Before Ishgard’s housing, homes could be bought in just four neighborhoods: Gridania’s Lavender Beds, The Mist of Limsa Lominsa, The Goblet of U’dah, and the ever-desired Shirogane of Doma. Within these districts, players can buy a small, medium, and large plot or get a small apartment in the apartment complex. For players that want a plot of land though, there it can be very hard to find a piece of Eorzea to call their own. Empty plots get crowded by players who start binge clicking on the placard until a random availability timer runs out. This chaos has created a new system for Ishgard housing, a lottery.
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How Final Fantasy 14’s Lottery System Will Work
Yoshida has explained that while the new lottery system will be introduced with Ishgard’s housing, the system will also be implemented for other districts as well. With the new system, players will no longer have to wait for hours in front of a placard and hope that they click faster at the right moment than the rest of the players that are in competition with them over getting the home. Instead, they just put themselves in a lottery with a random winner by making a refundable housing deposit.
Fairness was put above all else in this system, as there can only be one lottery ticket per player. After a set amount of time for Final Fantasy 14 players to put themselves in the lottery, they will all receive a notification as to whether they won the home or not. Those that won will have a time limit to accept the purchase and move in while those that lost will have all their money refunded to them.
Some other important bits of information that Yoshida shared is that free trial accounts cannot participate in the lottery, only paying players. Lottery wards will also be divided between Free Company homes and solo player homes. Lastly, this new system will not exactly be replacing all ways to purchase housing. The two systems will be combined and sometimes change depending on supply and demand.
The Good And The Bad Of Final Fantasy 14’s Lottery System
The good factors of the lottery system are easy to see, as many players have experienced trying to out-endure bots that camp in front of houses for sale. The lottery system makes it so players no longer have to spend all day clicking in hopes of getting a house. However, these positives are surface level and some players have mixed feelings about the upcoming new system because the problem was more in the realm of supply rather than procurement. This is especially true since the player spike that occurred in the summer of 2021.
In terms of the issue of housing supply, the lottery system does not fix the long-standing issue in Final Fantasy 14, the fact that there are way more rich players than there are homes available. While the lottery system may make getting a house less frustrating, it will make homes no less rare. Some players have even pointed out concerns that the lottery system could make housing worse by grouping wards between the Free Company lottery, Free Company regular purchases, solo player lottery, and solo player regular purchasing. This would mean a player would be placed in a divided group, offering them only one-fourth of the available housing to purchase.
The truth is that how effective the lottery will be in the game will not be known until the actual patch drops. Most players are optimistic while others are preparing to see fan forums flooded with notes about how players have tried many lotteries and never won one. The good news is that the Final Fantasy 14 team has been listening to player feedback and are also hoping to add more housing in the future.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, and PS5.
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