Small plot has more usable yard space than a medium plot.

[Kirsten_Rev]

We should be afforded much more customization with our houses. In particular, we should be able to place them within the plot as we so choose, just like a piece of furniture.

I also second the comments about SE needing to get off their arses in regards to item limits. Isn't this part of why PS3 support was removed? At the very least, if they aren't going to eliminate item limits, I'd like to see more features available for the houses. As an example, simply placing some organic-looking rocks and trees around the edges of my house currently eats up about 1/3 of the available items. That's ridiculous. Let me have some base 'landscape' settings for the house. Let me place groves of trees at once, so that a half-dozen with some plants around the base counts as a single item, not a half dozen or more.

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One more comment. I'm sure there are likely to be people who read this, and think 'gosh, that's a bit harsh, we should be more forgiving of SE.' Generally, I'd agree with that sentiment, too. The reason I don't in this case is that the entire Housing system has been mismanaged from the very beginning. SE set down a path to build neighborhoods instead of individual house instances, and we've been paying for it ever since. We pay for it in terms of lack of availability; we pay for it (literally) in the form of a demolition timer; we pay for it in terms of limited exterior customization options (no add-on wings or the like); we pay for it in terms of limited outdoor furniture. All of these limitations can be laid squarely at the feet of SE's decision to build an in-game system that their infrastructure couldn't properly support.

SE's arrogance in this regard cannot be overstated. That's why I have very little sympathy for them when it comes to player criticism of the Housing system. They created this mess by biting off more than they could chew, and then doubling-down and refusing to go a different way. It's on them to do as much as they can to mitigate the downsides for players.

[Paladinleeds]

One more comment. I'm sure there are likely to be people who read this, and think 'gosh, that's a bit harsh, we should be more forgiving of SE.' Generally, I'd agree with that sentiment, too. The reason I don't in this case is that the entire Housing system has been mismanaged from the very beginning. SE set down a path to build neighborhoods instead of individual house instances, and we've been paying for it ever since. We pay for it in terms of lack of availability; we pay for it (literally) in the form of a demolition timer; we pay for it in terms of limited exterior customization options (no add-on wings or the like); we pay for it in terms of limited outdoor furniture. All of these limitations can be laid squarely at the feet of SE's decision to build an in-game system that their infrastructure couldn't properly support.

SE's arrogance in this regard cannot be overstated. That's why I have very little sympathy for them when it comes to player criticism of the Housing system. They created this mess by biting off more than they could chew, and then doubling-down and refusing to go a different way. It's on them to do as much as they can to mitigate the downsides for players.

And if Square Enix really want to keep the community feel... get rid of all wards but one (and no subdivision). Make each entrance to a garden a zone barrier (probably just the garden entrance with the rest of it being invisible walls), with a random house planted on it if anyone has a house in that zone. You enter the entrypoint, you get options similar to the ward choices when entering a housing area (to pick which ward). Just select the house you want, and load in. Could even add a range of tenancy counts in each plot to try and evenly distribute people out (so if one plot becomes too popular it becomes locked out until others get extra people in for example, but once the numbers become more balanced again the locked plots re-open, so as to stop one plot becoming the de-facto place to go). Instanced housing, still have "wards", everyone wins if you ask me.

Since apartments were meant to be personal housing, perhaps with this new system all personal houses could be 100% refunded with all items returned, and pushed into apartments (with similar instancing). Could also expand apartments then to have different sizes. They also don't have to give up on their community vision of wards, as you'd still have the different plots, but each "plot" would be instanced. I daresay it would do a better job than what we currently have. Since houses would be for free companies, and then an apartment complex for each individual player (just remove the direct access to an apartment from the entrance hall, have them go through the lobby, could even throw the apartment complex's market board there.)

EDIT: And one final point, as the gardens would be instanced too, they could drastically increase the item limit on outdoor patches of the plot too. Like they have with the inside. As each house including the garden would be instanced. Could even then make it so the door opened once you're wanting to go in, and make it look more realistic, rather than a door you interact with. The options are endless.