In-depth analysis of the housing situation.

[Arthrun]

It's rather simple to understand why people are against Instanced Housing.

If everyone could simply "obtain a house" then it would lose all value, when the housing system is meant to be a Luxury. Not a privilege. Instanced housing wouldn't even fix the "housing crisis" as-is, because it would run into the same problem Wards do. There is a limit before something snaps. You can't just keep on "adding more stuff" and hope all is well.

On top of that, if Instanced Housing were to truly become a thing (it already is. Apartments. But I digress) then it would need to be laughably terrible, or the ward housing would need to get an upgrade so the Ward Houses are still the more spacious option to keep its value. Sure, it'd be great for Apartments to be "upgradable" but to that end, that could be said for all ward housing period. I know plenty of people that have a Small and would happily pay more to get more rooms or more space (while avoiding the upgrade to a Medium) and it's a rather tricky staircase to climb.

What you kind of have to realize is that Apartments are meant to be for everyone. They're cheap, affordable and anyone / everyone can have one. It's BECAUSE of that free access, that they have to be somewhat lacking. Otherwise why buy a ward house? It was already discussed in plenty of threads that people say owning a ward house is like showing off your e-peen. But nobody really goes to the Wards in the first place, beyond either buying a house or you having a house in that ward. Pretty great trophy that nobody cares to go and look at, or see.

With the Roleplayers, Housing takes a better seat. Because people could actually host events or storygroups in their housing to get away from the central hub. To try and encourage people to look around and not just stand in the Quicksand, watching people try to out-edge each other. But beyond that?

I say this, having been in your shoes, Arthrun. I spent a few months looking for a house and I finally got one and fully decorated it. But now.. It just sits there. Regularly used for Roleplay, but nothing else. If you don't really have a main goal to use the housing outside of crafting, RP or FC-related stuff, then your time is better sunk into an Apartment. That way, you will avoid the rather sinking feeling of "I just spent most of my cash on something I thought was great, but now is kind of.. Ehh."

(personal thoughts, at least.)

Gave you a like because I can see where you are coming from.

I would like a personal home because I RP quite a bit in game and my entire goal for having one is to be able to RP regularly. I also have little else to do with Gil in game as well and It is being referred for apartments to be cheap and affordable for everyone, but how come I can’t desire to sink money into my little condo to upgrade it? IF I am perfectly honest I would be very happy to be able to invite people to my apartment if I was able to have it large enough to feel like I have rooms, kitchen, office, and a view. Not have it look like a studio. I have lived in studio apartments before and quite frankly they make life feel claustrophobic.

[Feron]

IDK where people come up with the idea that housing is a luxury only meant for some and not all.

Honestly, please point me to the developer quote where that sentiment is expressed. I've seen the following from devs about housing: old promises that turned out to be complete lies, apologies for lack of capacity, insistence that there are plenty of open plots (if you look at all the worlds in aggregate, which is completely useless), vague evasions to angry questions, and new promises that will probably turn out to be complete lies.

Never seen them say "housing is only for the super rich" or "housing is a luxury". Probably because it's not. Like dungeons, crafting, raiding, pvp, glamours, in-game festivals, golden saucer, and basically everything else, its a game mode for everybody who wants to participate. That's WHY plots have static prices, and why the OP's ridiculous premise and equally-ridiculous solution will never be implemented.

[Lantichan]

IDK where people come up with the idea that housing is a luxury only meant for some and not all.

Honestly, please point me to the developer quote where that sentiment is expressed. I've seen the following from devs about housing: old promises that turned out to be complete lies, apologies for lack of capacity, insistence that there are plenty of open plots (if you look at all the worlds in aggregate, which is completely useless), vague evasions to angry questions, and new promises that will probably turn out to be complete lies.

Same in green: point me to the part of the license agreement that states that you are guaranteed a house on whatever server you chose to play on. Last time I looked over it, it said you agree to be able to use the Software AS IS and that includes "not enough plots for all players", as that is the state of the game currently.

Look, I get it, housing as a whole is something a lot of people enjoy and want to do and that's fine.

What I don't get is the sheer "stomp-the-foot-until-I-get-what-I-want"-mentality of some people here...

First, it's not the devs fault that people sit in front of the placard 24/7 and forget about basic body-functions needed to live over a block of polygons.
Yes, the system with the hidden timer sucks and a more automated lottery system would be better. Still it is, on paper, more fair than the one we had before.

Second, there IS instanced housing in the game. You not liking it's feature set won't make it magically disappear.
There are 12960 Apartments available per Server (4 areas * 18 wards * 2 subdivisions * 90 tenants maximum). And while even that is not enough for all servers, if every active player would buy one, it's for about half of them (according to lucky bancho census from end of July). According to the same census it would be plenty if only active lv80 players would buy them on all servers. In any case, I'm not even counting FC-Rooms and normal houses yet.
There are little HOUSES available, yes. But there is plenty of HOUSING.

And last but not least, and this is the most important one. The devs have proven time and time again that they take broad requests a bit too literally (my guess would be because of the language barrier).

Back in 2.x people asked for "Player Housing" with all features FC housing provided. What did we get? Instead of the "different system" that YoshiP mentioned ages ago and which is often twisted into being "a lie", we got EXACTLY what was asked for: "FC Houses" for Players.

People asked for a "Loft item" that is like a group stage, just that you can put it on a wall, so we don't have to glitch it up. What did we get? EXACTLY that. Like to the letter. Including not being able to put anything on top of it, essentially making it useless for completely glitchless use.

I could probably find many more examples if I look through recent additions that went wrong in some way, but that's not the point. The point is, ask for the features you want to become available using other means and do so precisely with what you want from it. Not for something they already said have trouble providing.

[Big_Bap]

IDK where people come up with the idea that housing is a luxury only meant for some and not all.

Honestly, please point me to the developer quote where that sentiment is expressed. I've seen the following from devs about housing: old promises that turned out to be complete lies, apologies for lack of capacity, insistence that there are plenty of open plots (if you look at all the worlds in aggregate, which is completely useless), vague evasions to angry questions, and new promises that will probably turn out to be complete lies.

Never seen them say "housing is only for the super rich" or "housing is a luxury". Probably because it's not. Like dungeons, crafting, raiding, pvp, glamours, in-game festivals, golden saucer, and basically everything else, its a game mode for everybody who wants to participate. That's WHY plots have static prices, and why the OP's ridiculous premise and equally-ridiculous solution will never be implemented.

You need a pointer? Go take a second look at the original prices on legacy servers and draw a parallel with the abundance of gil on certain servers.

Get educated.

[Drkdays]

It's totally meant for ANY WHO DESIRE IT.

That's a bit different from the "everyone get's a house" mentality in subtle, but important ways.

Not everyone wants a house, this is surely true, but it should be GOSH DERN AVAILABLE to anyone who actually strives for it. That's just common sense. No player is any better than other players when it comes to houses. Different in player skill, available gil, amount of maxed jobs, time put into gaming, and resources available to that player, sure.

But when it comes to an empty plot, you ain't any better than that player standing next to you, no matter how much you might think you are.

Housing is EQUAL FOOTING in every way but the amount of available plots, no matter what your ego says to the contrary.

Now they just need to make housing reflect this simple and obvious truth.

[BehindTheFlowers]

Seperate the FC housing from the personal housing.
Make the personal housing part of the ingame world like small towns in the areas, so they are more lively and will be used more, so they are not a waste of server structure and space.

That or remove private housing completely.

[IdowhatIwant]

Here is a good solution. Remove all MEW FC plots. That is at least a start to allowing valid players access to houses.

[Drkdays]

It's still ridiculously hard to get a house. Made harder by house hoarding and click bots.

[Drkdays]

It's still ridiculously hard to get a house. Made harder by house hoarding and click bots.

[Sauteed]

Coming in this thread late, but I don't like people who have obtuse attitudes any more than anyone else, but I don't hold any grudge against anyone who has a lot of houses. That is not the player's fault that the supply is not equal to the demand, they still have to do the same things to get a house or houses per account as anyone else, etc.

If I payed for more than 1 account, I would do my best to get both accounts everything they were entitled to, and if people threw a fit at me about it, I'd add them to my black list and for good reason. That being said, this housing "situation" is exactly 100% Square Enix's fault in my opinion, and not .1% any one else's. Not yours, not mine, not "theirs". Nobody else bears responsibility for this dumpster fire. Let's hope this whole Ishgard restoration thing is what people are hoping it is, and that it really does make a noticeable difference in the way housing is handled.