Is player instanced housing more of a strain on the server?

[Stormfur]

I've always been curious about this. People calling for instanced housing are told stuff like "you don't even know how servers work". Would it be MORE of a catastrophe than the neighborhoods we have now? I can't imagine how loading 1 thing into the memory is worse than loading 30.

[Bladehawk]

I've often wondered why exactly SE has not gone with the instanced housing idea myself. People usually just pass it off as SE wanting the ward system and that's the end of it. Can't help but wonder if there are more technical matters involved that aren't talked about.

[Alien_Gamer]

At this point the servers are expending twice as many resources in maintaining wards than they are in normal world maps. So yes it would be better to move them to instances and reconfigure the DC to allow for more instance space which is something they've done before a couple times; it doesn't even require new hardware.

But Yoshi has gone on record stating he wants the wards to maintain the community aspect of housing which he thinks will disappear with instance housing. Despite all the difficulties this gives them, they're going to keep using the existing system. I think they also fall into the fallacy that they've sunk so much into this system, they can't throw it out now and just keep throwing more resources at it.

[True-to-Caesar]

I’m no server tech but you don’t need to be a chef to know when your food isn’t tasty.

In this case, it could have some effects on the servers but still way less than permanent wards (that they keep adding overtime and still doesn’t solve the core issue : lack of supply).

Everyone in the game gets access to an Inn Room that is loaded only when you get in. With your Glamour dresser content, Armoire, orchestrion rolls, retainers etc. Similar to instanced housing like in ESO and other games : it gets loaded when the owner go in or another player visits the house.

If they’re working on Island Sanctuaries to have our Farming Similator, this shows it wouldn’t be that much of an issue. To the contrary, if they went that route for a new feature, it shows they know it’s the best option with their current tools.

But why they’re not going for it regarding housing and allow people to even engage with their store to buy specific furniture or participate more in the game’s virtual economy I have no idea.

[Sotaris]

It's probably won't be since it doesn't have to load the outdoors for every player in the ward.
But it's a huge undertaking to get in place. Probably would take a whole expansion cycle if not more since they have trouble to allocate resources and find good developers in japan.

Maybe they should increase their dev team to NA but i guess they prefer it in japan for the language barrier and maybe cultural differences.

[Jojoya]

But Yoshi has gone on record stating he wants the wards to maintain the community aspect of housing which he thinks will disappear with instance housing.

What community aspect? I see others in the ward with my house maybe once every 2-3 months despite being at my house daily and making trips to the MB or vendor for Curious Crop exchange a couple of times a month. My house overlooks the beach in Mist and I never see anyone hanging out on the beach.

From my point of view, I live in an abandoned village. It might be a mostly well-decorated one, but it's still effectively abandoned. There is no community in it. The ward where my FC has its house isn't much better. The FC house is fairly active because we have fairly active members. Move away from the house and it's dead again despite being located right next to Dappled Stalls.

I would be far happier in an instanced plot where i had more freedom to decorate to my liking instead of how I decorate being constrained by system limitations due to 29 other owners I never see.

Where in housing do I see the most players? When I'm standing at the Summoning Bell outside the apartment building where I have the apartments for my characters (only 21 apartments in that building are occupied and 5 of those are mine). It's a rare day I don't see other players teleporting in then almost immediately disappearing inside the building.

Now that adds a little community feeling even if I don't get a chance to talk to those players before they disappear inside. It works because you've got a large number of players being funneled to a small common area. That would have been a much better inspiration for the wards - a central common area that dozens if not hundreds of owners must pass through before entering their instanced estate.

I’m no server tech but you don’t need to be a chef to know when your food isn’t tasty.

Different people have different tastes. Just because onions aren't tasty to me doesn't mean that others don't like them.

The real problem is that regardless of whether your food is tasty or not, it doesn't nothing to help those who are hungry but can't get food. You might choose to share your food but that won't get them the food that is tasty to them when they want it.

It's probably won't be since it doesn't have to load the outdoors for every player in the ward.
But it's a huge undertaking to get in place. Probably would take a whole expansion cycle if not more since they have trouble to allocate resources and find good developers in japan.

Maybe they should increase their dev team to NA but i guess they prefer it in japan for the language barrier and maybe cultural differences.

True, it would be a huge undertaking.

But it's also one they should have started on back in Heavensward when the flaws in the ward system were becoming very apparent instead of deciding "we'll just make a new housing district, that will fix things!"

[Stormfur]

I imagine it must be different on JP servers maybe... or possibly even EU where people live in closer proximity to each other.

I've literally seen 2 people in my same entire ward, ever.

[Jojoya]

I imagine it must be different on JP servers maybe... or possibly even EU where people live in closer proximity to each other.

I've literally seen 2 people in my same entire ward, ever.

It's not different on the other worlds. If you're running into players in the wards, it's usually because some big FC or RP venue is running an event. There's no reason to be in the wards because there's no content to do there other than player generated content.

Limsa Lower Decks can be used as a great example of why the wards are failing as a community builder. Think about what it looks like right now with players coming and going as they do quests, check the Marketboards, use the Summoning Bells, etc. There's going to be about 200-250 players moving around there during peak play hours for a world.

Now make 48 copies of it and randomly place players into one of those copies as they enter. Instead of seeing 200 players milling around, you're down to 4 or 5. Maybe you'll run into one of them, maybe you won't. Lower Decks is a fairly big place between the Octant, Bulwark Hall, Hawker's Alley, Arcanist Guild and Fisherman's Bottom.

Now change those 48 copies into 192 (the number of wards/subdivisions on a world). Chances are good you're all alone. You're not going to see anyone. Lower Decks will look abandoned.

Dead.

Is it any wonder we feel that way about the wards? There are too many wards spreading out where the players who want to be in housing are at any given time. Even those who are there are usually inside the instanced interiors, not hanging out in the non-instanced ward.

Those who can't buy a house because there aren't any available have even less reason to be in a ward while those who own multiple houses can only be at one of those houses at a time.

And so the wards feel abandoned. Dead.

Until SE can understand these things and the negative effect they have on housing as a player experience, housing in this game will never be anything but a substandard system.

[Juun]

With instanced housing its more of a strain on the servers for SE. Potentially everyone and their mom can have a house which would have a yard with things and an inventory plus a house with several floors and an inventory.

The only benefit is for people at home with a potato pc who dont want neighbors because it blow up their pc having to load all the items in the ward.

[Jojoya]

With instanced housing its more of a strain on the servers for SE. Potentially everyone and their mom can have a house which would have a yard with things and an inventory plus a house with several floors and an inventory.

The only benefit is for people at home with a potato pc who dont want neighbors because it blow up their pc having to load all the items in the ward.

You don't understand how instanced housing works (or even instancing in general) if you believe that.