Player housing has been a problem in Final Fantasy XIV for a long time, and although the method has been changed to allow players to have a less life-hindering experience of buying a house, it isn’t any less frustrating. But now that a new data center called Dynamis is opening in North America, players who have been trying to buy a house may have a great shot at one—but it comes at a cost.
Players who want to try to buy a house in the new wards will need to transfer servers to have enough Gil to be able to even put in for the lottery. Players need anywhere from 3 million to 50 million Gil to be able to purchase a house, and that money will be forfeited until the lottery period is over.
But those who are dead set on getting a house should know exactly what they’re getting into. Transferring servers is not an easy option when it comes to moving simply for player housing. Those who have been on their servers for a long time will have established connections with friends, bonded eternally with loved ones, or taken up an apartment in a Free Company house, which are all things they’ll have to give up in the name of housing.
The cost of transferring data centers is high, and housing isn’t guaranteed
To transfer data centers, players must do a few things first. If they currently have a house on their home world, they’ll need to relinquish it before they can even apply for the server transfer. Players cannot be in an FC, cannot have any items for sale on the market, have any items entrusted to the Calamity Salvager MPC, or be in any of the stages of a Ceremony of Eternal Bonding.
The big sticking point there is that you cannot bring FCs over to the new server. This means that the FC wards will stay open until the 30 days are up and they can then put in the money to buy an FC house in one of those wards. Players also need at least two other friends in the FC to be eligible to put in for the FC house.
Luckily for those looking to move over to the new server, the cost to transfer it will not be a factor. Typically, moving home worlds costs $18 if you are not going to a new world or a preferred world from a congested world. Since all of the worlds on the Dynamis data center will be categorized as new, players will be able to go there at no cost.
Even so, housing isn’t guaranteed. There will be plenty of wards to choose from since half of each area will be dedicated to personal housing. But that doesn’t mean that someone won’t come up to the plot you bid on and throw their name into the ring if it’s a spot they’ve really wanted. There’s also no telling just how many people will come over to the new server or who will be looking for housing.
When Emperyum opened up, there were quite a few plots that only had one bid on them, and most only had two to three bids at least on the small plots, with more competition on the big plots, but nothing like the numbers players see now. Small plots, depending on the world and open plots, can have around 35 to 100 people bidding on one. Medium and large houses almost never have a plot available, and when they do, they can go up to a large number of bids, sometimes up to 600 or more.
Should players transfer to the new server to get housing in Final Fantasy XIV?
The question of whether players should transfer is a very personal choice. They’ll need to give up quite a bit to even have a chance at getting housing. But for players who don’t have a lot of attachment to their home world, it might be the right move to get housing.
The cons are far more plentiful than the pros to getting a new house, but some players are super frustrated by not getting into housing, and this might be a great option for those willing to give up FCs, any other property they might have, and leave their home worlds behind in the name of their own housing plot.
When Nov. 1 comes, there will probably be quite a few people who make the switch, especially if their friends are going to come with them. Now that data center travel is fully operational, it also doesn’t mean that they can never go back to their home worlds, which makes the pill a little easier to swallow. Ultimately, it will be up to each individual to decide whether transferring servers is worth it, but it should be relatively easy and cost-free to do so.
