Final Fantasy XIV plans to add more player housing plots by patch 5.4
No such thing as free real estate
That chocobo-infused MMO Final Fantasy XIV has seen an uptick in player counts since expanding its free trial and apparently things are starting to get a bit too cozy in Eorzea. Player housing is a limited resource in fantasy land and it's only getting scarcer. Square Enix say they're looking to expand the number of housing plots available in time for patch 5.4.
Housing is a hot commodity in FFXIV and it's only getting hotter. Square Enix say that the expanded game trial has created a "marked increase in the number of people playing," but that's not the only issue. In-game evictions have been suspended for several months now, meaning that current housing plots aren't becoming available as they normally would.
Back in March, Squenix recognized that the mandatory login period usually required to keep your housing plot might not be feasible for players during the Covid-19 pandemic. They decided to halt automatic demolitions and have yet to reinstate them.
In a recent announcement, Squenix say that they plan to add new physical servers to support the creation of new housing plots but the coronavirus pandemic is throwing a bit of a wrench in that as well.
"In light of difficulties in improving the data centers, the development team is doing what it can to further optimize the servers to allow for the addition of as many housing plots as we can by the release of Patch 5.4," Square say. "We will make a follow-up announcement when we’ve finalized the time table for these additions, and have determined how many can be added."
Ta, PCGamesN.