Fix Housing Megathread

[HollyJollyPaca]

WORK FOR IT, do not complain you don’t have it. It’s a luxury item with scarcity. You’re gonna have to work instead of complaining to get what you want. Life

Somebody upsetti. We just wish the system was fixed so you don't have to give yourself arthritis just to get a plot.

[squidmonarchy]

So does the ward system by not allowing every player to have a house. After all, they too are paying a monthly sub fee. Why are you and I allowed houses for paying that sub fee but others aren't? They are effectively being punished for something outside of their control.

A recurring gil fee does not have to be prohibitively expensive, just enough to deter people from holding houses they aren't actively using. Actively playing the game would cover the fee while leaving the player with plenty of more gil for buying other items.

I don't really understand the point of the fee then. We've already got the requirement that people step inside/interact with their house at some point over a span of 45 days. They have to be logged in to do that.

There's also the issue that depending on where a person is in the game, gil can be very easy or very difficult to get. I think most endgame folks aren't going to have a problem paying a substantial fee, but a sprout that's still going through the MSQ, who may have scraped and saved their gil to be able to afford a plot, might have a serious problem.

[Sotaris]

Yeah. I don't really understand the line of thinking of forcing on a "rent" or whatever you want to label it on top of all other systems.

[Jojoya]

I don't really understand the point of the fee then. We've already got the requirement that people step inside/interact with their house at some point over a span of 45 days. They have to be logged in to do that.

There's also the issue that depending on where a person is in the game, gil can be very easy or very difficult to get. I think most endgame folks aren't going to have a problem paying a substantial fee, but a sprout that's still going through the MSQ, who may have scraped and saved their gil to be able to afford a plot, might have a serious problem.

Do you like to pay money for things you aren't using? Most people don't. They like it even less when they have to keep paying that money month after month.

Add a fee for houses and you've created a deterrent. Those who don't use their house and aren't making that much gil are far more likely to relinquish it, making the plot available to buyers who would use it. That's gil being drained by something they aren't using that they could be spending on glamours, minions, emotes, hairstyles, etc. that they would use. It won't deter everyone but it will deter many players, leaving more houses available for those who will actually use their house.

It's something a limited resource system needs to keep those limited resources actively used. Someone who only walks into their house to reset the demo timer isn't using it.

The only reason I'm for one is because this is a limited resource system. If SE would get smart and start putting resources into an improved instanced housing system, it wouldn't be necessary. Neither would demolition and purchase timers.

As for the sprout saving up their gil for a house, it doesn't matter. There are none available for them to buy. If they do get lucky, the same methods they used to save up for the house could be used to pay the monthly fee. The game doesn't stop rewarding you gil just because you bought a house. Or they could take up gardening. It's easy to make a million gil a month once you own a house thanks to that garden and it only takes 2 minutes a day.

People who complain about always being poor aren't even trying.

If someone feels the purchase price plus a monthly fee is too large an amount to pay, they can ask a friend with a house to add them as a tenant or get an apartment. It's amazing how many people keep crapping on apartments just because they aren't a house.

Apartments are perfect for the infrequent housing user or the new sprout that hasn't had time to accumulate a lot of gil. Cheap. No demolition to worry about. Free Chocobo Stable. Free Miniature Aetheryte access. Free mailbox access. Someone who barely visits their house certainly isn't doing any gardening so they can't claim they need the house so they can garden.

All my characters share a house and it's not the one owned by this character. It's not a FC house, either. It's 5 apartments all in the same building. I've got a spacious entry and living room. Large kitchen and dining room. Cozy study with a small guest room and bath tucked in. Somewhat cluttered Master Bedroom suite with bath and dressing areas. Garden patio with a sky view.

All that for a mere 2.5 million gil (less than a small house costs), I have 2.5 times the interior space of a small, the ability to place 500 items and store an additional 500 items, and I never have to worry about it being demolished if I stop playing the game for a few months.

[Caitsithhh]

Somebody upsetti. We just wish the system was fixed so you don't have to give yourself arthritis just to get a plot.

I got a very “wanted” lot in kugane tyvm. So not mad at system. Just the ppl thinking they deserve it for playing a game

[Almagnus1]

Add a fee for houses and you've created a deterrent. Those who don't use their house and aren't making that much gil are far more likely to relinquish it, making the plot available to buyers who would use it. That's gil being drained by something they aren't using that they could be spending on glamours, minions, emotes, hairstyles, etc. that they would use. It won't deter everyone but it will deter many players, leaving more houses available for those who will actually use their house.

It's also one of the few things LotRO did right that wasn't a problem, especially since you could prepay rent out to a month or two, and would get mailed when you were down to your last week.

People who complain about always being poor aren't even trying.

Some people need to learn how to manage their money, and this is a far better place to do it than IRL.

It's amazing how many people keep crapping on apartments just because they aren't a house.

Only real reason I look down on it is because (AFAIK) you can't crossbreed in an apartment as that must be done at a house. IMO I don't think gardening should be attached to housing and I'm hoping that changes with Endwalkers.

[bassomitron]

I got a very “wanted” lot in kugane tyvm. So not mad at system. Just the ppl thinking they deserve it for playing a game

Your arguments make no sense. "I got mine so #!@% you," is essentially your logic. The game advertises Housing in big graphics and lettering as one of the main game features if you go to the FF14 main page.

NO ONE is asking for freebies, so your previous argument saying, "oh so the game should just give every player the best gear because it's in the game," also makes no sense. We want the ability to purchase a house that doesn't require people to spend days and days and days for MAYBE a chance to get a plot, and that's still up to luck. It's not comparable to some BiS gear where you're grinding for it to drop, because you WILL eventually get that drop since there is an "infinite" supply of said item, you simply have to keep doing that activity. Housing plots are a FINITE supply, so if you have 10,000 players looking to buy a plot, and only 5 plots open up every week (if even that many), your chances are abysmal and it could potentially take you years to get a house, if ever.

I have no clue why people continue to defend the current problem. The devs even acknowledge that it's a problem and don't even attempt to defend it, they just don't have a viable solution or they would have implemented it by now.

Based on my own professional experience, the reason they can't throw more server resources towards it is because of department budgets. I'll keep the dollar amounts low and not reflective of real world costs for simplicity. Let's say the server team gets $100 a month to purchase and maintain hardware/software licenses. Right now they're using all $100, and adding more resources to support X new wards will cost $10 more a month. So they go to the budget office and ask for $10 more, they say, "sorry, we don't have any extra money right now." But as they get more subs and game sales, more money comes in they can give to various departments. This also ignores that server hardware/software gets more efficient over time and during their next lifecycle replacement wave, they end up being able to open up X new wards with the same amount of resources they already have without additional costs. So they implement that and in the next patch they announce that X new wards have/will be added.

I base this opinion on the fact that this is pretty much what we've seen happen in-game, where we periodically get new wards added. It's not a simple matter of just throwing more resources towards housing, because the cost/benefit justification just isn't good enough for their business department to approve the increased expenses (they're willing to sacrifice x% of players mad enough to leave over it).

All that being said, defending the current situation with arguments like, "I got a house so it's not that bad, deal with it," is just stupid as $#@%.

[Caitsithhh]

I have no clue why people continue to defend the current problem. The devs even acknowledge that it\\\\'s a problem and don\\\\'t even attempt to defend it, they just don\\\\'t have a viable solution or they would have implemented it by now.

Based on my own professional experience, the reason they can\\\\'t throw more server resources towards it is because of department budgets. I\\\\'ll keep the dollar amounts low and not reflective of real world costs for simplicity. Let\\\\'s say the server team gets $100 a month to purchase and maintain hardware/software licenses. Right now they\\\\'re using all $100, and adding more resources to support X new wards will cost $10 more a month. So they go to the budget office and ask for $10 more, they say, "sorry, we don\\\\'t have any extra money right now." But as they get more subs and game sales, more money comes in they can give to various departments. This also ignores that server hardware/software gets more efficient over time and during their next lifecycle replacement wave, they end up being able to open up X new wards with the same amount of resources they already have without additional costs. So they implement that and in the next patch they announce that X new wards have/will be added.

I base this opinion on the fact that this is pretty much what we\\\\'ve seen happen in-game, where we periodically get new wards added. It\\\\'s not a simple matter of just throwing more resources towards housing, because the cost/benefit justification just isn\\\\'t good enough for their business department to approve the increased expenses (they\\\\'re willing to sacrifice x% of players mad enough to leave over it).

All that being said, defending the current situation with arguments like, "I got a house so it\\\\'s not that bad, deal with it," is just stupid as $#@%.

I never camped a placard. Just timed the releases right. Like 95% of home owners. And yes you’re asking for a luxury item to be uniquely available to everyone when it’s advertised exactly as that; “luxury”

Just wait for the servers they intended to get up before COVID had its way. You acknowledge the devs saying something is wrong....why even continue to complain then?

Camping placards and getting frustrated is childish, not the system. Making post after post complaining is childish. Just accept it as is; “working AS intended” or move on/wait for optimal times like everyone else. Forcing this obviously isn’t going to work so chill out lol.

[Sotaris]

And how do you time a plot right? It's random and if you really want a plot for x reasons - You will ultimately camp a placard.
Throwing more hardware on it don't fix the problem, it's a bandaid and same old excuse from the community and devs past 7 years.

There will (most likely) never be a fix until/if the game gets a new game engine that has the positiblity to scale dynamically but since we're still running on 1.0 code and a throw together mech mash engine from 1.0, as a developer I don't see that happening (especially when SE keep tight budget for Yoshidas division)

[EliTheGunbreaker]

I agree that instanced housing is the way to go. At this point it is clear that continuously putting up more wards is merely temporarily laying off the problem instead of addressing it, and there will never be enough for everyone until something is done.

What is worse, the current conditions like the random timer not only do not stop the housing black market of overpriced plots (there are literally Discord servers that do that), it makes it easier for rich players to get even more while making it harder for new players/ FCs to grab a plot because of players with houses being able to bypass the invisible timer, potentially relocating at any time they want, even if the newbies camped the same plot for hours.

I am speaking this as I literally formed a FC with my friends a few days ago, and after rising to rank 6, had to witness the horror that is camping in times that are not ward expansions (I was spared the process back when I was on Cerberus due to both buying my first house and relocating on ward expansion days, and I still haven't bought a personal house after we all switched data centers). I lost 2/3 of the plots I have camped to people relocating, sometimes for the most minor reasons, despite standing there for hours. Some may say that this is the way things work, but then why do many other MMOs handle it better?

Besides, both I and many others have lives outside the game. We can't just keep pouring hours of our time to get a digital hours at the expense of real life and health, only to have this house taken right in front of us and having to start over again. I say if a system forces a person to go to such extremes for that house, it definitely is broken.