The Demolition Timers Need to Be Clearer for Peace of Mind

[AriesMouse]

I enter my house daily. Problem solved.

100x this.

Short of RL problems/disasters/etc, I really do not feel like a house demo should be an issue. Unless there is a bug where your house is demoing within the time period that it should be safe, there isn't a bug, and there isn't a problem.

I would ask: If you need a reminder to keep your house, or you risk hitting the demo timer more than once (with the exception of RL emergency), why is it you even have a house?

I personally think they should do away with the e-mails, or make them limited. You get three, and that is it. I also think they need a better system for handling keeping/maintaining a house in the case of RL issues, such as not being able to pay for the game for a time, or natural disasters (because they do not pause the timer for all of them, only the big ones).

[Kittypryde]

100x this.

Short of RL problems/disasters/etc, I really do not feel like a house demo should be an issue. Unless there is a bug where your house is demoing within the time period that it should be safe, there isn't a bug, and there isn't a problem.

I would ask: If you need a reminder to keep your house, or you risk hitting the demo timer more than once (with the exception of RL emergency), why is it you even have a house?

I personally think they should do away with the e-mails, or make them limited. You get three, and that is it. I also think they need a better system for handling keeping/maintaining a house in the case of RL issues, such as not being able to pay for the game for a time, or natural disasters (because they do not pause the timer for all of them, only the big ones).

Amen. It takes 5-10min tops to log in, warp to your house/houses and enter to reset timer. I do this every day when I get home from work. If it's difficult to do for some players every day, set aside 5min on a Saturday and do it every. Single. Saturday.
I have a character on Mateus that I play about 2-3hrs on the weekend. Every single Saturday night I log onto her and enter her personal and FC house. Make it a routine and you will never hit that 30 day warning. If for some reason your job has you traveling every day, bring your laptop/PS4 and do it for 5min daily....while your food heats up in the microwave or something. Lol

PS. I'd like to add, another tip that I do that MAKES me log into my house every day, is have a crop growing in your gardens that requires you to water it once every 24hrs, like jute. Or, you could send off your airships. Log on, water your gardens, go inside to reset, send off airships, collect drops, check retainers, MB. This all takes 10min tops.

[Penthea]

Short of RL problems/disasters/etc, I really do not feel like a house demo should be an issue. Unless there is a bug where your house is demoing within the time period that it should be safe, there isn't a bug, and there isn't a problem.

I would ask: If you need a reminder to keep your house, or you risk hitting the demo timer more than once (with the exception of RL emergency), why is it you even have a house?

Sometimes people miscount the days since they logged in. It is a bit ridiculous to expect players to make note on personal calendars regarding their house if they want to or need to unsub, or are unable to log in due to irl emergencies. So the emails do help players be aware of the time-frame they're dealing with. However I feel as if the emails are a poor substitute for another potentially far better way of informing players of demolition.

I personally think they should do away with the e-mails, or make them limited. You get three, and that is it. I also think they need a better system for handling keeping/maintaining a house in the case of RL issues, such as not being able to pay for the game for a time, or natural disasters (because they do not pause the timer for all of them, only the big ones).

Which brings me to a thought that occurred to me earlier. It would be very handy if the companion app tracked and informed you about demolition. It would eliminate the potential issue of the emails being sent straight to a spam folder, and it opens up the possibility of having a more sophisticated and easier way of keeping track of various estate alerts, not just demolition, but also airship voyages. Certainly it would make the app much more relevant to more players in the game.

Although in an ideal world demolition timers wouldn't exist : /

[AriesMouse]

Sometimes people miscount the days since they logged in. It is a bit ridiculous to expect players to make note on personal calendars regarding their house if they want to or need to unsub, or are unable to log in due to irl emergencies. So the emails do help players be aware of the time-frame they're dealing with. However I feel as if the emails are a poor substitute for another potentially far better way of informing players of demolition.

They have 45 days. That is over a month. I excluded RL emergencies in my comment that you quoted, so again, short of that, what is the excuse? 45 days is more than enough time to step into your house once. Once. When it's a finite resource, I think that people shouldn't be hand held and reminded to keep it. I don't think Daddy SE needs to remind us kids to play with our toys. If we want them that badly, we'll play with them, other wise, they should go to someone that would use it when we are not.

[Penthea]

I don't think Daddy SE needs to remind us kids to play with our toys. If we want them that badly, we'll play with them, other wise, they should go to someone that would use it when we are not.

At this point you're derailing the thread a bit. My issue is that the demolition timer isn't permanently visible. Not that I want "Daddy SE" to tell us to play with our toys. Everything else in the game that has a limited duration or a countdown timer is clearly stated all the time. Why not house demolition too?

Even forgetting about the bug rumours, you have to admit that it's very misleading to have the demolition timer be invisible up to a certain point. I have encountered several people who were very confused by this and even thought they were in the wrong part of the ui.

[Jojoya]

Sometimes people miscount the days since they logged in. It is a bit ridiculous to expect players to make note on personal calendars regarding their house if they want to or need to unsub, or are unable to log in due to irl emergencies. So the emails do help players be aware of the time-frame they're dealing with. However I feel as if the emails are a poor substitute for another potentially far better way of informing players of demolition.

A player actively using their house doesn't need to count anything because the timer resets each time they enter to use it. There's no need to use a calendar.

Real life emergencies are a different situation and still all that is needed to reset the timer is to enter the house as soon as the player is able to play again as long as they're back within 45 days of when they last entered.

What better way do you propose that won't be ignored the way players are ignoring the other notifications that are available?

People need to stop trying to push the blame for their own negligence onto others and start accepting personal responsibility. Entering the house you purchased once every 45 days is not a difficult thing. If you can't do that much then maybe that demolition is a good thing so you learn something about responsibility.

[Kittypryde]

Maybe time entering your house and resetting timer with something in real life, like rent. I'm assuming everyone pays rent to live, right. So if rents due on the 1st, pay your rent, then log on for 5 min and enter your house. Life hack #47. Done .

[Claviusnex]

Why are people who will never be affected by a simple QoL change so against it? SE already has a timer tab for displaying the demolition timer and they do display it at 15 days remaining to demolition. There is no reason SE shouldn't display the timer all of the time so someone can look at it at their leisure. I found the lack of it a pain when trying to determine when to cancel my sub in relation to the house being demo'ed. Likewise SE goes through all of the trouble to send an e-mail based on in-game information yet can't manage to send a moogle mail as well. There is no excuse on SE's part for not being able to be forthright about a house's demolition status that wouldn't even be an issue if they had built a well designed housing system instead of the half a.... system they currently have. Demolition is a fact of life and if you lose your house due to inactivity so be it but that does not excuse SE from not allowing a player to determine the status on demand.

[Zephera]

Adding a +1 to the idea of having the timer be always visible. Seems silly to have it only show up towards the end when it's counting down all the time.

[worldofneil]

Also agreeing it would be a good idea for that timer to always be visible. I don't think I'd personally need it, but it would give people more peace of mind if they could easily check the future demolition date.