"Flipping" (Hoarding) Housing

[AnimaAnimus]

So I am going to leave these excerpts from past producer letters here for your enjoyment...

I may just get a ban for this but its direct from Yoshi, but it is kindda calling them out on and they aren't responding to housing threads for a reason I assume so idk lol




[0:24:17]
Q: If a housing area becomes full, will it automatically create a new instance? Or is that something you will have to do manually?
A: In order to use the server space efficiently, we will make sure that the housing area is completely full through by checking the server source code and then add instances through updates when necessary. Therefore, the process will not be automatic. We will carefully monitor how much space is available and plan ahead whenever additional space is required.


[0:29:43]
Q: Is it possible to have a storefront with a counter in your housing area?
A: Yes, this is possible. We will continue to add objects for the housing area. In order to set up a store within your house, you will need to place a store-like object within your house, have the house accessible to everyone, and then have the retainer act as the seller.


[0:30:31]
Q: Will the houses have balconies?
A: It will differ depending on the type of house. While some will have balconies, others will not.

Letter from the Producer LIVE VI Q&A

[0:08:26]
Q: What kind of bonuses will players receive by using housing?
A: I've mentioned a couple of things here and there in the past, like placing items such as towers on your property. By placing various items around the house, players can receive a variety of different enhancing effects. As an example, you and your friends or free company members can receive a two-week-long EXP bonus or a bonus to gil received. Of course, we won't create anything that pressures players into buying a house, but they will still have benefits.


[0:09:27]
Q: If you buy a small house and piece of land, when it starts to get too cramped will it be possible to upgrade to a larger house?
A: We're working on a system for moving that will be introduced in a patch. Also, depending on lag and stress on the servers, we may allow players to own a second house. But yes, you can be sure that when we're finished, you'll be able to upgrade to a bigger house.


[0:10:11]
Q: Will it be possible to sell land deeds in the market ward or other places?
A: Yes, it will be possible. They can also be traded. Just as an example, you could give a house to that special someone in your free company as a present.


[0:10:53]
Q:Is it possible to have multiple houses? For example, to have a primary residence in Limsa Lominsa and a villa in Gridania or Ul'dah?
A: Right, it's just like what I was talking about before. Having a main house with another house located in a different country. Once we have a better understanding of the burden this will place on the servers, we might be able to implement this.

Letter from the Producer LIVE Part IV & Q&A Summary

[0:45:55]
Q: Will houses be personal or shared?
A: First it will be joint housing. A house of this size is going to require everyone to dish out some dough. It’s pretty expensive.

You can make furniture available to people of the same free company, or, if you want, you can set permission levels so all of your friends can use the furniture and what not. There are quite a few settings.

The reason why we’ve decided to establish them as free company bases first is because inside of the houses there is a new kind of system that involves parks and towers.

Parks would give a bonus to everyone in the free company, like an extra 25% to experience points earned. It could make crafting faster to level, or maybe give success bonuses for HQ crafting. It's a system that allows members to add things that will give boons to the entire free company. You’ll be able to increase the size of your house, and also your company can rank-up through free company points, allowing you to place more parks and towers around.


I’d first like to create a strong community within FFXIV. When new members join, you’ll be able to get more points, and we’d like to establish a system that encourages people to support new players coming into the game. Once the community has had time to come together we will then allow players to have their own private housing and branch out from there

Even for an MMO, I believe it’s nice to have a place to call home.

Letter from the Producer LIVE Part III & Q&A Summary (09/27/2012)

[0:59:26]
Q: Can you explain housing in more detail?
A: The image that we just showed was concept art for the Limsa Lominsa housing area. We’ve been working on mock-ups, and you can see a dummy house right here. This house is just a placeholder we’re using to check house sizes and such, and it’s not an actual design. In this picture, you can see a wider view of the same area. There are several areas where players can build houses, and a large open area. Basically, there will be three different types of housing areas areas: desert, forest, and sea. Here we have the concept art for the forest housing area. This isn’t finalized, of course. We’ll publish more information as soon as we can.

Players will first choose an area they prefer and then purchase land there. Kind of like “I like this spot!” Once they purchase the land with gil at the signboard, players will buy the right to build a house there.

Once players have constructed a basic house, they can open a special housing widget to browse and purchase housing materials, such as roofing. You could also commission crafters to build roofing, which could then be equipped, in a sense, onto your house to change its external appearance. You can even hang tapestries on your walls. So that’s basically how you can change your house.

The yard… I shouldn’t show anymore actually… As I mentioned previously, houses will also have yards where you can place objects. For example, if you place a chocobo stable in your yard, you will be able to raise several chocobos there.

There will be updates dedicated specifically to the housing system. Content won’t end with a single release; we plan to introduce new features, such as additional ways to play with your yard. Additionally, players will be able to drag and drop objects within their house easily, in both the PC and PS3 versions. We’re working hard to create a very flexible system.

Houses can be used as headquarters for linkshells and Free Companies, and they can eventually be expanded to allow individual rooms. To prevent disputes over land, housing areas will be instanced. After the maximum number of houses are sold in one instance, players will be asked to purchase land in a different one. More instances will be added as necessary.

Also, land will be available in small, medium, and large sizes. Certain structures will require huge tracts of land to build.

We should be able to provide more details near the conclusion of the Beta Test.



And this just for fun lol....

44:17
Q: This wasn't mentioned in the FFXIV 2.0 announcement, but are there any updates on jumping and swimming?
A: Let's start with jumping. Since we're completely renovating the map for FFXIV 2.0, we'll have to perform a lot of tests when implementing jumping. We've debated waiting until Version 2.0 to do so. We are currently running various tests on it actually.

For swimming, we're looking at implementation sometime after 2.0. We think that being able to swim wouldn't be much fun by itself, so we'll also be adding areas that you can explore underwater, temples and the like. Please keep in mind that we're still in the very early stages of development.
* A work-in-progress video of jumping animations was shown at 44:52.

[Kolaina]

A: In order to use the server space efficiently

A: the burden this will place on the servers

keep these things in mind when understanding the housing situation

[Jynx]

keep these things in mind when understanding the housing situation

Not a single person should feel pity for the dev team server space be damned, they implemented the system knowing full well this was going to happen.

[Tilgung]

Not a single person should feel pity for the dev team server space be damned, they implemented the system knowing full well this was going to happen.

I suppose they should have just.. not implemented it at all then. Server space isn't infinite, and I can't recall a single time the devs stated it would be possible for every individual character to own a house if they so wished.

[Kolaina]

Not a single person should feel pity for the dev team server space be damned, they implemented the system knowing full well this was going to happen.

i guess i should only pity those who even when personal housing was announced didnt plan ahead, get motivated and acquire the gil necessary to afford their vanity.
in truth its not about pity towards 1 side or the other. its about understanding housing in its current state can not be supplied to each and every individual and its not going to happen on wards to meet the demand with out being a detriment to the rest of the game. server space is limited thats all i am saying

[Solarra]

its about understanding housing in its current state can not be supplied to each and every individual and its not going to happen on wards to meet the demand with out being a detriment to the rest of the game. server space is limited thats all i am saying

I don't see your logic.
Making housing available to everybody is not going to be to the detriment of the game unless Square decide not to make the funding available to implement it properly and then instruct the devs to go ahead anyway but cut something else. Unless you work for them you have no way of knowing if that is going to happen.

The most important point of the OP was that under the present system some players have been able to buy multiple properties with the sole intention of profiting from others. Reclamation doesn't prevent this and it's something a lot of us feel should be stopped.
Housing is in short supply, so it makes no sense to allow more than a single personal house and a FC house on each account.

[Kolaina]

Housing is in short supply, so it makes no sense to allow more than a single personal house and a FC house on each account.

which i do not disagree with. but unless they upgrade servers in which the are able to provide based on current demand, not everyone will be able to get a house. is that not what peoples issues are? hypothetically they could meet demand, on wards. on top of that, plan ahead for any possible additions to the community, adding even more housing. then accounting for potential new fcs. how much data will this take up? keep in mind theyd have to account for every piece of furnishing, garden etc. how much is enough? and when they have enough + extra for 'just in case', how much space is left for growing content?

as for my personal thoughts on the matter. personal housing never should have been implimented. they gave people rooms for their own personal space. anything else a house provides should be provided by the fc, stables as an example. if locked out of fc stables, id question choice of fc.
all housing has done is create negativity in those who want but are with out. in which knowingly being unable to provide for the masses, never should have given in to the demand for personal housing

[LaylaTsarra]

Housing is in short supply, so it makes no sense to allow more than a single personal house and a FC house on each account.

They need to allow alts the ability to access their mains personal house. They can join the same FC and use it's features. I have two fully leveled alts and they can't even use the mender in my house.

[Solarra]

They need to allow alts the ability to access their mains personal house. They can join the same FC and use it's features. I have two fully leveled alts and they can't even use the mender in my house.

I agree with you 100% If they restricted the private house to one character on each account that would just be piling more unfairness onto an already unfair system.


I have to say I get tired of constantly seeing the server issue being brought up by other players. None of us in are a position to know exactly why housing has been so poorly implemented, yet every time it is raised, a lot of people seem to feel the need to make excuses for Square and basically tell the rest of us to 'hush up'. We are asking for a heavily promoted feature of the game to be made available to all, that's hardly unreasonable.
Why housing is only accessible to a tiny proportion of players isn't the issue under discussion. I don't care why; it's not my problem, nobody is paying me to provide it.

Housing is scarce, everyone knows some players have been buying multiple properties simply to make a profit and still Square is doing nothing to prevent it.

[RiceisNice]

So I am going to leave these excerpts from past producer letters here for your enjoyment...

I laughed then died a little inside. This sort of thing has been reoccuringly obvious with other things like job balancing too, specifically 2.0 warrior and 3.0 BRD/MCH.