Time to end the theft of home and bots - GIVE MORE WARDS-!

[PharisHanasaki]

You're asking this in a thread where people are yet again whining about losing FAKE houses? Please. And my solution was fine for people owning multiple houses. If they want to pay 700k-12.5m+ a month to keep them then they're welcome to it. This game is in severe need of an actual gil-sink.

Although I'd be fine with them relinquishing land from people who own more than 2 places too. I'm easy. The only thing I'm against is people having limited housing for half a year without even paying a sub.

It's not half a year, it's 45 days. And the reason I asked of you didn't have a life is because shit happens IRL, and there are other games to be played. Reducing it from 45 days to 30 would make it pointless to own a house unless this game was your life. I once had an emergency surgery, and I had to rest for 2 weeks. If I hadn't been able to pay my sub due to money or health issues I would have lost my house :/

tl;dr Chill on the 4 week timer.

[Sheldinn]

I think the timer is fine with the current system, however the limited housing in an MMO is in-and-of-itself a flawed and archaic system IMO. There's really no reason not to make it easier for players to have housing of their desired size. They should be a lot more active about adding more wards to the specific worlds and districts that have filled up. If it was just an accepted fact and practice that once the wards had filled or mostly filled on a particular world+district SE would introduce new wards to that world+district it would solve many of the issues players have with housing in ffxiv.

It would eliminate the need for timers because there'd be no need to demolish houses cause new ones will be added. It would reduce the demand for players selling plots to each other because why would a player feel the need to pay large sums of gil if they new they only had a short wait for new wards? No more holding plots hostage. No more fear for having to take a break from the game. To me it seems like a win-win.

On high pop worlds it would definitely be a little chaotic at the start but once the intial waves of "new wards" were finished it would level off and every one would be happy in their new homes.

[NanaWiloh]

The Demo- timer was put in cause of players unsubbing for long periods of time with no indication if and when they would be back. This resulted in a lot of plots just sitting around gathering dust denying others who would use it the chance to buy it. Apartments may not be on equal footing with a house but its something. Something is better then nothing, even if you have house now its good idea to get and apartment. For those in the armed services or with real life matters that pull them away routinely then apartments like it or not should be your aim as your at higher risk of losing any house you buy. The current housing system sucks its not fun, but you can save yourself some frustration by planning ahead and taking the option that best suits your playtime.

[hydralus]

It's not half a year, it's 45 days.

Right now the demolition timers are off and right now nobody's going to be getting any housing that gets freed up. That's why I made the 6 month remark. It's also how things worked before the timers got put in.

As for the other points, if you think it'd be 'pointless' to own a house if you can't be bothered to use it in 30 days then you shouldn't really care that much to begin with. Like, just get an apartment. That's what they're for. Yeah you'll lose out on gardening but that's even MORE of a commitment than housing is. You'd actually have to log on every day to water plants.

And for the 'life happens' and emergency surgery stuff, I don't think it's the end of the world if you or anyone else does lose their FFXIV house over emergencies. I sure know if I was in the middle of an 8.0 magnitude earthquake and had to relocate with my family the LAST thing I'd care about was losing a virtual house. And if you're the type that would care... I dunno, get perspective.

Don't get me wrong I'd love it if more people could get housing. Hence why I want the timer to be even briefer and to add an ownership tax on there. I want people playing the game to have a chance at the housing system they've implemented rather than have it being held by people who barely use it, whether that's out of their control or not. If it were all instanced I'd be all for it.

[PharisHanasaki]

snip

Okay, I get it. You're the kind of person who just deviates and says nonsense when people try to argue. Fine, no point in continuing. Good luck!

[Gula]

They should make housing like how it is in ESO. Where once you buy the home it's permanent and shared with all characters in that database.

Ok, but how? I'm not dismissing your suggestion, but I'd like to know what you had in mind to make it work with the XIV team's original development vision considered and how it could work for more than 5 seconds with spaghet code.

I've never played ESO, but I have played games where players are given permanent instanced housing. The primary difference being those games being built that way from the start. Not a game where having a yard with interactive furniture makes everything blank when you're far enough away.

[Jojoya]

Ok, but how? I'm not dismissing your suggestion, but I'd like to know what you had in mind to make it work with the XIV team's original development vision considered and how it could work for more than 5 seconds with spaghet code.

I've never played ESO, but I have played games where players are given permanent instanced housing. The primary difference being those games being built that way from the start. Not a game where having a yard with interactive furniture makes everything blank when you're far enough away.

SE did mention a couple of times they want to have alts on the same account share ownership of houses on the same world but there were technological hurdles they needed to get past before it could happen.

Can they break down 1.0 spaghetti code enough to achieve it? Your guess is as good as mine. If we can set friends as tenants, it should be possible to at least come up with a way to set alts on the same account as tenants if not as joint owners. I doubt they would have even mentioned the possibility if they knew with certainty if couldn't be done.

[SamSmoot]

Instance the plots themselves so:
1. Every plot can have many owners. This increases the chance of seeing more players in the neighborhood, since they will all be in one "ward", not spread across 21 of them.

2. Eliminate the multiple wards, since they're not needed with instanced plots.

3. When you arrive, your plot contents are visible, but you can select other owners' content from the placard (with thumbnails please. This will allow you to customize the appearance of your immediate neighborhood (Hate / love Paissa houses?).

4. Your plot is always loaded when you arrive. No load screens when entering the yard or house. Other plots would cause load screens on entry since preloading them all would probably take too much time. Still, selected yard appearances would have to preload so you'd see them when outside.

5. Since the house and plot are one instance, you could have real windows, open doors to walk out onto a patio / deck with no load screen.

6. Ideally, when in your yard you should be able to see everyone on the street (Assuming it's possible to code it.)

Of course, everyone would just buy copies of the most desirable plots, but it could be spread out by raising the prices of ones with many owners, and reducing the price of the others.

One problem though: With many more house owners, SE would need to add more storage to hold the content, and pay to maintain it. I suppose they could make it so everyone can buy one small plot for just Gil, but larger ones (containing more stuff) would add to your sub fee (like extra retainers).

And, add farms. Allow us to completely cover a plot with garden patches with no house (or just a tiny garden shed for storage). I don't do housing myself because I can't stand having my camera pushed in to nearly first person view all the time, but if I could do everything outside, I'd go for it.

[NessaWyvern]

There was an interesting post on reddit a while back. Someone saw a bot, botting to buy an empty plot. That person decides to transfer their house there and put a retainer next to the sign, and made the retainer sell copper ore for around a million each. The bot ended up targeting the retainer instead (as it was no longer for sale since the dude transferred), and bought all of the copper ore for millions, until it ran out of money XD

[BristolRuss]

Instance the plots themselves so:
1. Every plot can have many owners. This increases the chance of seeing more players in the neighborhood, since they will all be in one "ward", not spread across 21 of them.

2. Eliminate the multiple wards, since they're not needed with instanced plots.

3. When you arrive, your plot contents are visible, but you can select other owners' content from the placard (with thumbnails please. This will allow you to customize the appearance of your immediate neighborhood (Hate / love Paissa houses?).

4. Your plot is always loaded when you arrive. No load screens when entering the yard or house. Other plots would cause load screens on entry since preloading them all would probably take too much time. Still, selected yard appearances would have to preload so you'd see them when outside.

5. Since the house and plot are one instance, you could have real windows, open doors to walk out onto a patio / deck with no load screen.

6. Ideally, when in your yard you should be able to see everyone on the street (Assuming it's possible to code it.)

Not only is this not possible but it is a terrible idea. Imagine someone is sat on a chair in their garden, yet for that plot you don't have their house loaded. Would they just be sat there on an invisible chair? Also, when I leave my house I would hate to find a gaggle of people loitering around in my garden because it also happens to be their garden as well.