Thank you, lottery

[Archaell]

My question would be, as you are having a hard time with plottery now, how didn't you get a house back then, if it was easier and all?

Before the lottery anybody could have grinded place-cards or taken a day off from work when new wards opened up to get a house. I usually play for a half year, get a house, then stop and lose it to demolition. It's waste of gil of course, but it was working fine in the past. Now with the lottery in place chances of getting a house are kind of gone. Even transfer to new servers is a bad deal due to high chance of losing in lottery. The lottery makes it fair and easy to get a house, which is great for players without free time, but inferior system for players who have nothing better to do with their time than house hunting, because the trade-off is barely existing chance to win.

[Jojoya]

I got a house three times and relocated a couple of times as well. Back in the day we had to demolish the old house before running to the new plot to buy it. After relocation became a thing it was easier to swap houses. At some point I got tired of having a house and demolished it, then got a new one later on after placard timers had been implemented.

Now I have a small at a waterfall in Lavender Beds but I wanted a house in Ishgard. Probably would have gotten one if it weren't for the lottery.

But if you're going to be fair, back then the state of the game with respect to player population is not what is it now. It was easier to get a house not because of the lack of the lottery but because the supply was close to demand on most worlds, or even exceeding demand (primarily the JP worlds).

I can remember buying my first house back in either 3.4 or 3.5. Had to get one in Goblet since Lavender Beds and Mist were sold out (I wanted Mist) but there were still about 2 dozen plots available so it's not like i had to fight with anyone to get a plot. I was able to get it because supply was meeting demand.

Then I had to take an unexpected break right as Stormblood was released and lost the house. I barely returned to the game in time to reclaim furnishings and gil (think another 3 days and I would have lost those as well). All houses were sold out and players were complaining about not being able to buy.

Not a big deal, most of us without a house thought. Shirogane is opening in 4.1. Well, that didn't go as expected. Everything was sold out the day Shirogane opened because RMT had been preparing to claim as many of those highly coveted Shirogane and other prime plots as they could get. This was repeated across the NA worlds and most of the EU. JP again had houses left because their populations were lower so there was less demand.

A lot of players ended up disappointed because they couldn't get online fast enough to get a house anywhere, whether Shirogane or one of the plots that had opened when their former owners relocated. It was either pay RMT or go without. I wasn't about to pay RMT so I went without and settled into my apartment.

Patch 4.2 was the bright spot because SE increased the number of wards from 12 to 18. Ownership limits and the purchase timer were added, and a personal purchase moratorium was used for the first time. No one had any idea of how the changes would work out. RMT proceeded cautiously at first (which allowed me to get my medium Mist dream plot that I still have) but still the supply was so much larger than demand that RMT had no reason to focus on anything but the medium and large plots once it got bolder in its activity again. Most worlds still had plots available until the end of 2018.

And then WoW imploded. Battle for Azeroth had been released in summer 2018 and players were excited after Legion. Then after a few months they realized it was a terrible expansion. The first WoW exodus occurred start of 2019. It wasn't that big compared to the one in 2021 but still it brought a lot of new players to FFXIV. Between that and the announced data center reorganization, available houses disappeared again. Houses freed up when players transferred worlds were sold out within a couple of weeks. Since then, it's been extremely difficult to get a house because the player base has been growing faster than SE has increased the number of plots.

It's not truly that the old system was better. It was because back then the supply was close enough to demand that players wanting a house usually didn't have to work to get one. The situation would be far different if that system were still in place today.

[Divinemights]

When people saying old system is better, they are referring it is easier to claim during plot release.
If you smart enough and pick a small in Goblet, you will get your first house and you are free to relocate afterward.
You also don't need a day off as all you need to sacrifice is 1 hour of sleep by setting alarm clock before maintenance comes to end.
You log in at ouside of housing ward entrance (not main city) and enter the route you have been practicing and claim your first house.
It is as simple as 1 2 3 and I recommend same method to my friends who start after 3.0 and they all got their first house.
This so called "fair" lottery only punish new player's chance to get their first house because dumb people who cant wait for plot release want an easier time.
Especially during Shirogane release, it was best time to get to move to a better location in Mist or Lavender.

[TwistedTea]

When people saying old system is better, they are referring it is easier to claim during plot release.
If you smart enough and pick a small in Goblet, you will get your first house and you are free to relocate afterward.
You also don't need a day off as all you need to sacrifice is 1 hour of sleep by setting alarm clock before maintenance comes to end.
You log in at ouside of housing ward entrance (not main city) and enter the route you have been practicing and claim your first house.
It is as simple as 1 2 3 and I recommend same method to my friends who start after 3.0 and they all got their first house.

Why do we have to go to such ridiculous lengths, in an MMO though?

SE does not advertise ward housing as exclusive content. Quite the opposite.

If XIV had proper fully instanced housing from the start like Wildstar or Rift - sufficient supply - we would not have to participate in things like land rushes,compete against bots/RMT etc

Not sure why some players are defending a system that does not respect a player's time and heavily incentivizes third party tools.

Especially, when SE themselves have not stated that ward housing is meant to be exclusive.