Open plea to the Devs

[Athame]

Thank you for your advice EaMett, ill try and approach housing that way. It will definitely reduce sunk cost fallacy by quite a bit.

[BigTough]

Don't camp houses that have been up for less than 12 hours? At how many hours does the devaluation timer usually have from the beginning or is that random too? Or are you talking about the hour at which the house became available? Cause sometimes I log in and the devaluation timer is at 12 hours, 10 hours, 7 hours, etc. Then how are we supposed to know how long the house has been up for sale?

I'm with OP on this one, I lost a medium and a large to the demo timer as well. I also think a 45 day timer is ridiculous, you still pretty well have to sub EVERY month to keep your house, which is fine with me despite losing two houses already, but the demo timer could be 25 days or even 15 days, it makes little difference if you're paying for your sub every month you're likely going to be playing if you are. So, housing savage should be PURE SAVAGE at this point and make you lose your house after 20-25 days of not logging in consecutively. Where's the logic in 45 days? If it's 45 then make it 65. 45 days is seriously insanely aggravating, like actual raging anger just thinking about how ridiculous it is - because TIME! TIME! TIME!

[Dustytome]

Don't camp houses that have been up for less than 12 hours? At how many hours does the devaluation timer usually have from the beginning or is that random too? Or are you talking about the hour at which the house became available? Cause sometimes I log in and the devaluation timer is at 12 hours, 10 hours, 7 hours, etc. Then how are we supposed to know how long the house has been up for sale?

The first devaluation timer when a plot is demolished goes until 10 am pacific? I keep forgetting the exact time but they'll all line up to that time and then beyond that it's a 6 hour cycle for devaluation.

[Jojoya]

Don't forget that apartments exist. There's an apartment building in every ward/subdivision.

While they're not the same as having a house, they are housing and offer you a place of your own to decorate until you're finally able to get a house. Many players have done some very creative things with their apartments.

They're also not subject to demolition, unlike houses. You can take a break from the game for a few months and your apartment will still be there as you left it when you return.

I'm with OP on this one, I lost a medium and a large to the demo timer as well. I also think a 45 day timer is ridiculous, you still pretty well have to sub EVERY month to keep your house,

The demo timer is there to make certain those who are actively playing the game get a chance at a house. That's going to be a problem with every system offering a limited resource that is supposed to serve a far greater number of people.

You don't have to sub every month only every other month. Sub for 30 days. Unsub for 44 days. Sub for 30 days, Unsub for 44 days. You won't lose your house that way as long as you remember to go inside and interact with something to reset the demo timer the day you resub then again the last day your subscription is active.

If you don't want to be playing monthly, then you're better off getting an apartment so you don't need to worry about demolition. There are plenty of other games with housing that don't have the restrictions we have here.

[Athame]

While I understand your point about an apartment you admit it's not the same as a plot, no garden etc.
In my opinion, if you are a paying member you should be entitled to own 1 house, and if you create an fc,1 fc house. Should you want more you could pay for them monthly similar to the system in place for retainers.

[Darthgummibear]

OP there are a number of things you can do to make your life easier it doesn't need to be a constant grind, just a long term one.
- Don't camp for hours on end, camping 1h every day for 10 days and camping 10h one time doesn't change things much. In fact, the more people you compete against the better the first option.
- Only go for smalls in the golblet, you highly reduce the risk of relocations
- Don't camp houses that have been up less than 12h. Feel free to make that 14,16 etc.. Put the threshold where you want. Yes plots could open before that but you'll increase your odds of getting a house when you camp by only camping these plots.
- Make note of demolition timers when devs disable/re-enable them. Don't forget to check 45 days later. Those are windows you want to aim for.
- Ward/Zone additions. Increase you odds by practicing running to your plot (on multiple classes with movement enhancement features). If you manage to log early run to your desired plot. If that's taken make sure you have a backup ready! If you get connection issues, or log in a little late (10-15mn in) make sure you have a "worse-case scenario" plot that you think nobody would want right away (some small in goblets). Alternatively, although I don't recommend this since it's a pain for other players, if you have the gill you could straight up buy your "worst-case scenario" plot and then relocate if you find something better.

The above can reduce the opportunities you get since you're limiting yourself to specific plots. But they will also greatly reduce the total amount of time you spend in districts clicking placards.

The fact that all this is necessary to even have a CHANCE at getting a housing plot just highlights how broken the housing system is.

[Divinemights]

The fact that all this is necessary to even have a CHANCE at getting a housing plot just highlights how broken the housing system is.

First of all, get off Balmung if the housing is the thing you want to do.
That server has problem of being over-populated and there is no simple way for new players to get a housing plot.

[Jojoya]

First of all, get off Balmung if the housing is the thing you want to do.
That server has problem of being over-populated and there is no simple way for new players to get a housing plot.

Newsflash - all Aether worlds have been moved to Congested status while all Crystal worlds, including Balmung, are Preferred. Sounds like Balmung isn't the world with the overpopulation problem anymore.

Moving off Balmung isn't going to improve someone's chances of getting a house when all NA worlds are having the same problem.

[Almagnus1]

Newsflash - all Aether worlds have been moved to Congested status while all Crystal worlds, including Balmung, are Preferred. Sounds like Balmung isn't the world with the overpopulation problem anymore.

Moving off Balmung isn't going to improve someone's chances of getting a house when all NA worlds are having the same problem.

Yeah, it's a shame we're drowning in success atm and can't get the hardware for the datacenters (let alone the other logistics to building them) to account for the demand.

[Almagnus1]

The fact that all this is necessary to even have a CHANCE at getting a housing plot just highlights how broken the housing system is.

It is... that's why we're hoping for improvements come 6.1 with the Ishgardian housing.