Housing sucks rn!

[ArkenaeuxBelmont]

The situation with the lottery, and even the previous system of constant clicking, is just the effect of the root problem. There are not, and never will be, enough plots for all players. This concept of wanting a "community neighborhood" for their housing system is the problem. It should not be the only option in existence for the housing available to players.

They can even fix all the other little issues players have with the system, and it still wouldn't solve that root problem. Stripping away the grandfathered wards owned by 1 player still only put a small amount of plots on the market. Once that lottery cycle passes, we're back where we started.

There needs to be a second option, and no, apartments/private FC rooms are not the answer. There needs to be an instanced private housing system for people that want it, where you can use outdoor furniture as well, not just indoor. There needs to be something that alleviates the pressure OFF of the shared housing wards.

That being said, there are a few things I feel they could do to help issues that a lot of people feel.

1) Strip the grandfathered wards for demo. Sorry, but this is just flat out ridiculous at this point. 1 person should not have a full ward. It needs to go. Let them keep a large plot there and demo/open up all the other plots for private, not for FC.
2) Controversial, but I feel that there should be a system in place for the lottery that the longer you sub, at certain milestones, you should be able to buy a second ticket in a lottery to increase your chances. FC's already have a way to increase your odds by multiple members submitting for the same plot. Sure, some may think this is unfair to new players, but on the flipside how fair is it against players who have been around for years and still come up empty every single housing cycle? I'd think something like every 360 days subbed should get you an extra ticket to increase your chances.
3) Lottery cycle should be shorter. Not insanely shorter, but the period right now I feel is too far skewed on the longer end.
4) Demo timer should never, ever be turned off unless something major is occurring like an expansion launch that stresses the log in queues.
5) The split between FC only wards to Private wards is too far skewed towards FC. It should be 50/50. Before everyone gets out their pitchforks and torches, consider this. Entire wards are sitting near empty on the FC side, and all this is doing while the plots very slowly get sold, are promoting the creation of Dummy FC's. It's already started to happen across servers. Keep in mind, I'm not talking small FC's, I mean Dummy FC's, created for 1 person to get an FC plot. I'm sorry, but that to me is just manipulating the system and skews the viewpoint of the Devs when they'll look at how many/how often FC plots go, and they'll continue to think their current split is fine. These Dummy FC's will eat up almost every plot by the time those FC wards will be opened to private buyers.

Still though, nothing is going to solve the core problem until they decide to add instanced housing. There just are not enough, and never will be enough, plots for everyone.

[Nuggets]

Except, you know damn well you will place a bid in the next lotto...it's just too easy not too. Only thing that will change are your expectations

[Greyhawk]

This will absolutely be my last lotto in any way shape or form until something is fixed. I'm tired of going to every plot, seeing 30+ people on ANY GIVEN plot, and knowing my chances will be slim to none. I understand with the demand there is that there will be a lot of people wanting to get in, but it leads me to the question of WHY?

Why is this artificial demand even HERE? To everyone who will say "Oh but you have apartments!" Yeah, thanks, I sure do want the dumbed down, baby version of the system that I cannot use outdoor furniture in, nor more than like what, 20 pieces of furniture? Apartment sizes and restrictions are a joke, and they are certainly not a fix to this housing problem right now.

It feels like, to me, the lottery is just worse off. Sure, I really appreciate not having to sit and click a plaque for hours, but this isn't much better if you ask me!

I really hope sooner rather than later they fix the split between FC and Personals. It feels really bad to go into FC wards, see them empty or see everyone who was grandfathered into the system. I'm not particularly upset abt the grandfathering, in most cases, but it still is frustrating to see. This is a draw for a LOT of people to this game at end game!

Also, I don't really want to hear "Well housing started as FC only!" I don't care what it started as. I care about the needs and wants of people within the game IN CURRENT YEAR.

TLDR: Lost my housing for the third time and this is my last lotto until they fix the system. It is NOT working.

Actually, it is working. Just not how you want it to turn out.

[Silverbane]

TLDR: Lost my housing for the third time ...

1. It wasn't your house. It was the housing plot you wanted.
2. You didn't lose anything but the time it took you to enter and then get your deposit back. Which is probably less time than you spent complaining about it in the forum.

[Eris4494]

Have seen any where first two that entered the lottery ever. They could have fixed the housing problem way back in Heavensward their was no excuse back then to not have. Pretty sure if they wanted to they could get the equipment to upgrade their system. The company I work for had no problems upgrading all the servers and computers for all their store not long ago. Company I work for is pretty big with 1000's of stores.

[ballprince]

Have seen any where first two that entered the lottery ever. They could have fixed the housing problem way back in Heavensward their was no excuse back then to not have. Pretty sure if they wanted to they could get the equipment to upgrade their system. The company I work for had no problems upgrading all the servers and computers for all their store not long ago. Company I work for is pretty big with 1000's of stores.

While I cannot say anything about server load, I agree. They should have fixed this long ago. Housing is a pretty heavily advertised feature, we just had a whole LIVE LETTER on IT and basically it alone. Sucks that something with so much interest vested in it just straight up is going to be inaccessible on packed servers.

[Jojoya]

Have seen any where first two that entered the lottery ever. They could have fixed the housing problem way back in Heavensward their was no excuse back then to not have. Pretty sure if they wanted to they could get the equipment to upgrade their system. The company I work for had no problems upgrading all the servers and computers for all their store not long ago. Company I work for is pretty big with 1000's of stores.

It's not the company size that's at issue.

It's the type of hardware needed. Can't run a MMO on hardware designed to process simple databases and accounting software.

Also, you said "not long ago". Did they secure the hardware they needed before the semi-conductor shortage became critical (even if it took them a year to get it all installed throughout the company)?

If we're being honest, the problem was temporarily fixed back in 4.2. Just about every world (Balmung being the usual exception) had available houses for months before they finally all sold out. But at the same, it was easy enough to predict we'd run into the problem again if the player base continued to grow.

What none of us predicted was the explosive growth that would occur when players of some other popular MMOs became dissatisfied with those games. Safe to say that caught everyone off guard, and has contributed strongly to the current house shortage.

[CammyBear]

It's not the company size that's at issue.

It's the type of hardware needed. Can't run a MMO on hardware designed to process simple databases and accounting software.

Also, you said "not long ago". Did they secure the hardware they needed before the semi-conductor shortage became critical (even if it took them a year to get it all installed throughout the company)?

If we're being honest, the problem was temporarily fixed back in 4.2. Just about every world (Balmung being the usual exception) had available houses for months before they finally all sold out. But at the same, it was easy enough to predict we'd run into the problem again if the player base continued to grow.

What none of us predicted was the explosive growth that would occur when players of some other popular MMOs became dissatisfied with those games. Safe to say that caught everyone off guard, and has contributed strongly to the current house shortage.

Oh... That... That's actually a good point. I forgot about that factor. You deserve a like.

(Saying this as a WoW-refugee myself)

[hynaku]

So how did New World Online and other new MMORPG's coming out this year get all their hardware and servers if SE can't?. We had every expansion more and more players coming here each time. Can't say how huge players base has cought me off guard I was telling ones ways back in 2.0 they really needed to upgrade their servers. Because way back then they where preaching there was limitations and could add stuff ones wanted.

[Jojoya]

(Saying this as a WoW-refugee myself)

Many of us are. Some of us realized what was coming and jumped ship much earlier. I miss the WoW of BC, Wrath and MoP (Cataclysm had its problems) but there's no going back to those days.

So how did New World Online and other new MMORPG's coming out this year get all their hardware and servers if SE can't?. We had every expansion more and more players coming here each time. Can't say how huge players base has cought me off guard I was telling ones ways back in 2.0 they really needed to upgrade their servers. Because way back then they where preaching there was limitations and could add stuff ones wanted.

Because those MMOs have been in development for 4-5 years and had already secured most if not all of the hardware they needed.

Amazon is such an international megalith at this point that they can pull strings with suppliers when needed to get priority assuming they hadn't already stockpiled extra in anticipation of possible need (they could always sell it after the fact if they didn't end up using it). SE does not have that sort of buying power.

Instanced housing is impossible yet instanced apartments exist explain this to me.

SE has never stated this. It usually comes from players who want only want ward housing to exist because they like the prestige factor.