Housing, a rant (but I hope a constructive one)

[Aramina]

Well if SE is unable to find the ressources, how Black Desert or Wildstar did?

The funds one game may be allocated has no bearing on the funds another may be.

[Shougun]

I have a few hopes for solutions, all of them fairly expensive.. so I'm sorry SE but yeah.. lol:

1) [Full power instanced content, like Wild Star]

They figure out how to fix account bound issues and account bind a house to every data center that you have a character on. This lot will be like Wild Star, in that it's your own zone that you may upgrade in many ways including having a much larger than large house and larger than large yard (actually pretty much farm tier open space, also new features because it's your own area like space taking mini games and being able to just float / shrink / enlarge stuff because you can). Wild Star was technically per character, but I'm trying to suggest ideas that have their feet both in feature deep / unlimited and "do-able". May trade items with your own characters via your shared housing. The old housing system will continue on but an attention to abandonment of the system will be noted for future decisions (I imagine most will use a transfer feature to get all their items in the larger, more feature filled, instanced option).

2) [Low memory but still very homely, grow-able, feature full, and optionally extremely impressive, coming with nostalgic systems like Airships]

Perhaps create a compromise, like when you enter an inn room it's beautifully decorated already - or in skyrim you buy a house and can upgrade sections and themes to be in a certain way. Here Airships would have all the features of housing, work for FC even if they don't have a house, and could become much much larger. Picturing like a better Garrison (which didn't have too many visual options). I of course would like to see a full featured housing system using airships but consider this approach as storing perhaps 20 outside variables and 50 inside variables could lead to an airship twice the size of a large house and be fully and beautifully decorated (from your choices of themes/combinations). This low memory would allow them to load it in faster and not around other player's houses, meaning it might get around their memory issue. Also Airships could be a feature that both house owners and not could enjoy (some redundancy with owning a house but also some new features too, like being able to travel around and reach new content). The model design would be expensive but in terms of program systems I think this is one of the more do-able ones as I imagine you could argue the chocobo saddle-bag having more than enough info to describe nearly all ships, and that feature SE found a way to load in pretty much anywhere on every character. Also adds a bunch of new features and goals to the game which is good (FC working towards huge airships or just having the option to actually have a home on full servers that have no normal space left). Made a thread on the concept, here.

3) [Make the limited memory apartments exactly as good as houses, on full servers this may still be a huge problem but it could be 90%+ solved at least]

Apartments get upgraded to be able to become small, medium, large in size. They can upgrade to a balcony/garden area (place for outdoor furniture). And perhaps somehow get some exterior controls (like maybe on their balcony). At this point apartments could technically be 99.9% of what a regular house would be, should change the name though since I feel apartment takes away the idea of ownership. I'd greatly prefer the first idea to this though (Wild Star housing style upgrade) because the whole idea of apartments when there are actual houses rubs me poorly, just sounds like a compromise "where's your house bro?" "oh I have an apartment, it's almost a house I guess".

[Aside comments]

Not really important to the above ideas but my idea for lore for a wild star housing type is that our home world crystal generates a pocket of space in her bosom to help us on our journey (the emotional form of Echo lol). In this all the new features make sense and have some neat lore opportunities, for example if you changed your back drop in the area from Azim Steppes to Ishgard Sky Riser or Sea of Clouds island type A.. no logical issue (because it's all just aether you've stored in a bank the mother crystal has given you). Also I meant neat lore opportunities as in collecting a back drop could be collecting the essence of that zone, or when you bind an item to you it's because you've taken it into the aether and transmuted it into a format that works in there.

I don't really want to see people's neighborhoods destroyed because I know some people like them but imo the Wild Star style housing is vastly superior and has opportunity to be social as well (directory of homes, some can be organized by their type like bathhouse/etc - so players who wanted to see awesome places could do it much faster than they can now). Also most importantly if everyone gets a house we can see better more impressive and integrated features for housing, because now no one is left out (and is encouraged to partake, unlike our current system).

They have to dedicate an exact amount of resources ahead of time for this, it's the same as just adding more wards other than maybe the ward listing being invisible until some conditions are met. You'd also have people trying to game the system to activate a new ward listing for a shot at the plot they actually want.

I'm sure you were just referring to this game, so I am saying you're right but just in case it was a general statement I wanted to add that LOTR Online has a ward system almost identical to FFXIV's but they dynamically change the ward count to ensure everyone gets a place.

[Lambdafish]

Given what has been said about housing by the dev team. I'm pretty sure these suggestions would be implemented if it were possible. But they haven't been, so I doubt it is.

[Hazmick]

I think the housing system is fine as it is right now, just perhaps add more wards as I know some servers are super busy. Other servers are fairly quiet - on Omega for example there are empty plots all over the place, even in more popular wards like Lavender Beds.

The more systems SE add to ease the 'housing crisis', the more ways people will find to cheat the systems.

[Shougun]

Well if SE is unable to find the ressources, how Black Desert or Wildstar did?

I think it's more like they prepared for it with their systems, where FFXIV still has some 1.0 code that wasn't really prepared for the modern mmo expectations. Especially Wild Star with team members coming from Blizzard and all their multiplayer experience, bet that helped them see and create the awesome housing system they created.

[Minerva-Redwater]

Well if SE is unable to find the ressources, how Black Desert or Wildstar did?

Really hope they don't add houses like black desert...FFXIV has a unique housing system that gives us the neighborhood feel to it. Instanced housing will take away from that and I hope they never do take away that feeling. Adding more housing Areas (Ishguard, The newer town in shadowbringers etc.) would be way better than instanced. Not to mention black desert/instanced housing doesn't allow you to decorate the outside of your house which would completely suck.

[Eldevern]

neighborhood...

We so rarely meet people. It is pretty empty since it is not FC exclusive. I had two mansions, I pretty well know how it looks. A full instancied system could at least replace the apartments. And technically instancied airship or islands are not that heavy.

Technically, I know a little how if works and... yes the wards system is heavy but from my point of view, they wasted a lot of ressources. Wards are a pretty heavy instances where you meet... two, three people, when you are not all alone. Super.

I pretty sure you could meet much more people if there were a central aetherite to access instancied airship or island than we can meet in any ward.

[Shougun]

neighborhood...

We so rarely meet people. It is pretty empty since it is not FC exclusive. I had two mansions, I pretty well know how it looks. A full instancied system could at least replace the apartments. And technically instancied airship or islands are not that heavy.

Technically, I know a little how if works and... yes the wards system is heavy but from my point of view, they wasted a lot of ressources. Wards are a pretty heavy instances where you meet... two, three people, when you are not all alone. Super.

I pretty sure you could meet much more people if there were a central aetherite to access instancied airship or island than we can meet in any ward.

Yeah going to have to chime in (agree) and say the neighborhood at least where I go every day is basically ghosthood. I'd much rather everyone could have a house, and a more powerful customize-able house at that, than what I do get (Wild Star preference). Also instance doesn't mean you can't visit your friends or have a directory for social interaction, house of the week, month, etc content.

Although the fact some people like the current system is why I don't suggest to destroy it, just create a better (imo) system on the side. If they can't figure out how to add less wards on smaller servers and more on larger servers though the ghost towns will only get worse as they add new housing areas (if they're not instanced to yourself).

Not to mention black desert/instanced housing doesn't allow you to decorate the outside of your house which would completely suck.

Black Desert's maybe, but that is not true for instanced housing in general. Instanced housing can be significantly more powerful than the ward system in terms of decoration, like Wild Star.

Also to add our apartments are akin to Black Desert house system, except our apartments are worse (improving our apartment system would be nice). But I'd like to see Wild Star housing, not particularly Black Desert (could be seen as better apartments to reference though), and so adding instanced housing like that would be way better (imo).

[DarkEiraStar]

I actually like the way housing works. I like the Neighborhood feel, despite being a "ghost town", but if you don't idle outside your house I don't know why you expect anyone else to. I have a room at my FC and share a small house with friends that I don't personally own.

I feel like a lot of these question got answered after the firestorm of Shirogane when there were only 12 wards. Housing creates a lot of stress on the servers. That's why you're limited to so many houses, on so many wards, with only so many housing items.

With that being said, there is speculation that rebuilding Ishgard might eventually open a housing district there.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

So like, I don't know why people keep passing this over, but during the NA fanfest when they talked about the ishgard restoration content, they mentioned being able to live there. It's likely not housing wards, as you have to complete the restoration via doh and dol endgame content.


Why do people not think ishgard will have instanced housing at the end of this?