Why is this not the solution?

[Nepentha]

Apartments were specifically for anyone who could not get a house. Since houses are limited to one per server for account, I'd argue that includes alts.

They are only running out on Balmung. That is a unique problem to one server. No other server has this problem. Its not a flaw in the design. Still, I'd like to see more apartments allowed, because its not like its difficult what with them being instanced.

Not a flaw in the design, no. But we were told at the time they could easily up the number of apartments. Balmung is unique because it was an RP hub and one of the largest servers. That's changed, but a lot of people's alts still have apartments. They've either moved servers and left behind alts that have apartments, or started with fresh characters on other servers. Still, it wouldn't hurt for SE to see that and at least up the number of apartments on Balmung.

[Jojoya]

Apartments were specifically for anyone who could not get a house.

SE made of point of saying when apartments were added that house owners could also purchase them, countering your belief. If they were only intended for players who couldn't get a house, SE would have blocked house owners from buying them just as we cannot purchase a house with an alt any longer if another character on the same account/world already owns a house.

I think apartments were primarily intended to be a cheap alternative to houses for players who didn't want to spend millions to get a house, and those who wanted to be able to take breaks from the game without losing their housing.

[Almagnus1]

SE made of point of saying when apartments were added that house owners could also purchase them, countering your belief. If they were only intended for players who couldn't get a house, SE would have blocked house owners from buying them just as we cannot purchase a house with an alt any longer if another character on the same account/world already owns a house.

I think apartments were primarily intended to be a cheap alternative to houses for players who didn't want to spend millions to get a house, and those who wanted to be able to take breaks from the game without losing their housing.

IMO I think the loophole here is (SE once again) not realizing that they need to restrict things on a per account per server basis, and not per character.

For example, only one character per account per server should be on any leaderboard, and an account should only have one apartment and one personal house on any given server. SE fixes THAT issue, and we'd likely see a good chunk of apartments released from the system as SE is basically getting forced to do this because there is no way they can ever release enough housing to accommodate the demand in the near future.

[Nepentha]

IMO I think the loophole here is (SE once again) not realizing that they need to restrict things on a per account per server basis, and not per character.

For example, only one character per account per server should be on any leaderboard, and an account should only have one apartment and one personal house on any given server. SE fixes THAT issue, and we'd likely see a good chunk of apartments released from the system as SE is basically getting forced to do this because there is no way they can ever release enough housing to accommodate the demand in the near future.

Incorrect. First, SE will not restrict apartments. At the time they were implemented, SE probably was under the impression they were unlikely to sell out and there's no need to restrict them. And by and large they're right. Balmung is a unique situation and afaik the only server that has sold out. Other servers still have plenty of open apartments. I walked out of my FC house this morning and checked the nearby apartment block and out of 90 possible slots only 16 of them have tenants. It's not a loophole that people can buy an apartment on their alts. It was actually meant to be something you could purchase on multiple characters on a given server.

In the extremely unlikely event they do decide to restrict them in the future, they will grandfather in current ownerships, just as they did with multi home owners at the time they instituted the 1 personal per server rule. They are not going to punish players who were playing by the rules at the time. So no, there will be no sudden release of apartments. It's a silly thing considering Balmung is literally the only server that's sold out. The best thing they can do is just add more apartments, as they told us they could do in the future if it was needed.

[Almagnus1]

Incorrect. First, SE will not restrict apartments. At the time they were implemented, SE probably was under the impression they were unlikely to sell out and there's no need to restrict them. And by and large they're right. Balmung is a unique situation and afaik the only server that has sold out. Other servers still have plenty of open apartments. I walked out of my FC house this morning and checked the nearby apartment block and out of 90 possible slots only 16 of them have tenants. It's not a loophole that people can buy an apartment on their alts. It was actually meant to be something you could purchase on multiple characters on a given server.

In the extremely unlikely event they do decide to restrict them in the future, they will grandfather in current ownerships, just as they did with multi home owners at the time they instituted the 1 personal per server rule. They are not going to punish players who were playing by the rules at the time. So no, there will be no sudden release of apartments. It's a silly thing considering Balmung is literally the only server that's sold out. The best thing they can do is just add more apartments, as they told us they could do in the future if it was needed.

You have no idea what SE will (or won't) do. Methinks your time would be better spent spinning insane conspiracy theories instead... kinda like what your sig is implying...

[Nepentha]

You have no idea what SE will (or won't) do. Methinks your time would be better spent spinning insane conspiracy theories instead... kinda like what your sig is implying...

Neither do you. Look at you, saying what SE is doing or being forced to do.

As for the rest, if that's your best retort I will assume you know I'm right and have nothing to counter with.

[Almagnus1]

Neither do you. Look at you, saying what SE is doing or being forced to do.

As for the rest, if that's your best retort I will assume you know I'm right and have nothing to counter with.

We're back to the same old same old, and a lot of design (that is IMO a huge oversight) where SE keeps ignoring that people will no-life FFXIV with multiple alts and abuse systems that are pretty clearly intended to be used by only a single character just because they can. This wanton expression of greed is going to continue to be a problem (both here and on the leaderboards for other things) until SE finally locks it down and only allows certain things to occur once per account per server, like the house and apartment. I wouldn't be surprised if the Balmung apartment situation is being exacerbated by alts, and that is something SE should fix IMO... but SE has shown a complete lack of spine to do what is necessary to fix the situation - likely because we're looking at a difference between the Japanese and American cultures.

Balmung is the canary in the coal mine.

[Jojoya]

IMO I think the loophole here is (SE once again) not realizing that they need to restrict things on a per account per server basis, and not per character.

For example, only one character per account per server should be on any leaderboard, and an account should only have one apartment and one personal house on any given server. SE fixes THAT issue, and we'd likely see a good chunk of apartments released from the system as SE is basically getting forced to do this because there is no way they can ever release enough housing to accommodate the demand in the near future.

There's no need for such per account restrictions when instanced housing, like apartments, is used. Instanced housing is load on entry so it's only consuming server resources when a player enters it. It stops consuming server resources once the player leaves and the instance no longer needs to be loaded.

I can only play one character on my account at a time so the game would only need to be loading one instance for my account at a time. That's totally different from the ward plots that are always loaded regardless of whether a player is present.

All you need to do is look at the other MMORPGs using instanced housing to see how well it works. Do you really think a game like ESO would allow every player character to own every single available housing property in that game (there are over 20 last I checked) if instanced housing was a problem?

[Almagnus1]

There's no need for such per account restrictions when instanced housing, like apartments, is used. Instanced housing is load on entry so it's only consuming server resources when a player enters it. It stops consuming server resources once the player leaves and the instance no longer needs to be loaded.

But that's kinda the problem... as much as we want apartments to be instanced housing, they are not instanced housing.

I can only play one character on my account at a time so the game would only need to be loading one instance for my account at a time. That's totally different from the ward plots that are always loaded regardless of whether a player is present.

All you need to do is look at the other MMORPGs using instanced housing to see how well it works. Do you really think a game like ESO would allow every player character to own every single available housing property in that game (there are over 20 last I checked) if instanced housing was a problem?

And as much as we may want instanced housing in FFXIV, until Yoshi-P (or whomever is making the decisions) change their mind, the concept is basically irrelevant to FFXIV despite how much it would help the situation.

[Themarvin]

Would outbid max possible amount... if really want something...