Final Fantasy XIV Has A Homeless Problem, And The Upcoming 5.1 Patch Probably Can’t Solve It

Final Fantasy XIV Has A Homeless Problem, And The Upcoming 5.1 Patch Probably Can’t Solve It
Credit: Final Fantasy XIV via YouTube

The beautiful land of Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV has taken thousands of hours from consumers on an international scale and continues to grow exponentially, stifling naysayers that the MMO would struggle to maintain a solid population count due primarily to its monthly subscription costs.  From in-depth crafting, beautifully rendered characters with vibrant personalities, and more dungeons than you could shake a stick at, it indeed seems that Eorzea has ubiquitous charm and pleasantries to satiate even the most jaded veteran gamers.  One may even be forgiven for looking at Eorzea as a type of escape, a gorgeous destination vacation where you never really have to leave.

As is the case with many picturesque realms, this facade is hiding a horrifying truth.  Homelessness in Final Fantasy XIV is at an all-time high.  Many adventurers have no place to bathe, or even change clothes, turning the marketplace and guildhalls into concerning scenes with the number of adventurers brazenly undressing and redressing in public.  An even worse problem is the amount of gear that many adventurers are hauling around Eorzea, causing back issues as their backpacks realistically weigh hundreds of pounds.

With no place to put the sentimental gear that adventurers are wont to hold, their backpacks become a burgeoning health concern for all citizens of Eorzea.

The problem stems from the idea of non-instanced housing; houses that are owned by subscribers exist in the server at all times, much like a landmark that can be visited freely by other players.  Each player can own one house, and also one ‘free company’ house, much like a loosely affiliated guild.

Many players report that ‘power-players’ grab as much real estate as they can using alt accounts, then turn them and sell them on the market for astronomical amounts that would net a much higher price than if they were sold naturally by the game.  House plots, once abandoned, are sold via a game-ran running-auction, where the longer a plot has been on the market, the farther in price that plot will drop until it is purchased.

The housing crisis, while plausibly humorous, actually presents a serious issue for subscribers to Square Enix’ Final Fantasy XIV, as many crafting systems and personal achievements are locked behind having and owning various systems that can only be placed within a players personal housing.

This entertains a unique ‘the rich get richer’ economy, as only those that can afford expensive houses in the first place are also the only ones that can craft high-end gear to sell on the market, which allows them to invest further in their own economy.

Square Enix has taken note of this issue and has dropped multiple patches to attempt to correct this issue, even going so far as to offer apartment-style living in its picturesque burgs.  Who doesn’t want to log-in and hear their digital neighbors above their heads dancing all night?

The newest patch from Square Enix, patch 5.1, called ‘Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty’, offers yet another neighborhood with multiple developments, on top of the now-standard smattering of new content, including dungeons, New Game +, gear, a new guild-like affiliation system known as ‘Fellowships’, and even a NieR:Automata inspired 24-man-raid.

Critics argue that the adding of new developments is simply not enough to quench the housing crisis of Final Fantasy XIV, as real-estate moguls have no incentive to stop purchasing large swaths of land to resell at a higher cost via alternate accounts.  Perhaps, mirroring their IRL counterpart, the housing crisis is one that isn’t easily solved by adding more houses.

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