Homestead, a wasted opportunity.

[Zamiel.2130]

Putting aside decorating and the fact that all homestead layouts are the same, I feel homestead are a wasted opportunity. For me, the purpose of a home inside a game is to show it off and this is where the opportunity is lost because of the approach taken. Other games will use a neighbourhood approach where you purchase a house and other players can walk around those neighbourhoods and view any public house they wish to or they have X amount of houses to purchase from and any number of players can purchase the same house, which then allows visitors to select a user from a list when viewing the house to see how its decorated.

However for us to show it off, I have to invite up to five people and this is where it falls flat. I feel the homestead could benefit from the following:

1) Add a setting, Private or Public. Private homesteads can't be viewed or perhaps require the permission of the owner to enter, whereas Public is a free-for-all.
2) If I'm inviting players in, it should allow more than five. Perhaps 10?
3) Similar to the cosmetics option, when right clicking on a player and their homestead is Public, a menu option "View Homestead" is shown allowing visitors to view the homestead. If other players (up to say 10ish max) are also viewing the homestead, it should show those players too.
4) Public homesteads should also be available in both the friends and guild lists via a similar popup menu regardless if the owner is online or not.

Being able to show it off without having to be online or even in there I feel will increase buy in for some players, myself included.

[niwaar.5631]

While I agree that Homesteads are definitely a wasted Opportunity. I dont necessarily require a way to make mine public, If I want this level of housing I can play FFXIV or even New World.  What I want is ...

1. Better Decorating tools - these tools are just so finnicky. The tools dont even respect the vertical level of the floors when trying to move things.
2. The Ability to move all structures intact into other areas of the homestead. (the skiff is docked where it could never go under the bridge). I would like to move the house so it has a view of the ocean.
3. The ability to choose a different skin for the house and other structures... I just assume this will be a cash shop choice later on, but at least confirm it will be done now.
4. I want to move and position my alts how I want to see them when they are in the homestead.  No I dont want all my casters to stand stupidly inside the cave, or my heavy armor characters to stand like a bouncer in front of the house door. And I sure as heck dont want to see my ranger riding my raptor  24/7.