Is lack of housing a distraction?

[Necrotica]

Is it possible the limited housing is meant to keep people complaining about that instead of the actual mechanics of how decorating housing is designed?

Partitions and doors reacting differently to lighting.

Dyes looking different on said pieces.

Grid alignment preventing things from lining up due to object shape (stairs).

Inability to place floor items on lofts.

ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC.

This is bad. Very bad. And the news I hear on changes to housing? More wards and maybe we will remove the pillars someday.

The system doesn't need band-aids. It needs to be ripped out and completely redone.

[AlanJust]

People can't get a house in the first place. Never mind complain about it how they struggle to design it.

[Jojoya]

Is it possible the limited housing is meant to keep people complaining about that instead of the actual mechanics of how decorating housing is designed?

Partitions and doors reacting differently to lighting.

Dyes looking different on said pieces.

Grid alignment preventing things from lining up due to object shape (stairs).

Inability to place floor items on lofts.

ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC.

This is bad. Very bad. And the news I hear on changes to housing? More wards and maybe we will remove the pillars someday.

The system doesn't need band-aids. It needs to be ripped out and completely redone.

Nope. You're talking about two very different issues.

SE is working to address the lack of houses. We're getting another 1800 plots per world in 6.3. That's enough to take care of demand on most worlds based on the lottery entries back in June/July when the Empyreum addition finally started selling out.

Actual decorating? SE hasn't said anything about that to my knowledge. The only thing we've seen is more items being added as Tabletop that in the past we would have expected to see categorized as Furnishings instead. It could be truly due to system limitations (Game Director for WoW said they never added housing because it would have to be the hook system that players hate).

It would be nice if it could be changed or redone but as frustrating as it can be, it's still functional. There's just a lot of room for improvement. I'd still take this any day over the housing they have in LotRO.

[Solarra]

Yes, I think the shortage does distract people from the flaws in the system, because getting a house is so difficult meaning people are far less inclined to complain.
Do I think the shortage is deliberate? No. I am fairly sure that the devs underestimated the demand for private housing and then compounded that mistake by trying to satisfy that demand through simply adding more wards and when that turned out to be insufficient, they eventually added apartments. Had we got apartments first, I think they'd have been much better recieved. But when you compare them to an actual house with an outside yard, it's obvious they fall short.

But you are right, there are a lot of issues with housing in FFXIV and it really could be improved a lot. I was glad to hear in the Live Letter that they were looking into making blank interiors without the pillars and delighted that they are adding more wards, but there are a lot of design decisions that have gone through that leave me puzzled.
The orientation of the wards and the subwards in most areas means that one area gets lovely sunsets, but the other doesn't.
Many houses have lousy views, even in the newer areas like Empyreum. It's like the people designing the wards have no idea what makes one plot much more desireable than another.
And then we have furniture placement. While I've got a lot better over the years, I'm no expert and I can well understand why some people just plonk down a bell, some vendors and maybe a few bits of furniture and leave it at that.

Would I like to see the system getting an overhaul? Yes, as long as it doesn't negatively impact those who have houses already.
So, yes to instanced housing alongside the wards.
Yes to more options with the interiors.
Yes to better furniture placement.
Yes to making more standard items like arch, doorway and open partitions for all interior types.
Yes to upgraded apartments
and yes to the devs looking at items that should match but don't, marble beds and partitions and the glade partitions being 2 examples.

Considering that housing is a constant through all expansions and it gives a reason for people to maintain their sub during content droughts, I would like it to receive more love and attention than it does. Sadly, it doesn't feel as though the devs have a lot of interest in it, besides making more and more furniture even when they know a lot of the player base cannot use it.