How would have implemented housing in XIV?

[Rufalus]

Likewise I think I would have gone with instanced from the start just because it's a lot easier. However the wards are kinda cool and it looks like this system may work fine eventually on all but the most congested worlds now that they are putting restrictions in place and the number of wards available is getting high. I don't know if it was worth the increased server load/cost on their side. If the expense of maintaining this system is not too high I'd call it a win. They are going to work on adding features to the apartments and making other housing features available to people who have no plots.

[Septonyte]

I like the housing ward layouts as they are now... but there are some changes I would have loved to see implemented instead of just the "Toss more wards at it" method SE have taken. So here is what I would have done.

1) Keep each ward to 1 ward (no subdivisions for this system.) *This may not be possible if the housing server is too full of houses.

2) A player may go up to the placard of ANY house and "purchase" it. They may then enter the instance for their front yard via the placard - it will move them into the front yard of their instance.

3) Once in the instance, which begins as an empty plot just like in the current system, they may then do the housing thing. The "surrounding area" is exactly like the area outside the instance (you just don't see any other players run by while in your instance.)

*** That's the actual player side of the housing but there are three more things I want this system to do. ***

4) The wards are not actually empty, nor are they made up of "Generic Houses". Instead, at regular intervals, the houses are randomly selected from the houses on each plot. This would give people a chance to show their plots to the ward AND give incentive to decorate their front yards and houses.

5) If a player's house is chosen then it will be the house people see and can interact with as they walk around the ward so this keeps the ward "open" so we can still cut across yards. Also, the displayed yard is separate from the instanced yard; once set, the ward's displayed yards and houses will not changed until the next re-roll.

6) The placard menu allows you to select to either go straight to your house, go to a friend's house on the same spot (a small list appears for this one), or view a list of all houses on the same spot (for the RPer events). The full list should also be filterable by FC/personal and sorted alphabetically.

I also have an idea for instanced housing but would need to flesh it out a bit more.

[SofiIre]

I would say, the only issue, is that you would still have almost everyone going for larges and mediums leaving the smalls to always look like empty plots. However, I like where your head is at.

[silentwindfr]

the original plan, the house for the FC and the appartement for the player, it was the simplest. sadly when they had to bring the housing for the player the appartement wasn't ready and they have take the wrong way.
the house for a FC is a tool that offer a lot of possibility like a place of gathering and the airship/submarine venture or the FC craft.

when the house for player is only a bragging right....

[Vhailor]

I would say, the only issue, is that you would still have almost everyone going for larges and mediums leaving the smalls to always look like empty plots. However, I like where your head is at.

In fairness, this is more due to the design of small houses themselves. They simply aren't big enough. I originally purchased a small house when I returned to XIV about a year and change ago; it almost immediately felt cramped to the point of being unpleasant, and within a couple of months I freely demolished it (completely sacrificing the money and time invested) to upgrade to a medium. It's not that I wanted the status of a medium, nor did I care about the extra Gardening plots; I simply wanted enough space to add the functional items I'd use (merchants, etc.), and a few odds and ends, without the house feeling immediately cluttered.

SE should either add a third level to small houses, or increase the size of the two stories it has. Incidentally, even adjusting it so that the houses are two above-ground stories (vs. ground level and basement) would be an improvement; for people who are wanting to create a bedroom of sorts, the existing design is atrocious. This was a factor for me, and I'm not even much of a decorator.

[Dualblade]

All housing would have been situated in the Sea of Clouds. Flying would be enabled from the get go with multiple islands being in each instance, with each island being equal to a house. The larger the house the larger the island.

If a player doesn't log in withing 180 days Bismark eats the island. If you have retainers they valiently try to hold it off but only manage to get away with your non-unique items and some gil.

[Vhailor]

All housing would have been situated in the Sea of Clouds. Flying would be enabled from the get go with multiple islands being in each instance, with each island being equal to a house. The larger the house the larger the island.

If a player doesn't log in withing 180 days Bismark eats the island. If you have retainers they valiently try to hold it off but only manage to get away with your non-unique items and some gil.

What if your FC owns an airship? Do the Retainers get away with the unique items then? =D

[Dualblade]

What if your FC owns an airship? Do the Retainers get away with the unique items then? =D

The airship gets in a dramatic duel with Bismark that results in its ramming the whale, taking it down in fiery glory. This does mean you lose your airship(s), but the captain somehow survives this with a limited amount of (randomized) unique items. If you have all the airships you can get you save all your FCs unique items.

May also result in your retainer captain getting some Bismark loot.

[Ishaelin]

Very similar to Septonyte's response with a few differences:

1) Players may go up to any placard and purchase the plots for individual or FC use. This plot would then display their house in this plot whenever they enter the ward.

2) You can choose a specific house, resident, or FC through a search function or list for each plot to display, through the placard. Lets say your FC has a house and members of the FC wish to create an FC themed ward for themselves. Each player would have to buy a different plot, then run to each placard in the ward and select their FC members from the list or search function and display their house. Houses owned by more than one FC member on the same plot would not be displayable at the same time, encouraging plot differentiation for RP and community reasons.

3) You can only see people you have houses displayed for going about their business, as well as people displaying your house. If I can see you, you can see me.

[ElazulHP]

I miss the way Star Wars Galaxies did housing. You had a very large open world map on multiple planets and you could just build stuff pretty much anywhere. People and guilds would form entire cities completely planned, built, and run by the players(including elections to pick the mayor of the city). You could find player owned shops in the middle of nowhere with some of the best deals and stuff around. The group I played with built an entire Imperial City on Lok back in the day. It was pretty bad ass.

Also, if I remember correctly(it's been some time) there was an hourly credit maintenance fee associated with owning a home which was supposed to represent repair costs for upkeep of the building. If you didn't have money it would get condemned until you could pay to open it back up. Take too long or go inactive the building would get purged and vanish back into your datapad. Price of upkeep was based on size of house so larger the house the bigger the upkeep fee.

I can't recall any other MMO's I've played that have followed the same formula, but I wouldn't mind seeing some player cities.