Instanced "independant" housing

[Titor]

My point being, the current system is not conducive to a community feel but just makes the zone feel empty and like a ghost town. It is no better than instanced housing in its current state, and is actually worse since not everyone could have a house.
I could see if every ward was bustling with life and kinship, but they are not. At least with instanced housing, everyone should be able to have their own house, not just a few.

[AnnietheCat]

Right, but if they want to keep the community, which obviously they do or else they would have instanced it by now, then they should give players incentive to hang out there. Otherwise it will continue to feel empty and barren. SE doesn't /want/ us to have instanced housing, because they're trying oh-so hard to not be like every other MMO(which is biting them in the ass, imho). So because they want to be /oh-so/ different, they refuse to do anything that makes sense. If they like the set up they have, then they need to give players a reason to hang out at their personal or fc estates. A buff, a perk, whatever-just something so that the areas actually feel like the neighborhoods they were /trying/ to make.

And if I sound flippant and irritated, it's directed at SE and not anyone here. I'm fed up with the numerous poor design choices.

[Legion88]

Hi, i was around and just decided to show in and bring in my own thougths to this.

I would prefer the instanced housing for players at all, but i have to explain it a bit, so everyone will understand what i mean.

Keep the housing for FCs like it is at the moment, but remove all privat houses from the actual housing plots. But increase the amount of available things like beds up to the double or triple.
Improve the workshop with workbenches, which you can use like the workshop itself to craft your regular crafts of the crafter you are but with a buff (+10% to craftingstats, maybe).
Restrict the use of the actual workshop (airship/houses/guildbuffs) to crafters at level 50+ or even 60 and/or a specific crafterclass as party leader and/or specific crafterclasses in the party.

Give every player the ability to buy a appartment in the inn of his GC in two sizes, normal privat chamber/first floor of small house and size of small house including basement. Give this rooms the restrictions of the actual rooms and small houses all with a balkony as garden, perhaps as an upgrade.

And finaly, what is with people who wants gardening but don't need a house.
In the gardener guild you can buy a garden spot with place for a huge ( 3-4) amount of beds and a small open hut where you can place a summoning bell and a guild chest. Perhaps let the amount of placeable beds be upgradeable.

Perhaps someone can leave constructive criticism on this and i know most will rant on the appartment idea.

[Solarra]

Legion88 I like your ideas. Something has to be done, that's obvious.

I think making the present wards FC only at this stage, would cause major upset. If I'd bought a personal house, I'd be deeply unhappy. While I agree putting personal housing into the wards was a mistake, I think it might be better to phase it out gradually as plots are relinquished.
Personally, I'd like to see the option of instanced housing, accessible from the wards, too. It would give people choice and provide a useful gil-sink.
I'd be happy to see any of the improvements you suggested for FC housing.
Lore-wise, being able to buy an apartment at the inn of your GC city makes sense and I think a lot of players would be happy with a small space they could customise.

The Gardner's Guild could be an interesting addition to the game. I'd make allotments and chocobo stables outside all the major cities available to every player who has an apartment rather than giving them pots on a balcony. Something like that would be used and might actually bring people together and give that feeling of community the present wards seem to lack.
Hopefully, Square would learn from their mistakes with housing and put mechanisms in place to deal with plots claimed but left unused.

[FJerome]

I think making the present wards FC only at this stage, would cause major upset. If I'd bought a personal house, I'd be deeply unhappy.

I own a personal house and I still support having the wards clawed back for FC housing. As long as they move me to somewhere instanced with an equal amount of space and facilities I don't think I'd have much cause to complain?

Another idea on apartments, why not just let everyone who clears the 3.0 storyline use the Intercessory at Dragonhead? If you speak to the NPCs they're pretty insistent that's your space now.

[AnnietheCat]

I'd be all for having instanced Private housing if it meant more room for FCs to move into neighborhoods. But some perk to hanging around neighborhoods would help a lot with giving us that community feel that SE intended for us to have. GW2 has my favorite guild housing system, but I know SE won't pull inspiration from any other MMO to make things better. But the fact is that these things need a lot of improvement. Idc how they improve, so long as they do.