Housing is one of Final Fantasy XIV’s weirdest big problems. Being massive chunks of instanced space, owning a home is a limited luxury that almost mirrors the housing market in real life.
One compromise introduced was apartments, smaller spaces players who didn’t necessarily want a full home could settle for. But it isn’t super clear or easy to get one of those, either. So, here’s how to get an apartment room subscription in FFXIV.
Final Fantasy XIV Apartment Guide
Before getting an apartment in FFXIV, you have two minimum progress requirements. First you have to reach level 50 in a single job. Second, you must reach second lieutenant rank in your chosen Grand Company.
Level 50 is easy, but it isn’t super obvious how to progress in the Grand Company to that point. The simplest way to advance in your Grand Company is through hunting challenges. You can find them in your Logs menu.
Seek out the relevant monsters as you go through the game, drop ‘em for points and climb those ranks. To go up a rank, you have to get to your Grand Company’s headquarters and ask for a promotion.
You’ll be given either the remaining requirements or your new rank. You can also turn in unwanted equipment for points. Doing those will get you to second lieutenant with little effort, avoiding the frankly more cumbersome alternatives.
The third requirement is a cool 500,000 gil. No more, no less. There are plenty of ways to make money while you shoot for level fifty, from doing side quests to leveling up a crafting class and selling your wares.
If you’re trying to hurry and catch up for Endwalker in November (2021), simply progressing through the story and pushing chunks of change aside will get you there eventually.
You can buy an apartment in any of Final Fantasy XIV’s four residential districts. Obviously you have to make it to Stormblood to get to the ward in Shirogane. The buildings, (which have their own aethernet shard, a market board and summoning bell) are the following:
- The Topmost (The Mist, Limsa Lominsa)
- Lily Hills (The Lavender Beds, Gridania)
- The Sultana’s Breath (The Goblet, Ul’dah)
- Kobai Goten (Shirogane, Kugane)
Here’s the fun part. There’s no way to know if a location is full up until you walk up to the counter and ask. This is a real pain in the ass, but if you want player housing it just be like that.
The good news is that each ward has two apartment buildings. If you check out the Aethernet list, you’ll see each area has a matching “subdivision.” This is true for the apartment spaces too.
So while there may be some trial and error on your part, it’s still very much possible to get an apartment in FFXIV. I rolled up and got one myself a few days ago at Kobai Goten (that’s me up there!
I did buy furniture a few minutes later I sear). Once you have a space, you can name it, tag it, and even buy stuff for it right at the front desk. Once you’re inside, go to the Housing menu under the Social tab and you’ll be able to store, place or move items around your space.
You won’t be able to use outdoor decorations unfortunately, but otherwise you can pretty much do whatever you want within the confines of the space (just check out the XIV Living YouTube channel for wild community designs).
You can change the walls and floors, throw food all over the floor, set up plants, so on and so forth. You can even get things like orchestrions or crystal bells, and even hire special NPCs for easy access to things like mending. The biggest disappointment is that you’ll still have to visit Inns for the Glamour dresser.
If you’re having a hard time getting a house, you can grab an FFXIV apartment subscription in the meantime and still have a personal space to call your own and decorate. If you’re having a hard time getting an apartment on your server, it isn’t over yet.
Along with Endwalker will come a new housing district in Ishgard, so if you want to live with all the jerks you had to deal with back in Heavensward that’ll be a new option.
Do you have a house or apartment in Final Fantasy XIV, or is that still a goal on your list? Gonna get in line ASAP for a spot in Ishgard? Let us know your thoughts at Prima Games’ own Facebook and Twitter feeds!
