Garden Restrictions~

[OniKimoto]

May I ask why there is a restriction on smalls and mediums when it comes to the amount of garden plots they are allowed? A lot of FC's are struggling due to bots and people buying housing just to resell so it's hard for my FC currently to obtain a large. Is there any way this restriction will be lifted if it hasn't already? Thank you.

[Mahrze]

I have been subscribed to an idea of FC houses having a "Green House" section they can add to as a facility for an array of gardening uses.

[OniKimoto]

I have been subscribed to an idea of FC houses having a "Green House" section they can add to as a facility for an array of gardening uses.

Oh yes, I would love this idea. Did you submit to SE?

[Mahrze]

Oh yes, I would love this idea. Did you submit to SE?

I have not, but you're welcome to do so instead.

[DrWho2010]

this thread also counts towards submitting to SE/devs. just make sure to get lots of responses and likes on the post. otherwise they won't take a look at it.

[Kenky]

I would assume it's because SE doesn't want -any- house plot to have a garden full of gardening plots, or something to do with "server burden" as the time-old defense. But truthfully I haven't the faintest.

But what I don't understand is the correlation between Gardening plots and you wanting a Large House Plot. The best way for you to get one is probably find one that's soon to demo and camp it. When it is demo'd, relocate. Otherwise the bots will swoop in and you're back in the same square.

Or get lucky and someone offers you the plot, as they leave the game. Like one of my FC members. He got GIVEN a Large house plot to relocate to, because the previous owner had left the game and since then, he hasn't done anything with the house beyond fil it with Primal stuff.

[Mahrze]

But what I don't understand is the correlation between Gardening plots and you wanting a Large House Plot.

It has to do with each house having limits in terms of certain item usage. And in gardening in particular, for you to have "effective" gardening for crossbreed and other things, you need at least 2 plots iirc. Sure, you can have people add you to their friend list and if they share their plots with you that's great. But you having your own 2-3 plots is way better than traveling around 3-4 houses.

Now having a green house section with a system that allows cross breeding and harvesting a la harvest moon/innocent life. Its a great way to have a materials and gil sink since workshop really isn't as engaging as they thought it would be (and with next patch removing the requirement of 4 players to advance workshop projects, even less)

Edit: Adding to it, with the hint they had about some form of "herding" in 5.0, it kind of makes me wonder why things like these aren't FC housing gil sinks:

* Green House for Gardening and ingredients for cooking.
* Stable/Barn for Mounts (displaying and feeding) and herding specific monsters/fishes for ingredients.
* Harbor/Dock/Port for Ships to be displayed and boarded for exploration ventures.
* Training Hall you can customize with dummies of different levels.

[Kytrin]

Edit: Adding to it, with the hint they had about some form of "herding" in 5.0, it kind of makes me wonder why things like these aren't FC housing gil sinks:

* Green House for Gardening and ingredients for cooking.
* Stable/Barn for Mounts (displaying and feeding) and herding specific monsters/fishes for ingredients.
* Harbor/Dock/Port for Ships to be displayed and boarded for exploration ventures.
* Training Hall you can customize with dummies of different levels.

I don't think some of that would work well unless housing itself was instanced? Purely due to some houses being landlocked and the plot setup in general. Makes it very hard to add space for those things. But I would absolutely be all for that sort of thing being available in general.

Need a greenhouse for expanded/mass production? Botanist's Guild has ya covered! Purchase an initial small (instanced) greenhouse and upgrade it over time into a mini-farm with npcs who tend and harvest your crops for you. The greenhouse itself could cover crossbreeding and garden only items (with a few exclusive to greenhouses), while the field can hold various normal crops. Top level Botanists could even purchase exclusive buffs or other items to help encourage gathering in general.

Want a mine of your very own? Miner's guild has heard exciting news about a brand new sight so rich with ore and rare gems that it's about near bursting! Travel to prospecting location, purchase deed to land (again instanced) and spend gil to expand and upgrade it as above until you have a whole workforce bringing in common and rare materials. And again, a top level Miner would get exclusive access to buffs and other things to encourage gathering.

Want a stable/barn for your beloved mounts and minions? Hit up Bentbranch! You purchase a small bit of barn space and upgrade it until you have full facilities for all of your flesh and blood mounts not actively in use, with maybe a machine shop courtesy Garlond Ironworks for your mechanical ones, and maybe a petting zoo or something for your minions. Others could come and visit to see your collections.

Want a harbor or dock for exploratory voyages? Limsa's the place man. You start out with a small pier and grow from there. You could do the same in Ishgard for your airships.

Want a training hall so you can practice without eating garden slots or trekking to the various different Stone, Sky, Sea (or whatever it's called) locations? Your GC is the place to go. They can hook you up with a basic training facility you purchase from them. From there you upgrade it until it's a place you can practice for any situation on. It could turn into your new headquarters for your Squadron, and the striking dummies there could simulate attacks from the primals themselves to make a far more realistic and immersive test of your skill. Maybe you could even have an advanced trainer/coach from your GC to learn endgame strategy and what to do with the various markers and such.

I don't think it would even be all that difficult to implement in terms of memory and server load. As long as we're not the ones doing the decorating, it can all operate from the same templates at various stages. That's how I would do it personally.

[Mahrze]

But house interiors iirc are instanced. So all of that can work as a housing feature. And the biggest thing is having things in housing that require resources would add value to them outside of them being contested as blank canvases for interior designers and factories for some serious crafting entities.


Keep in mind I agree with you to offer it in towns and not gate it through an FC requirement.

[Kytrin]

But house interiors iirc are instanced. So all of that can work as a housing feature. And the biggest thing is having things in housing that require resources would add value to them outside of them being contested as blank canvases for interior designers and factories for some serious crafting entities.


Keep in mind I agree with you to offer it in towns and not gate it through an FC requirement.

No I follow what you're saying. Make it available both ways.

My hesitation with connecting it to housing comes from some concern about how you would implement that sort of thing in the current setup. Not just visually but practically. Like, yeah the FC does have instanced access to the workshop and member's rooms, but they've mentioned before how adding things can cause a lot of server strain. We haven't gotten a slot increase for our yards (yet) for that very reason. If an FC were to have an airship landing or geenhouse outside, that could add to that strain. Likewise, if it's inside, that would be more to load inside on top of the unique decorating everyone does anyway.

Now, putting them into the area where the workshop and member rooms are could work (though I can't even imagine what that would look like off hand), but even that could have problems due to the sheer amount of options and data in one place. That's my concern.