Hello there o/.

I am a new player who has recently begun discussing purchasing or building a house with my friends in game. In my head I had imagined perhaps working with my friends to build a house with a carpenter, a mason(I know it doesn't exist but I want it for this purpose), and a blacksmith crafting parts for the whole house. Meanwhile a botanist could craft or acquire plants for gardening. At least that is how it goes in an ideal world in my head. The idea of coming together as a group while putting in the work to build our home from scratch sounds wonderful. Little did I know how broken this system for purchasing player housing is. Perhaps it's something I simply do not resonate with. For me the novelty of walking through a true physical district of player homes ended after of few seconds of considering the consequences.

What we have is a system that would feel right at home in Eve Online. An actual housing market that encourages player competition in a way that can be unhealthy and hostile. I have spent a fair amount of time in Eve before, and the idea of purchasing housing inside player made structures would work well. It would function properly because the players could have control over the market. More housing could be built, sold, or destroyed at the whim of the players. In Eve part of the thrill is that you can truly lose what you invest in. This would result in players fighting to truly defend a home that could literally be destroyed. In FFXIV players have no control at all over the housing market supply so instead of it feeling like a challenge it is simply frustrating. In FFXIV there is no sense of danger in making an investment like this because it does not need to be protected. Anyone with enough gil and the desire to own a home is a viable competitor.

It is a very strange design choice given how inviting and warm the community has been. Almost all aspects of the game bid new players welcome except for this one. The Novice Network provides a safe chat to ask questions that can't be answered with a cursory google search. If I want to grind for a mount, glamours, or better gear, I can do so at will. The game design eases you into the complexity of your class throughout the leveling process. By contrast if I want a house then I have to work against my fellow players who are either botting, or sitting for days at a time clicking on a sign. It is truly demoralizing. It is not impossible to buy a home, but it does not encourage a healthy player environment.

The housing market alone will not stop new players like myself from enjoying this game. However if enough problems like this compile over time it will become one factor among many that do cause players to quit. While I assume the developers are well aware of these issues, I hope to simply add a perspective to the mix. Thank you for reading through till the end friend o/