Dead from Plot hunting and I ask YOU a Question

[GeminiReed]

So not only has Square Enix shot themselves in the foot by allowing personal houses to compete against a system that was perfectly suited for Free Companies, they thought it was a good idea to lower the values across the board… twice. If anyone here can explain the reasoning behind lowering the value of a Gil sink when literally every new item that gets added to the game costs more than the previous one, please rise up from your seat, walk down the aisle, climb up the stage and pick up the microphone so everyone can hear your words of wisdom (not).

I have some small experience with multiplayer game design but I'd hardly call myself an expert or even an economist.

Currency sinks only work when players use them. The involuntary ones like repair costs, marketboard taxes, and transport fees need to be cheap enough that it doesn't discourage use or encourage underground economies like GW's ecto trade. Unavoidable ones like repair costs can negatively impact retention and often hit the currency poor players while having a negligible effect on the problem reserves.

Voluntary sinks need to be attractive enough in the first place but also have a sufficient supply to service the demand. The original prices failed the first test because few FC's or people could afford them despite the devaluation timers. Today it fails regardless of price due to a grossly negligent undersupply. This is further exacerbated by the frequent demolition timer freezes which renders that feature pointless.

As designed FFXIV's housing was never and will never be a functional gil sink. All it did was create a retention problem and at least one black market.

[ItMe]

Because few are interested in deploying, maintaining, fueling, doing inventory management related to exploratory voyages and selling materials obtained by a fleet of 200 submarines. Your average FC is barely interested in this kind of content because of the commitment and your typical FC leader wouldn't wish to keep up with more than 4 airships/submarines anyway. Same could be said about gardening and ward designing.

The housing prices are already a joke and the FCs/players who are interested in this sort of content, on that scale, represent less than 1% of the total plots. It would be foolish to think that increasing prices is suddenly gonna increase the percentage of "rich players" owning multiple properties. What's easier, buying an entire ward for ~650m or for upwards of the gil cap? What would suddenly compel the players with this kind of money to start purchasing multiple plots?

A.) Just because someone has a house doesn't mean they need to maintain and operate a submarine or any of the other things a house can bring.
I don't see how "you'd have 200 gardens to maintain" is a deterrent if someone just wants a house.
After all, I don't imagine you launch airships from all of your houses.

B.) why do you own so many houses?

[SingleMaltFan]

You want housing-related gil sinks? Here's a couple ideas:

1) Let FC members buy more than one personal chamber. Each FC house can accommodate over 500, and most FCs aren't that large. FC leaders could set limits on number of chambers allowed by rank. Have costs escalate the more you buy. Maybe keep the first one 300,000, then 600,000 for the next, then 1,000,000 and go from there.

2) Turn on personal chamber functionality for private estates, so private estate owners could expand their space without having to necessarily buy a larger house. Same escalating cost structure. Fat cats could build 100 room palaces in small plots.

These ideas would have the added benefit of stimulating the furniture market, and the associated MB taxes would pull even more gil out of the economy.

[ItMe]

SingleMaltFan I love those ideas~

[Avatre]

2) Turn on personal chamber functionality for private estates, so private estate owners could expand their space without having to necessarily buy a larger house. Same escalating cost structure. Fat cats could build 100 room palaces in small plots.

This I would 100% want, even if they made the cost a flat 500k per room, for as many as can be created. I would definitely take advantage of that feature, and I'm not even considered rich(probably considered upper lower with my 14.5mil I have)...and likely wouldn't be seen in many dungeons/alliance raids due to gathering and crafting all the things. Would be able to do so much more with my medium than I currently do. So many themed rooms, ability to make a kitchen/bath/greenhouse/studios....and the list can keep growing.