The minimum acceptable situation

[dspguy]

Sadly, I don't think there will be any solution that will make the playerbase happy.

Make apartments upgradeable to mediums and large? People will complain they don't have a front lawn.
Spin up more instances on an as-needed basis? People will complain the neighborhoods are ghost towns.
Change loop-holes? Many players have had these secondary residences for years and invested lots of time and gil into it.
Etc etc

On my server, we had smalls in the new wards sit vacant in the personal ward going into the 3rd lottery. If you really wanted a house, you could have got a house. So when I hear people complain on my server, they need to realize they are complaining just for the sake of complaining. Is the system perfect? Of course not. But we are much closer to being where need to be than we were before and there is no need to scrap the whole system and start over.

[Jojoya]

Sure, but then they will have to nerf it by a huge percentage.

There are times like these I'm really glad they dont read the forums, honestly, according to some, having an FC and a house should be a 24 7 job and constant upkeep to even keep the house, with a billion chores and annoyances to do, and a giant gil amount to keep it

just stop

Parts of the workshop could already stand to be nerfed. Do Extravagant Salvaged Accessories really need to be worth up to 35k each (especially when it's possible to get multiple in a single voyage)?

We already know they're working on a personal version of voyages. Depending on how those compare to the existing ones, the nerfs are likely incoming regardless.

As for reading the forums, they do have the community team at a minimum reading through the feedback. We got the suggested purchase timer after the complaints when Shirogane was opened, we got the suggested lottery, etc.

But there are plenty of other things that have been suggested but not implemented. So they do read but they don't always do what player ask for.

You also exaggerate how hard it is to make gil. Most players don't have a hard time making it. They have a hard time spending it wisely and so it seems like they don't make much because they're always running out.

Here comes my obligatory "if SE had only developed a good instanced housing system in the first place instead of choosing wards, players wouldn't feel the need to make those suggestions not to mention that demolition wouldn't exist, the lottery wouldn't exist, complaints about not being able to get a specific plot wouldn't exist..."

Safe to say it's not going to stop just because you're mostly happy with the system. Others aren't.

[Stormpeaks]

Parts of the workshop could already stand to be nerfed. Do Extravagant Salvaged Accessories really need to be worth up to 35k each (especially when it's possible to get multiple in a single voyage)?

We already know they're working on a personal version of voyages. Depending on how those compare to the existing ones, the nerfs are likely incoming regardless.

As for reading the forums, they do have the community team at a minimum reading through the feedback. We got the suggested purchase timer after the complaints when Shirogane was opened, we got the suggested lottery, etc.

But there are plenty of other things that have been suggested but not implemented. So they do read but they don't always do what player ask for.

You also exaggerate how hard it is to make gil. Most players don't have a hard time making it. They have a hard time spending it wisely and so it seems like they don't make much because they're always running out.

Here comes my obligatory "if SE had only developed a good instanced housing system in the first place instead of choosing wards, players wouldn't feel the need to make those suggestions not to mention that demolition wouldn't exist, the lottery wouldn't exist, complaints about not being able to get a specific plot wouldn't exist..."

Safe to say it's not going to stop just because you're mostly happy with the system. Others aren't.

And it's also obvious they are happy with the system as it is, since they arent making any changes to it, yes they might add some wards in 7.0, and maybe even switch more wards from FC to personal, or unrestricted, but they are happy with the housing system and lottery as a whole, and I'm pretty confident they dont want to do any big changes to it.

Also it's not about the amount of gil, you pay for the house, you own it, period, there is no "upkeep" just stop with that crap. You paid it in the first place, period. It's yours. Adding gil requirements for upkeep will literally increase RMT, arent there already enough bots in Limsa under the ground ?

As for instanced housing, I am still on my position that I was in weeks ago, only 1 system can work, either instanced OR ward, both cant be on at the same time, because having instanced while ward housing is up will change nothing, the same amount of people will still go for ward housing because it's simply superior.

[Jojoya]

Also it's not about the amount of gil, you pay for the house, you own it, period, there is no "upkeep" just stop with that crap. You paid it in the first place, period. It's yours. Adding gil requirements for upkeep will literally increase RMT, arent there already enough bots in Limsa under the ground ?

We don't own anything in this game. SE owns it all. We pay a license fee for access to the game content. We pay a gil fee to get the ability to use a specific plot but we still do not own it.

If they want to change how the system works, they can do it. If they wanted to take houses away from everyone and force everyone to start from scratch, they could do it.

Upkeep isn't going to increase RMT because the players who are already willing to buy are already doing it. Those who aren't willing to buy will continue not to buy.

I know your position, just as you know mine. But your position comes with a list of flaws that create a negative experience for a significant part of the player base, including those who have managed to get a house. People are excluded from getting certain locations just because a few other players already own it. That would not happen with instanced housing. The neighborhood argument gets lame when there are rarely other players in the wards to encounter.

Did you see that list of plots on Balmung I made yesterday? Know how many players I encountered in the wards while I was gathering that information?

Seven (2 of them were AFK).

On BALMUNG.

No, it's not superior. It might be more to your personal liking but it's in no way superior when some of the limitations we have, like outdoor decorating, are specifically because it's ward and not instanced.

[Khryseis_Astra]

As for instanced housing, I am still on my position that I was in weeks ago, only 1 system can work, either instanced OR ward, both cant be on at the same time, because having instanced while ward housing is up will change nothing, the same amount of people will still go for ward housing because it's simply superior.

If you feel ward housing is so superior, how does it bother you if they add instanced alongside it? It’s not going to affect you in the slightest. And I’m pretty sure at this point, a lot of those suffering through lotto loss after loss would jump at the chance to have an instanced house of their choice. Not all of them, I’m sure some will always prefer the wards, but enough that it’s worth doing for those want the option.

[Jojoya]

If you feel ward housing is so superior, how does it bother you if they add instanced alongside it? It’s not going to affect you in the slightest. And I’m pretty sure at this point, a lot of those suffering through lotto loss after loss would jump at the chance to have an instanced house of their choice. Not all of them, I’m sure some will always prefer the wards, but enough that it’s worth doing for those want the option.

Part of Stormpeaks' position is that SE can have ward housing or instanced housing but not both.

Nevermind that apartments exists so it's clearly possible. But apartments are only rooms, not houses, and so few players find them an acceptable alternative.

[Reinha]

If you feel ward housing is so superior, how does it bother you if they add instanced alongside it? It’s not going to affect you in the slightest.

No one would be bothered by more houses but it's simply not a matter of being in favor of instanced housing or against it. Players' opinions are irrelevant in this matter.

Square won't make an entire new housing system to ease NA lottery problems when JP and EU are doing fine. All of that development time would be wasted just to serve a few thousand people in one region who couldn't win a personal house on a server of their choosing. Getting an instanced housing system without auto-demolition would encourage more people in all regions to unsub between patches while Square is stuck running servers to maintain ward housing. It's a monetary loss for them any way you look at it.

That's why instanced housing is never going to be added. They have communicated this clearly and continue to act on it by adding more wards. Apartments are inferior by design, so that people will continue to chase ward houses. They also intentionally made island sanctuary separate from housing to offer new content for those who already have a house and to keep wards relevant. Ward housing guarantees a good number of subscriptions at all times, which will cover the costs of keeping the game running as the game gets older and less profitable.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I mean, on the other hand, how much sub money do they lose from people who can’t get a house un-subbing and only coming back for new expansions or when new wards are added? I know a lot of people who’d be around a lot more often if this problem were solved.

[Stormpeaks]

I mean, on the other hand, how much sub money do they lose from people who can’t get a house un-subbing and only coming back for new expansions or when new wards are added? I know a lot of people who’d be around a lot more often if this problem were solved.

And how much sub money do they get from multiowners with a lot of houses ? Pretty sure that evens out the very few people that are leaving because of housing

[Reinha]

I mean, on the other hand, how much sub money do they lose from people who can’t get a house un-subbing and only coming back for new expansions or when new wards are added? I know a lot of people who’d be around a lot more often if this problem were solved.

The people who are willing to leave their fc and friends for months at a time and mostly play during new expansions have already transferred to the new servers. More houses, less congestion and login queues.