instance based housing your ideas

[Shistar]

To sum up:
Ward housing:
Pros: “neighborhood feel” (if only in appearance most of the time), “prestigious locations” (basically based on scenery/view), anyone can visit and can hold more people for things like venues and such
Cons: limited supply, lottery, demo timer
Instanced housing:
Pros: Less server drain (only loads when in use), unlimited supply, off by itself with no neighbors to block their view or mess with their aesthetic, no demo timer, plus potential for features that are easier to implement in an instanced setting (ie: the Island’s furnishing glamour, ground settings, etc.; choose your own scenery)
Cons: limited visibility (could be friend/FC locked like the island, but even if they do it more directory based like apartments, strangers will need to make an effort to come to your house… but that could be a pro for many lol), probably less people allowed in instance (but not sure about that), no “prestige” because everyone can have one (though that gets an eyeroll from me lol)

The players don't care about that. All they see is two of the same features being treated differently. Then player a is going to resent player b for having access in the same thing but he has to return periodically to not lose it? Where is player B can leave indefinitely. And that's not an issue they have to worry about.

Adding my idea on top of this:


The instanced plot and the ward plot would be one and the same. Meaning, you can choose to go into the wards for the neighborhood feel, but if you must take a break you can willingly take it out and back into its pocket instance for storage, with the caveat only you and your tenants may visit it. Keeping up a sub would entail you're paying to stay on the ward location you choose, and going inactive wouldn't mean losing your plot, only your spot in the neighborhood. Could potentially be a happy middle for both ideas? There's prestige and comfortability in not having to go through 5 menus every time you want to visit a friend or host other players at your house, and there's privacy and safety in keeping your plot stored only for yourself and your tenants to visit. You can unsub at any time, and when you return you can go back into trying to get a spot in the neighbourhood if you feel like it.

This would mostly be for private housing. I am a bit on the fence about FCs, particularly about workshops. I think workshops could either be a feature for ward-only houses (as in, the workshop is a building unrelated to the house, that you can only access if your FC is settled in that neighborhood) or keep it stuck to the FC home and let anyone have one, even if it's in the pocket instance mode. I need some thoughts on this, as I am not sure what the consequences of each situation could entail.

Even if they only added this system for private housing, I think it'd be an improvement that would benefit people without housing greatly while not taking anything away from those already settled into the wards. I think some people would even move out of the wards, preferring their privacy and to be able to unsub at any time, while those who want to stay on the more social side of things would rather keep their sub running and go for the neighborhoods. Potentially, neighbourhoods could even sort themselves into RP estate wards, club/lounges, shops and restaurants, etc.