Anyone who has tried to purchase player housing in Final Fantasy XIV knows how grueling it can be. This is about to change with the impending 6.1 update, which is set to come to players mid-April.
In update 6.1, players can expect a multitude of things, including some new main and side quests, and a new questline called Tataru’s Grand Endeavor. It will also make changes to A Realm Reborn quests, will have some balance changes for jobs, and will open up Ishgard housing.
Housing is the one thing players are constantly asking for more of. Buying a house in FFXIV is grueling and time-consuming, and requires sometimes unhealthy practices or a macro just to be able to ensure a house.
Right now, players must sit at a plot and spam the purchase button in hopes that the house will become available for purchase the second they happen to hit the button. There are usually more than a few people doing the same thing, which means that those who stay there the longest waiting for the hidden timer to pop will oftentimes be rewarded with the purchase, since many will give up and go to bed.
Some people have spent an unhealthy amount of time glued to the computer screen trying to get the house and there have been some extreme examples where people will stay up all night clicking to get player housing in the MMO.
How FFXIV housing will change in 6.1
With 6.1, how players purchase housing will be overhauled. The system will now be a lottery that will allow players to put their name in a hat for a plot and check back later to see if they won the lottery and are able to purchase housing.
Houses will be divided by plots available for Free Companies, or plots available for private player housing. Players who desire to purchase a house for themselves will need to pay attention to the board in front of the house. Since the plots are separated, they may not enter a lottery for a plot listed for FC use, and vice versa.
Every house will follow the lottery system at 6.1’s release. Players can only submit a lottery for one house per lottery period. Lottery periods consist of two phases: the entry period and the results period. The entry period will last five IRL days where players may submit lottery entries. Then, players will have four days after the last day of the entry period to check their lottery to see if they won.
A new lottery cycle will begin after the results period ends. Players can check the status of the housing lottery by clicking the Housing tab, or by going to the house they submitted the lottery for and checking the placard in front of it.
There are some requirements for players to be able to buy player housing. Private players must have at least one job leveled to 50 and have the rank of second lieutenant or above in one of the Grand Companies to put in a lottery. For FCs, there are quite a few restrictions. FCs must be rank six or above, have four or more members, and players who purchase the plot must have been in the FC for 30 days or longer and have a rank that enables them to purchase and relinquish land.
How to enter the FFXIV housing lottery
Entering the housing lottery is not much different from how players attempted to get housing before. Players can go up to an available plot and select the placard, and then click “Enter Lottery.” Be sure it is the plot you want because once players enter a lottery for a plot, they may not withdraw that lottery. Also ensure that you have the full amount of the plot since it will be deducted as a deposit once you enter. Once the lottery is submitted, players will be given the date to check back, which can also be seen in the Housing tab.
Once the lottery shifts to the results period, head back to the plot and check the placard. Players will be told if they’ve won the lottery for that plot and then will be given the opportunity to purchase that plot of land or decline. Fifteen percent of the old plot will be refunded if players are moving from one plot to another, although the refunded amount may not exceed the cost of the new plot.
Players can finalize the purchase of their plots at any point during the results period. If a player fails to either decline or purchase the property within the results period, 50 percent of the cost of the plot will be deducted from the deposit that was made at the time players entered the lottery.
If a player loses the lottery, 100 percent of the deposit will be refunded. It is incredibly important to check back at the plot even if you lose the lottery. Players must accept the refund of the lottery if they lose and those funds are forfeited after 90 days.
New Ishgard housing
Even though Ishgard housing will be completely new and have a ton of plots available, it will still follow the lottery procedure when players have access to it. To get access to Ishgard housing, players will need to complete the side quest “Ascending into Empyreum.” This will take players to the new housing and will enable them to participate in the lottery.
Ishgard will house 48 new wards, 24 of which will be main wards and 24 subdivisions. This means there will be a plethora of new housing available at the release of 6.1 and it will be the first opportunity players have to snatch up a house.
The blog post with all of the details about housing noted that depending on the housing ward, land may sometimes be on a first-come first-serve basis. But at the time of 6.1’s release, all housing will follow the lottery system. With player housing being in a crisis for so long, it’s hard to imagine that it will ever settle enough to be first-come first-served. But without any detail on how or why a housing plot would switch to that method, it’s hard to speculate on whether players will ever have the opportunity to buy a plot on the spot.
