Implement a lottery for house plots

[LittleSparrow]

If people didn't game the system then two people would NEVER have purchased an entire ward for themselves the way they did on Mateus.

I'm personally a big fan of those people. They worked hard for it and truthfully, I would do the same if I had the Gil.

Then again, they could've just RMT'd the Gil.

[Vladmiere]

Problems with this idea. 1) There is a potential for the system to award all houses to individual players and none to FCs. This would of course result in a massive backlash, just like it would if it did the exact reverse. Yet if we make it a weighted system it is no longer 'fair' to everyone or random. Instead it is a system based on what SE determines a reasonable factor to be awarded a house, which may differ from ours. 2) Alts. Once again if you make it weighted to exclude those who already own plots on other characters then it is no longer a lottery system but a weighted system with predetermined qualifications needed to be awarded a plot. And again, this would be qualifications determined by SE not us. 3) If you don't think people wouldn't game the system by using alts then clearly you haven't been paying attention. If people didn't game the system then two people would NEVER have purchased an entire ward for themselves the way they did on Mateus.

That is a plausible argument. Sadly yes SE would have to place restrictions to try to prevent people from gaming the system. The example on Mateus is not valid because those plots were open for practically years. They bought them up after a year and half of the spots being untouched and spent hundreds of hours decorating them which has nothing to do with places without housing for people. Anything involving mankind will never truly be fair but a well thought out lottery system is still heads and bounds more fair then our current system on crowded servers.

The only reason those from Mateus are seeing a bit of unwanted attention now is because the server is quickly becoming a boon server because of the other servers being closed off.

[Rufalus]

I understand the idea, how it would give some chance to people who had no chance due to their schedule (while reducing the chance of people who had time off to rush the server day one). I think it would be bad PR to do lotto housing.

If we were going to extend the buy window to 1 week then I'd replace that lottery idea with a bidding system. Whoever bid the most gil on each plot wins it at the end of the week. It's neither luck nor a mad login rush. The most desirable plots could end up with giant bids and drain a lot of gil from the economy.

[Paladinleeds]

If we were going to extend the buy window to 1 week then I'd replace that lottery idea with a bidding system. Whoever bid the most gil on each plot wins it at the end of the week. It's neither luck nor a mad login rush. The most desirable plots could end up with giant bids and drain a lot of gil from the economy.

I wouldn't be against that idea either. Though there'd probably be a mad dash at the near end of the buy window to secure the plots (maybe if each plot stopped bidding at a different time?), which would go back to the original problem we were trying to solve.

[Vahlnir]

I wouldn't be against that idea either. Though there'd probably be a mad dash at the near end of the buy window to secure the plots (maybe if each plot stopped bidding at a different time?), which would go back to the original problem we were trying to solve.

Yeah, the end result would be the same and the underlying issue left unsolved.

[Rokke]

I understand the idea, how it would give some chance to people who had no chance due to their schedule (while reducing the chance of people who had time off to rush the server day one). I think it would be bad PR to do lotto housing.

If we were going to extend the buy window to 1 week then I'd replace that lottery idea with a bidding system. Whoever bid the most gil on each plot wins it at the end of the week. It's neither luck nor a mad login rush. The most desirable plots could end up with giant bids and drain a lot of gil from the economy.

I wouldn’t mind this since I have gil to spare, but this would again tilt the system towards certain players. A fresh 2nd lieutenant with a couple mil going up against omnicrafters is hardly a fair fight.

[Rufalus]

With things the way they are, the best option may be to transfer from a high pop to low pop world, cashing in the new rewards like gil and gold feathers for doing so. Patch 4.1 adds cross- world friend list, tells, alliance PF to assist communication and gameplay with friends on other worlds. With population so uneven between worlds there may be vacant plots for the taking for those willing to move world.

[Vahlnir]

With things the way they are, the best option may be to transfer from a high pop to low pop world, cashing in the new rewards like gil and gold feathers for doing so. Patch 4.1 adds cross- world friend list, tells, alliance PF to assist communication and gameplay with friends on other worlds. With population so uneven between worlds there may be vacant plots for the taking for those willing to move world.

If someone has 0 ties such as friends or an FC...and enough money, then yes this is an option. But I'd wager a lot of people wouldn't want to do this.

[NolLacnala]

Wake up early (EST) or stay up late (PST) like the rest of us

I kind of feel for our British friends, maint ends right in the middle of the day

Australia has it made because primetime, cept for the whole can't click on the house signs cause of lag

"I'm MST/CST!"


P.s. We wouldn't see threads like this if housing had been built correctly, with instanced singular plots. With hostesses. And blackjack.

[Vrankyl]

But it's not fair and that is what people are trying to point out. In regard to FCs as it stands right now ALL FCs are on equal footing, and you can bet that any FC that wants a place or to upgrade has been planning this for months. Thus they are guaranteed to have someone with time off. With your system you put smaller FCs at a severe disadvantage to larger FCs that can just throw numbers at the lotto system. While it sucks, the way we have it now quite literally puts all FCs and all individuals on as equal a footing as possible.