Whether for its community perks through Free Companies or for role playing purposes, housing in Final Fantasy XIV is serious business. With only so many plots available on each game server which outstrips demand, the development team at Square Enix implemented a lottery system to make things fairer and to limit the grey market for in-game land present in some of the more popular worlds. The first lottery commenced upon the release of Patch 6.1 a few weeks ago, and it didn’t go so well. As noted in previous posts, many Free Companies and players alike encountered errors with the lottery of their desired plots – some going through seamlessly and others having no successful participant at all.
Following some positive news shared by Final Fantasy XIV’s Director and Producer Naoki “YoshiP” Yoshida last week, a fifth developer letter has been shared with updates on the housing lottery system and actions being taken to rectify the issue. This latest update provides a timeline for when the issues will be resolved, and those who should have gained the right to claim the housing plots for their own, will be able to finally claim and build upon them.
Plans are for a 8-10 hour maintenance period to take place on Monday 16 May 2022. Whether this is exclusively for the housing issues or will also see the introduction of new content, is unknown. Until this maintenance goes ahead, relocation and sales of all plots – impacted or not- will not go ahead.
The full letter from YoshiP can be read HERE, or by scrolling down.
This is Naoki Yoshida, Producer and Director of FINAL FANTASY XIV.
I apologize for the ongoing disruption caused by problems with the housing lottery system introduced in patch 6.1.
Today, I would like to share an update regarding our progress in resolving this issue.
- Reproducing the Issue
- Fixing Identified Errors
As I mentioned in our previous update, these steps of the process have been completed.
- Verifying Fixes
We finished verifying our fixes as of April 25, meticulously testing various lottery conditions to ensure all issues have been successfully addressed. The fix for the additional error we mentioned last time, which affects relocation between plots under certain rare conditions, has also been confirmed successful.
- Restoring Lottery Data
Currently, we are proceeding to construct an internal server environment that simulates conditions on the public servers so as to test methods for restoring players’ lottery data. However, the creation of such conditions is subject to factors beyond our control, and we therefore expect this phase to take approximately 8 business days. I sincerely apologize that this time extends beyond our original estimate for how long fixes would take, but as preventing further issues is our priority, it is necessary in order to ensure that data restoration procedures can be thoroughly tested.
- Upcoming Schedule
We plan to conduct maintenance to fix issues on the public servers and restore lottery results data on Monday, May 16. This is expected to take approximately 8 to 10 hours, and should make purchase of and relocation to plots won in the lottery possible once more.
Until this maintenance can be performed, however, relocation and sales for all plots will be suspended. We regret the delay, but ask for your understanding as we work to resolve these issues with the necessary caution.Finally, I would like to give my sincerest apologies once more for the distress and aggravation caused by these housing issues and the length of time required to fix them. I assure you that we will take the utmost care in resolving these problems and ensuring your data is restored, and greatly appreciate your patience.
Final Fantasy XIV is a monthly subscription online game with a free trial covering its base game and first expansion pack (Heavensward). The game can be purchased and played on the PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
