First Come First Serve is a system that will lead to less disappointed players.

[Fenril7]

First come first serve means players with better hardware/internet connections win the log in queue race and the rest lose out on housing.

There will be 1,440 new Ishgard plots. With 6 large and 14 medium, 40 smalls PER ward, are you telling me you couldn’t get a house with FCFS?

Even if 1/2 of the new wards were FCFS that is 72 large, 168 medium and 480 small houses.

[DeNada]

There will be 1,440 new Ishgard plots. With 6 large and 14 medium, 40 smalls PER ward, are you telling me you couldn’t get a house with FCFS?

Even if 1/2 of the new wards were FCFS that is 72 large, 168 medium and 480 small houses.

Just see the below reddit thread during 4.2 Shirogane housing for posterity, I rest my case.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...sh_megathread/

Some choice quotes from the thread itself:
At 6:14AM EST every single house on Balmung was sold in every ward of every housing area lol
Wow. All 720 plots on Lamia gone in 10 minutes
Shirogane sold out on Sargatanas by about 6:15/16 AM EST

[Arazehl]

I swear I think some haven't even experienced housing FCFS of the past. Go look at the archives of the post in the forums from previous housing launches. Players complaining about game crashing right as they loaded into the game, couldn't get through the queue at all even to try for a plot or the plots were all purchased within 10 minutes.
I would imagine 80% of the players would not even get a plot this round through FCFS and you'll be right back in these forums cursing the system you wanted to keep.

With the growth of the game over the past year, there are more players determined to get a plot which means that drops your chances of obtaining one FCFS, since they are converting many of them to a Lottery System. Even if they left them ALL FCFS, your chances will still be weak due to the same issues of past launches for housing and the growth in the player base. So I think the lesser evil will be the Lottery.

[Misutoraru]

Last I check my server Cerberus have a population over 100k, even only if 10% are active(which I am certain is not since we have see only 10k queue when EW launch). The Ishgard housing would only be able to cater to less than 15% of that active player base

[VerdeLuck]

There will be 1,440 new Ishgard plots. With 6 large and 14 medium, 40 smalls PER ward, are you telling me you couldn’t get a house with FCFS?

Even if 1/2 of the new wards were FCFS that is 72 large, 168 medium and 480 small houses.

I think you really underestimate how many people play this game and how many players and FCs want a house. 1400 plots is a drop in the bucket and will get snapped up immediately

[Jojoya]

There will be 1,440 new Ishgard plots. With 6 large and 14 medium, 40 smalls PER ward, are you telling me you couldn’t get a house with FCFS?

Even if 1/2 of the new wards were FCFS that is 72 large, 168 medium and 480 small houses.

Back in 5.3, SE added 720 new houses per world. Some worlds were sold out within 15 minutes while players were still waiting in 4000+ log in queues. Every world was sold out within an hour.

The occasional random plot was immediately cycled back to vacant but with purchase timer as the initial purchaser immediately relocated so the only way to get a plot was to go back to placard camping against all the others who also missed out. I very clearly remember the crowds that day because I was trying to help out friends who weren't lucky by seeking out the plots that had fewer people camping while they sat at the first one they got to.

That's the sort of demand housing has. Either you're quick or you lose out.

Keep in mind that the population explosion from the WoW exodus didn't even occur until 5.5. All those newish players are also looking to get their crack at housing along with all those players who missed out in 5.3 and haven't been able to get lucky since. 1440 all FCFS won't help out. 5000 all FCFS probably wouldn't.

Since you're so fond of using bold when you clearly have no experience on the subject:
Players will absolutely miss out if FCFS is used if they aren't lucky enough to get logged in immediately when servers come up.

Just see the below reddit thread during 4.2 Shirogane housing for posterity, I rest my case.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...sh_megathread/

Some choice quotes from the thread itself:
At 6:14AM EST every single house on Balmung was sold in every ward of every housing area lol
Wow. All 720 plots on Lamia gone in 10 minutes
Shirogane sold out on Sargatanas by about 6:15/16 AM EST

That was actually Shirogane in 4.1 when there was no personal purchase moratorium and not in 4.2, when new wards were added to all housing districts.

4.2 wasn't that bad because there was a personal purchase moratorium. Even Balmung had several plots still available when the moratorium was lifted though they were gone pretty fast after.

But you're still correct - that 4.1 experience is a far more accurate picture of what players should expect if FCFS were used now.

[not_ya_wify]

rather than having 5 first come first serve "racers" compete over a small plot within the first ten minutes of the servers going live, you now have 50 entries over the period of the lottery.

The math is simple: 4 disappointed players who raced to a house and were unable to get one VS 49 disappointed players who entered a lottery and lost.

I whole-heartedly agree. I think the original system of racing to the plot was the best system because you had a pretty good chance of getting the plot you desired IF you were well prepared. I did this twice and got the exact houses I wanted for my FC and personal house. I got my desired large plot for my FC during Shirogane Savage and my desired medium plot in Lavender Beds for my personal when new wards were released and both times, nobody even showed up to my plot until I already had the house for like 5 minutes. I wasn't lucky at all. I spent weeks marking the fastest way to the plot and practicing how to run there from the city state aetherite. That system made it so that the person who wanted the plot the most and was willing to spend considerable time and planning was most likely to get the plot.

The random timer system was a really bad choice because it made the acquisition random (just like the lottery system) and had the additional effect of making you sit there for 10 hours and spam the plaquards while more and more competition arrived to the plaquards. People here really love RNG but my personal opinion is that RNG is awful.

I compare this to mount farming. I had to do Seiryu Ex over 60 times to get the blue dog. It didn't't matter how long I was in the party. I could spend hours farming, then someone gets the mount and leaves, so we still need to get 8 dogs again. Then someone new joins, gets lucky and leaves and I just continue with this 1/8 chance of getting a dog and it doesn't get better. Compare that to a loot master party where mounts are handed out in order of arrival to the party: even if I join as the 8th party member, I know I have to run only enough times for 8 drops to occur and I know exactly when I'm in line to get the mount. I prefer that because it's logical and fair. But people don't wanna join loot master parties because they think RNG is better, because they hope they can get the dog first drop and leave and then party gets to do an unknowable number of runs.

It's the same with housing. Those who prepare better should have a better chance at getting the house they want than someone who just walks in and gets lucky without having done any work. But I guess I have a different conception of what "fair" means than others

[Fenril7]

I would rather it all being based on lottery.

You mentioned that FCFS leads to less players disappointed but at least more players would have an equal chance of winning a plot.

Whereas FCFS only favour the few players who are able to login during the initial rush and able to rush to a plot ahead of everyone else.

Not to mention other players with real life obligations will be excluded all together in a FCFS system.

I would like some bad luck protect. After losing the raffle 10-20 times, by that time all the houses will be gone.

Honestly the best chance to own a house is server transfer when the new servers gets in the summer. So what would it be, get a house on a new server, or stay on your old server with your friends? Sad we can’t have both.

[TragicsGirl]

I never want to click again for hours, let's go full lottery, and keep it that way.

[Necrotica]

I think first come first served can be great.
With infinite instanced housing.

Just do it already. You have enough money.