The bourgeois of Final Fantasy XIV have a lot to cry about as housing has been full for ages, each home a permanent purchase that never expires, and land at its rarest. Small housing is almost non-existent, if such a thing exists on any server, while medium and large plots are scarce on low and moderate population servers. The biggest servers with the most people suffer the most, as housing is mostly full. 

This is a big issue going into the expansion, as players return in droves to see the new features added since their departure and get a slap in the face that housing is not only reserved for the game's 1%, or dedicated few who can earn 15 to 30 million gil, but that plots are probably not available even if you had cash in hand. 

This is an odd situation, as players overwhelmingly support the notion of not revoking housing to inactive players, while others want it tied to a subscription or have weekly/monthly dues, to keep AFK gamers off of the land. Housing in FFXIV is traditional, meaning that they have to spool up an actual server with NPCs and everything in order for each map to exist, which is resource intensive. 

There is no easy solution: houses sell for large sums, seriously large sums, and saying this huge investment you've made into a house is now forfeit because you didn't achieve some milestone or login during some timeframe, can lead to disaster. At the same time, having a lot of the land taken up by players who may not exist is insulting to the active player base who wants that land. 

I doubt anything will be done about it anytime soon since it's a complex problem that requires I assume a large amount of time and thinking to deal with. Personally, I think the free company rooms are enough for almost any player and that player housing is an extreme luxury, in the way that FFXIV has designed it. I realize the currency isn't that much of an extreme for veterans, but at the same time, normal players, especially non-invested casuals, will never have that much gil. 

I think the best solution would be to you know, make it where you don't have to join a Free Company with a house (which has put a lot of power in the companies who were able to afford a house), since the only alternative right now is 300,000 gil and loyalty to your Free Company who you and them will share some lasting memories together. A personal room works like Mog Housing or non-traditional housing in other games, an instanced version of your room. This should be extended to everyone, even if it's at a million Gil. I don't see why apartments would be a problem. 

Anyway, anyone hoping back in close to the expansion and wanting to try housing our. You have two options. Start gathering up 12 million Gil, gather up 300,000 Gil, or just go without, which is a shame because FFXIV has some very beautiful, gorgeous houses, with NPC vendors and more. It's not Wildstar build your own house style, it's more traditional, but still!


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

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