Final Fantasy XIV's 4.1 Update has only been out for four days, but already a common theme has populated the game's dedicated subreddit and official forum: there's a latent housing issue. The new update introduced a new housing region in Duma's Eastern-themed region and, as expected, Final Fantasy XIV's fanbase was champing at the bit to settle down in the new locale.

Unfortunately, plots are limited -- very limited. Specifically 720 different plots per server.

Within hours the plots had all been taken, with many people snatching multiple properties on the same account. More importantly to some, the medium and large sized plots had vanished the quickest. This is only exacerbated by extreme examples like this:

Thankfully, Game Director and Producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida recognized the issue and let players know in Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV forum that they will be adding additional Wards and improving servers in Update 4.2:

In light of the feedback we have received, we will be working to bolster our servers in preparation for additional wards in the Lavender Beds, the Goblet, Mist, and Shirogane by patch 4.2.

Even better news to many, they will be switching up how they release the new plots to prevent predatory practices:

We’ve also received considerable feedback as to how they should be added, and we will be making an announcement outlining the number of new wards and how they will be sold after reviewing said feedback. To prevent speculation, we will refrain from releasing information until absolutely necessary. We ask for your patience and understanding until we can provide you with these details.

And while adding new wards to those four popular locales will help create less of an artificial scarcity, it does not speak to the underlying issue of people using multiple accounts to mass-purchase land. Also, chances are this particular fix will not be coming for some time. Just judging from the previous gap between updates, fans waited three months between Update 4.05 and Update 4.1. Players can only speculate on whether they may see these new plots before 2018.

As mentioned above, Final Fantasy XIV's 4.1 patch released on October 10, 2017. If you want to read and see more about the game, you can enjoy our recent interview with Naoki Yoshida from Gamescom, and report on the Orchestra Concert held in Tokyo. You should also check out our review of the latest expansion, Stormblood.