Housing: there has to be a better way

[Azurymber]

In 2 days, people will spam-login to try and get a house.
Some people will get one, and immediately go to reddit to sell it at triple the value
Others will wait on it for a month or 2 to make sure they reduce the chances of a ban

And others will trade-spam people nearby to prevent people from making a purchase they want (make sure to set status to /busy)

-MOST- people will just be happy they got one (and not try to break the rules and sell it)

But 1000s of people will probably spend an hour in the login queue (even though they spammed login the second the servers went up), only to login to all houses taken (once again).

And I'm guessing a large % of people won't be able to login at all because the zones they logged out in are full (e.g. kurogane) and they will just be pushed back to the end of a multi-thousand person queue.

There has to be a better way.

Everybody pays for the same game. But a massive part of the game is completely locked off from many of them. There are FCs that haven't had a house for years, even though they could buy multiples of them.

And there are tons of people that use the broken system to profit on a regular basis (flipping houses, or "selling" FCs with houses).

Understandably there is limited server space, and the apartments (while a nice addition) aren't really the same thing as having a house.
Additionally it's clear people don't want to pay IRL money for housing (even though that would be the most rational solution, by using the IRL money to cover the costs of the extra servers).

But the current spam-log-in system is a nightmare for many people (especially those with bad connections, work, children, medical conditions, etc).

There has to be a better way.

Whether it's a lottery system (you buy a ticket with gil equal to the cost of the house, pick 3 favourite plots, and get entered in a lottery to get it, with gil returned if you don't)

Or an advanced apartment system where you can enter an instanced housing area from a ward (with outside garden & house-size of your choice based on gil).

Or just increasing the price of housing so that buying a house is a massive investment (e.g. 50 mil for a small, 200 mil for a large), providing FCs with a better chance at getting the house.

Almost anything is better than login spam.

[Vahlnir]

There could have been a better way, but they decided to make it a free-for-all that FCs and individual players have to fight over, Hunger Games style. There's never going to be enough houses at the current rate. Something does need to change. Maybe instanced housing, as in every house gets its own instance.

[Tigerlilley]

I think its long been realised that SE have shot themselves in the foot with this current system. Kinda like inventory, glamours etc, any sort of overhaul would be an enormous undertaking.

You're completely correct that there needs to be a better way but I honestly don't think they have the resources to do it.

[Keridwyn]

Instanced personal housing for users with the wards for FCs.

I wouldn't even be mad if my instance was completely customizable. For instance if I could live in an underwater bubble or on a floating sky island, I wouldn't mind not having neighbors. Give me the ability to invite friends to my carefully crafted instance and that's all I'd ever want.

[Vahlnir]

Instanced personal housing for users with the wards for FCs.

I wouldn't even be mad if my instance was completely customizable. For instance if I could live in an underwater bubble or on a floating sky island, I wouldn't mind not having neighbors. Give me the ability to invite friends to my carefully crafted instance and that's all I'd ever want.

I'd drop my medium in the Goblet in a heartbeat for this...to get another medium, but still, I would.

[Azurymber]

I think its long been realised that SE have shot themselves in the foot with this current system. Kinda like inventory, glamours etc, any sort of overhaul would be an enormous undertaking.

You're completely correct that there needs to be a better way but I honestly don't think they have the resources to do it.

Changing the prices on future housing is one solution (basically make it a long-term reward for FCs or Individuals willing to put the effort it)
And using an in-game lottery system is another (so everyone has a chance to get one, as opposed to those able to log in, or those using a bot to spam-login)

Im sure there are other possible solutions that don't require an overhaul to make things a bit fairer

[LaylaTsarra]

What constitutes a FC? Some FC's are one person aren't they? Can set up one with a main and alt accounts pretty easily. What number should there be in a FC to qualify?

[Keridwyn]

What constitutes a FC? Some FC's are one person aren't they? Can set up one with a main and alt accounts pretty easily. What number should there be in a FC to qualify?

Wouldn't matter, everyone would get a house regardless. Most of the drama I hear is people wanting personal houses and that was one solution.

[LaylaTsarra]

Wouldn't matter, everyone would get a house regardless. Most of the drama I hear is people wanting personal houses and that was one solution.

Oh so a one person FC is just fine? Tuesday is going to be a fun spot on the forum. Can't wait.

[Niqote]

-House-flipping-is-100-confirmed-against-ToS

Report them, unless SE gives us real features to resell land its all you can do right now.


They really need to let us share our homes with our alts...