The Balmung Apartment Issue

[Jojoya]

Back when apartments were implemented, I do remember reading that they could increase the number of them.

Well, SE, it's time to do that. With the influx of new players, you really need to do something about this sooner rather than later.

Also, there's a survey that's gone out. I don't know if it's to every player or just a sampling of them. If you get one, fill it out. There's a section for relaying messages to the devs. Tell them they need to do something to alleviate the housing issues.

As Nepentha says, we were told that the number of wings in apartment buildings could be increased if apartments were to all sell out on a world.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post3853951

The current plan is to include 90 apartments available in each complex, but this number can be raised as needed for each ward, so don’t worry about room availability.

Guess what SE? We're having problems with room availability.

This is the second time for Balmung. SE failed to do anything about it the first time it happened. It would be nice if they would follow through this time.

The player base is continuing to expand and it's going to be a shame if a huge part of it gets locked out of housing altogether.

[Flashmann]

My FC is small , but we have plenty of space if someone wants a room or to train/color their chocobo, try out gardening or send out airships/submarines. We are very casual and laidback and we cant offer much in terms of raiding or dungeon delving but if someone is hunting a quiet place where they can sit and craft, live and play around with Housing features get in touch with us at the "Little Hollow Inn" ,Lavender Beds Ward 18 , plot 22 on Balmung.

[lorthera]

This is the second time for Balmung. SE failed to do anything about it the first time it happened. It would be nice if they would follow through this time.

The player base is continuing to expand and it's going to be a shame if a huge part of it gets locked out of housing altogether.

I wasn't actually aware that this was a second time for Balmung. I mean I'm vaguely not surprised given how many times the server has been sealed off over the years lol. Do you know when the first time was?

[worldofneil]

This is the second time for Balmung. SE failed to do anything about it the first time it happened. It would be nice if they would follow through this time.

Since SE updated house pricing (many, many years ago) all the servers now have the same configuration. From a technical viewpoint it's much easier to manage 68 identical servers/worlds that all use the same resources/setup the same way instead of having different configurations on different worlds. Having multiple configurations would mean much more testing is needed before they can roll out any update.

Unfortunately in this case it also means even though Balmung has run out of apartments, SE will be reluctant to increase the total apartments as the other 67 worlds simply don't have this problem. Increasing all their apartments is going to be a huge waste of resources. I don't know how full the apartments are on other worlds, but since I've never seen a non-Balmung complaint about apartments, it stands to reason they still have sufficient amounts left.

I do wonder how many of the Balmung apartments are by characters who don't play any more, but enabling apartment demolition would probably cause a lot of complaints as everyone is expecting the apartment to stay forever and 67 other worlds would be penalised just for Balmung so that's probably not something they want to do either.

Sorry this message isn't particularly helpful, but I just wanted to try and explain why they haven't increased the apartments (and until another world runs out, they probably won't).

[Jojoya]

snip

I understand that they have chosen to mirror worlds instead of allowing dynamic expansion based on population.

Yet they could increase the number of apartment wings on all worlds with minimal server impact. Unpurchased apartments are just a number on the servers. They're not taking up server space the way unpurchased house plots do. Even purchased apartments are a small set of data. The server load occurs when the apartment is actually entered by a player.

SE needs to get proactive here. Keep in mind that Balmung is now a Preferred world, not a Congested world like all the Aether worlds. Balmung's level 61-80 active character population was at 29,000 on Lucky Bancho's last census at the start of July. That didn't include all the level 50-60 character also eligible to own apartments.

If 29,000 is only Preferred world now, what is the population on the Congested Aether worlds - 40,000? 50,000?

17,280 apartments per world to serve all eligible characters, with some of those apartments occupied by characters that haven't been played for a few years. Not every player is going to want an apartment for every character but with the roleplay aspects considered endgame by much of the player base, the majority are going to want an apartment,

Ishgard when it opens (6 months from now?) won't improve things that much. The number of apartments per world will only be 21,600 if the number of wings and/or wards is not increased. That's still well below what Balmung would need with its Preferred, not Congested, status. If it's not meeting the needs of a Preferred world, it's certainly not going to meet the needs of the now Congested worlds as more of their populations level up.

Demolition is not the answer. especially when SE assured the player base when apartments were added that they would not be subject to demolition. Nor is there need when apartments are instanced. The load on the servers is generated when a player enters, not when it is purchased.

[Rin_Sato]

Demolition is not the answer. especially when SE assured the player base when apartments were added that they would not be subject to demolition. Nor is there need when apartments are instanced. The load on the servers is generated when a player enters, not when it is purchased.

I absolutely agree that they must increase the amount of apartments.
There is also the issue there are players who don't even have a level 60+ job who certainly will not be playing again who have had their apartments untouched for literal years. I feel like those players losing their apartment, especially if given forewarning, would be warranted.
I know the 45 day one is awful, but a 1-5 year timer (only starting if the apartments are all occupied) I think makes sense and isn't very harsh. If they don't resub for literal years, chances are they won't be very sad if they get a warning that says they have to play for 1 minute to enter their apartment to stop the demo. Especially if there's free game time during that period and they don't make use of it.

Ultimately it comes down to a failure to expand the available apartments in time as you said though.

[Jojoya]

There is also the issue there are players who don't even have a level 60+ job who certainly will not be playing again who have had their apartments untouched for literal years. I feel like those players losing their apartment, especially if given forewarning, would be warranted.

I can't agree with this since SE stressed when apartments were added to the game that they would never be subject to demolition. That players could take long breaks from the game and return to find their apartments with everything stored inside of them intact. Players made their purchases in good faith and placed their items in them in the belief they would never lose them.

I especially can't agree with it when I can return to a game like RIFT 4 years after I stopped playing and find all my housing there still intact (which I did just before EW release). If a game like RiFT that is now owned by a company fairly notorious for its practices of stripping games to get every last cent of profit retains instanced housing for it's long time inactive players, then it would look really bad if a much larger and more successful game like FFXIV won't. Not can't - clearly it is possible when other games have no problem doing it - but won't.

I don't see SE going down the demolition path.

SE needs to fix their supply problem not just with apartments but with houses. It's partly the fear of missing out that drives up demand. "I may not want this now but if I don't get it it won't be available when I want it later." It's greed for profit that drives up demand. "I'll be able to resell for more than I paid to someone desperate when they're not otherwise able to get one."

If players were able to get what they wanted on demand, demand itself would die down because there would be no FOMO, no opportunity for profit.