Free Company Housing vs. Individual Player Housing?

[Kiara]

To Yoshida-san and Community Reps:

In the latest interview with Director Yoshida at JPGames, Yoshida-san mentions this:

Yoshida Naoki: About the housing estates for the free companies, at the moment most disciples of the hand or of the land are thinking: “Why are they concentrating on the battle side?” Housing estates are going to be very important for those players, because it is more related to the lifestyle. We can make sure these players, trying out different classes, can really fell like they are taking place in the game, that was really important to us. Even for an MMO it is something very special to have your own house in the game, so we are fully aware of that and we are making sure it is really going to be exciting.

Unlike other MMOs, in which you can only see your own house and each house is based on an instanced system, we want to make sure that other players can actually see your house as well. Around 20 houses can be in one area, you can make houses, not anywhere, but you will be able to decide in which part you want to have your house. You can also design your house itself and have your own garden, maybe you can grow your own Gysahl Greens there or house your own chocobo. You can really customize your own estate.


At the moment, in the Dev Team, you can actually see the mock up of the polygons. So you can see what the estate is going to look like. It’s the Limsa Lominsa version, and the concept is to make it like a European resort area, so it is going to be really beautiful. Up from the hill you can see the ocean, it’s going to be really nice, I believe. I’m looking forward to it.

So to clarify...

• Is the only way that we can get Player Housing is joining a Free Company? Or will we be able to get our own Player Housing without a Free Company?

I'm glad we'll have a cool Free Company Hangout, but it's nice to have our own personal Mog House as well, without needing to have the whole Free Company there with you (or joining one).

While we're at it (note: Totally Low Priority), for our own private Player Mog House, eventually having our own Mog Crystal to watch the previous Final Fantasy Cinematics we've uncovered so far (from previous Missions, Stories) and listen to Composer Nobuo Uematsu's awesome Final Fantasy Music Tracks would be great.

Can we get clarification on this?

Thanks!

[Alerith]

es·tate/iˈstāt/
Noun:
1.An area or amount of land or property, in particular.
2.An extensive area of land in the country, usually with a large house, owned by one person or organization.

While it sounds like the second definition right now, I could see the capacity for the first.

"Estate" could refer to a large patch of land in which multiple players build their individual houses. However, it sounds like Free Companies will still be required. All speculation of course.

[Doho]

i just want a place where i can run laps around a moogle

[Darkhaund]

I would also like my own personal mog house agian

[Misteyes]

I don't like mog houses. Rather, I like them as a player, but they're limited in what they can do without being bad for the game.

In my opinion, one of the most important things to streamline in an MMO is how easy it is to find people with similar objectives, so that people can log in alone without having to play alone. Mog houses, which take a single player and isolate them from the world, are totally contrary to that objective.

They "worked" in FFXI because there was no reason to stay in your home. You visited your home to grab stuff from storage, get your mail, or to change jobs, but then you went right back out again. I know I don't speak for everyone, but I didn't really treat my Mog House like a real home. My floor was mostly covered in rusty buckets since they were affordable and added to my storage space.

I'd like to see instanced individual player housing, but there needs to be both a way and a reason for other players to come visiting so that there's incentive to make our house look nice (maybe have certain long duration party buffs that can only be cast inside one's own home or something so you stop at a house before going to fight), and for those in it to still be able to hear what's going on outside (a good LFG feature will probably help here).

[Kiara]

In my opinion, one of the most important things to streamline in an MMO is how easy it is to find people with similar objectives, so that people can log in alone without having to play alone. Mog houses, which take a single player and isolate them from the world, are totally contrary to that objective.

I'd like to see instanced individual player housing, but there needs to be both a way and a reason for other players to come visiting so that there's incentive to make our house look nice (maybe have certain long duration party buffs that can only be cast inside one's own home or something so you stop at a house before going to fight), and for those in it to still be able to hear what's going on outside (a good LFG feature will probably help here).

Hi Misteyes,

Oh I agree. I don't want a Mog House that's isolated so only you, individually, can ever see it. It'd be nice to show off your own Mog House to others if you want, have a Garden, etc. ^^ (Even set your own choice of Uematsu-san's Final Fantasy Music Track when people visit.)

My original post is asking if we can have our Personal Mog House / Player Housing without the need to join a Free Company (or be bundled with everyone in the Free Company).

Thanks.

[Nayt]

Btw, we could invite people to our moghouses in ffxi

On the current note, however, i don't really care about the personal mog house. I am very happy with free company housing, because a "clubhouse" is much more fun than a hole you can crawl into and isolate yourself in.

[Teakwood]

I swear before the Twelve, if there's a moogle in my house I'm going to swat it out with a broomstick.

(Okay, I'm joking, I'm joking, I just spent way too long running laps around the bastards in FFXI...)

[Kiara]

"Estate" could refer to a large patch of land in which multiple players build their individual houses. However, it sounds like Free Companies will still be required. All speculation of course.

Hi Alerith,

Definitely. I agree that Yoshida-san's comments in the interview sound like a Free Company's large piece of land (estate) gets parceled up / divided for various players who join that Free Company.

I'd just like a personal Mog House / Player Housing without the requirement / restriction of having to join a Free Company to get one. It seems like an unfair requirement.

Lastly, I don't expect that fancy estate for every person choosing the Personal / Private Mog House option (it can be a simple Mog House area); I'd just like the option for any player on each server to have their own Mog House without any forced membership into some group's Free Company.

[Misteyes]

Btw, we could invite people to our moghouses in ffxi.

Ah- that must have been after I quit - I stopped playing a few months before CoP. Either that or I never figured out how.

One thing that worries me about the proposed system is that it sounds like there's a finite number of houses, since they actually exist in the world... unless it's done like the Market Wards where there's an arbitrary number of virtually identical neighborhoods so that they can add more whenever they need them.