Is it time to rework housing timers?

[YwinaMiaow]

Especially on bigger, more populated servers.

The timers were designed for a housing crisis, but implemented with small servers in mind. Now that the initial - and the secondary - rush of players moving off of larger servers such as Balmung, is it time to rethink the timer implementation?

Since the arrival of timers, I've noticed an increasing trend of unhealthy behaviours from those on larger servers who are hit worse with this issue. Of course, the option to move servers exists, but server loyalty is a thing so for the sake of discussion, we'll pretend you can't. There is a dedicated discord for housing for several servers, which have gathered an average of when the timers go off, as well as other information, but it still doesn't alleviate the trend; people are camping these spots, not eating, avoiding leaving their computers even for sleep, and risking carpal tunnel and RSI for the sake of having the slim chance of a house. I've also found that this system breeds a lot of resentment towards other players for some, and oftentimes camping a spot with 10 or so other players who have not slept, ate or drank or even stretched their legs will cause for a very unhappy environment.

This is not an issue on smaller servers, because housing spots are open long enough to bypass the random timer. Large communities are camping spots from the second they go up. Relocating is also an issue - it resets the timers entirely, and on Balmung alone the relocation for a 'dream plot' causes many issues. I've seen people go days without sleep just to grab a personal house.

While obviously it is up to personal self to take care of your own health, I think that the timers are actively encouraging awful behaviour on larger servers, and it might be time to look at atleast implementing them differently in the run up to 4.5, especially given that even with incentives, a large portion of players still haven't and likely won't leave these servers in the near future because they value the loyalty and friendships they've made on the server over housing.

My two suggestions: Either A) make the timer a lottery system wherein we can place a downpayment, wait for the timer and hope we get lucky and have the ability to leave the housing district without fear of losing out on an open plot or B) Add a "time until open" timer instead of leaving people unaware so they can have free movement.

Sorry if this subject has been beaten with a stick over and over, but I've been actively trying to get a house for several months now and have been unlucky, and have noticed this increasing, incredibly unhealthy trend of players not doing so well the longer this goes on; I'd love to just hear thoughts on this trend and discussion!

[Siniztor]

Id like them to just offer the 80% for demo'ing a house at any point.. why make people sit on a dead house for 45 days just cause they want there gil back

[InkstainedGwyn]

Id like them to just offer the 80% for demo'ing a house at any point.. why make people sit on a dead house for 45 days just cause they want there gil back

Unfortunately, with the way the system is now, that's there because otherwise it would make things even easier for house flippers - swoop in, buy the house, and hold it hostage until you get your 50 mil, then 'relinquish' it for the 80% back. While things as they are won't stop housing flippers, they at least make it a little more difficult. Really wish there was some way around it (I myself had to wait for a 45-day demo a while back when I bought a house for a potential new FC and found we didn't have to move after all) but so far nobody's been able to come up with one that would really solve the issue.

[Slifar]

It's even worse than that. Timers cut into the profit of house flipping and make it a bit more cumbersome, but ultimately it's pretty easy to get around that if you really want. ESPECIALLY since relocation completely bypasses the invisible timer. Just buy the plot you want to flip, and then as long as you and the person who wants to buy the plot have at least a small house you can just do a dance with relocations to get around the entire point of the timer. Or use dummy FC's, etc.

All this timer is effectively doing is hurting legitimate players, especially on larger servers. I've seen bots camping signs and just spamming clicks, seen people going over twelve hours without breaks trying to just get a CHANCE to MAYBE get a house. And that's the problem; at the end of the day, the timers turn the entire process of getting a house into a literal lottery in these situations. Except it also requires you to be constantly attentive and clicking to stay "entered," or to cheat and use a bot/macro program.

We would, honestly, be better off just dealing with the scalpers than having to deal with this timer. At least then you know when walking up to a plot if you're wasting the next twelve hours of your life over it or not. The fact that anyone ever thought it was a good idea is utterly perplexing, especially given the history the FF MMO's have had with getting in trouble for requiring players to commit absurd blocks of time to things.

TL;DR: Any benefit these timers might have ever given is completely and utterly overshadowed by the negatives they bring. They're harmful and need to be gotten rid of.

[LuciferMink]

The timers cut down on the people who would buy up half a ward and then resell it for an insanely inflated price on a server like Balmung though. Small plots would be going for at least 50 million, I've seen larges offered at 200 million, and that's JUST for the chance to rebuy it. Someone I know actually bought from a flipper, they were there at the placard, exchanged the gil, the flipper relinquished the property, and just as they were about to buy it for themselves, another person ran up and bought it out from under them. I think the random timers need to be decreased, but NOT removed. If they're removed, populated servers go back to the hell they were before, with flippers scalping people out of their hard earned gil. I'd rather deal with a random timer than pay some asshole 50+ million gil PLUS THE PRICE OF THE PLOT AND HOUSE. It may waste my time, but it saves me a crap ton of gil at the end of the day.

[MaybeOliverB]

Guess you really don't value your free time.

[LuciferMink]

Guess you really don't value your free time.

It's either waste time making money that is wasted going to a d*** flipper, that I may or may not get the house anyway, or waste my time clicking on a placard that I may or may not get anyway.

Either way, waste of time is there for a plot that may or may not happen. Might as well save the gil right? If someone runs up and buys the plot out from under you, the flipper has no obligation to give you the gil back, he did his job. He relinquished the plot. What happened after that is not his fault.

[MaybeOliverB]

If you don't have a plot to relocate from, then that's your own fault for paying someone to relinquish theirs. If someone buys the plot after the person you bought it from relinquishes theirs, that's also your own fault for being too slow and not careful enough. If you think making gil in this game is difficult or even takes time, you clearly do not play this game properly. The game is quite literally throwing money at you, but you're over here telling me you prefer to waste hours/days away, clicking on a virtual chunk of wood.

[LuciferMink]

So you'd rather have someone break ToS and potentially get both of you banned then? Since flipping houses is against this, and there have been cases of accounts being banned for it. I'm not saying do away with the timer, just reduce it. The amount of time it is right now is ridiculous. It's what, anywhere from.... 5 minutes to... over 24 hours or something like that? With an average of 8-14 hours once a plot goes up for sale, at least on Balmung. No, I don't make gil very quickly, but you do not have the right to tell me I do not play the game properly. The point of an MMO is to play a game MY way. MY way is different than yours. Just because I do not have all crafters/gatherers leveled, or spend hours of every day online to do so, does not mean I "do not play this game properly". My SMN could break the Suzaku EX dummy, at release, at i365. I MUST be doing something right.

[Dzian]

honestly lots of people have come up with ideas that would help the housing system. even changing the way tenants worked for example.. if they actually made plots shared ownerships instead of the current tenant system you'd find a lot more freed up plots because a lot ofpeople would be more willing to share. the reason they dont is because teneants have no powers and can't even reset the demo timers. so they're not going t oinvest in a property thats tied to another players sub.

I own a medium for example and 3of my friends also own mediums scattered around. all have said there a bit big for one person but smalls are too small. and we cannot share a house because if something happens that causes one of us to be unable to play for a few weeks we'd all risk ending up homeless. if we could actually share the plot and allow any one of us to reset the demo timer or such then there's 3 extra medium plots available for other people on our server. and i know more than a few groups of friends who would be of a similar mindset.

something like this would also fit better into yoshis frequent statement of you can take breaks if you want.. because if the porperty was shared amoung 4 of us and 2 of us took a break for 3 months our home would still be safe when we returned. (assuming at least one of the other 2 were still using it)

a proper and actually viable sharing system would free up a lot of plots for other players