FC Housing? What's the point?

[Vivi_Bushido]

So I have a few questions about FC housing for those of you that own one.

What is the point to owning a FC house? Does this do anything for the individual player or the individual FC as a whole besides bragging rights? Like, are there any benefits of any kind for anybody?

If my FC were to get a house, what size is honestly the best option. Cause right now, they're saving up for large, but I personally feel that, that is a complete waste of time and gil.

So again I just wanna know, is saving for a FC large size house a complete waste of time and money? Or are there actually benefits (besides FC bragging rights) from it?

And by benefits, I want to know current benefits, not things schedule to be released. Thank you!

[gornotck]

Owning a house is the only way to grow stuff in a garden, currently.

Whether that's useful or not, it's probably the biggest benefit that isn't a smug sense of superiority and the ability to hold down increasingly rare land plots.

[MythToken]

It's pretty great to be able to go to the market, teleport for rested, repair, buy any crafting material all in one place.
And not have to deal with main city lag or running to the AH or going diff places to buy vendor crafted items, ect.

[HEC]

the ability to hold down increasingly rare land plots.

Really? Last time I've checked a few days ago on numerous servers there is still huge amount of unsold plots everywhere. Those FC who could afford it bougth them months ago, those who couldn't merged to some large ones to do so and that's about it. Do not expect some new large FCs suddenly to stem out and buy out all the plots out there. All fairly new and any curent small FC will struggle for years to save for at least medium (or preferably large) plots ... All those lies and empty promisses by Yoshi about "re-evaluating" the house prices are just showing how much SE does(n't) care about us

[Jeykama]

Don't know about Moogle server, but Balmung is pretty much bought out in Limsa and Gridania shy of a few large and small plots. Bal's not even the most populous server so I imagine it's crowded other places as well.

And don't bullshit about "lies and empty promises." Medium and Small houses are attainable at any FC scale now because there are actually gil fountains in place - an 8-man FC working together can afford a small house just from a few rounds of spiritbinding and selling the proceeds. And large houses are for large FCs, simple as that. And if you have to take out a loan? Smart gardening might get some money back if there's a market for apricot/kukuru seeds or glazenuts/jute on your server.

Anyway FC houses. The FC leader sets the permissions for moving/placing/deleting furniture, as well as who can seed/harvest gardens, so whether the individual player benefits from being able to decorate the house (or their space in the house) is up to the FC. Any member of the FC can utilize the vendor/mender NPCs which are quite useful. And while only people with permissions can seed/harvest, anyone can tend to the garden.

As for large vs. medium size houses, personally I hated the size of large houses. My FC owns a medium and I struggle against the 150-item limit despite things looking cozy - the large is twice as big but only 200 item limit. You do get 3 gardens from a large, though.

[gornotck]

I see...

So is the garden only something the "authorized players" can do set by the FC leader(s)? Or can everyone in the FC garden?

I haven't checked my permissions, but as the god of my FC I can do whatever. As the sole remaining member of my FC, I can garden to my heart's content.
I think it defaults to everyone in the FC, though the FC Master can set permissions, just like everything else in an FC.

Really? [...] ... All those lies and empty promisses by Yoshi about "re-evaluating" the house prices are just showing how much SE does(n't) care about us

I'm sensing some hostility toward the Great Betrayer, but I was mostly joking about the 'increasingly rare plots' bit, though it's true as there's not likely to be more added any time soon.

[CYoung187]

TBH right now a large house is not worth it. However housing will continue to be improved upon and if you buy a smaller house then better amenities get released for larger houses you will want to upgrade. By getting a large house now, you won't have to worry about saving up again. I'd go for whatever is truly attainable.

My favorite part of the house is that for a cheap tele you are steps away from everything you need. (MB, summoning bell, repairs, etc)

[Souljacker]

My FC has a lot of fun in our house. We only have a small one right now, but we have the garden going and I'm looking forward to the individual player housing being added. I do think that maybe the gardening aspect shouldn't have been implemented as a "guild" thing. It wasn't in XI, and I have heard of some guilds that have "discussions" over what to grow and who is handling the garden. So far we have escaped any such conflicts, but whenever you have an aspect of the game with the potential for large profits... you run the risk of big conflicts by adding more people to the mix.

So in closing, I really like the housing. It makes my FC feel like it's not just a linkshell to take on and off. We are a real presence in Balmung - a real permanent fixture.

[MicahZerrshia]

There is no point.

In my exp there is one person in the fc who wants to use it as their own personal housing. They don't want to let anyone else move anything, do anything, change anything or touch the house in any way they don't want you to, yet they expect everyone to pay for and contribute to the house and use fc funds to pay for furniture immediately after an update when its at its most expensive.

FC housing means really nothing but bragging rights and a way to entice potential members. Total waste of time and money.

[SeleneVenizelos]

Our plot (30, Mist) is right next to a market board and is a stone's throw from the shore where there's a few vendors selling a few items that no other vendors sell. We have a beautiful Leviathan water feature in the garden (now with added glow), a delivery box that jingles a simplified version of the Moggle Mog chorus when you have a mail and ample foliage and pretty lights to make our yard attractive to onlookers and residents alike. The views from our plot are, in this humble homeowner's opinion, second to none in all of Mist. Our gardening patches are an excellent source of money for those with priveleges to plant and pick.

Inside our luxuriously decorated estate we have a summoning bell, two vendors, a mender and ample room to sit down, relax, talk, chill out or craft. We have a wide variety of plush, novelty and trophy furnishings to make our company home really feel like a hall of gathering for our members.

Despite all this, only 6/41 of my FC ever hang out at the house. Even with the above plus the drastically lower load times in Mist than a city people just don't care. Why? Because housing gives no tangible reward to anyone except those that can garden. Even then, that is temporary until the market is inevitably flooded by the few items that make money. I really like our house. I paid for 80% of the cost and decorated it myself. It pains me to say that because the majority of people in this game are so end game orientated they simply don't have time to appreciate what's good about housing. "It doesn't give me anything!", "What do I get from it?", "It's not my house anyway!" are just a handful of some of the phrases I've heard.

It depends on your attitude and goals in this game whether housing gives you anything.