Why not just add instanced housing?

[EthanParcival]

I've asked myself that same question for months... Why oh why do they insist on keeping the god damned wards which will always be insufficient.

By now they should allow us to just buy a floating island (of the size we can afford and have Cid tow it to the housing ward of our choosing in a cute cutscene) and then we'd build our house there just like we do on the regular wards... And we'd get an "Island Number" as our address.

As such our homes would be individually loaded and not have to be "always loaded in memory" on a ward server. They'd be loaded when someone teleports to them and unload when the last person leaves them (just like dungeons do). And they'd only reachable by teleport.

If you want to make it a neighbourhood then allow said islands to be linked to 4 more other houses (north, south, east, west) by "allagan jumping pads" or teleports (linked to the island number of our friends). Both tenants would have to agree they want to be linked and could unlink at any time. That way you'd have a neighbourhood with your friends, and not complete strangers...

I really don't care if the residential caretakers and other NPCs are stationed near the big aetherites in the large cities and that we don't have marketboards, we can go to a city for those.

But nooo... they have to keep them frigging wards... *sigh*

TL;DR They should let us buy islands from abalathia's spine and tow it to the housing areas an let us build there isolated (instanced separatedly) from the wards.

[Morningstar1337]

I've asked myself that same question for months... Why oh why do they insist on keeping the god damned wards which will always be insufficient.

Short answer: Because neighborhoods are purty.

Long Answer: they did wards because the devs have a thing with aesthetics and Neighborhoods are by far more aesthetically pleasing then instanced hosuing, especially when the gardens are customizable.

It's Fashion over Function, the same reason why the Devs put huge emphasis on 1.0 graphics to the detriment of everything else

[EthanParcival]

It's Fashion over Function, the same reason why the Devs put huge emphasis on 1.0 graphics to the detriment of everything else

Well, at this point I'm sure there are lots of players that want a house and don't care to live in a ward. I know my FC would not mind if we got 0 neighbours or not, but they'd like to have their own house (as a home base), their own private chambers, and their own airships... So Devs would do good to allow such players to build their houses apart and let whomever likes them pretty ward neighbourhoods to sit and wait till a plot opens up and they can move there.

Devs can have their fashion over function as much as they like, but at some point they should also provide an alternative for those gated functions.

[Niwashi]

they did wards because the devs have a thing with aesthetics and Neighborhoods are by far more aesthetically pleasing then instanced hosuing, especially when the gardens are customizable.

Well instanced housing with customizable gardens in a choice of beautiful settings can be quite aesthetically pleasing too, if it's designed to be.

[Morningstar1337]

Well instanced housing with customizable gardens in a choice of beautiful settings can be quite aesthetically pleasing too, if it's designed to be.

Maybe but the point is more to show off and lets be honest, how many people would come to an instanced home anyway? The players already avoid going into other peoples houses as it is.

[EthanParcival]

Maybe but the point is more to show off and lets be honest, how many people would come to an instanced home anyway? The players already avoid going into other peoples houses as it is.

Which is precisely my point...


Players already avoid houses other than their own. The wards are empty instances where people just teleport in and out of their houses, coz there is no reason to traverse the ward other than to get to a caretaker or a MB... I've already owned a house on Hyperion, and tbt I only spoke to one of my neighbours while the other 6 houses around politely ignored eachother at the MB. When was the last time you walked across the ward to say "oooh, nice lawn!"...

So as aesthetically pleasing as they are they're also wasted resources... People want their houses to share with their friends, not with strangers you were forced to move next to because that was the available plot. The only steady group of visitors you'll get in a house is the FC members that own the house...

I rather have my own space in a secluded floating island than have to wait forever till someone quits the game, or gets evicted for not playing to snatch an overpriced plot to build a house that in the end only I and my close friends will care for.

[Dyvid]

TL;DR They should let us buy islands from abalathia's spine and tow it to the housing areas an let us build there isolated (instanced separatedly) from the wards.

Because that was already answered on the first page: "Finally, I’ve seen a few posts on the forums saying housing would be better if it was instanced like inn rooms are, so I want to point out that instances aren't saved. Nothing in an inn room needs to be saved; player housing, on the other hand, necessitates personal save data for things like furniture placement and character location. So, it would really amount to adding more land anyway. - Yoshi-P"

The wards are nothing but a hub. I'm no programmer but when you talk about saving data like furniture placement and so on you can either do it server side or user side. FFXIV has to save almost everything on the server side because of PS3/PS4 users and their limited hard drive space. That takes up a lot of resources.

Yes FFXI also had instance housing but it was very limited by only being able to place certain items at certain spots. Also it was only much much later that other players could enter your houses. FFXIV housing grants much more freedom but that freedom comes at a cost.

[Naunet]

Instanced housing isn't the be-all end-all solution that many think it is. Current instances are not saved (e.g. nothing in the Inn Room is saved). In an instanced housing model SE still need to make sure all that data gets saved (object placement, character location etc.). This means that regardless of wards or instances SE is still going to have to purchase/setup hardware and storage.

Oh no! SE may have to get their hardware up to par with other MMOs! The horror!

[Morningstar1337]

Instanced housing isn't the be-all end-all solution that many think it is. Current instances are not saved (e.g. nothing in the Inn Room is saved). In an instanced housing model SE still need to make sure all that data gets saved (object placement, character location etc.). This means that regardless of wards or instances SE is still going to have to purchase/setup hardware and storage.

You know, SE is gonna have to update their servers eventually, unless XI's servers lasted as long as the content did (which would explain a lot)

[Syrehn]

Oh no! SE may have to get their hardware up to par with other MMOs! The horror!

You know, SE is gonna have to update their servers eventually, unless XI's servers lasted as long as the content did (which would explain a lot)

SE never said they wouldn't update/add new hardware etc. Obviously they are or we never would have seen additional wards/sub-wards. Regardless of their reasons why (finances, hardware etc.) they're just not doing it fast enough for some players. Even once they do start adding more wards/storage they're not likely going to change their current ward model to an instanced model, much to the annoyance of some players that want instanced housing, and have given their reasons why.

Side Note: I'm pretty sure they mentioned the next time we're going to see more wards is after they finish the Housing Transfer feature they're working on; then after that, maybe some Ishgard wards.