Personal Housing Server Limitations and the Future of FFXIV Development

[Roris]

They keep saying how the game has 2.3 million accounts but how many of those are actively subscribed to this day? I get they want to play it as safe as they can and not invest too much on infrastructure and pretty much anything else so they spread everything as thin as they can to reduce costs and increase profits, it's understandable after 1.0 failed for being rushed into the market. You'd think though with this so called great success the game has had they'd have enough resources by now to do a bit more and go the extra mile, and indeed they might be currently allocating that money and resources towards the expansion. They always seem to bank big, almost as an excuse, on the next big thing on the roadmap. It's happened since 1.X, the ARR alpha and betas, PS4 version, the entire 2.x patch series, etc.

Still they have the real sub numbers they always refuse to concretely state, so most likely there could be a real decline in subscriptions for them to be avoiding spending more on server infrastructure, understandable for all MMOs of this type really.

[BlackHaloJT]

They keep saying how the game has 2.3 million accounts but how many of those are actively subscribed to this day? I get they want to play it as safe as they can and not invest too much on infrastructure and pretty much anything else so they spread everything as thin as they can to reduce costs and increase profits, it's understandable after 1.0 failed for being rushed into the market. You'd think though with this so called great success the game has had they'd have enough resources by now to do a bit more and go the extra mile, and indeed they might be currently allocating that money and resources towards the expansion. They always seem to bank big, almost as an excuse, on the next big thing on the roadmap. It's happened since 1.X, the ARR alpha and betas, PS4 version, the entire 2.x patch series, etc.

They are bragging 2.5 now lol. Was 2.3 and before that 2mil. But I agree with the OP on this. I seen it coming since launch and the way they are taking direction with the game. Maybe SE "safe" approach isn't all just lack of content and complexity.

[KarstenS]

They keep saying how the game has 2.3 million accounts but how many of those are actively subscribed to this day?

From what was officially told some earlier, this is the number of subscribers, not the number of accounts.

[Quesse]

The issue I have is that its suddenly my problem that servers can't handle the load.

I can't enjoy housing content because they felt the need to both limit capacity and jack the prices to astronomic levels.

How should this be my problem??? Just fix it!

I just want to garden >.<

[Alberel]

I have never played an MMO that had a hard cap on housing availability like this.

The entire POINT of instanced wards as we have now is that the server just creates more of them as the others fill up. I've played several MMOs that use the same housing system as we have here and new wards were created automatically as older wards filled up. There was never a limit on capacity.

It's deeply troubling that this game has such severe server capacity limitations when every other MMO on the market has no such problems.

[AttacKat]

So what are the possibilities for the true reasons why Personal Housing is so limited?

The real issue: same mistake they had with retainers back in 1.x, way too much cosmetic junk, and not enough real meaningful items with in a zone.

Remember, a zone is limited to a few thousand items, therefore, 30 plots per ward, each house with 20~40 items, each item with many details, your build details. So even let's say it is an avg of 50 "items" per plot, you are already looking at 1500 items per ward, plus other "accessories".

Yeah, no way we will see much more unless they serious expand the "housing" servers that will sit empty most of the time due to item limits per zone.

[Makado]

If they continue to hold back and limit my play because they don't want to pay to have servers to accommodate us properly, I'll be quitting. They are essentially saying "we don't want to fork the cash over to allow you all to enjoy the game, so we are going to nickel and dime our way to maybe having most people continue to play."

No thanks SE, that just isn't how you keep people happy. And now we know this is how you are going to look at things in the future. I had faith, and these statements are not making me believe. At all.

[Kayo]

Thats why instanced personal housing is best. For some reason Yoshi is being incredibly stubborn about these big neighborhoods like its going to ever simulate a real one. Like we're all going to walk out every morning to get the paper and chat it up with our neighbor who was mowing the lawn or walking his chocobo. No ... we go there to farm, modify the place, or log out... thats it. There is no point in having things the way they are.

They shouldve just made us buy or quest for some special aetheryte crystal that ports us to our own special instanced land plot. From there we can buy any and all the architecture we please, set up farms, crafting stalls, etc. If this sounds familiar, its because its from Wildstar (which probably got much of it from other games as well).

Instead hes stuck on some virtual neighborhood no one really cares about that only takes up extra hardware resources on their part.

[Cidel]

Thats why instanced personal housing is best. For some reason Yoshi is being incredibly stubborn about these big neighborhoods like its going to ever simulate a real one.

...

Instead hes stuck on some virtual neighborhood no one really cares about that only takes up extra hardware resources on their part.

You bring up a pretty valid point too. Is it going to kill us if we don't have a neighborhood to run around in? Probably not, but I don't speak for everyone. I hardly even run around the housing ward area now that I'm "over it," and I don't even poke my head into other people's houses (nor do I care to) unless someone in my FC encourages it. To the best of my knowledge, no one is super "neighborly" with each other and it seemed like each FC keeps to themselves... Sure, there's a nice scenic spot in wards here and there, but I'd give it up if it helped for availability.

[Linka]

You bring up a pretty valid point too. Is it going to kill us if we don't have a neighborhood to run around in? Probably not, but I don't speak for everyone. I hardly even run around the housing ward area now that I'm "over it," and I don't even poke my head into other people's houses (nor do I care to) unless someone in my FC encourages it. To the best of my knowledge, no one is super "neighborly" with each other and it seemed like each FC keeps to themselves... Sure, there's a nice scenic spot in wards here and there, but I'd give it up if it helped for availability.

I wouldnt mind if i had to enter my property via some gate. You still could end up on your plot with your garden etc, and your friends could still visit you. If there is no other way to bring ppl their houses and gardens then that i could live with that