Gameplay should not rely on Housing!!

[Supperman]

I have totally avoided housing since I really hated decorating my own home, and I really couldn't care less about it in game. I did get an apartment so that I can dump all the housing items I got in there.

But then I realised that if I want to level up my Chocobo, I need to get Thavnairian Onions that I can only get by crossbreeding other plants, which I can't do unless I have a house with land. Fine, but after I vacated my apartment and tried to buy some land, there is none available, and when something popped up, I have to wait for some unspecified amount of time to get it (still at it). All the while competing with other toons camping at the placard.

I know that buy the bloody onions off the MB as well, although I have to farm even more Gil to get all 10, but not being able to do crossbreeding also means that miss out on other kinds of rewards. This has helped me to decide that I am better off going back to WoW. I don't know if there's some kind of cultural difference we don't understand with Japanese developers, but it really feels like SE is so myopic about the systems they introduce. If there are gameplay elements that require player housing, they should jolly well make it possible for everyone to get a house, have communal plots or allow for crossbreeding in apartments, so that everyone can do it.

I paid my subscription like everyone else, so why are there gameplay/ technical designs that prevent me from playing parts of the game that others are able to enjoy?

[Dustytome]

But then I realised that if I want to level up my Chocobo, I need to get Thavnairian Onions that I can only get by crossbreeding other plants, which I can't do unless I have a house with land. Fine, but after I vacated my apartment and tried to buy some land, there is none available, and when something popped up, I have to wait for some unspecified amount of time to get it (still at it). All the while competing with other toons camping at the placard.

You could have kept the apartment, it has no sway over the ability to get a house. There are two side quests that give an onion each and you can also grow onions in flower pots if you can find some thav onion seeds that are cheaper. I understand your frustration though. If you are on your way out, I hope you find a game that's enjoyable for you.

[Jojoya]

I have totally avoided housing since I really hated decorating my own home, and I really couldn't care less about it in game. I did get an apartment so that I can dump all the housing items I got in there.

But then I realised that if I want to level up my Chocobo, I need to get Thavnairian Onions that I can only get by crossbreeding other plants, which I can't do unless I have a house with land. Fine, but after I vacated my apartment and tried to buy some land, there is none available, and when something popped up, I have to wait for some unspecified amount of time to get it (still at it). All the while competing with other toons camping at the placard.

I know that buy the bloody onions off the MB as well, although I have to farm even more Gil to get all 10, but not being able to do crossbreeding also means that miss out on other kinds of rewards. This has helped me to decide that I am better off going back to WoW. I don't know if there's some kind of cultural difference we don't understand with Japanese developers, but it really feels like SE is so myopic about the systems they introduce. If there are gameplay elements that require player housing, they should jolly well make it possible for everyone to get a house, have communal plots or allow for crossbreeding in apartments, so that everyone can do it.

I paid my subscription like everyone else, so why are there gameplay/ technical designs that prevent me from playing parts of the game that others are able to enjoy?

Why not just take the gil you'd have to pay to get the house you claim you don't actually want because you dislike decorating and use it to buy the onions you need?

You can get 2 onions from side quests. One is Landing a Stable Job in Ishgard. The other is A Hunter's True Nature, part of a long quest chain in The Dravanian Forelands.

If you want to insist on doing the intercross yourself, then ask a friend with a house who isn't actively using their garden to make you a tenant so you can garden at their house. Most house owners don't actively garden at all so it shouldn't be hard to find a friend willing to let you use theirs.

Keep in mind if you're starting from scratch to get your onions, you're looking at a few weeks of daily maintenance on the garden. Some of the seeds needed for the onions come from intercross themselves so you can easily be out there growing things for a few weeks before you manage to get your first onion. One day missed on that daily maintenance will mean all your effort wasted and starting over from scratch.

Your choice. As someone who does the intercross occasionally to get Thavnairian Onion seeds so we can give away the onions to our FC members as they need them, I'd recommend getting the 2 available as quest rewards then buying the rest off the MB. That way you can spend your time focused on the parts of the game you actually enjoy.

[Supperman]

Why not just take the gil you'd have to pay to get the house you claim you don't actually want because you dislike decorating and use it to buy the onions you need?

You can get 2 onions from side quests. One is Landing a Stable Job in Ishgard. The other is A Hunter's True Nature, part of a long quest chain in The Dravanian Forelands.

If you want to insist on doing the intercross yourself, then ask a friend with a house who isn't actively using their garden to make you a tenant so you can garden at their house. Most house owners don't actively garden at all so it shouldn't be hard to find a friend willing to let you use theirs.

Keep in mind if you're starting from scratch to get your onions, you're looking at a few weeks of daily maintenance on the garden. Some of the seeds needed for the onions come from intercross themselves so you can easily be out there growing things for a few weeks before you manage to get your first onion. One day missed on that daily maintenance will mean all your effort wasted and starting over from scratch.

Your choice. As someone who does the intercross occasionally to get Thavnairian Onion seeds so we can give away the onions to our FC members as they need them, I'd recommend getting the 2 available as quest rewards then buying the rest off the MB. That way you can spend your time focused on the parts of the game you actually enjoy.

Thanks for the advise on alternative methods. I actually don't mind taking time to work towards growing the onions, the same way that I don't mind grinding to get my Zeta and Lux weapons, but I can't really even do it since I can't get the land to do so. My complain is not just about getting the onions, but that I can't even try my hand at cross breeding to see if I can grow something different. Like I said, they should make communal plots available or make cross breeding possible in apartments, the same way as they make communal stables available for apartments.

[GU099]

Thanks for the advise on alternative methods. I actually don't mind taking time to work towards growing the onions, the same way that I don't mind grinding to get my Zeta and Lux weapons, but I can't really even do it since I can't get the land to do so. My complain is not just about getting the onions, but that I can't even try my hand at cross breeding to see if I can grow something different. Like I said, they should make communal plots available or make cross breeding possible in apartments, the same way as they make communal stables available for apartments.

If all you want is to just try out gardening, join an FC that has a house with a gardening plot so you can get your 10 minutes of satisfaction and be satisfied There are plenty of alternate pathways to the content and nobody can argue that gameplay is locked away from them just because they can't get a personal house. FC's have houses, join one that will let you touch their workshop and garden.

[Canadane]

I paid my subscription like everyone else, so why are there gameplay/ technical designs that prevent me from playing parts of the game that others are able to enjoy?

Asking why a technical limitation is a limitation seems like a redundant question.

[Supperman]

Asking why a technical limitation is a limitation seems like a redundant question.

Yup. It's just bad planning.

[Frizze]

Opinion here obviously, but the enjoyable part of having a house is the planning, the decorating and showing it off once you finish. Gardening is a chore, especially if youre doing a more complicated cross/series of crosses. As someone with a garden, i looked at the time and effort growing the onions would take and i bought mine off the MB.

[Wiccan026]

You also can find an FC that has access to housing and than ask if you can have access to the garden function and than crossbreed there.

Granted we've been advocating for them to add something more to apartments in order to make them more functional for those who don't have access to a house (and they may still there were talks of doing things) but there are other avenues to get it done.

Also, while having a powered chocobo is all fine and good you don't truly need one powered past ten (it's nice but it's not needed for progress). It is however best if you put all the points in one skill tree to make sure your chocobo is a specialist in something (if you leave it just at ten).

[Frizze]

Also of note, one of the features Yoshi was talking about that would be added at some point in the 5.x cycle was some sort of "farm" thing. That might end up being a way for apartment owners/people without houses to do their bit of gardening. We might even find out more about it during the next live letter.