The HORRENDOUS State of Housing

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

I am new (1½ months) to the game, and just got house sniped by a reloc after 16 hours (8 of which was logged out and sleeping) so please take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

With all due respect, how did this catastrophe of a market system get okayed? There is a very simple solution and it's relatively easy to implement method that :

• Gives everyone the same chance they have now while maintaining that randomness that is present in the market now.
• Kills any and all unfair benefits from using 3rd party software.
• Allows people who can barely afford the plot the exact same chance at it as someone with a billion gil.
• Allows players to actually play the game without giving them carpal tunnel for just a slim chance to get a plot.

A raffle type system.

1. Plot becomes available.
2. Over the next X to 24 hours (still hidden) non land owners walk up to the placard ONCE and put their name in ONCE and leave.
3. During this time any current land owner can walk up and transfer at any time thus closing the raffle (as is now).
4. A winner is decided via RNGesus (or transfer) and money is immediately taken out. If there is not enough to cover the cost their name gets removed from the pool (they get a message telling them why they didn't get the land) and another pull happens. Rinse and repeat until the purchase goes through and the raffle is closed.
5. Upon the raffle closing, everyone who didn't get picked gets a friendly letter from a Housing NPC explaining why.

Now I can already hear some of you asking "But Ihaf, what if I put my name into multiple pools and my name is pulled more than once?"

Okay, If one of the pulls was for an FC house and one was for a personal house it is a non-issue. If you already have one of the same kind (Personal/FC) you are passed over in the coming draws (or when you win the first one, your name for any like raffles are removed then and not during the later draws).

I am 100% fine with having transfers have that same priority so specific desired plots go to those who want it and let the rest of us fight for the rest. The Firmament is going to solve the SEVERE lack of housing when it gets finished (Assuming that its the same size as the other places).

Now lets take an example where someone REALLY wants House A but is okay with getting House B and they win House B before the House A raffle is drawn. They can then transfer over to House A immediately and everyone in the raffle for House A can put 2 and 2 together (via letter saying there was a transfer and that's why they didn't win the raffle) then go enter into House B's raffle. While this is not ideal (for some), even this is FAR better then the current system which this can still be done in.

Auctions would be a MASSIVE problem here because then only the hyper-wealthy can get housing and if SE were okay with that they wouldn't have implemented the 1 per rule. I do have an idea for that too though.

[Canadane]

If you're so new, why are you looking for a house so earnestly?
There's a lot of other things to focus on first, imo.

Your idea also goes against the grain of their general programming. People are free to suggest things, and obviously SE could program anything, but there's also the realistic idea of how much work they are willing to put into a system that's already established. Big drastic changes likely aren't going to happen. We're more likely to get a new housing district with full ward count than a change to some lotto system.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

If you're so new, why are you looking for a house so earnestly?
There's a lot of other things to focus on first, imo.

I have focused what I want to focus on and right now getting a house is near the top of that list. Not everybody plays the same way.

Your idea also goes against the grain of their general programming. People are free to suggest things, and obviously SE could program anything, but there's also the realistic idea of how much work they are willing to put into a system that's already established. Big drastic changes likely aren't going to happen. We're more likely to get a new housing district with full ward count than a change to some lotto system.

The same programmers who are slashing about 15% (time wise) off of the ARR MSQ list because they USED to think that it should take 9 minutes per quest? The same people who are just now implementing a teleport directly to the Waking Sands? They are not above changing things for the better. That's exactly what a raffle system will do.

[EtherRose]

There are better ways to take care of the housing system that were posted in previous threads. Implementing a RNG system for housing is the worst idea IMO.

[Amnmaat]

If I were Square Enix I would just lock housing to FCs that have 5 people or more for 30 days, yes 30 days. Apartments should be for those wanting their own space to decorate. It's like in real life, most people don't have the funds alone to buy a 3 bedroom house on their own, it's usually a couple/family that has enough to pay for it/be eligible for it. Same rule should apply here, but instead of couple/family it would be FC.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

There are better ways to take care of the housing system that were posted in previous threads. Implementing a RNG system for housing is the worst idea IMO.

It already is RNG based AND ping based. This idea is perfect, find 1 problem with it and I'll shoot it down.

[GhostlyEggs]

Imo they should also make instanced FC districts a thing. If players own a house in their FC district than they can't own a house an non instanced house.
At this point it already seems like a bit of raffle anyways. At least this way players could walk away and do other things.
Although I think players should only be able to enter one raffle at a time.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

If I were Square Enix I would just lock housing to FCs that have 5 people or more for 30 days, yes 30 days. Apartments should be for those wanting their own space to decorate. It's like in real life, most people don't have the funds alone to buy a 3 bedroom house on their own, it's usually a couple/family that has enough to pay for it/be eligible for it. Same rule should apply here, but instead of couple/family it would be FC.

While I disagree with you on who should be able to get housing, I think it should be ACCT based not character based. This system allows for 1 person to own 16 houses 1 personal and 1 FC for each of their 8 characters.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

Imo they should also make instanced FC districts a thing. If players own a house in their FC district than they can't own a house an non instanced house.
At this point it already seems like a bit of raffle anyways. At least this way players could walk away and do other things.
Although I think players should only be able to enter one raffle at a time.

This idea was throwing around in my head and I do like it. The only downside is that instanced housing would fell really empty. TBF the housing already feels empty so not much of a loss I suppose.

[GhostlyEggs]

This idea was throwing around in my head and I do like it. The only downside is that instanced housing would fell really empty. TBF the housing already feels empty so not much of a loss I suppose.

yeah! That's why I think only FCs should get instanced districts. They can keep individual housing non-instanced. I've heard stories of FCs harassing people because they wanted a district to themselves. So it might help that issue as well. Not only that, but it can give something fun for FCs to work towards depending on the requirements SE put in place.

Imo I think the positives outweigh the negatives with these suggestions. Like yeah it would suck to lose rng but, it better than having to sit there for hours on end just clicking.