Final Fantasy 14 has always had a somewhat controversial form of player housing based around scarcity, and though the developers of Square Enix have done their best to address the issues over the years, the recent population boom in Endwalker has made things more difficult for both players and the development team.
With Newfound Adventure releasing tomorrow on April 12th, the new Ishgard housing district of Empyreum opens up under the new lottery system introduced as a means to provide every player a fair shot at becoming a homeowner in the limited housing market. On paper, the launch of Empyreum adds 1,440 new housing plots per server for players to try their hand in obtaining. However, the fine print in this arrangement set by Square Enix has caused a fair amount of backlash from the community.
Out of the twenty-four wards introduced in the new Final Fantasy 14 housing district, bidding for the first eighteen wards in the lottery is restricted to just the free companies – leaving only the final six wards for private owners. While Square Enix has done their utmost in eliminating ways that the new system could be abused by malicious parties, the problem – according to the players – lies in the numbers.
The lottery system in Final Fantasy 14 works by letting players post a bid on a plot of their choice against other players seeking to claim ownership. They put forward the full price, and in the event of losing, they receive a full refund – provided they only bid for one plot. However, where the idea of bidding for 1,440 new plots felt hopeful – given that the amount of plots a server had now amounted to 7,200 across all the housing districts – the ward purchasing restrictions reduced that amount to just 360 for private ownership.
Final Fantasy 14 players are, perhaps rightfully so, wondering if each server has 1,080 free companies active enough to warrant owning an estate in the Empyreum district. According to the new system's biggest critics, the ratio between private and free company ownership is too skewed. While Square Enix has made no comment as to why it's made this decision, the most plausible explanation is that it wants to guarantee a plot for every free company on the server that wants it.
The most likely outcome of this situation is that the restrictions put into effect tomorrow are temporary, and once the Ishgard housing market has settled in a few months, the wards will open up properly.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, and PS5.
Source: Reddit