Housing Progression - How the new restrictions reward long-time players

[DotsNnots]

The salt is fresh and the wounds are sore, I get it. But while we're all stuck focusing on the "now" and what did or didn't happen this morning, there's an important dynamic shift happening.

I believe in the live letter they said any additional wards added after this batch would also have the same FC-first restrictions on it. I don't have a direct source on that, so for the sake of this post, we're going to assume it's true.

What does that mean?
There are a variety of different types of home owners in the game right now, and I'm going to try and go through how the changes impact them all, and how these restrictions both prioritize housing for FCs, while also rewarding players who play for a long time (both FC and individual).


FREE COMPANIES

THE ANCIENT FC OWNER
You've had your FC in place since binding coil progression. You got your house when the first batch of wards were added. You moved to a premium spot a couple of years ago when they added new wards, and you had to remove all your furniture, have all your FC mates destroy their rooms, chuck the chocobos out of the stable, and relinquish your plot RIGHT before servers went down. You know the pain of buying a new house before the relocation feature was added, and appreciate it fully right now.

You're stone faced, and you know this new system is set to serve you best. At server launch you essentially get first pick of any house you want, and in a few clicks and some gil you can relocate. You're a well established FC so you have a team people ready to go at launch to try and get your first choice.

You worked hard for this. You built up your FC for this. You deserve this.

THE NOT AS ANCIENT FC / MISSED THE LAST BATCH NOT-YET-OWNER
Your FC is doing pretty okay. You have some loyal members, but you really want to grow. When the last batch of houses were added, you only scraped enough together for a medium. But you weren't sure if you could trust others in the FC to help you with the race, so you woke up early alone. But you missed out. I'm sorry. You get the most screwed over by the new restrictions this time but from here forward no one will have to go through what you did again.

You deserve it this time around. You worked hard too! But you don't have quite as many resources as the old FC above. You managed to snag an nice medium, and huzzah! your FC has their first very own house. It may mot be as big as you wanted, but you can work on your workshop and get your airships out, and start building your member base because at least you have a home now.

The next time housing wards are added, you'll be just like the Ancient FC Owner and will have your pick of whatever house you want! Next time around, this type of buyer won't exist.

THE "I'M STARTING A NEW FC!" NOT-YET OWNER
You've found 8 friends who you think are pretty cool and you like playing with. You started an FC with them! But you want to be able to give them the best buffs and a place to gather and chill together and show off your new glamours. Oh and you heard airships can gather things for you, cool! You all pooled your cash and you think you might have enough for a medium.

You're fresh and new. But FCs should still have priority over individual house purchases, so you still have an advantage. When the patch went up, you managed to snag a less-desirable medium! It's motivated you to work REALLY hard so that next time new houses are added (or if you happen to see one available) you can relocate to a SUPER large house! How cool would that be?


INDIVIDUALS

THE BETA-GOT-AHOUSE-DAY-1 OWNER
You play on a legacy server and were there when the moon fell. You have the tattoo to prove it. You had a little house since day one for personals, because you weren't much of a crafter back then and didn't have as much cash. You've played this game for twice as long as that FC next door has even existed. You're a veteran and now you've got the experience to prove it. You relinquished your small for a medium a couple of years ago.

You love owning a house but acknowledge with all the FC-only content tied to owning a house, FCs should get priority on owning one. This new relocation feature is cool though. You spy a large house in Shirogane you really want. You feel a little guilty because you're only one person, but you've played this game so long, have a mountain of gil, and have a giant active friendslist who would all come hang out in your house. So you try for it. The SSD in your gaming rig pays off and you get one.

It's bittersweet, but you also worked hard for it. You didn't take away a house from an FC, your old house is still up for grabs, they can still do all the FC-only features there. The game is rewarding you for playing for a really long time.

THE I'MMA-BUY-A-PERSONAL-HOUSE-WHEN-THEY-UNLOCK-THESE-NEW-ONES OWNER
You really want your own house! Have you SEEN what Alice does with those windows?!? You really want to try doing something like that yourself. You have the money for a medium, but wouldn't mind a small, they're still pretty cute, and leaves you plenty of decoration money. You started playing in Stormblood so you're pretty new to the housing scene.

These new 4.2 houses are getting snatched up by some FCs, but look! There's still a lot of houses left. When they unlock them, you're pretty sure you can snag a small in Lavender Beds, it's so pretty there! Oh? FCs have special housing-locked content? Makes sense why they get first dibs.

You grab a small personal house when they unlock next week or two. Next time they add new housing wards, you're rewarded for being a continual player and have the chance to relocate to something bigger and better! Just like Mr. Beta Player! You'll miss that waterfall though...

THE FUTRE-HASN'T-EVEN-PURCHASED-FFXIV OWNER
You'll start playing in patch X.X. You'll see housing and think it's pretty cool and try to figure out how to get in on that action. You find out in X.Z they're adding more wards, huzzah! But they're going to be locked at first for FCs only, boo! But that's okay, you heard how many were left over last time and think you can snag a personal when they open them up!

The future player is just like the people wishing to buy a personal house purchases right now. The cycle will continue, rewarding veteran players more highly, while prioritizing FC houses.

*****************

This setup accomplishes two goals, and is surprisingly more thorough than it seems. It prioritizes FCs, which should always get priority because of the FC-content locked to owning a house. However it doesn't alienate or ostracize veteran players, they're rewarded by still being able to try and upgrade too.

The FC-only content isn't limited by the size of the house you have. That's really important to remember. The size has no bearing on the number of airships and the amount of FC rooms you can have! Allowing veterans to relocate doesn't change the amount of new housing options for FCs. The ONLY limitation is the extend of your ability to decorate.

[Kleeya]

You did forget a few kinds. For example, in the FC category, the "i dont care at all about fcs, i did make a fake one to snatch a house that i can resell for 100 millions on reddit". And in the individuals category "i know very well that when the very few houses, all small ones, remaining will be put on sale i will be at work/school irl. And that when i will launch the game again there will be nothing left for me to buy, despite all the efforts i did make to gather enough gils or how long i have been playing the game".

In short you are way too optimistic in the way you see things, this doesn't fit the reality XD

[Darrcyphfeid]

Your reasoning seems to hinge a lot on Square regularly adding Wards to the game. I find this doubtful, both because if they were capable of doing so (budget, time, whatever-wise) they probably would have by now - or at the very least be less vocal in opposition to the idea - and because, presumably, they still intend on following through with the "expansion" of apartments.

[Kytrin]

You forgot an individual category. Specifically, the...
Has played since 2.0 early access Home Owner

You've been around since the very, or near, beginning of ARR. You never saw the moon fall, for which you're secretly quite sad, but you've invested your heart and soul into this game for over 4 years now. You remember when housing first came out, and cried sad tears that it was for FCs only. You consoled yourself with the hope that one day personal housing would be released only to cry a little more when it was announced that housing would cost the same as FC housing. There was little hope that you would ever be able to afford such a luxury on your small, non-legacy, server.

Then, bit by bit, as you worked on your crafts and gathers, you began to accumulate gil. Enough to, eventually, afford a small house. It wasn't the plot you wanted, those were taken, or even the place you wanted, but it was yours and you were proud! Though you spent 3 times what you paid for it trying to decorate it. Admittedly, you always glanced at the residential districts from time to time on the off chance your dream house would open up, and often snuck into other people's to look at it, but you were still ridiculously proud that you'd achieved a house of your own.

Time passed, as it always does, and maybe you even went through a few restarts on new servers and character changes, but that was alright because you knew how the system worked now. You knew how to get back to that place of pride, even if it still wasn't the house you really wanted. When the new wards came out, you were ready (at last) for an upgrade, but despite your best efforts you still didn't get that one spot that spoke to your heart. You didn't let that get you down though, and when relocation came out a new spark of hope came with it, but once more it didn't quite work.

Now, finally... finally... after 4 years of toil and work you have a brand new chance. And this time, the taste of success is sweet indeed as you make the house you always wanted your permanent home. Celebrate and feel no regret. You've earned your victory.

[DotsNnots]

You did forget a few kinds. For example, in the FC category, the "i dont care at all about fcs, i did make a fake one to snatch a house that i can resell for 100 millions on reddit". And in the individuals category "i know very well that when the very few houses, all small ones, remaining will be put on sale i will be at work/school irl. And that when i will launch the game again there will be nothing left for me to buy, despite all the efforts i did make to gather enough gils or how long i have been playing the game".

In short you are way too optimistic in the way you see things, this doesn't fit the reality XD

The idea is that people who play the game without abusing the system should all fall closely within one of those spaces.

Also the "two" you listed are a small part of the population. Scalpers can only reasonably sell to someone looking to relocate, they can't be paid to relinquish a plot and have their buyer guarantee the purchase of it. That vastly reduces the amount of scalping happening. Of course it does and still will, but the incentive is much harder to obtain, which is precisely the point of adding hurdles. People will always find ways to abuse the system, all you can do is try to preempt that as much as possible.

And as for those who can't be there when the houses unlock - what reasonable solution do you propose? A lot of players who actively want a house will stay up all night or make arrangements to be available at the time, so the number who actively can't make it at the right time is much smaller than those it inconveniences.

If you're going to come up with the "add more wards/instanced housing" solution, you're beating a dead horse. But going into detail on why is a subject for another thread, the point is to deal within the framework we know they can operate.

Frankly, I think you're being way too pessimistic about the situation and your two examples are such a small percentage of the larger player base. Yes abuse is still happening (looking at you Angered), but as a whole the situation is well set up for the long term.

Now, finally... finally... after 4 years of toil and work you have a brand new chance. And this time, the taste of success is sweet indeed as you make the house you always wanted your permanent home. Celebrate and feel no regret. You've earned your victory.

Congrats dude!

[BlairYS]

If you're going to come up with the "add more wards/instanced housing" solution, you're beating a dead horse. But going into detail on why is a subject for another thread, the point is to deal within the framework we know they can operate.

I am glad to know that the framework that they can operate is just terrible, old fashioned, poorly managed, and yet poorly done. People will keep saying add wards because that's all Square Enix can do now at this point. And people are saying add instance because that would resolve all of these problems where devs are not being choked by players who are threatening to quit or send hostile feedbacks like every hour.

Defending bad game, engine and development team for this at this point is just being a terrible fan.

[Madbunny]

Well i must say this patch was great. I already had a large plot in goblet (best spot) so i didnt bother to relocate to more "fancy" residential district, but it was great for my wife and our FC. My wife relocated from medium to large and same thing we did with our FC. So all in all this patch was much better than previous one with all that insanity of people chasing and buying all the plots in less than 15-20 min. On my server (Cerberus) there is left a lot of small houses and even some medium. In case of the small houses some of the "premium" spots are still open to purchase.

[Kytrin]

Congrats dude!

Thank you! <3

[Alyanna_Elingval]

I don't know where I fit in this. I started playing a year ago and I said then, I'm going to have a mansion by this time next year. My first jobs to 60 were crafting and gathering. I bought a Cottage in Feb, and then a Medium July. This morning I was finally able to fulfill that goal I'd set a year ago and I snagged a large plot in the Mist. Did I feel bad about it, only a little. That's because someone was trying to buy it when I walked up, and something must have gone wrong because they ran away. Then after I bought it and the player came back. The little Lafell was standing at the sign trying to buy the house because I guess the lag stopped my house from showing up right away.

Only sad thing is that aside from the Large houses, when I logged this morning every other plot in the ward was still available, so I lost my neighbors that I see at the MB and summoning bell all the time.

[Reyn]

I love this post. You accurately capture the journey many of us have had with housing. It is the most optimistic way of describing why I'm not very sympathetic toward fairly new FCs that are upset that I was able to relocate as a private owner.

I can't tell you the number of times I've woken up at an ungodly hour to be among the first logged in for a patch. Not just for housing rushes, but for making the gil to afford housing.

My FC started as a small. Eventually, we upgraded to a large, at a time that meant losing unique furniture, loading everything else up into our inventories, and blowing up a house with no return or guarantee that the lot we wanted would still be there. And paying Legacy server prices! It was a gamble, and it's not even a prime large spot, but we're proud of what we earned and have come to know it as home.

It was the same story for my personal house: settling for what I could get, while saving and checking every day for my dream plot to open. Attending every early morning housing war, dumping money into minor upgrades.

Today, I was finally able to get my dream plot. Lavender Beds 11, I've had my eye on you since the wards were empty because not even the most prestigious FCs could afford a house. You are mine now.

It really has felt like a progression. Newer FCs might be upset that I was able to upgrade my personal lot, and they had to settle. But I've played the settling game for years, and I feel like I deserve this reward for sticking to it. I'm thrilled that I no longer need to keep a cache of gil aside in case this plot opens, and that I can sleep in next patch. I'm not going to apologize. There's plenty of smalls available for others to begin the same journey, and I wish the best of luck to them.

Thanks for remembering me, SE.