Skip To...
In recent MMO history, the two games that have reigned and pushed each other to improve have been World of Warcraft and FFXIV. The former fell hard from grace after Shadowlands and slowly picked up the pieces to take the throne again in The War Within. For FFXIV, things haven’t been so bright. The latest expansion has brought negative reviews. Fans have become vocal about the game’s stale content, update drought, and other systems that lack modernization. One example is the always frustrating housing system in FFXIV, which came under fire today from Blizzard. Despite loving Final Fantasy 14, I’m glad WoW is taking shots at it because that’s the only way Square Enix‘s largest MMO will improve.
Blizzard Confirms WoW’s Housing System Won’t Have Lottery or Demolition Mechanics like FFXIV
The original post comes from World of Warcraft‘s official forums, where Blizzard does a preview of the housing system coming in the Midnight expansion. But beyond that, it took a few shots at FFXIV.
No exorbitant requirements or high purchase costs, no lotteries, and no onerous upkeep (and if your subscription lapses, don’t worry, your house doesn’t get repossessed!).
Blizzard Entertainment
Those who’ve never visited Eorzea might not make a big deal out of this. However, as someone who’s lost all lottery raffles for over a year, the comment hit the nail perfectly.
FFXIV has an “immersive” housing system where the MMO creates neighborhoods and places plots for sale. Although sale is a bit of a weird term, as they are now part of a lottery system. You get your ticket and wait for the eventual heartbreaking moment on the fated day. Really, there is nothing more depressing than saving gil for months and watching how your ticket didn’t get drawn. Naturally, Blizzard fired some well-aimed shots at that, claiming that WoW‘s housing won’t have this mechanic.
Another thing this blog post mentioned is how your home won’t get repossessed. In FFXIV, there are certain demolition periods, where if you are out of the game for a while, FFXIV will destroy your home and put it up for sale. Yes, there are times when Square Enix pauses these periods, such as when the game was under DDoS attacks or during the latest L.A fires. Still, it is a system that annoys many because they are now shackled to the game.
Phasing Versus Immersion
One thing that has always sparked debate among the FFXIV community is how its neighborhoods provide a certain “degree” of immersion in the MMO. Yes, it is nice to watch all these player-owned houses in Limsa Lominsa, The Shroud, etc. But in reality, they don’t provide that immersive factor FFXIV is going for.
I have most of my characters in the Crystal DC, which is one of the largest in FFXIV. Naturally, I’d expect to see the neighborhood where my FC’s house is packed with players, as the MMO promises. No, that’s not the case. I rarely see another player, which is the homeowner, who usually logs in to only reset the timer. And those who own an apartment in any of the instances are rarely in them. They don’t provide an excuse to hang around them other than the Market Board outside of the building. With that in mind, WoW is taking the best of both worlds and providing something that caters to solo players and those who like neighborhoods.
In the housing post, Blizzard mentions how its housing system will differ from other MMOs, in this case, I’ll keep using FFXIV as a comparison. For now, Warcraft is aiming for two neighborhoods, which is one less than FFXIV, but that’s perfectly fine, but more on that later. One for the Alliance and one for the Horde. The former will take inspiration from Elwynn, Duskwood, and Westfall, while Durotar and Aszhara inspire the latter. Another nice thing is how homes will use the Warbands feature. This means your Alliance character can visit your Horde character’s home. But going back to the point of WoW having fewer housing zones than FFXIV, here’s why:
Putting it bluntly, zones are a lot of work. We’d much rather do a great job with a small number of zones than do a passable job on a large number (or come up with solutions that take the player out of the world into their own personal instance of a zone).
Blizzard Entertainment
I might be reading too much into it, but this sounds like another shot at the many residential areas in FFXIV. And you know what? I agree. What’s the point of creating a new Ishgard zone if the same terrible lottery system will take place there? Yeah, it’s cool we have something nice to see, but in the end, many Warriors of Light sleep inside inn rooms. On the other hand, Blizzard is already thinking about how to mitigate that with its housing system and not fall into an FFXIV situation.
Neighborhoods also come in two flavors:
Blizzard Entertainment
Public Neighborhoods, which the game servers are responsible for creating as needed and maintaining.
Private Neighborhoods created by groups of friends or guilds to inhabit, progress, and customize together.
So, while an individual player can have a house, a community can have a Neighborhood!
Will This Wake Yoshi-P and His Team Up?
Before you think I’m also firing relentless shots at FFXIV for the sake of it, that’s not the case. First of all, let’s remember that Naoki Yoshida has said that WoW was an inspiration for A Realm Reborn, the patch that saved FFXIV. However, Creative Studio 3 has become a bit too confident and is inside the safety bubble it created since ARR. Previously, we didn’t notice some of 14‘s flaws. Why? Because the story was mind-blowing. Ask anyone about Bozja’s repetitive and flat content, and they won’t care much because Shadowbringers knocked it out of the part with its narrative. Dawntrail, however, did the absolute opposite, and if Creative Studio 3 doesn’t realize it, Eorzea’s future will only become gloomy.
Yet, there’s a silver lining in all of this: competition. Competition is the one thing that makes companies improve and get out of their comfort zone. WoW did it during the Shadowland exodus, and I’m confident FFXIV can do it now during the post-Dawntrail patches. In the end, I just want these two MMOs to succeed. They are the virtual places where I spend most of my time, and I will keep doing it. Still, there are some flaws that need fixing ASAP because, as devoted as we are to a game, we all have a breaking point.
