So, what now? Lotteries with 150+ bids until... when?

[Sheriyana]

No thanks, housing is fine as it is, no need for some instances of houses, there are other games if that's what you're looking after. Housing in FFXIV is perfectly fine, it just needs more wards added.

Yeah, no. There will never be enough wards for everyone to be guaranteed a house. That's kind of why people want the instanced housing.

[UkcsAlias]

No thanks, housing is fine as it is

If it was, then there wouldn't be constant complaints about it. Housing is part of the game, and one with a decent demand on it (a lot more than plenty of the raids have where waiting times can be excessively long due to inactivity).

Instanced housing only solves 1 issue, which is the lack of need for a seperate ward. Other than that it generaly still faces similar issues to regular houses and appartments (hence they are also limited).

And other games do not have what im looking after. Sure, i can build a house in plenty of games, but none of these are open toward people in FF, where people from the FF community can join in. And none of these also add anything to a collection spirit to improve your house, which you do by playing FF. That is a completely false argument. Your argument is of the same style of a counter strike player complaining about weapon skins costing money and then just suggesting a diffirent shooter where that isnt the case. It realy doesnt matter what other games provide, since they dont provide the same gameplay anyway.

[Solarra]

housing is fine as it is... Housing in FFXIV is perfectly fine... it just needs more wards added.

Are we playing the same game?
You are ofc entitled to your opinion, but I'd love to know the reasoning behind your statements that it is 'perfectly fine'.
We have hundreds of people competing for houses and no sign of that situation getting better. In fact, with auto-demo off, it would be logical to assume the situation is only going to get worse.

I would definitely support adding more wards if I believed they could add enough to satisfy demand. However, due to wards being persistent, I don't believe the devs would be able to devote sufficient resources.
Another argument against more wards would be that players generally want medium and large houses but will settle for smalls if nothing else is available. Should the game decline in popularity, then you could have wards where the medium and larges are occupied and most of the smalls are empty (rather like Empyreum FC wards now).

Instanced houses added alongside the ward system would be far more flexible and future-proof. I don't think many are arguing against keeping the wards. It's just that adding more wards alone is unlikely to be sufficient to meet demand.

[Shougun]

No thanks, housing is fine as it is, no need for some instances of houses, there are other games if that's what you're looking after. Housing in FFXIV is perfectly fine, it just needs more wards added.

This current system, imo, is really awful for the type of game it is (theme park mmo). That isn't to say I can't see how we got here, but I still believe it is a terrible system for the type of audience it caters to. Even if we 'had to have' this type of system it would be better to at least be like LotR Online was with auto-expanding wards. But given how this game acts, very strongly imo, the best system would have been something akin to Wildstar, Rift, or perhaps ESO.

Limited resource systems fit better for sandboxes and things where players are more expected to be the friction content to each other (like perhaps EVE, where your space station takes up physical world space). Here we are causing each other friction but it certainly isn't content we, vast majority, wanted (that we're causing each other pain, unlike say sandbox where fighting over specific land would be expected content).

The amount of frustration this system has caused has been amazingly consistent, since launch, and the amount of content and freedom it has cost us in opportunity is blaringly obvious. Anyone who has played or seen those other games could imagine insane things we 'could have had' both in terms of awesome set pieces but also actual features*, but rather we're stuck with mostly things you "can't" have or wont get without extreme frustration and compromise.

This system has been a thorn in the playerbase side since release. Every single step has had a huge issue. The issues have changed, SE has tried to patch things as we go along, but it has always been a thorn. And it appears fairly self evident it will always be a thorn until it can officially have some sort of instanced support to it which is able to meet demand 1:1. Though I would prefer it wasn't the ward system (like they could fix it via a LotR situation, or phasing akin to BDO), as I want the huge amount of feature and creative power that comes along with it not having to fit a rigid structure. Like how in ESO there are ~50 different, vastly, different and exciting locations to pick from rather than 4. Or Wildstar/Rift where you could basically make any location you wanted, and in say Wildstar you still had neighborhood features if you wanted.

I am hopeful they will be able to do a lot of really cool things with Island Sanctuary such that we begin to see that lost potential realized. I am also hopeful that the system will quickly, if not at release, contain a very strong homely vibe with many home features- even if via pre-fab options I think this would help satisfy a lot of players (like plopping down a cottage that has inn like features, or just literally connecting an inn room door via magic). Then as possible adding other upgrades like connecting a special apartment room (1:1 availability for all), and then upgrading that apartment room system as possible. So given time and feedback we might see this new content as the start of the end of our thorns.

[Canadane]

Placard clicking didn't suck that much tbh.

A lot of people really didn't want to work for something.
And everyone who ever asked for a lotto system I did my best to explain to them that it'd lower their odds of getting a place.
But you can't fight heated mob mentality with cool headed logic, sadly.

[Stormpeaks]

A lot of people really didn't want to work for something.
And everyone who ever asked for a lotto system I did my best to explain to them that it'd lower their odds of getting a place.
But you can't fight heated mob mentality with cool headed logic, sadly.

Pretty much this, fighting agaisnt 20 bots (usually a lot less) and 500 "real" players for a plot is a no brainer, I'll take the fight agaisnt a few bots any day, lottery just made it so you have to wait 5 days to know if you won the house or not, making the disappointment even worse when you eventually do lose it, on top of that you only get 3 chances per month to "try" your luck (9 days cycle). So yeah, placard camping was better, sorry not sorry. Placard camping required about 2 hours of effort (prime time) and then the house sold. That was it. If you couldnt do that back then, perhaps you didnt deserve a house in the first place or didnt want it enough.

[Eraden]

A lot of people really didn't want to work for something.
And everyone who ever asked for a lotto system I did my best to explain to them that it'd lower their odds of getting a place.
But you can't fight heated mob mentality with cool headed logic, sadly.

People wanted the Lottery because it made access to housing fair for all. No more issues with IRL commitments interfering with attempts to obtain a house and no having to compete with people using 3rd party software to get a leg up. It also meant not having to deal with rather unhealthy amounts of click spamming. Your notion that mindlessly camping placards, click spamming and using bots is "working for something" is ridiculous at best. Many of us who are proponents for the Lottery KNOW that our chances are much lower and yet we still favor the Lottery because we want the system to be fair for EVERYONE. I wonder if that is even of the faintest interest to you. Nothing in your post smacks of logic.

[Canadane]

People wanted the Lottery because it made access to housing fair for all. No more issues with IRL commitments interfering with attempts to obtain a house and no having to compete with people using 3rd party software to get a leg up. It also meant not having to deal with rather unhealthy amounts of click spamming. Your notion that mindlessly camping placards, click spamming and using bots is "working for something" is ridiculous at best. Many of us who are proponents for the Lottery KNOW that our chances are much lower and yet we still favor the Lottery because we want the system to be fair for EVERYONE. I wonder if that is even of the faintest interest to you. Nothing in your post smacks of logic.

I don't understand how you don't see click spamming as working for something. It is undeniably "work" even in the crudest of definitions.
And while there's maybe a more level playing field, it took away effort based rewards from players. I can see why people would want "fair for everyone" as an option but can you not see the way of getting something earned through hard work and dedication with a dash of luck? I find that a lot more commendable than pure luck, which is ironic because I love fishing in this game.

false. it improved my odds from 0 to whatever it is now

Indeed you can't win if you don't try.

[Espon]

I don't understand how you don't see click spamming as working for something. It is undeniably "work" even in the crudest of definitions.
And while there's maybe a more level playing field, it took away effort based rewards from players. I can see why people would want "fair for everyone" as an option but can you not see the way of getting something earned through hard work and dedication with a dash of luck? I find that a lot more commendable than pure luck, which is ironic because I love fishing in this game.

It's work that ultimately gives nothing to the majority of the participants as there can only be one winner in the end. It would be like showing up for your job, putting in your 8 hours of work, and then at the end of the day your employer hands a cheque to a random employee because they were first in their line of sight. Didn't get paid? Better luck next time.

[Raoabolic]

I don't understand how you don't see click spamming as working for something. It is undeniably "work" even in the crudest of definitions.

And I still find it very funny that people consider something they do in a video game "work". I get it, I miss first come first serve housing as well but let's not pretend poopsocking or using autohotkey is "work", lol.