ZOS still failing at player housing

Sirona_Starr · December 2018

Agree with all the ideas mentioned so far. I'd also like to be able to add mementos and interact with them in the house - kind of on/off like lighting.

lientier · December 2018

I like the way decorating works, and that there are tons of recipes. Especially the farming for the rarer ones is very frustrating. It was okay with normal purple ones, when you could still buy them for 10 writ vouchers and occasionaly find one.. but now they get rarer every dlc..
also the amount of mats to make tiny tiny stuff is cruel.. and that there is no furniture material in surveys..
I cant even put all my (BOUGHT!) pets in my houses.. let alone mounts (which are ugly as furniture because they are so static). I put a lot of money in all those pets.. I want them in my house..
I mean mounting in the outsidearea would be a nice quality of life thing.
also the pricing is weird.. and also that they do stuff like fires for hearthes exclusively in the crownstore.. but I can accept that.
amount of players in the home has not been an issue for me yet but for guilds and roleplay.

nerfworthy · December 2018

Coming from playing FFXIV, the housing system in ESO is so so much better lol. It amazes me how much people gripe about it when there is way worse systems out there...

josiahva · December 2018

MornaBaine wrote: »

The bottom line here is that ZO$ is still failing to address ALL the issues that make players dissatisfied with player housing.
To recap:
1. Insane real money pricing on the houses themselves and many of the crown store exclusive items. 1500 crowns for a single table I can't get any other way except to buy it in the cash shop? Get out.
2. Lack of sufficient item slots. We know this could be improved in any number of ways, probably the simplest being giving each space in a given house that is a separate instance its own individual item count. For instance the Daggerfall Overlook should have 700 item slots for the main castle interior, another 700 in the outside area, and the ocean area and tower area could easily have slightly lower individual item counts.
3. The horrible player caps. 24 is too low for ANY house, let alone the very largest ones. The largest ones should hold at least 100 players and the very smallest should host 12. And even that is "bad" compared to many other housing systems in other games. There are several 12 and 6 player homes I'd buy in an instant if the player caps weren't so horribly low.
4. The terrible drop rates of furnishing plans. This exists for NO other reason than to drive players into the cash shop. It's unacceptable. Stop it. Make house decoration an enjoyable pastime, not a mind numbing and frustrating grind far worse than any gear grind yet conceived of.
5. The ridiculous scarcity of style materials for all the newer furniture. This, too, is a painfully obvious ploy to drive players into the cash shop. It's insulting. Stop it.

If you like player housing, be vocal. Demand that ZOS do better.

Editing to ad a thing I forgot but another poster brought up:
6. Do away with the stupid "primary residence" and allow us to share any or all of our houses equally. The invaluable Port To Friends House add-on is great but should be completely unnecessary and it does prove that this functionality DOES work and CAN be implemented. ZOS should have done this from the beginning.

Some people care way too much about housing...I think the most other people I have ever had in my houses was...2 at a single time. But then, I spend barely any time in my houses and dont decorate them at all...all my "furniture" spaces are taken up by architectural modifications because I dont care about furniture. So in short...ZOS is only failing certain people when it comes to housing, not the community as a whole.

MornaBaine · December 2018

josiahva wrote: »

MornaBaine wrote: »

The bottom line here is that ZO$ is still failing to address ALL the issues that make players dissatisfied with player housing.
To recap:
1. Insane real money pricing on the houses themselves and many of the crown store exclusive items. 1500 crowns for a single table I can't get any other way except to buy it in the cash shop? Get out.
2. Lack of sufficient item slots. We know this could be improved in any number of ways, probably the simplest being giving each space in a given house that is a separate instance its own individual item count. For instance the Daggerfall Overlook should have 700 item slots for the main castle interior, another 700 in the outside area, and the ocean area and tower area could easily have slightly lower individual item counts.
3. The horrible player caps. 24 is too low for ANY house, let alone the very largest ones. The largest ones should hold at least 100 players and the very smallest should host 12. And even that is "bad" compared to many other housing systems in other games. There are several 12 and 6 player homes I'd buy in an instant if the player caps weren't so horribly low.
4. The terrible drop rates of furnishing plans. This exists for NO other reason than to drive players into the cash shop. It's unacceptable. Stop it. Make house decoration an enjoyable pastime, not a mind numbing and frustrating grind far worse than any gear grind yet conceived of.
5. The ridiculous scarcity of style materials for all the newer furniture. This, too, is a painfully obvious ploy to drive players into the cash shop. It's insulting. Stop it.

If you like player housing, be vocal. Demand that ZOS do better.

Editing to ad a thing I forgot but another poster brought up:
6. Do away with the stupid "primary residence" and allow us to share any or all of our houses equally. The invaluable Port To Friends House add-on is great but should be completely unnecessary and it does prove that this functionality DOES work and CAN be implemented. ZOS should have done this from the beginning.

Some people care way too much about housing...I think the most other people I have ever had in my houses was...2 at a single time. But then, I spend barely any time in my houses and dont decorate them at all...all my "furniture" spaces are taken up by architectural modifications because I dont care about furniture. So in short...ZOS is only failing certain people when it comes to housing, not the community as a whole.

I think they are failing the majority of players with housing. It is neither functional enough nor accessible enough, neither in terms of players or items allowed. You may never spend tine in your house but there are entire guilds who would like to use them to host events, to use as easily accessible roleplay or crafting venues, arenas where you can show off ALL your trophies AND armor and weapon displays. It's not just those who like to decorate a house for fun. I can do that in the Sims and do it far better. If ESO had HALF of what I can do in the Sims OR Conan Exiles...I'd be a pretty happy camper.

DR4GONFL1 · December 2018

josiahva wrote: »

MornaBaine wrote: »

The bottom line here is that ZO$ is still failing to address ALL the issues that make players dissatisfied with player housing.
To recap:
1. Insane real money pricing on the houses themselves and many of the crown store exclusive items. 1500 crowns for a single table I can't get any other way except to buy it in the cash shop? Get out.
2. Lack of sufficient item slots. We know this could be improved in any number of ways, probably the simplest being giving each space in a given house that is a separate instance its own individual item count. For instance the Daggerfall Overlook should have 700 item slots for the main castle interior, another 700 in the outside area, and the ocean area and tower area could easily have slightly lower individual item counts.
3. The horrible player caps. 24 is too low for ANY house, let alone the very largest ones. The largest ones should hold at least 100 players and the very smallest should host 12. And even that is "bad" compared to many other housing systems in other games. There are several 12 and 6 player homes I'd buy in an instant if the player caps weren't so horribly low.
4. The terrible drop rates of furnishing plans. This exists for NO other reason than to drive players into the cash shop. It's unacceptable. Stop it. Make house decoration an enjoyable pastime, not a mind numbing and frustrating grind far worse than any gear grind yet conceived of.
5. The ridiculous scarcity of style materials for all the newer furniture. This, too, is a painfully obvious ploy to drive players into the cash shop. It's insulting. Stop it.

If you like player housing, be vocal. Demand that ZOS do better.

Editing to ad a thing I forgot but another poster brought up:
6. Do away with the stupid "primary residence" and allow us to share any or all of our houses equally. The invaluable Port To Friends House add-on is great but should be completely unnecessary and it does prove that this functionality DOES work and CAN be implemented. ZOS should have done this from the beginning.

Some people care way too much about housing...I think the most other people I have ever had in my houses was...2 at a single time. But then, I spend barely any time in my houses and dont decorate them at all...all my "furniture" spaces are taken up by architectural modifications because I dont care about furniture. So in short...ZOS is only failing certain people when it comes to housing, not the community as a whole.

Not sure why your here posting if you don't like housing other than to stir the pot but to each his own.

I think there is a larger community than you would think that enjoys the housing aspect... Also, ZOS is only failing certain people in all areas of the game, not the community as a whole if you read posts regarding complaints as there are always members which feel differently. Its great that you don't find housing interesting but don't tell the community who does like housing its not important.

ArchangelIsraphel · December 2018

I agree with the OP 100% One of the major annoyances I face with decorating my villa is the item count- why on earth can't the item limit be 700 inside and 700 items outside so that I could actually make use of the expansive potential the gardens offer? There's no reason for it, especially since the inside of the house and the outside of the house are already completely separate instances- you can tell because items placed within the house cannot clip through the outer wall.

If they would just let us have this much flexibility, I would be happy, because as it is any house with a large yard is going to look barren in one way or another depending on what aspect you end up focusing on most.

Just imagine what could be done with the housing system if it were only expanded to allow this. There are so many items that offer so much potential, yet we cant fulfill that potential due to the item limit.

Lab3360 · December 2018

ATomiX96 wrote: »

If that is your main concern with the game, I just dont know what to say.

Some people do like rpg elements to the game

Wildberryjack · December 2018

#'s 1, 5, and 6 are the only real issues I have. I would like more housing slots but do understand their reason for the limits though it would be nice if they could find a way around it.

We should be able to make ALL furniture and plants, everything, that is in the crown store. Plenty would still spend crowns but it sure would be nice to have an alternative since many of us really can't spare much RL cash for that stuff.

Calunda Lacquer and Hackwing Plumage. Yeah a higher drop rate would be wonderful. It takes forever to get any decent amount for crafting. Why does it have to be so rare? What is the point in that? To cause frustration?

Cireous · December 2018

Although the furniture caps and lack of utility are definitely disappointing, the more immediate issue I have with housing is that, for weeks, I am forced to lug around full bags of rocks and shrubs and trees and furniture, any time I feel like decorating a house. I also dislike that I have to continually fill up perfectly lovely homes with limited time items from the luxury vendor because there is no way my bank can store all this stuff. Beyond that, I have 4 houses (and growing) serving as warehouses just so I can see exactly what my crafted furniture looks like. I very much dislike that I have to waste so many houses on this. I keep having to buy house after house, knowing I will never find any joy in decorating them, because necessity requires that they will always remain as store fronts/storage. It's a little depressing.

I would prefer a system more like Fallout 76, where you can craft everything directly from the UI within your home. A UI that shows large, clear pictures of the items, which tells you exactly what the item will look like. A UI also containing all of the storage you need for any items you may not currently be using. So if I craft something that isn't right for the home I am working on, I can just immediately toss it into the built-in storage for use somewhere else. For me, this would be the most needed and welcome change to housing.

Tan9oSuccka · December 2018

I like what they’ve done with housing.

My only gripes are very, very minor.
1. Increased item count
2. NPCs
3. Stop making blueprints nearly impossible to get.

I love my target dummy and storage.

Saucy_Jack · December 2018

RavenSworn wrote: »

One of the best housing systems that I've tried is in a dead game, Wildstar. Even the monetization for the housing is much better than eso.

Remember when a bunch of people were saying that Wildstar was going to be the ESO-killer? Good times, good times.

proteinexe · December 2018

I came here to argue the point that only Furniture count needs to be pushed up to at least 1000, if not 1500, but unfortunately for ZoS each and every one of your points is valid, and agreeable.

I was going to come to prevent the Dev bashing, but I can't disagree with anything you'v said.

With Pariahs Pinnacle, Linchal Grand Manor and Daggerfall overlook, it just makes me sad that technically I have given ZoS around £150 and yet I can't really fully decorate any of these houses.. they'r all a bit lonely with no real detail..

ZoS, as a plea, please can you up the limit. I love this game, but housing is a big part for me (as you can see), please work out a way to up the item limit, I think this is first and foremost in peoples minds about housing.

GLP323b14_ESO · December 2018

Furniture bag as another ESO+ perk.

Or you could be REALLY nice and make it available to everyone.

phairdon · December 2018

Tan9oSuccka wrote: »

I like what they’ve done with housing.

My only gripes are very, very minor.
1. Increased item count
2. NPCs
3. Stop making blueprints nearly impossible to get.

I love my target dummy and storage.

Yeah. I'd like a npc gardener, housecarl, stable master, etc.

Jaraal · December 2018

Saucy_Jack wrote: »

RavenSworn wrote: »

One of the best housing systems that I've tried is in a dead game, Wildstar. Even the monetization for the housing is much better than eso.

Remember when a bunch of people were saying that Wildstar was going to be the ESO-killer? Good times, good times.

https://massivelyop.com/2017/12/17/massively-ops-best-of-2017-awards-best-mmo-housing/

notimetocare · December 2018

MornaBaine wrote: »

josiahva wrote: »

MornaBaine wrote: »

The bottom line here is that ZO$ is still failing to address ALL the issues that make players dissatisfied with player housing.
To recap:
1. Insane real money pricing on the houses themselves and many of the crown store exclusive items. 1500 crowns for a single table I can't get any other way except to buy it in the cash shop? Get out.
2. Lack of sufficient item slots. We know this could be improved in any number of ways, probably the simplest being giving each space in a given house that is a separate instance its own individual item count. For instance the Daggerfall Overlook should have 700 item slots for the main castle interior, another 700 in the outside area, and the ocean area and tower area could easily have slightly lower individual item counts.
3. The horrible player caps. 24 is too low for ANY house, let alone the very largest ones. The largest ones should hold at least 100 players and the very smallest should host 12. And even that is "bad" compared to many other housing systems in other games. There are several 12 and 6 player homes I'd buy in an instant if the player caps weren't so horribly low.
4. The terrible drop rates of furnishing plans. This exists for NO other reason than to drive players into the cash shop. It's unacceptable. Stop it. Make house decoration an enjoyable pastime, not a mind numbing and frustrating grind far worse than any gear grind yet conceived of.
5. The ridiculous scarcity of style materials for all the newer furniture. This, too, is a painfully obvious ploy to drive players into the cash shop. It's insulting. Stop it.

If you like player housing, be vocal. Demand that ZOS do better.

Editing to ad a thing I forgot but another poster brought up:
6. Do away with the stupid "primary residence" and allow us to share any or all of our houses equally. The invaluable Port To Friends House add-on is great but should be completely unnecessary and it does prove that this functionality DOES work and CAN be implemented. ZOS should have done this from the beginning.

Some people care way too much about housing...I think the most other people I have ever had in my houses was...2 at a single time. But then, I spend barely any time in my houses and dont decorate them at all...all my "furniture" spaces are taken up by architectural modifications because I dont care about furniture. So in short...ZOS is only failing certain people when it comes to housing, not the community as a whole.

I think they are failing the majority of players with housing. It is neither functional enough nor accessible enough, neither in terms of players or items allowed. You may never spend tine in your house but there are entire guilds who would like to use them to host events, to use as easily accessible roleplay or crafting venues, arenas where you can show off ALL your trophies AND armor and weapon displays. It's not just those who like to decorate a house for fun. I can do that in the Sims and do it far better. If ESO had HALF of what I can do in the Sims OR Conan Exiles...I'd be a pretty happy camper.

Failing a vocal minority (topics that arent massive enough to see a ton of traction outside of the games own forums tend to be a vocal minority, especially with housing since most threads are the same few dozen people, no hate to yo all that post). The RP community is the mot impacted by any of the housing limitations. I feel it sometimes, but I love seeing what people have done within limits. Turning large houses into vibrant small homes (some are posted in the housing forums). I say all this and Im not even opposed directly to most o what you want.

Player caps? I be happy to see most houses raised, but the main cap I do not agree with increasing. and the most honest reason is that its the size allocated for the largest group composition in ESO.

Item caps? To an extent I want more, but all I see happening is ghastly amounts of clutter. Likely a personal preference based on my work background and the experience that comes with how nice things look when they are neat.

Furnishing plans and materials Id love to see more common, but I dont actually think thats about forcig people into the cash shop. It is ZoS failing to understand their drop rates are similar to a more standard MMO, which ESO is not. The population is lower and the trading system is vastly different (lets avoid the AH debate, I like ESOs version with the help of TCC. Its a fun immersion thing).

Things Id love to see are painted by the bugs and limitations I am used to from ZoS (add, honestly, really any game company). Right now there is a bug that can change visitor permissions and make anyone a decorator. Imagine how fun that would be if people had easy access to very house you have?

On the pricing, for everything and not just houses, that happens in every cash shop game. My favorite example is PoE. Single piece armor cosmetics are at cheapest 2-5$. Why? Are they greedy? Nope. Supporter packs (like ESO+) had large amounts of 'free' cash shop currently and the market became inflated. Things like ESO crown sales are te biggest driver of everything being so expensive. People stock tons of crowns and basically make all their new items 40% less profitable. Every company is beholden to the bottom line. We are the ones that make things more expensive because we demand sales and such.

Emathides · December 2018

I agree with the points OP has made, and would like to add that housing needs some serious quality of life improvements:

- Give us a furnishing bag that functions the same as the crafting bag already. I have several properties serving as storage locations and it's a pain in the butt to port around various homes to pick up items to decorate with, in addition to porting around guild traders and various vendors. It's irritating not to be using these properties to their full potential because of the storage issue. Having a bag with all our furnishings sitting there ready to decorate would be a major QOL improvement and allow us to ENJOY decorating.

- Add a function to sell items back to the achievement and home goods vendors (at the purchase price). It's irritating to spend up to 100k on an item to find it doesn't work in your build the way you thought it would. Then it gets thrown into storage..which we don't have enough of! The preview function really is not enough to work out if an item is going to work or fit into a build.

BustyChicksFTW · December 2018

Ha, as if ZOS would ever implement any chances that impacts negatively their revenue. The nukes will drop before this happens. They're keeping it because it works.

MLGProPlayer · December 2018

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

I agree with the OP 100% One of the major annoyances I face with decorating my villa is the item count- why on earth can't the item limit be 700 inside and 700 items outside so that I could actually make use of the expansive potential the gardens offer? There's no reason for it, especially since the inside of the house and the outside of the house are already completely separate instances- you can tell because items placed within the house cannot clip through the outer wall.

If they would just let us have this much flexibility, I would be happy, because as it is any house with a large yard is going to look barren in one way or another depending on what aspect you end up focusing on most.

Just imagine what could be done with the housing system if it were only expanded to allow this. There are so many items that offer so much potential, yet we cant fulfill that potential due to the item limit.

Great point.

They say their concern with giving us a higher item count is "lag" (which I don't buy since I don't get any performance dropoff at 700/700 items and could easily handle more). But even if that were the case, then giving us 700 items inside and 700 outside wouldn't add any lag since ESO housing interiors and exteriors are separately instanced.

notimetocare · December 2018

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

I agree with the OP 100% One of the major annoyances I face with decorating my villa is the item count- why on earth can't the item limit be 700 inside and 700 items outside so that I could actually make use of the expansive potential the gardens offer? There's no reason for it, especially since the inside of the house and the outside of the house are already completely separate instances- you can tell because items placed within the house cannot clip through the outer wall.

If they would just let us have this much flexibility, I would be happy, because as it is any house with a large yard is going to look barren in one way or another depending on what aspect you end up focusing on most.

Just imagine what could be done with the housing system if it were only expanded to allow this. There are so many items that offer so much potential, yet we cant fulfill that potential due to the item limit.

Great point.

They say their concern with giving us a higher item count is "lag" (which I don't buy since I don't get any performance dropoff at 700/700 items and could easily handle more). But even if that were the case, then giving us 700 items inside and 700 outside wouldn't add any lag since ESO housing interiors and exteriors are separately instanced.

Item limits are made of the minimum requirements as well as balanced for consoles. My desktop has no issues, my old laptop I'm using for the holidays, that is just above mine specs, struggles with normal gameplay. It is an assumption you could handle more though, since you cant test it

As note, interior and exterior is not separately instanced. Just like the bank isn't instanced from the rest of Daggerfall. Separate instances are noted by load screens. It is a bit of a load trick, and part of why you don't feel 700/700 on lower end PCs

MLGProPlayer · December 2018

notimetocare wrote: »

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

I agree with the OP 100% One of the major annoyances I face with decorating my villa is the item count- why on earth can't the item limit be 700 inside and 700 items outside so that I could actually make use of the expansive potential the gardens offer? There's no reason for it, especially since the inside of the house and the outside of the house are already completely separate instances- you can tell because items placed within the house cannot clip through the outer wall.

If they would just let us have this much flexibility, I would be happy, because as it is any house with a large yard is going to look barren in one way or another depending on what aspect you end up focusing on most.

Just imagine what could be done with the housing system if it were only expanded to allow this. There are so many items that offer so much potential, yet we cant fulfill that potential due to the item limit.

Great point.

They say their concern with giving us a higher item count is "lag" (which I don't buy since I don't get any performance dropoff at 700/700 items and could easily handle more). But even if that were the case, then giving us 700 items inside and 700 outside wouldn't add any lag since ESO housing interiors and exteriors are separately instanced.

Item limits are made of the minimum requirements as well as balanced for consoles. My desktop has no issues, my old laptop I'm using for the holidays, that is just above mine specs, struggles with normal gameplay. It is an assumption you could handle more though, since you cant test it

As note, interior and exterior is not separately instanced. Just like the bank isn't instanced from the rest of Daggerfall. Separate instances are noted by load screens. It is a bit of a load trick, and part of why you don't feel 700/700 on lower end PCs

None of the items inside are rendered when you are outside, and vice versa. They don't bog down your system.

And folks playing on toasters can add more furnishings at their own discretion.

Iluvrien · December 2018

I’d like to see the paucity of plans handled by expanding the current writ system to include furniture items.

Use the charity writ system created for the New Life Festival and reward with a box that can contain some crafting ingredients and a chance of a furniture recipe.

Please ZOS, make it possible for us to learn more about furniture crafting by furniture crafting.

Add the provisioning writ system to the charity writ system and you’d have something workable.

MornaBaine · December 2018

Iluvrien wrote: »

I’d like to see the paucity of plans handled by expanding the current writ system to include furniture items.

Use the charity writ system created for the New Life Festival and reward with a box that can contain some crafting ingredients and a chance of a furniture recipe.

Please ZOS, make it possible for us to learn more about furniture crafting by furniture crafting.

Add the provisioning writ system to the charity writ system and you’d have something workable.

Oh I really like that idea!

kamimark · January 2019

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

They say their concern with giving us a higher item count is "lag" (which I don't buy since I don't get any performance dropoff at 700/700 items and could easily handle more). But even if that were the case, then giving us 700 items inside and 700 outside wouldn't add any lag since ESO housing interiors and exteriors are separately instanced.

Interiors of almost all buildings are a space under the 2D surfacemap of the ground. Sometimes when they don't fix seams or when walls don't load, you can see up to the "outside" of a building. The tavern in Davon's Watch is great for seeing this, the back wall as you enter often doesn't load.

Good news for fps is that most items inside are out of visual range from outside, but they still take up memory because they're in one instance.

MornaBaine · January 2019

kamimark wrote: »

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

They say their concern with giving us a higher item count is "lag" (which I don't buy since I don't get any performance dropoff at 700/700 items and could easily handle more). But even if that were the case, then giving us 700 items inside and 700 outside wouldn't add any lag since ESO housing interiors and exteriors are separately instanced.

Interiors of almost all buildings are a space under the 2D surfacemap of the ground. Sometimes when they don't fix seams or when walls don't load, you can see up to the "outside" of a building. The tavern in Davon's Watch is great for seeing this, the back wall as you enter often doesn't load.

Good news for fps is that most items inside are out of visual range from outside, but they still take up memory because they're in one instance.

That's interesting to know. Thanks! They still need to figure out how to improve this situation though. They've had plenty of time.

MornaBaine · March 2020

I don't consider this a necro as every single thing mentioned in the OP is still a valid complaint and hasn't been touched. Only recently was there any communication with us to basically tell us, as nicely as possible, that we could not expect things to get any better. My response to that was to tell them to adjust their priorities. Seriously, is this more important than the many performance issues that plague the game? No. BUT it is AS important when they make a very large chunk of their profits off this game on housing. You don't see special armor sets for Cyrodiil being sold for upwards of a hundred bucks a pop. When a company expects you to pay that much money for an item the only ethical thing for them to do is make DARNED SURE it performs up to expectations in order to justify that price tag. Housing doesn't. Not even close. So... help me remind ZOS of the important things... like their bottom line. Thank you.

Katahdin · March 2020

I'm going to have to disagree.

The game playing like a slide show on a good system is more important than upping the slot limit on houses, particularly when they have said repeatedly that doing do will tank performance even more.

The only thing they can and should do is decategorize the housing items and just allow 700 things, not 700 - 10 for pets/mounts/banker/merchant - the number for trophies, etc

Dusk_Coven · March 2020

Lord_Wrath wrote: »

I agree, but as usual I expect ZERO interaction with Zos by this.

Maybe people need to stop handing over 16000 crowns every time ZOS mashes together a house.

Dusk_Coven · March 2020

todokete wrote: »

It's still better than other games like FFXIV where you can't get a house no matter what. Housing in ESO lets you have an instance per account which is very nice.

FFXIV's housing model is different and really can't be compared so easily with other games.
They have two types: Apartments, which you can hold even if you are not subscribed to play; and actual houses, which are part of *neighbourhoods*.

I believe part of the reason why it's hard to get a house is because they don't want people to end up in an empty neighbourhood. So if you are not subscribed (and who knows when you'll sub to play again) you lose your house so lots of un-subs don't depopulate a neighbourhood with houses that are owned but empty.
But that also means if you try to get a house from the limited pool, especially of a specific plot size or a specific instance, or even just a house from the limited pool, it can be stupid hard.

Their model of trying to maintain living neighbourhoods and a sense of community is interesting but clearly has drawbacks.