FC Wards split is legitimately awful

[SeverianLyonesse]

In the realm of how they designed the housing system, I agree with you.
They initially only released housing for FCs. It wasn't until much later that the doors were open to individuals.

I do however think that once they saw the demand for private housing, it should have been made instanced.
Now we're 10 years into it and it is what it is. Maybe in their next mmo. Stay tuned.

I agree that having some kind of instanced personal "housing" is a good idea for the game. It should be either free or have a fixed price, and give players some reasonable space to work with and enjoy most of the decorative conveniences of a full FC house.

Which is basically apartments.

Aside from outdoor furnishings (which are a tad overrated) and gardening, players already have their instanced housing. So to my mind the solution was never to make personal housing, but just to build out apartments. And it appears that Island Sanctuary may be another sort of instanced "outdoor" housing that will fill in the gaps not covered by apartments, so imo we may not even need apartment buildouts.

Here's the thing about personal and instanced housing. Most personal housing are very insular fantasies that players buy and then barely use. They like the idea of having the aesthetics of a personal house, but few take advantage of it in a social manner, i.e. inviting other people over frequently or interacting with their neighbors. And if you made it all instanced then that completely defeats the purpose of having neighborhoods. The ward system is quite antithetical to personal housing, so I don't know why players want to shoehorn personal or instanced housing into it when it functions much better as what it always intended to be: social hubs.

I will note that there is a category of personal housing that is actually well utilized in a manner similar to FC houses, and that is players who actually build out their house for public use. They make bars, lounges, cafes, restaurants, bathhouses, etc. etc. And so far that is the only manner I have seen personal housing that isn't a cancer on the community. Because it is using personal housing to create community infrastructure instead of being self-saken and masturbatory. So I might be in favor of *commercial* licenses being available for single-player housing if we could get around the botting market problem, but seriously I don't know why all these narcs just NEED a personal house.

[Illmaeran]

Aside from outdoor furnishings (which are a tad overrated) and gardening, players already have their instanced housing. So to my mind the solution was never to make personal housing, but just to build out apartments. And it appears that Island Sanctuary may be another sort of instanced "outdoor" housing that will fill in the gaps not covered by apartments, so imo we may not even need apartment buildouts.

If Island Sanctuaries have open landscaping/outdoor decorating the same way houses do, I'll be 100% satisfied with my apartment, FC room, and island. If they don't, I want a house because the landscaping and relaxing in my garden is what's most interesting to me.

[Jojoya]

Here's the thing about personal and instanced housing. Most personal housing are very insular fantasies that players buy and then barely use. They like the idea of having the aesthetics of a personal house, but few take advantage of it in a social manner, i.e. inviting other people over frequently or interacting with their neighbors. And if you made it all instanced then that completely defeats the purpose of having neighborhoods. The ward system is quite antithetical to personal housing, so I don't know why players want to shoehorn personal or instanced housing into it when it functions much better as what it always intended to be: social hubs.

Not everyone is an extrovert and wants to be surrounded by other players constantly. They want a place to go to and relax as a break from the socialization while staying in game to do other things (maybe they're crafting, maybe they're playing games in the Toy Box, etc.).

They want it to be a place that reflects their preferences and style. Inn rooms don't work.

Apartments would have been a good solution except for one thing - they are small. They all to often end up feeling cramped by the time decorating is done do the awkward scaling of some of the furnishings and the need to cram all the furnishings that represent a home into that small space. That's not going to appeal to everyone.

It's pretty ironic to be complaining that personal housing is anti-social at the same time SE has stated their goal is to make the game more solo player friendly. Not every bit of a MMO's content needs to be social.

[Stormpeaks]

Not everyone is an extrovert and wants to be surrounded by other players constantly. They want a place to go to and relax as a break from the socialization while staying in game to do other things (maybe they're crafting, maybe they're playing games in the Toy Box, etc.).

They want it to be a place that reflects their preferences and style. Inn rooms don't work.

Apartments would have been a good solution except for one thing - they are small. They all to often end up feeling cramped by the time decorating is done do the awkward scaling of some of the furnishings and the need to cram all the furnishings that represent a home into that small space. That's not going to appeal to everyone.

It's pretty ironic to be complaining that personal housing is anti-social at the same time SE has stated their goal is to make the game more solo player friendly. Not every bit of a MMO's content needs to be social.

FC houses are nothing like personal housing, they are basically a glorified tenant system where fc members can hang out, they have no say in any of the decoration, be it inside or outside, I dont know why other people even use it as an argument to justify fc houses being more important than normal houses, plus as I mentioned earlier, most fc houses are abandoned and used for submarines, a lot of the time even empty.

[LittleChickenNugget]

Time for you to make a one man FC then and play the lotto!

[Mewi]

Time for you to make a one man FC then and play the lotto!

This ^ is the whole reason the entire limited to FC/Private concept should be scrapped. I don't know how it is on other servers, but on my server recruiting is very difficult because making and leveling FCs is too easy. Everyone and their dog has their own little 4 person FC. This creates a huge problem with maintaining an actual FC long term, not to mention makes recruiting an absolute nightmare.

Additionally, I can see this being even more of an increased issue on low population servers. This concept was poorly conceived and I can't remember a single person asking for it.

[Astarift]

This ^ is the whole reason the entire limited to FC/Private concept should be scrapped. I don't know how it is on other servers, but on my server recruiting is very difficult because making and leveling FCs is too easy. Everyone and their dog has their own little 4 person FC. This creates a huge problem with maintaining an actual FC long term, not to mention makes recruiting an absolute nightmare.

Additionally, I can see this being even more of an increased issue on low population servers. This concept was poorly conceived and I can't remember a single person asking for it.

Lets not forget you can opt to sell your FC with a large plot(although the buyer just need to be in the fc for 30 days) considering its ezpz to get a large in empyreum and the moment the lottery winners were announced, i saw people listing their FC for sale immediately.

Allocating 18 wards to FC encourages people to bid for lotttery on a dummy FC and then take the winning bid/house to sell to flip for more $$$. Completely contradicts their original intention of trying to curb FC/house sale

[Jennah]

While fair ... pretty much the only way to sell houses on the black market involves using fake FCs.
So I do not see this ending well at all.

[Imora]

Apartments would be greaif they contained the features most people want houses for. Gardening.

I have a retainer full of furniture and I can't use any of the outdoor stuff. My retainers raid the neighborhood for stuff

Give me a penthouse with a greenhouse garden and a place to put my outdoor furniture.

[DynnDiablos]

I think it's kind of fair. I mean FC houses benefit more people usually and everyone can get a room in an FC house. Personal houses are just good for the one person.

I’m not looking to sing kumbaya with folks and want full control of my decorating. It’s a very unfair split. Period.