TARDIS apartment will solve the housing problem

[ACE135]

So how do you plan on solving the demolition issue? Is your playing to turn off the ward timers as well along with the instance timers?

Or are we simply gonna say? Give me instance housing and leave the ward timer on, leaving a subsection of players to hold the bag so some players don't have to hold it at all.

Cause, I noticed the players tend to get quiet when you asked them this question. One at least was willing to admit they're fine with players being forced to pay a sub to keep their plot so they dont have to.

So are we practicing a consistency of rules, or are we willing to break consistant applicable rules. So we can create a two tiered class system , so that it's equitable?

That's the thing.

The question is, why people wanted instanced housing in the first place: Was it because free plots were rare or non existend on some worlds, so they hoped to finally get a house with instanced housing? Or was it because they already had a plot and hoped with instanced housing they can unsub for more than 45 days?

Nothing hinders Square Enix to put a demolishing timer on potential instanced housing as well to free up server space, keep players subbed or whatever. So maybe from instanced housing would just benefit people who couldn't get a plot (they want) on overpopulated worlds but not those who want to unsub for several months or years.

Edit: Nontheless you could always buy a new instanced plot once the old one got demolished but the items are gone.

[Oizen]

People would be content for all of five minutes till they realise that due to the instanced nature of their apartment plenty ppl don't bother to visit or see their home. Then they will cry out for more ward plots, esp the larger ones even with tardis for the cottages. Garden size and outside appearance alone will be motivation enough.

A larger apartment would be nice, but it won't solve the issue of people always wanting more than they have.

I own a home now and people never visit, wards are liminal spaces.

[JenSha]

I own a home now and people never visit, wards are liminal spaces.

This. I've had a house for years, never seen a visitor or a neighbor. It's a ghost town. WoW housing has the same issue. The neighborhood system just doesn't work.
This is why I support instanced housing. If it's a ghost town and I'm alone, then I'd rather be alone in my own instanced house where I don't have to look at other people's ugly plots, lol. They always ruin my view.

[ACE135]

I own a home now and people never visit, wards are liminal spaces.

You can never know if people are visiting your house when you're not there at the moment or offline.

[Eastwall]

if you think about it it's really simple as it would use content already in the game with zero effort needed: give apartments the TARDIS treatment that will come with L M S plots.
it would effectively give us the instaned house and freedome to choose if we want to pay a virtual rent for a neighborhood experience or if we just want a bigger instanced house to decor. hell give it just the S size if we dont really want instanced mansions but it's such a low effort fix for a critical problem of the game that i'm surprised they didnt announce it sooner.

to be even more hopeful a "balcony" feature would allow instanced players in apartments to use a small number of outside furnishing.

honestly, the customizable interior for house but not apartment is a mistake, unless there are some kind of constraint l am not aware of. Also, even if interior customization for apartment has constraint, l would like to think pay gil for a balcony can't be that hard?...

[Skivvy]

I think it could be interesting if they leaned towards how BDO handles their instanced housing. In that game, they have a variety of homes that you can purchase that are built right into the open world, so you'll see available locations that are scattered all over. Multiple people can have their home in the same location, and all you do it run up to the entrance and choose your room (or go visit someone else's) and voila. The outside view/decoration is fixed, inside is all yours.

In the context of XIV and its wards, they could add a new ward for instanced homes only. Either keep the layout the same, or maybe create a new custom layout with modified plot locations & exterior decorations. But either way, this would allow multiple people to own/enter at the same plot.


Some negatives:
*You would no longer be able to have a personalized exterior
*Unless SE changes how gardening works, you would lose access to outside garden plots
*If you enjoy your solitude, you may now have more people loitering around your house

Some positives:
*Proper housing without the need to keep a sub
*Can finally get your dream plot with no issue
*Say goodbye to having neighbors with questionable exterior decorations
*Might actually make wards feel alive. With the limited number of plots to choose from, you'd be far more likely to see people hanging around outside their house.

I know personally I would swap in a heartbeat if that ever became a reality.

[Raim]

Its a financial decision to not allow it for apartments. They want people subbed for housing plots because of the scarcity.

[Skivvy]

Its a financial decision to not allow it for apartments. They want people subbed for housing plots because of the scarcity.

I feel like SE just really doesn't know how to design good systems in an MMO setting. I have played both XI & XIV since always, and they have a long history of implementing systems & features in the most convoluted ways possible.

If their intent was to truly trap people in a sub, I don't think they would have come out with the following statement ages ago when housing was first being released:


Granted, this far into the game they may be a bit sad to see the housing tether go away, but Yoshi P is on record (many, many times) encouraging people to take breaks, play other games, etc. It's a bit of a slap in the face when the lead guy is telling you to take breaks........but be sure to pay your sub so that you don't lose your house!

[Aelin_Ashryver]

I own a home now and people never visit, wards are liminal spaces.

I got a new message in 2 of my plots recently. People do wander the wards. And FC wards that have active FC's can pretty often be nice to be in since people use the fc house as their default hangout spot. If they tackle some of the issues making FC wards esp more dead (sub farms) I think it'd be pretty nice. I wouldn't mind if we got one ward that is like normal but every plot is instanced and people can just buy whichever plot they like and then outside the property it's a shared space. That'd be more likely to feel lively, dno that they'll ever do it.

I've gone into my home to find a group of people in the tub in the bath house style room I made. And interacted with my neighbours on houses across the servers. It's nice. If they can give some fun little reasons to exist more in the wards I'd like that. Rather than instancing us all away from each other I would much rather see people congregating in shared spaces more.

[Solowing]

This. I've had a house for years, never seen a visitor or a neighbor. It's a ghost town. WoW housing has the same issue. The neighborhood system just doesn't work.
This is why I support instanced housing. If it's a ghost town and I'm alone, then I'd rather be alone in my own instanced house where I don' have to look at other people's ugly plots, lol. They always ruin my view.

So if everybody says , wow , system is better and fix the word issue , and they're still having the same exact problems as final fantasy , is it really the ward system or player behavior that doesn't support the wart system?

Am I perspective?I think that the emptiness of the ward system and the busyness of the hubs tell you the honest truth on what players prioritize