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

[IkaraGreydancer]

You say that like SE actually needed players to participate in Ishgard Restoration for Empyreum to exist.

Choosing not to participate is just you losing out on Skybuilders Scrip items, it's not any kind of meaningful protest.

And non-crafters also should have a chance at housing which the lottery provides.

Who said anything about a protest? It's called applying time to better avenues. Ones where the end result are worth it. I'm sure I'm not the only person who busted their ass expecting to live there

[SendohJin]

Who said anything about a protest? It's called applying time to better avenues. Ones where the end result are worth it. I'm sure I'm not the only person who busted their ass expecting to live there

You thought participating in it guaranteed you a plot in a Housing Ward that didn't exist? They never said that.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Placard clicking didn't suck that much tbh. I got my personal without botting, and honestly there was no need to camp plots for several hours like people say, as long as you were informed enough about it. Sure it was shit, but lottery is worse. Those who REALLY wanted a house and were willing to put some effort had a huge advantage.
There's only one real fix to this now: instanced housing.

Hahaha...no....it clearly wasnt. Placard clicking was absolutely horrible and I'm speaking from experience where me and some of my FC mates had to battle even with the knowledge we had. Not once did we ever managed to get a house due to all sorts of factors, let alone the odd schedules with us having to stop playing this game to play mouse clicker simulator. Take the rose tinted glasses off my friend, those were dark times.

The funny thing is, my FC actually managed to win their house with the lottery. It was a lot less stressful and painless than having to fight numerous people and bots. My only hope is that they soon open the rest of the wards for both FC and personal housing and when they have the resources open more plots. Or better yet, with the upcoming Island Sanctuaries I hope this lessens the value with plot housing, if you're allowed to customize and garden just like before.

[TwistedTea]

How about keep adding wards to every housing district until its nowhere close to 150 or more people bidding on a single plot. Whats the excuse... spaghetti database issues? I'm not asking for a plot for everyone but 150, or worse, bidding on a single lot... shouldnt be left as the standard either.

The limited ward housing system was not designed to be a long-term scalable solution which could keep up with increasing player populations.

Secondly, the limited ward housing system consumes a lot of server resources as the exteriors of wards/houses are always loaded 24/7

Players should be asking for fully instanced housing as a long-term scalable solution so that every player can get a house.

SE has already demonstrated they're capable of fully instanced housing with Island Sanctuaries since every player will be getting a massive island for free.

SE can also improve apartments. Let us upgrade them for gil into condos/penthouses.

If Islands/Apartments were viable alternatives to housing and the minimum baseline for every player - the demand for limited ward housing would decrease.

Limited ward housing could then be something for players who want to compete for "exclusive/flex" houses.

[Lieri]

Congrats for only having to compete with 150 people!

[Padudu]

This! I've said this before and I will say it again: I started playing in 2019 and camped my first cottage as a Sprout totally alone, literally no one else showed up! I got the plot without competition after a few hours and I didn't even have to spam-click the placard. There were PLENTY of other available plots!! The problem is that the playerbase got bigger but we barely got new wards! The lottery will never fix the supply & demand issue.

This particularly sucks for new players though lol, never had the chance to placard click and never will, so the only option is the lotto (asides from apartments ofc)

[Risvertasashi]

So, to like... state the obvious, every lottery from here on out is going to be very long odds of winning.

Like... 150-1 odds or much worse.

Is this really the system you envisioned to 'solve' the housing problems? How exactly is this better than clicking a placard against FAR LESS than 150-1 odds.... or worse.

How about keep adding wards to every housing district until its nowhere close to 150 or more people bidding on a single plot. Whats the excuse... spaghetti database issues? I'm not asking for a plot for everyone but 150, or worse, bidding on a single lot... shouldnt be left as the standard either.

The system was never designed to "solve" the housing shortage - it was designed to remove the experience of repeat clicking a placard for hours and hours (or perhaps making a macro or getting a bot to do it for them). Even before the system came in, people were noting this would actually hurt your chances of getting a home if you were one of those that could dedicate many hours to placard clicking.

And one clear advantage, IMO, is that it gives a better meter of just how much housing supply has fallen behind. I hope when people see lotteries with 50 or 100+ entrants, it'll both rally players and convince SE more needs to be done here.

[Atelier-Bagur]

I'm just laughing at this thread now. All of a sudden we're getting people being nostalgic over the old plot acquiring system.

Let that all sink in folks.

[dapperfaffer]

I feel like the lottery system isn't designed to fix the supply and demand issue, but rather even the playing field for getting a house given the low supply vs. demand. It discourages the camping a board for hours that isn't exactly healthy.

this.
housing is supposed to be limited and prestigious. its been that way since housing was first implemented.

[Payadopa]

I walked up to a house with no bidders, paid and got it the next day. Same with my friend who is now my neighbour. The supply is not enough but the current system is vastly superior to the old one.