The current housing situation...

[Rowde]

I'll write it here

I've owned a Large Personal in the mist since HW

I'm still an advocate for burning it all down

Delay Island Sanctuary if necessary and make it instance housing with an upgradeable plot (and allow downgrades if players so choose too)
grandfather in existing plot sizes to the Island Sanctuary

[localareanetwork]

I'll write it here

I've owned a Large Personal in the mist since HW

I'm still an advocate for burning it all down

Delay Island Sanctuary if necessary and make it instance housing with an upgradeable plot (and allow downgrades if players so choose too)
grandfather in existing plot sizes to the Island Sanctuary

If you're an advocate for burning it down make a mp4 of you demolishing your house then.

[YukiB]

If you're an advocate for burning it down make a mp4 of you demolishing your house then.

This is about as stupid as the argument "If you're for raising taxes on the rich, why don't you just give all your money to the government now?"

Systemic change is necessary. A handful of charitable players demolishing their houses is going to solve less than 1% of the issue.

[Rowde]

If you're an advocate for burning it down make a mp4 of you demolishing your house then.

I didn't say I was fine with not having a house at all
I'm fine with them deleting Wards all together and replacing them with an instanced housing system where my large plot would get grandfather'd in though

[Alaray]

Wards don't really feel alive to me too often, it's usually during player-driven events where there's any life pouring into one. And this aspect can still be retained by placing all personal houses into an instance, while allowing Free Companies to populate the Ward itself. Additionally, I think the fact that only a small minority of the playerbase can participate in the housing system is a larger issue for features that go under development than Lively Neighborhoods (that, to be frank, are never lively unless, again, there's an active FC nearby).

Housing in XIV draws a lot of attention, and does feel like it should be a feature players can participate in without it being limited in supply or as massive of a headache as it is now. The times I have owned houses in game, I loved them -- I'm not as creative or talented at decorating as a lot of folks I know, but it was a nice little thing to pass time with and express myself in my own way in game. That, and it was kind of nice to have a spot to afk with music I liked, being online if someone I knew wanted to do something, while just working on something else. It's a really interesting, fun system and it's an utter shame that so few can actually participate in it.

A lot of Free to Play MMO's, regardless of what one thinks of the overall quality of those titles, have housing systems where everyone can easily participate in them. It's easy to get a house, it's easy to decorate it and (the systems like BDO's, or New World's) do allow you to feel as if your own little instanced house is out in the world itself (not perfect, mind, but at least you can interface with the system lmao). There's other titles, like Wildstar, that did have instanced housing with incredible levels of customization and you'd walk up to a console that'd open a menu and you could browse the homes that were open (*not unlike apartments in XIV) and then port to one and check it out.

And there's multifarious other games with their systems that do work that should be considered and looked at, IMO.

Right now what we have is barely better than what Aion Online had (it's basically the same, actually. Except Aion Online's housing had /actual/ bidding). Very few people could interface with the system, those who could acted as if it was a status symbol to be able to do so and acted as if those who wanted to have fun with the digital house in a MMO that's blatantly designed around the idea of inhabiting a world was an entitled person who didn't deserve the commodities of a... digital... video game... house.

And, honestly, as any player I tend to wonder what is the point for continuing development on a feature so few can actually participate in? If it's taking away from, potentially, other features or systems that everyone might be able to interface with? What's the point of rewarding housing items for events, when most people can't really use them, which renders the reward for those players useless and meaningless? Why argue for the system to only allow an arbitrary amount of players into it? Who does that really benefit?

If it were possible to maintain the Wards as they are, but everyone could have a house in game if they desired one -- I'd be fine. But that's not the reality, and it's very obvious it won't become one. So, I'd much prefer if the majority of the playerbase could have fun with the system, rather than only what amounts to a handful of players at the end of the day. Plus, the more players involved, the more creative the homes and the more fun it'd be to go around checking open ones out to see what people went with. And, honestly, it'd probably also benefit people who do the interior designing for other players since there's suddenly a huge surge in potential demand for that kind of help.

[Brignadalee]

Housing no matter what game you play has it's pros and cons, obviously. As someone who grew up with the development of this sort of system back in Ultima Online's days. I quickly fell in love with the concept. It's execution, however, unfortunately varies depending on where you go. As a system, I'd die on that hill that Housing is necessary to make an MMO feel more alive. To personalize, and have your own little pocket.

As much as I would prefer to keep the neighborhood system. There also comes a time where we weigh the needs of many over the few. I'm absolutely willing to compromise with instanced housing at this point, if it meant everyone could get an Ishgard house of their liking. The current direction is worrisome, as it clearly places more emphasis on FCs, rather than the biggest complaints that were personal housing.
If you're going to have both systems in a sense, then at least make that system available for more than just an island out in the middle of nowhere. Don't make arbitrary ratios between the two buyer groups for the neighborhood homes that were already plagued with situations like Mateus Goblet. Split it down the middle, and let's move on with this apparent bug.

[YukiIchiro]

This is very well put and I agree 100%

[Meowdyj]

The one thing that made me feel really sad is having to walk up to the placard to redeem my gil. House already build so you know you lost walking up to it.

In my area most if not every plot had <10 bids on it (private). This just shows a little more effort to create more wards, including existing locations would come a long way.

Congratulations to winners, make it a beautiful home!

[HeyMcFly]

Update on feedback regarding the current lotto situation
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...9ca96a154cef76

[Feron]

If the current plan is to make "Stardew Fantasy" instanced housing to save the personal housing situation. It leaves much to be desired in how I can really express my character, let alone enjoy my time. I absolutely love the neighborhood aesthetic to the housing system, and would much prefer to see other people enjoying is just as well.

1) Island Sanctuaries are not going to be instanced housing. If they were going to perform that function, they would have announced it over a year ago in order to stem the tide of rightfully-angry people. I suspect theyre going to be something like a Golden Saucer full of minigames. At worst, it might be like Doman Reconstruction.

2) The "neighborhood aesthetic" excuse is really uncompelling as a reason not to have instanced housing. I've had both a FC and a personal house over the past 8 years, and the number of people I've seen in either ward, total, is probably less than 100. That's over 8 years. "Neighborhood aesthetic" is something a small amount of people talk about and even fewer people actually make happen.

I'm sad to see this launch is such a poopshow. Such Devastation! Hard to believe they could mess up a number generator, but with SE and Housing, anything goes.