Suggestion: relocation should be subject to the same timer as first time buyers.

[8bitbort]

The housing system is already bad enough for the have-nots without having the already-gots swooping in because they like the plot better. People being able to relocate to plots creates a large problem of its own through reddit/discord/pf sale of plots as "buy-relocation."

Making relocation subject to the same timer would effectively neuter the p2p economy of houses as a commodity, and would make things much less of an issue for newcomers to housing. Only downside I can see is that "Buy-FC" becomes a much bigger seller\\\\'s market for FC houses in "desirable" plots.

[Luna-M]

No thank you. Seems like you don't understand the reason we have relocation and it's benefits. While I agree the timer thing is bs but this isn't a solution in any way you look at it.

[Jojoya]

Adding relocation to the purchase timer does nothing to benefit those looking to buy a house for the first time.

It doesn't matter whether the player who ends up with the plot was a new buyer or someone relocating - every other player trying to buy is going to be disappointed because they still don't have a plot.

At least with relocation, you know another plot is available somewhere else on your world. You have another chance to buy in the next 24 hours. If a new buyer ends up with the plot, you don't know how long you're going to be waiting for another one to become available.

[8bitbort]

Then please, elaborate on the reason and benefit of having relocation skip the timer? Right now it mostly serves as a means of players being able to trade houses amongst each other for increasingly inflated gil costs. We can do without that. Folks relocating to a plot already have the benefit of getting a reduced gil cost.

[ramsesh]

No.

Relocation doesn't take away from the existing supply, only first time buying does. In SE's eyes, this doesn't warrant a timer, because they're not taking away a house when someone relocates.

[8bitbort]

No.

Relocation doesn't take away from the existing supply, only first time buying does. In SE's eyes, this doesn't warrant a timer, because they're not taking away a house when someone relocates.

But it continues to support a secondary economy where players buy up plots and sell the relinquishing rights for a profit. This is clearly not what SE intended, and limiting ways players abuse a system is good for the overall health of the game.

[Kenky]

But it continues to support a secondary economy where players buy up plots and sell the relinquishing rights for a profit. This is clearly not what SE intended, and limiting ways players abuse a system is good for the overall health of the game.

That will continue to be an issue even if they take Relocation out, purely because they can't police the platforms where those sales are made. in a sea of relinquished plots and relocations, SE would have a hard time figuring out which are legit and which are a result of RMT.

[ramsesh]

That will continue to be an issue even if they take Relocation out, purely because they can't police the platforms where those sales are made. in a sea of relinquished plots and relocations, SE would have a hard time figuring out which are legit and which are a result of RMT.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Jojoya]

But it continues to support a secondary economy where players buy up plots and sell the relinquishing rights for a profit. This is clearly not what SE intended, and limiting ways players abuse a system is good for the overall health of the game.

It's not relocation that supports the secondary economy. It's the lack of sufficient houses that does that.

Relocation cuts into the secondary economy because current house owners are now free to relocate on their own instead of having to go through a house flipper to get a better plot. Flippers are hindered by trying to buy a plot in the first place then trying to get a better plot that other players are willing to pay extra to obtain. Except those players are now their direct competitors when those more desirable plots become available instead of customers held hostage.

Nothing you're saying here does a thing to make it easier for first time buyers to get a house and that supposedly is your goal.

That said, are we about to see a temporary surge in flipping of all types including to relocating owners? Of course. New wards are getting added and that means flippers are going to have an easier time buying the desirable plots. But it's going to be a temporary surge only. Once all those plots are sold and those who own the plots are people who intend to keep them, the flipping diminishes rapldly. It goes back to using shell FCs to buy houses so the player who wants to own a house can bypass the timer by purchasing the FC directly.

Trying to change how the purchasing system works at this point is nothing but band-aids on band-aids, and that's a layered mess than quickly falls apart. Until SE implements a system where every player is guaranteed a house if they want it, there will be players that end up unhappy. Making it more difficult to relocate is not going to improve their experience. It's going to give more power back to the flippers.

[8bitbort]

Allowing relocation literally DOES support the p2p market, because without it, the only people that could still functionally sell houses are the people selling FC ownership, which is a mess of its own. Putting measures into place that reduce the avenues for people to abuse a system literally DOES help new homeowners, because there's less shenanigans going on that would hinder the buyability.

Even the argument that "but a relocation doesn't take away a house, there's still a net availability of. one house" isn't really a good one, because it basically just resets the wait timer to 12+ hours. I still haven't seen an argument against this outside of "but I still want to sell houses" or "but bad people will still be bad though" or "if it doesn't solve every problem at once it isn't worth implementing."

Not to mention, no one has said what those benefits of relocation skipping the timer are for the over housing system as a whole. Despite saying there's benefits.