How many housing lotteries do I have to enter before I win?

[Reinha]

Pardon? My chances are better? Where the heck did I or anyone ever say my chances are better? Participating isn't all that matters. Winning is what matters. And so far, I haven't. The heck are you reading?

Right here:

But I certainly have no question this lottery is much better then FCFS. At least I have a chance. I wouldn't stand a chance in FCFS with my internet, ping, and load times.

When there are 10X the amount of participants but not 10X winners, winning just became harder than before. But you like the new system. So why do you bitch about losing? The increased competition is a feature, not a bug.

The increase in competition isn't just players finally getting a chance to participate, either. Waiting in a login queue made it nearly impossible to get houses for alts during the release of FCFS wards. Now it's not an issue anymore. I'm bidding with 7 characters myself and managed to win a small, then a medium on my alts. Imagine it, free companies and players seeking personals might have lost several bids to people's alts lol.

[AlzabetSmallberries]

It is completely random there is no answer to that haha

I have a friend that has been trying to win a house since LONG before lottery existed- placard clicked dozens of house and lost... She has bid in every single lottery round since it began and still has not won - its seriously gross and i feel so bad for her!
I won my first lottery.

It is completely random there is no answer to that

[edgefu]

I get what the OP is saying in that they are thinking it's like Gacha mechanics where you get a pity roll after so many. I believe someone already said this, but it's impossible to have a pity system on the lottery because more than one hit the pity count and bid on the same property, they can't both win it.

The housing lottery is exactly that: a lottery. So chances of winning, unfortunately, are like any other lottery. Once you get over 100 participants on a plot, chances become less than 1%. Persistence, opportunity, luck are the only things that can help you. To put things into perspective, you have a better chance entering the Jumbo Cactpot each week, buying only one ticket, and trying to hit 1st place because that lottery allows for multiple winners choosing the same 4 numbers.

Not to discourage, I'm just saying don't get worked up about losing because there will be other plots to open up and more chances granted. Just keep entering each time and don't make it a major part of your enjoyment of this game. Treat it like the Jumbo Cactpot where if you win great, but if not, oh well, let's try again next time. Keep going and luck will be on your side eventually. Don't give up.

[Corvus_V]

I get what the OP is saying in that they are thinking it's like Gacha mechanics where you get a pity roll after so many. I believe someone already said this, but it's impossible to have a pity system on the lottery because more than one hit the pity count and bid on the same property, they can't both win it.

This would be ideal for people who bid consistently on one plot, or one type of plot. It'd reward the persistence you're mentioning because its hard to miss a lottery if you actually want a house. It would simply pit you against people who have lost those opportunities together. As someone who's failed to relocate for at least 3 bids, I'd appreciate this even if that seems self-serving.

Not to discourage, I'm just saying don't get worked up about losing because there will be other plots to open up and more chances granted. ... Don't give up.

I think the largest issue is everyone participating in this system is treating this as if it all isn't totally arbitrary. A lot of people are looking at this from a perspective of: "this is a fact of life, this is the way it needs to be" when in reality, it isn't. It's just SE either fumbling the hell out of it or sticking to a stupid design choice out of stubbornness. Kind of like how they handle a lot of other things that they could handle different, but doesn't mesh well with their image problem.

To reiterate: if every person who wanted a house; instead bought an apartment, decorated it etc. the server would not crumble. Even places like Island Sanctuary took a bit of a hit from everyone being in them, but it was managed well enough that in worst case scenarios you'd fail to enter a couple of times and get in within a minute. I believe in object permanence, so unless there are thousands and thousands of multi-boxers logging in hellbent on decorating multiple homes simultaneously at all hours of the day, instanced housing would pan out the exact same way. People would log in, decorate, play, log out; the same people who are currently logged in, etc. Especially if, like apartments, those houses don't demolish just because you haven't been inside of it for over a month.

tl;dr, they need to add instanced housing, because there is objectively no good reason not to do so; since it doesn't necessitate the loss of wards, and doesn't affect anyone else's gameplay other than depreciate housing for people who intend to RMT or circumvent bans on housing sales via shell FCs. Also because they have the resources, and can do it. The assumption that the only reason they haven't is because they can't, is giving people ((SE)) who can't even make unique armor sets on a level equal to hobbyist interest, despite the sheer amount they make) WAY too much credit. There's either very clearly a severe budget problem, a lack of hearing user-feedback, or apathy.

Anyway, you're right, nobody should give up; but I believe everyone's frustration is 100% justified. I just think it's misdirected. There's nothing wrong with people being passionate about how they get to spend their leisure time (or rather how they dont get to); and when it's affecting them I think it's fine for them to speak up about it.