Final Fantasy XIV’s reclassification of its housing wards just makes them even more confusing

Ask any Final Fantasy XIV player what the hardest content in the game is and most of them will tell you that it is the absolutely horrifying process of acquiring a house in one of the many neighborhoods in Eorzea. Over the years, Square Enix has tried to make the process more accessible, but they have yet to come up with any perfect solutions other than adding more wards. Patch 6.3 is doing just that, and the company has posted a new list of which wards are now Free Company exclusive or private buyer exclusive. Wards are reclassified based on housing demand, but it is now getting increasingly confusing and overwhelming.

The problems with adding wards and changing access to them are that they are being reclassified often, have little consistency, and there’s no way to check in-game what they are currently set as without physically going to the ward and clicking on an empty plot sign. Just when someone begins to memorize which houses they can purchase, the wards switch and the process starts all over.

With the latest update, Square Enix also added several wards that are available to both Free Companies and private buyers. However, the list is now extremely daunting because of the addition of new wards. For example, the first six wards are Free Company only, then you have a collection of ones set to both, then a few set to private, then randomly the 25th ward is Free Company only, and so on. Furthermore, wards in the newer data centers have completely different classifications from older servers.

Owning a house in Final Fantasy XIV is fun, but the process of getting there can feel like more of a hassle than it’s worth. The game now uses a lottery system to purchase one, so provided you get past the “which wards are which” boss, you then have to pray that luck is on your side. Hopefully, Square Enix comes up with a more pleasant house-shopping method in the future.