Housing Roulette was an absolute trash idea.

[MrJPtheAssassin]

I dunno, RNG may not have been as involved in the old system, which it very much was i.e. the invisible timer before the plot became available for purchase was random and if that isn't a form of RNG in your book then idk what is, but even without that luck was involved. No one else getting the house before you did, maybe less people showed up to the plot, you managed to already have a house and got to transfer in, etc. point is luck is there regardless. Frankly neither system is good in my book.

I got my house through the old system after waiting almost 12 hours and I fell asleep waiting, it was only because a friend who knew I was camping this plot who came by in the wee hours of the morning and sent me a tell that I woke up. I was planning on transferring worlds at one point for personal reasons that I will not be disclosing, but in the end I decided not to because I didn't want to have to deal with trying to get another house. Also I just feel like the lottery periods are too long. Five days to enter is far too generous in my opinion. Results period I'm iffy on but I'm not entirely sure if it's too much. I think a lottery/results period combined should last no more than a weekly cycle if they aren't going to come up with a better solution.

Completely agree on the length being too long. I believe the lottery cycles should be 7 days. Starting on Tuesday (like every weeky thing does in this game) and ends on the following Monday. As for splitting up the 7 days, I think a 4-day bidding and 3-day results(be on the weekend) is more than enough time for ppl to get their bids in and see if they won or not. To bid and check the results only takes no more than one to five mins. If you can't log on for that long two times a week then maybe you not playing the game all that much in the first place. Like I know a bunch of ppl who have families and full-time jobs who can find the time to log in every day to check their island and run duns so I can't believe it's that hard to take a few mins to place a bid/check the results of the lottery. Also if it was on a weekly cycle you won't have to always check to see where the current cycle is or when a new one begins since it always starts and ends on the same days of the week every week.

[DeNada]

I don't understand what's all the complaints about.

Even though I lost the first round of lottery, I just did a cursory check and there's still hundreds of free plots available just on Balmung alone, let alone other worlds which would have even more considering Balmung is housing savage.

Seriously, just pop over to Goblet and you will be guaranteed to find a small plot with zero bids this round. Just don't be greedy and bid on one for now to get into housing, if the opportunity comes up next time to try for another plot of your liking, you can do that with the comfort that you still have a small house in Goblet should you lose the bid.

[Stormpeaks]

I don't understand what's all the complaints about.

Even though I lost the first round of lottery, I just did a cursory check and there's still hundreds of free plots available just on Balmung alone, let alone other worlds which would have even more considering Balmung is housing savage.

Seriously, just pop over to Goblet and you will be guaranteed to find a small plot with zero bids this round. Just don't be greedy and bid on one for now to get into housing, if the opportunity comes up next time to try for another plot of your liking, you can do that with the comfort that you still have a small house in Goblet should you lose the bid.

This is literally the issue itself, people refuse to bid on goblet smalls that have 0 bids, they'd rather bid on a large or a medium shiro that has 60, or mist, or LB, that is swarmed by bids, and then they complain they keep losing, it's literally self inflicted, you said it very well, people need to stop being greedy, if people want a house, its available, but they refuse to go to it, they'd rather keep losing on bidding in the most popular areas than take that, and then they will gladly complain on the forums that they keep losing and that the housing system is terrible. Sure the system isnt the best, but you dont NEED a medium or a large, a small is enough to get to work on housing and make yourself a comfy home.

[RobynDaBank]

This is literally the issue itself, people refuse to bid on goblet smalls that have 0 bids, they'd rather bid on a large or a medium shiro that has 60, or mist, or LB, that is swarmed by bids, and then they complain they keep losing, it's literally self inflicted, you said it very well, people need to stop being greedy, if people want a house, its available, but they refuse to go to it, they'd rather keep losing on bidding in the most popular areas than take that, and then they will gladly complain on the forums that they keep losing and that the housing system is terrible. Sure the system isnt the best, but you dont NEED a medium or a large, a small is enough to get to work on housing and make yourself a comfy home.

About the Smalls part I can't really say, I'm not a big money holder so I don't look past a Small already. But TBH I discovered only last week that Goblet and Lavender Beds aren't popular zones. I was sure Shirogane would be, but was completely uncertain about Mist and Empyreum. Lesson learnt, I suppose. But I refuse to blame myself for the problem because I seriously didn't even know people care this much about scenery and views.

[Saraide]

Imagine hating yourself and your time so much you want competitive sign clicking back.

[SlouchyBard]

There is a small that has 3 bidders on it, with a 4th checking it out, and another small across the street that has 0. Its not the FC ward, so I can't imagine it was FC bidders.

[angienessyo]

There is a small that has 3 bidders on it, with a 4th checking it out, and another small across the street that has 0. Its not the FC ward, so I can't imagine it was FC bidders.

That's how it is on Cactuar. I've been watching the wards where my house is for some FC mates and there's still a lot of houses up for grabs. (think A LOT of stuff got demo'd) Some smalls will have a few bids and there will be a few others in the same ward with no bids. I don't know if this is still the case, but last night my friend saw there was even an Ishgard large with 0 bids. During the population boom we were one of the bigger servers because all the streamers came here, so I'm surprised we have so many houses available and there was quite a few without bids last night.

[RobynDaBank]

There is a small that has 3 bidders on it, with a 4th checking it out, and another small across the street that has 0. Its not the FC ward, so I can't imagine it was FC bidders.

I'd personally judge only come the last day of the lottery.

[Packetdancer]

I still stand by my belief that FCs shouldn't be in the ward system at all.

Admittedly, this is because I think an FC should have guaranteed access to the company workshop, at the very least, and because I think any FC benefits by having a place to gather. Gating those on possession of a house that is, even by the most generous interpretations, dependent on RNG is not good design.

Individuals can snag apartments. Yes, they're still gated from engaging in gardening due to lack of a yard, which is an issue, and the space to decorate in an apartment is fairly minimal... but FCs do not have even that option. If they want a company workshop, or to engage in airship/submersible exploration, or anything else... they currently must have a house, period.

Give FCs an instanced FC airship when they hit rank... I dunno, 4 or 5. Make it a rank perk.

The interior of the airship would serve like a housing interior, letting you use interior decorations, and have access to a company workshop and personal FC rooms. The top deck of the airship would work like a yard, allowing you to place gardening plots and whatnot.

As an added benefit, since the airship is just... up in the air with nothing nearby, as I've suggested when I make this suggestion previously, you could have the FC officers pilot it to new places (thus changing the view you see from the airship deck). Want to park off the coast of Eureka? Why not! Over the Yfaem Saltmoor, with the ruins of Mhach below? Sure! Off the northern coast of Thavnair, along the Corvos Narrow with the Anchorite visible on the horizon? Absolutely! Etc.

By virtue of the fact that there are fewer rank 5 FCs than there are players, you put something of a practical soft cap on the number of instanced airships that are going to be in use at any given time; this (hopefully) alleviates some of the issues that this server architecture seems likely to have with fully-instanced housing in general. It also means that an FC doesn't need to worry about losing their house if people take a break; the instanced airship is a function of FC rank.

I admit this would inconvenience my own FC, because we lucked into a large in Shirogane right next to a marketboard; folks gather at the FC house and can craft and have access to the marketboard and retainer right outside our front gate, which is super convenient. Having a marketboard on the airships (tied to whichever city-state's grand company you're allied with) would probably not fly with the devs, though, who don't want to encourage people to wander off into private areas indefinitely.

Still, it would mean that FCs have guaranteed 'housing' (and access to systems they would otherwise be gated from), and by bumping FCs from the housing ward, you free up additional housing for individuals and eliminate the entire shell FC/FC-transfer loophole that people use to own multiple houses.

It's not a band-... well, okay, it is a band-aid, but it's a big one. Maybe more of a tourniquet than a band-aid?

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[Corvus_V]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Disconnecting the company workshop from FC housing is definitely a good thing, because in disincentives the tragedy on Seraph. So I agree. I just also think people should be able to own the size of house they want, instanced. Hell, even if there was the simple "You can't own an apartment/fc apartment and also an instanced house, so pick one" and whatever space they accounted for you would be converted to something you'd actually enjoy decorating, that'd be enough. I just don't really see an end to players getting pissed off about it due to a deliberately manufactured scarcity. If you have the gil to pay for something that's provided by the game itself, you should be able to do that. It's totally unnecessary for it to be frustrating, especially since you can't make your own luck in getting one of the size you want. RNG was always bad. Better than the hopeless grief of placard spamming, but still awful in this scenario in particular. When so few people win compared to the size of the pool, and of literally no extra effort on their part; it's just bound to aggravate people, and they're justified in feeling that way. Giving people an alternative of equal value, (especially in that it doesn't demo) is the only route to ending it.

It goes without saying Square Enix would actually have to do something. But I will never agree on a complete speculation that it's impossible from a company that saves so much in assets and makes so much off this game in particular. If they get so much from us, when so many people are pissed about something they should be working on solutions that scale to the playerbase. Wards will not work.