would need to either make all plots large enough to hold a large sized house or implement some manner of instanced housing where it doesn't matter how much we upgrade since it won't affect our neighbors.

APARTMENTS on the other hand... gods yes please, I am BEGGING you Square, let me upgrade my apartment to something better than a studio! Even just a 1 bedroom, 1 bath place would be a vast improvement!

Fully support your idea for limit increases! They've already said they're going to do that and I am praying with all my might that they not only do that in 7.2, but they do so by at least that much if not more!

Auto-Demolition Adjustments
Extend the demolition timer from 45 to 90 days for all housing types16.
Introduce a “vacation mode” (14 days/year) to pause timers without requiring login.

Yes, yes, yes, yes! Extended demolition timer is a NEED!

I like the idea of a vacation mode, though I'd bump it up to a whole month since it seems like everywhere other than the US is civilized enough to offer 4-8 weeks or so of vacation...

New Housing Areas
Old Sharlayan
Theme: Academic enclaves with floating libraries and starlit observatories.
Lecture halls for FC crafting workshops.
Astronomy-themed furniture (e.g., orreries, star charts)15.
Accessibility: Unlocked after completing the Endwalker MSQ, avoiding spoilers for new players715.
Solution Nine (Dawntrail)
Theme: Futuristic cyberpunk towers with neon-lit terraces.
Interchangeable “holographic” walls that mimic other regions.
Mini-games like arcade cabinets or racing courses15.

Wholesale love these ideas and themes! Square take notes!

Comparative Analysis & Player Feedback Integration
WoW’s Neighborhood System: Adopt persistent neighborhoods (50 plots) to maintain community while allowing instanced private zones12.

Clarity needed here. WoW's system IS our current ward system with the difference that a guild can create a private neighborhood. Are you suggesting that the current wards be made public wards only and FCs have the option to create private wards? Given the problem we have with FCs buying up wards wholesale as is... how would we prevent someone with 20 accounts from creating 20 private wards and (probably) crashing the servers?

Also, how would we upgrade from 30 plots to 50? They've mapped the area out pretty tightly already.

Regardless, there's still some good stuff here, and I really hope we see some of it in the future!

[Tahli]

Just a vague idea, but I thought it'd be neat if they maybe added an extra subdivision onto wards that had a different look and layout, and was a unique theme related to the region of each housing district.

Lavender Beds: A new section of neighborhood themed around the Sylphlands, with Sylph houses dotted around.

Mist: A pirate cove with Sahagin-based theme + giant coral reefs, etc.

The Goblet: Maybe a section of neighborhood more Sil'dih-themed, honoring its memory and including Amalj'aa presence. (Relevant to Sil'dihn Subterrane variant dungeon)

Shirogane: A new section that's underwater, using the same "underwater bubble" system that Sui-no-Sato and the Kojin settlement use.

Empyreum: A section higher up based on the Sea of Clouds, with floating sky islands.