Will inactive FC and unsubbed player plots ever be relinquished?

[Gillionaire]

I don't craft or spirit bond or anything

Well, that's why you had trouble buying a house in the first place.. You think people enjoy killing the same group of mobs for hours on end to make some gil?
I'm sure some enjoy it more than others, but grind is a grind.
just spiritbonding for 45 minutes will get you 11 materia, with 10% chance at a tier 4. I understand there are casual players, but even if you're casual players, how are you buying the furniture to furnish your house in the first place? The money has to come from somewhere.

Why? This is my hobby, I put a lot of time into gathering the gil for the house, it is not just something that will spontaneously leave my interests if I am left without internet or stable access to a computer for a few months. I would be very disappointed to see when things in my life got under control that everything I had enjoyed previously was gone.

That's why they should implement house sales, then you can sell your house before you go on a hiatus and hopefully buy a new one when you return to the game.

[Verdan]

They could just, like, make the housing system infinitely better by making it more accessible and doing away with the ridiculous "limited supply".

But whatever; I don't really care at all because I am never ever going to be able to afford even the smallest rinky-dink little hovel.

Auto-creating districts when the lots are either full of approach full is the best course of action. Making them limited means that eventually server plots will fill up, as is the case on Balmung and others. This is an untenable system, and must be changed when server stability allows for it.

[Gillionaire]

I understand you're on Balmung, one of the most notoriously packed places to buy a house, but automatically adding extra plots would just lead to people taking the prime plots and it'll lead to even more desolate neighborhoods.

i.e. If somebody really wanted a mansion plot and the newest ward had a couple plots left, he could just buy them up, occupy it with empty occupants (i.e. alts, or inactive lv 6 FC etc.) then move on to the next ward and take his own house of choosing.

I think the divisions need more houses to begin with. I like the design and how nice it looks, they're like vacation houses. But only having 30 in a ward barely lets you meet any neighbors. I wouldn't mind a little more of a human farm type suburban housing plans that we have in real life. Sure the houses don't look like much on the outside, but it's the inside that counts right? and by having more than 2 or 3 houses near our vicinity, we can have people actually come visit etc.

[Verdan]

Neighborhoods being desolate isn't going to be solved by limiting the amount of people who can buy a house. I honestly think they've done all they could to make the neighborhood a place where people should gather to craft, and they're still barren on my server every time I've dragged my homeless self into one to access the special vendors. Adding more houses to districts could change things, but restricting housing has not made for vibrant neighborhoods.

And honestly, so what if people use dummies to buy up lots and spawn new districts? It's better than what we've got now, where some people straight can't buy houses and some people can't get the cool lots they want. In a game where everyone has their own gathering nodes, the game design should push for freedom and availability rather than restrictions on things. With 4 million subs and an expansion on the way, making housing limited will frustrate new and returning players by cutting access to a part of the game they might really like to see, and that significant development resources have been spent on.

I'd also like to note that Balmung is not packed, it is FULL. I cannot buy a house unless some profiteer decides they'll relinquish their lot. This is a borked state of affairs, and it's possible as the game grows that it will be a situation more servers encounter. Limiting the districts is a move I understand if you're trying to avoid server fires, but it is not a design decision I think is tenable, wise, fair, fun, or fits in a game like this.

[Sakuraluna]

I personally hope they will do something like this, but with a pretty reasonable time-frame for being logged off. If, say, your account is completely unsubbed for six months or more, relinquish any houses that characters on that account might own. If you take a break for six months then all you'd have to do is sub for part of that time in order to keep the house, but if a player cancels a sub and doesn't return at all within half a year then it's probable that they aren't coming back or aren't interested enough in the game to be effected by not owning a personal house. But as long as they're allowed to collect their items if they do return and maybe even some amount of the cost returned to them then I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

Stretch it out to 9 months if people are in such a wad about losing their house, but honestly I think that even if you're that concerned about losing housing, you can at least sub for a month or two in the course of half a year even if you don't want to play or are not able to access the game for whatever reason. It would at least give players a way to hang on to what they've worked for, and weed out the ones that really aren't interested in continuing to play so that those on crowded servers who really want a house can have a chance at them too.

[Titor]

Also I really think this would be more of a hassle than it would be a benefit. Assuming you did relinquish it after 9 months, how much would that actually effect? Would opening a few plots really be worth it? Do we really think that in these time frames SE cannot get better servers?

I do not think there would be as much of a mass-exodus relinquishing benefit as some people have in mind. It would maybe be two or three houses in each residential area (mist, LB, and goblet) every 9 months, which would get bought up near-instantly and lock those plots out for another 9 months. There will not be a constant rolling over of houses every day for your picking and choosing.

This is not the solution. Better servers for housing, and dynamic wards, are the solution.

[Nirokun]

I don't think they should ever resort to punishing people or FC's who have bought houses. I think their resources would be better used on making more housing available by providing more houses, not taking them from owners.

Yes, there are people and FC's without houses. Yes there are people and FC's with houses who no longer log on. There are also people (and possibly FC's) who, due to whatever RL circumstances, have to unsubscribe for a period of time. Those people shouldn't be punished for the lack of housing, it's not their fault housing is a finite commodity.

SE first released housing to FC's only, and those who could afford it, got their houses at whatever premium price they paid for their desired lot/location. As more FC's put together gil for houses, more were bought up. The whole time, individual housing was promised, and described to cost a significant amount of money. SE added more wards and opened housing sales to individuals. Those with the money who prioritized getting a house that day, got one. If you were on a popular server, they were probably snapped up by those who wanted it more than you. I know I saved and saved and scouted the house I wanted before servers went down, and logged out at the Gridanian aetheryte. I set an alarm to get me up well beforehand, downloaded the update, and spammed to get on as servers went up that day. I was one of the first people to get a house in my ward (only 1 other person closed on a lot on the map before me, iirc). Initially, I was at the placard and saw the price and checked the map to see other areas (ever indecisive), left my desired lot, then saw people coming towards the house I left. I sprinted past them and bought my house!

People who weren't that dedicated simply didn't get a house on a crowded world. The same people, knowing houses were available on less-crowded worlds, sat and complained, and simply didn't want a house enough to world shift. So they waited, and are continuing to wait until more housing is added to their desired world. You can't punish people in a first-come, first-serve situation, for being first (or among the first). Everyone had an equal chance to prepare for it.

[Gillionaire]

snip

Exactly, especially when complaints are coming from people who seemingly have waited and waited and waited.. meaning they've been playing for quite a while.
If you have issues affording a house after having played for months, you need to look at your gil farming strategies.
If your world is simply full.. Well, it might be time to consider a move

[Jasott]

Exactly, especially when complaints are coming from people who seemingly have waited and waited and waited.. meaning they've been playing for quite a while.
If you have issues affording a house after having played for months, you need to look at your gil farming strategies.
If your world is simply full.. Well, it might be time to consider a move

And look now, if you aren't there for 45 days or the FC is 100% dead, the houses are destroyed!