A few days ago, the Final Fantasy XIV Lodestone detailed the new housing wards that are to be added on Jan. 10 with Patch 6.3, which will coincide with the automatic demolition of player housing after a certain period of time. Players are hopeful that these changes will alleviate the frustration of buying a house in FFXIV, but it might not help all that much.
After Patch 6.3 is implemented, each world will have five more housing wards added to it. Up until now, it was unclear how those wards would be allocated. After the lottery system was implemented, certain wards were dedicated to Free Companies only, and others were dedicated solely to individual players.
Before the lottery system, both FCs and individuals could put in a bid for any plot in any ward. Some of the new wards will work this way, too. They are called “unassigned” plots, which means that anyone could win them. This will make the competition for medium and large plots pretty fierce since there are still a ton of FCs looking to move to larger houses along with individual players with a ton of money to spend.
This, combined with the automatic demolition of housing plots after a certain amount of time might alleviate a bit of the housing crisis that is going on in Final Fantasy XIV, but it still won’t help much with the competition for large and medium plots.
What are the chances of getting a house in Final Fantasy XIV after new wards are added?
Depending on what world you play on, it can be super easy to get a small plot, or competition could be rough. In worlds on Dynamis, the new NA Data Center, new wards aren’t even being added since the housing districts there remain relatively empty compared to Data Centers like Aether, Crystal, or Primal, which have worlds with massive competition even for small plots.
The way the new wards are being set up won’t make it much easier. Wards 25-30 will be added on Jan. 10 and available for the lottery on Jan. 15, but there is only one ward that is specifically for private buyers. Wards 26 through 29 are going to be “unrestricted,” which means that an FC could win the house, or a private buyer could win the house. Ward 25 will be designated for FCs only, and ward 30 will be for individuals.
As an independent buyer, things can get tough in the wards with unrestricted plots. Any FC member can bid for a plot, which means that if a large FC wants a plot, there could be a significant number of bids going in for the same FC, which will make it more difficult for private buyers to win the lottery.
The future of housing in Final Fantasy XIV
Although this solution from Square Enix isn’t the best, it will help alleviate some of the problem, especially if there are FCs that are having a hard time getting a plot or upgrading to a larger plot. Added wards coupled with the automatic demolition pause ending might actually give buyers some relief for a little while, but it’s unlikely that it will totally solve the problem.
The real test will come a few weeks down the road when FCs have either gotten their desired plot or given up based on the lack of availability of medium or large plots. Individual players will always have the best chance of getting a small and rare chance of getting mediums or larges, but now that they have to enter their homes every 45 days or they’ll get destroyed, the housing market may begin to stabilize a little bit.
