Housing Scarcity is manufactured

[VelKallor]

Yeah lets go from a large to an apartment or a small house because they left the game for a little bit too long, what a great idea, surely they'll love it when they come back

Or just buy a small ( there are LOADS of them ) and let your imagination do the rest. I have to ask this, and I am dead serious, why is a small "not good enough for you"?

I think it's time we stop calling it a housing scarcity and actually call it just people wanting a specific plot and being too picky to take anything less than that.

Agreed

Liana, wanna hear a funny story?

I got my two houses ( had one , relinquished it when I left Kujata for Zurvan ) BOTH in literally the same place / plot with the following exact same conditions:

Been there empty for months.

LITERALLY the same site. Im not kidding.

I bid on it unopposed BOTH TIMES. First time I watched it for three weeks, no one wanted it, walked up and click, mine. Second time bid was a formality as again, no one wanted it.

Right now: Goblet, Kujata, Ward 26 plot 2, open to both private and FC...its been vacant at least six months. There are are least fifty alone like that.

Doesnt look scarce to me.

[Nav_Fae]

Yeah people want specific plot locations and specific sizes is a factor. The advancement in house decorating has likely had an influence on wanting the bigger homes. Not enough slots in Smalls compared to Mediums and Larges.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I think it's time we stop calling it a housing scarcity and actually call it just people wanting a specific plot and being too picky to take anything less than that.

Looking at Paissa, there are at least 250 plots on every server in NA with 40-50 of them being private plots and some servers going up to almost 70 (outside of Balmung because obvi reasons, they seem to be sitting at under 40 and all of Dynamis because again, obvi reasons). Some have been sitting for weeks on end without a bid.

The plots are there, there's no shortage. It's just people want what they want and will scream that there is one instead of just acquiring housing and waiting to upgrade. I'm sure when we get more NA servers that people still won't want to move to get a chance at the housing they want and instead continue saying that there's a shortage.

Are we looking at the same region? Because I’m looking at my server (Bryn/Crystal) and there’s more plots in LB than there are in Goblet right now. But for private buyers, that’s only 15 and 13 respectively. Some of them are at zero bids now but it’s only day 2 of the current cycle; they’ll be bid on before it’s done. The only ones left with no bids for multiple cycles are in the FC only wards.

The lotto has pretty much killed the “get what you can, upgrade later” strategy of the past, unless you’re lucky enough to get your first house uncontested. (And that isn’t happening…) Instant relocation is gone. People have been stuck in lotto after lotto with no success, just trying for anything. Hell I was trying to downgrade from a medium to a small, and it took me almost 9 months! On the other hand, those trying to upgrade or just relocate in general are going to be in the same lotto hell, so if the dream plot is up, you bid, or you might be waiting forever for another shot. And even those who are going for their first plot: someone is going to win it, so they may as well try.

What we really need is an instanced housing system in addition to the wards, so that everyone can have the plot size and neighborhood theme of their choice, and let those who want to suffer through the lotto for a ward house do so. Otherwise there’s never going to be enough ward plots for everyone on a given server, and definitely not enough mediums and larges for everyone who (quite understandably) wants to upgrade when they have the gil to do so.

[VelKallor]

What we really need is an instanced housing system in addition to the ward

..which is what I believe Island Sanctuaries will become over time.

[kaynide]

As a proud owner of Shirogane 7 (or 37, whichever), and Mist 50, I would say it is not where I started, and it took quite a bit of time/effort/patience to get them.

I wanna say our first FC was like.. under the aqueduct in Mist. 11 or 12, was awful.

Point being, you can choose to compete for the same one everyone else wants with a 1 in 100 chance, and probably not win it anyway, or you can shoot for a solid 1 in 10. Maybe a 1 in 1-3 if you’re lucky. And if you regularly check the wards, you might find one on auction that’s not in sync with demo timers (like someone moved and abandoned their lot).

You’d be surprised how many slip under the radar.

[Boblawblah]

Yikes, it's a bit sad seeing people pretending paying a monthly sub to keep a virtual house is some sort of prestige symbol.

[kaynide]

Yikes, it's a bit sad seeing people pretending paying a monthly sub to keep a virtual house is some sort of prestige symbol.

I mean, it's a video game. Some people put a lot of time into getting weapons or armor that will be useless in a matter of months if not weeks. I put a lot of time into decorating a house I can never actually walk around/sleep in.

At the end of the day, isn't it all meaningless fluff/fun? Is it wrong to be happy about finally getting the things we want?

No hate; just saying.

[Zebraoracle]

Unlike Storm I don't give a crap about the "prestige" of housing (I couldn't care less about other players showing off whatever, I'll look at it once and might say "neat" and then forget about it forever), however I completely agree with him that if Square wanted to fix this, they could. It baffles my mind that anyone sees housing demolition at all in a positive light. Sure does suck for those people that have to stop playing for long periods of time due to IRL issues, they might still want their house but oh well! It is an outright predatory tactic that a developer, aka a BUSINESS who's #1 priority is money making (let's not pretend it's not, if it wasn't we wouldn't have viera/hrothgar and healers in the situation they are), tries to put a positive spin on so that the consumers will be distracted by what it really is.

I'm one of the few (apparently) people who actually LIKE Goblet, and I STILL had to settle for a small (after multiple attempts at a small and medium), and I'm really unhappy with it. Someone asked previously something along the lines of "why do you even need a medium" and I'm just floored by that question. Uhh, more room for being creative? You can be as creative with your designing as you want with a small, some designs just flat out will not look all that great in a small. It's extremely cramped. I don't even understand why that needs to be explained, I'd assume it'd be common sense.

[Boblawblah]

It baffles my mind that anyone sees housing demolition at all in a positive light..

Okay, an example:

There are 20 houses.

Joe buys 5 large houses due to a variety of shenanigans and gaming the system.

Joe stops playing for 3 years.

Question: With no demolition timer, what happens to those 5 houses?

[Stormpeaks]

Okay, an example:

Question: With no demolition timer, what happens to those 5 houses?

Wards 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 are added via self-create of wards due to lack of housing, due to all the active houses having an owner, thus leaving the 5 houses available for when Joe decides to come back, and new owners being able to get houses in the new opened wards.

I fixed housing, where's my money ?