Adding Free Company Wards

[Dyvid]

I think adding two or three new Ward specifically designed for Free Company purchase only is an idea the Devs need to consider. But this would also require strict guidelines for FC owned houses. Small would require 11 active players, Medium 31 active players, and Large 51 active players. If an FC can't keep that number within 60 days, auto demi.

It may sound harsh but ultimately would help in the long run to ensure active FC with healthy membership are able to purchase a home, as well as cut out a lot of single player FC from owning dozens of homes for personal use.

[Kuroka]

See my fc house is bought by my very own gil, as well as i made all furniture myself. But from our around 120-sh members there rarely more then 30 active at once, due timezones and work alone, so nope it wont work like that. A passive number with some active, not counting alts of members would do already to stop one man FCs to relocate there.

IF you wanna start taking away stuff from ppl we start at ppl owning 3+ houses and then we may talk

[Dyvid]

I'm using FFXIV algorithm on what they define as active players: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/freecompany/. Not sure how they define it but there it is.

[Gula]

It's not harsh it's just nonsensical.

[DrWho2010]

house wards were originally FC only to begin with. they weren't all being utilized so they opened up personal housing.

[Dyvid]

See my fc house is bought by my very own gil, as well as i made all furniture myself. But from our around 120-sh members there rarely more then 30 active at once, due timezones and work alone, so nope it wont work like that. A passive number with some active, not counting alts of members would do already to stop one man FCs to relocate there.

IF you wanna start taking away stuff from ppl we start at ppl owning 3+ houses and then we may talk

Sorry but I did some snooping and according to FFXIV website, your FC has 118 Active members so yea. This FC Ward would also combat the problem of ppl owning 3 houses. It's new rules for new FC wards, not applying these new rules to older wards.

house wards were originally FC only to begin with. they weren't all being utilized so they opened up personal housing.

Yea, FFXIV is a victim of it's own success. SE honestly didn't expect the game to explode like it did.

[Jojoya]

I think adding two or three new Ward specifically designed for Free Company purchase only is an idea the Devs need to consider. But this would also require strict guidelines for FC owned houses. Small would require 11 active players, Medium 31 active players, and Large 51 active players. If an FC can't keep that number within 60 days, auto demi.

It may sound harsh but ultimately would help in the long run to ensure active FC with healthy membership are able to purchase a home, as well as cut out a lot of single player FC from owning dozens of homes for personal use.

I doubt there are as many FCs looking to get a house as you seem to think you there are. Many worlds had plenty of houses available up until SE suspended the auto-demo timer at the end of October then announced the free gil giveaway in November. Those worlds continued to have houses available through Jan and Feb until they disappeared to the opportunists who wanted the free gil when they transferred. Many of those worlds are back to having houses available for any FC that wants one.

No need to punish players on all worlds by restricting wards to FC only and ending up with a bunch of half empty FC wards because there aren't enough FC that want a house.

As for your arbitrary active member limits, that's going to punish even more FCs. I doubt there are many FCs that meet your numbers on a consistent basis. Content droughts become log in droughts - are FCs supposed to lose their houses just because half their members take a break from the game for 2-3 months?

I have a better idea. Let's just got instanced housing that has no effective quantity limits, can be purchased by individuals and FCs alike, and have no need for demolition so no one has to lose anything.

Sorry but I did some snooping and according to FFXIV website, your FC has 118 Active members so yea. This FC Ward would also combat the problem of ppl owning 3 houses. It's new rules for new FC wards, not applying these new rules to older wards.

The FC listings lists members in general, not necessarily active members. There is no "algorithm" being used there. If a character is a part of a FC, it is included in the active member count.

Go to Lodestone and it lists my FC as having 39 members. The reality is that number is only 14 players with a total of 25 characters. The other 14 members haven't played in at least 6 months, though we see no need to boot anyone in case they come back for Shadowbringers.

Your restrictions mean little when 7 players could load up a FC with 8 characters each and end up eligible for a large - even though there would never be more than 7 players online at a time and possible even just 1.

[Dyvid]

K, then maybe SE should define what an active player is by either having an active account or maybe 3 or 4 months since last log in. Second, we did have FC only wards but since the game wasn't as popular then they just opened the floodgates and created the mess we have now. Besides I see a lot of post about how FCs can't get a housse and since we don't have apartments for FCs, it's better to add a couple of wards for those groups the need it. Start small and add one per zone and see what happens.

Lastly I not sure how new you are to the game but people have been sayin instances houses for years now, I'm sure if SE could do it they would have by now. We have what we have and need to work within those confines.

[Jojoya]

Lastly I not sure how new you are to the game but people have been sayin instances houses for years now, I'm sure if SE could do it they would have by now. We have what we have and need to work within those confines.

They can create an instanced house system. Almost every location in this game is some form of instance, including the wards. Even the SB main zones ended up instanced at the start of SB to handle the flood of players leveling, with the extra instances removed once server traffic had died down.

I know there are a lot of people who think SE has been totally silent about improvements to the housing system but that's not true. The comments are not frequent but they are out there in interviews. Go back to the Q&A at either the EU or JP FanFest where they answered a question about making the balcony door in mansions functional. YoshiP spent a decent amount of time addressing the question, and going beyond its initial scope. He said they are actively working on technology that would allow a player in an instanced housing area view a simulacra of a non-instanced area (his example was the outdoor yard of the mansion) so you'd be able to see other players who might be passing by.

If SE can get that to work, there's a good chance they can create an instanced house system that meets player desire to retain the active neighborhood feeling from an instanced plot. It wouldn't be the first time a relatively minor content feature added to the game turned into a major content feature later. We're going to see that happen in Shadowbringers, where the Trust system is clearly being built from the squadron system we've been using since patch 3.4.

But they aren't going to casually discuss their plans with the player base when it is something still in development and they have no idea if/when it would be added to the game. They're going announce it when they know they will be implementing it, just as every major MMO developer has learned to do. Players have a bad tendency to take "we're trying to see if we can make this happen" as "we've got this already completed and ready to release next patch". So developers keep their mouths shut until the time is right to make a solid announcement of content or features that are coming.

[Solarra]

OP - I could see the benefits of a having FC only wards if there was the demand. However, on worlds with relatively low populations the demand could actually be tiny. I think a lot of our woes with housing stem from blanket solutions being applied to all worlds, regardless of the vast difference between populations (I understand why they have to do that, but it does cause problems. e.g. - The random timers work on a small, low-populated server, but cause huge issues on a large one like Balmung). So, I'm not convinced FC exclusive wards are needed or would be beneficial overall.

As to a certain number of active members being required, I can see an easy way round this and it isn't pretty. Spam FC invites are an annoyance now, if they make keeping your large house dependent on having lots of active members then that issue is going to get much worse. People with no scruples will game the system, while FCs who don't mass invite and who really do work for the benefit of their members will be under constant threat of losing the company's assets.

As a FC leader, I wouldn't be tempted to move to a FC exclusive ward under those conditions; it's too risky. We don't kick for inactivity and I make a point of promising people their stuff is safe if they have a FC room. If I couldn't guarantee that, then I'd actually advise members against buying one.
The room might be cheap and not much of a loss, but seasonal and other hard to replace furnishings have a value beyond gil, losing them while on a break can be a real blow.