Housing too punishing for absence

I serve in the US military. I've played FF14 on/off since it's re-launch with ARR. I was only able to get a house in late 2017 with the release of SB and Kugane housing because a lot of people flocked there.

I had a medium plot I paid 18 mil for and had placed a minimum of 30 mil gil worth of furniture inside. Naturally, I had to disappear from the online world due to deployments and reassignments. Now that I have a chance to sit down and play again, I come back to find out that none of my investment was kept. I expected the house to be gone. That's fine. I expected that. However, to not get ANYTHING back was probably one of the most punishing and demoralizing things I've ever experienced. This can't stay. This needs to be removed immediately. You should ALWAYS mail back the items or place them back into a separate inventory or come up with another way.

With housing this limited in-game...there is no reason for this.

Also, with my discovery that people can own multiple houses is just dumb. That type of system will eventually result in a monopolization of the housing in your game. I have already heard stories of people owning almost an entire ward...and here I can't even get a small plot on ANY server I've visited.

Please fix this. Housing is very important to me. I love the idea that I Can put my achievements up and people can visit my place to see them. It's amazing and I want it back. I feel like I'm being punished for having to deploy and go overseas.

Finally, please create more wards and limit the number of houses a player can own. In addition to that, place a bidding system in the game where people can make offers on your home if they plan on leaving the game for a while.

Same thing happened to me the first time I quit. I lost a ton of very valuable furnishings. I understand your grief and frustration as I've also lived it.

I've finally managed to rebuild even more than I had before, but I still remember that loss. Unfortunately it also means I'm forced to keep a sub forever even while taking a break unless I want to lose my stuff again.

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Originally Posted by Mykhel

You should ALWAYS mail back the items or place them back into a separate inventory or come up with another way..

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For 35 days after your house is auto-demolished, you can retrieve furniture & 80% of the gil you spent on the plot from the Resident Caretaker npc. Unfortunately, still a limited time, but it does give you a chance to get items back.

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Originally Posted by Dustytome

For 35 days after your house is auto-demolished, you can retrieve furniture & 80% of the gil you spent on the plot from the Resident Caretaker npc. Unfortunately, still a limited time, but it does give you a chance to get items back.

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Military overseas deployments can be 6 months or more unfortunately. I hope you can rebuild stuff OP, the little things after coming back mean so much when you're easing back into downtime between deployments.

Feel your pain and I agree with you 100%. Being in the military as well I can relate to this. Also there are is already a ludicrous housing black market where people are paying 100s of USD or hundreds of millions of Gil.

Sorry man, not as sympathetic to this. If youre gone for 6 months, and you've read the threads about people that cant get a house. You think its fair to them that you sit on a house inactive for 6 months while others cant get one at all? If the house was that important, youd find a way to login.

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Originally Posted by Solowing

Sorry man, not as sympathetic to this. If youre gone for 6 months, and you've read the threads about people that cant get a house. You think its fair to them that you sit on a house inactive for 6 months while others cant get one at all? If the house was that important, youd find a way to login.

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I understand your reasoning, but the military is a different world. Most who afk for months or longer are doing so for personal reasons like they need a break, or they're between jobs and can't afford the sub, or they just lost their taste for the game. For the military however...
I was deep into WoW raiding several years ago and loving it when I got a call one day telling me my unit was deploying to Afghanistan and a guy who had been scheduled to go was dropped for medical reason and I was up next on the list. I couldn't say no, you really can't.

It's crushing to have something you worked so hard for be taken by no fault of you own, right?

Even car insurance companies will freeze your account if you're military and deploying.

Also, I think you're underestimating how bad it can be overseas. Find a way to log in? That's like saying he could find a way to build his own plane and fly back. And a lot of soldiers don't have a great family system to rely on.

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Originally Posted by Drkdays

I understand your reasoning, but the military is a different world. Most who afk for months or longer are doing so for personal reasons like they need a break, or they're between jobs and can't afford the sub, or they just lost their taste for the game. For the military however...
I was deep into WoW raiding several years ago and loving it when I got a call one day telling me my unit was deploying to Afghanistan and a guy who had been scheduled to go was dropped for medical reason and I was up next on the list. I couldn't say no, you really can't.

It's crushing to have something you worked so hard for be taken by no fault of you own, right?

Even car insurance companies will freeze your account if you're military and deploying.

Also, I think you're underestimating how bad it can be overseas. Find a way to log in? That's like saying he could find a way to build his own plane and fly back. And a lot of soldiers don't have a great family system to rely on.

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Unfortunately that is his loss, a player could use that plot and decorate it and use it to their hearts content, or should it be ok to have a plot inactive for 6 monthes? Also the difference between insurance and a video game is, one is of necessity and one is a hobby

of course the real upshot of this is they should fix the housing system once and for all, and not have players at each other's throats over it.



There is still no excuse at all to toss away player items due to the house loss. It's a note in a ledger, make the note, and keep it.

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Originally Posted by XiXiQ

of course the real upshot of this is they should fix the housing system once and for all, and not have players at each other's throats over it.



There is still no excuse at all to toss away player items due to the house loss. It's a note in a ledger, make the note, and keep it.

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Because some people come back, and some dont..

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Originally Posted by Solowing

Unfortunately that is his loss, a player could use that plot and decorate it and use it to their hearts content, or should it be ok to have a plot inactive for 6 monthes? Also the difference between insurance and a video game is, one is of necessity and one is a hobby

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You do realize OP is upset about his furnishing items being deleted with no way to recover them, not losing the plot, right?

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Originally Posted by Solowing

Because some people come back, and some dont..

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Same with soldiers...

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Originally Posted by Solowing

Because some people come back, and some dont..

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Housing is the only part of the game where your items are deleted after 45+35 days. I don't lose any items in any of my inventories or retainers if I unsub for say...a year.

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Originally Posted by MrMagic

Housing is the only part of the game where your items are deleted after 45+35 days. I don't lose any items in any of my inventories or retainers if I unsub for say...a year.

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Well until they change it, youll just have to find a way to login, or just deal with it. If i am inactive i have somebody to co-own my homes for me so itll be there with all my stuff when i come back

As fellow military, i can understand his frustration at loosing items that you put a lot of time and effort into getting.

I have been lucky all my deployments have afforded me the chance to continue to play regularly.

Honestly the housing items should be stored somewhere until the player is able to come get them back regardless of how long it takes.

As for the housing itself, honestly if they were to make something the size of small houses (regardless of one or two floors) with a decent sized balcony for "outdoor" furnishings and gardening, and give it to every character upon creation much like 11 did. A lot of these issues would be alleviated. Then the wards could be made strictly for FC use(and limiting it to one plot/house per FC) Obviously this will never happen but this i think would be the ideal fix for a decent number of players.

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Originally Posted by XiXiQ

of course the real upshot of this is they should fix the housing system once and for all, and not have players at each other's throats over it.



There is still no excuse at all to toss away player items due to the house loss. It's a note in a ledger, make the note, and keep it.

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Unfortunately its not just a note. Its server memory. There is a reason we have limited bag space. The servers can only hold so much memory. And with the amount of inactive players. imagine how much data that takes. Its a sad case but I have to Agree with Solowing. Square can't cater to every situation, They have to put the needs of the many above the few who serve long term military. And they will pick active paying subs over a dormant account.

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Originally Posted by Mavrias

You do realize OP is upset about his furnishing items being deleted with no way to recover them, not losing the plot, right?

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Thats on him. We all should know the risk. Dont mean to come off callously, but yea...
https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ed&oe=5DE00245

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Originally Posted by Solowing

Well until they change it, youll just have to find a way to login, or just deal with it. If i am inactive i have somebody to co-own my homes for me so itll be there with all my stuff when i come back

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Or they can give feedback and try to ask for positive changes to the game. He should go do that, maybe.

Wait a minute...

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Originally Posted by Solowing

Thats on him. We all should know the risk. Dont mean to come off callously, but yea...
https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ed&oe=5DE00245

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Then why do you keep going on and on about the plot when thats clearly not what he's talking about. Also if i buy 5 extra retainers, fill them up, and then dont sub for 6 months my items will still be on those retainers when i resub. I dont see why holding housing items should be so different.

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Originally Posted by Mavrias

Also if i buy 5 extra retainers, fill them up, and then dont sub for 6 months my items will still be on those retainers when i resub. I dont see why holding housing items should be so different.

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Exactly, before you leave for 6 months, put all your housing items on your retainers so they don't disappear. Problem solved.

Why would a Japanese company provide concessions for or base a change to design around the American military? I get that almost fanatical support for the military is a thing in the US, but this is a company whose predominant business isn't in the US. Appealing to them with that reasoning likely isn't going to work too well.

I, too, would like to see the deconstruction storage timer extended by a lot or even removed, but for its own sake.

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Originally Posted by Edax

Exactly, before you leave for 6 months, put all your housing items on your retainers so they don't disappear. Problem solved.

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Don't see why you should have to pay for extra retainers and take all the time to take all of your housing items out, and still end up losing your gil, on a subscription-based game when non-sub games offer far better systems without taking away your items.

e.g., ESO lets you have up to 40 houses (and rising). You don't have to pay a sub to maintain them. You can leave for years and your items are still there when you return, all in the same placement you left them at.

Meanwhile, on this game, they refuse to keep your items for any longer than 35 days.

There's just no excuse for that.

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Originally Posted by MomomiMomi

Don't see why you should have to pay for extra retainers and take all the time to take all of your housing items out, and still end up losing your gil, on a subscription-based game when non-sub games offer far better systems without taking away your items.

e.g., ESO lets you have up to 40 houses (and rising). You don't have to pay a sub to maintain them. You can leave for years and your items are still there when you return, all in the same placement you left them at.

Meanwhile, on this game, they refuse to keep your items for any longer than 35 days.

There's just no excuse for that.

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There is an excuse. The code for FFXIV's is badly written. If you're in the military then perhaps ESO is the better game for you.

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Originally Posted by Edax

Exactly, before you leave for 6 months, put all your housing items on your retainers so they don't disappear. Problem solved.

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Or, wild thought here, we can make suggestions to improve the system so i dont have to buy extra retainers if i go on an extended break and they can just be sent through mail.

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Originally Posted by MomomiMomi

Don't see why you should have to pay for extra retainers and take all the time to take all of your housing items out, and still end up losing your gil, on a subscription-based game when non-sub games offer far better systems without taking away your items.

e.g., ESO lets you have up to 40 houses (and rising). You don't have to pay a sub to maintain them. You can leave for years and your items are still there when you return, all in the same placement you left them at.

Meanwhile, on this game, they refuse to keep your items for any longer than 35 days.

There's just no excuse for that.

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That is the way they keep people paying the monthly sub. Read my sig written by a Pinocchio hehe

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Originally Posted by Solowing

Sorry man, not as sympathetic to this. If youre gone for 6 months, and you've read the threads about people that cant get a house. You think its fair to them that you sit on a house inactive for 6 months while others cant get one at all? If the house was that important, youd find a way to login.

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I feel like this response is missing the OP's point.

He's not salty that he lost his plot. What he IS upset about, and rightly so, is that he lost all of the belongings he had IN his house. This is because when a house is auto-demolished and a plot released due to inactivity the items that were contained in the now-demolished house are mailed back to you but the mail is automatically deleted if not retrieved within 35 days or so.

That's the problem. The fact that mail is automatically deleted paired with the fact that the items are mailed back to you.

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Originally Posted by Llethander

I feel like this response is missing the OP's point.

He's not salty that he lost his plot. What he IS upset about, and rightly so, is that he lost all of the belongings he had IN his house. This is because when a house is auto-demolished and a plot released due to inactivity the items that were contained in the now-demolished house are mailed back to you but the mail is automatically deleted if not retrieved within 35 days or so.

That's the problem. The fact that mail is automatically deleted paired with the fact that the items are mailed back to you.

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S.E covered that base, even if he did lose his items and they fixxed the policy tomorrow (Im all for it) hed still be a casualty of the system because they cant recover it
https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ed&oe=5DE00245

Sometimes the military leaves within 24 hours notice...I hardly think ffxiv would be on their minds....

Yeah, imo there is no good reason that items are deleted within 35 days - that's incredibly punishing when IRL issues have already caused the loss of the house. It should be 6 months minimum, and I'd go so far as to say a full year, honestly.

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Originally Posted by Mavrias

Or, wild thought here, we can make suggestions to improve the system so i dont have to buy extra retainers if i go on an extended break and they can just be sent through mail.

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If your not going to be playing the game, then maybe spending the extra 2-4 dollars per month to preserve your junk isn't so terrible an idea.
The unsubscribers that aren't going to be playing the game in the near future aren't going to get priority for their suggestions.

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Originally Posted by Edax

If your not going to be playing the game, then maybe spending the extra 2-4 dollars per month to preserve your junk isn't so terrible an idea.
The unsubscribers that aren't going to be playing the game in the near future aren't going to get priority for their suggestions.

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If I'm going to have to pay an extra 2-4 dollars per month to perserve my junk, you can be damn sure I won't be playing the game.

The housing deletion system is absolute crap.

The FFXIV devs make these data/server explanations and really they're just demonstrating incompetence.

There are piles of subscription games that don't delete your items, even when you're gone for months or even years. There are piles of subscription games that are able to handle FC/Guild storage just fine. Some of them are FAR FAR older than FFXIV.

So. Why is FFXIV so completely inferior in this area? I mean, honestly. Why are they so subpar compared to other games?

I've never seen a reasonable, legitimate answer to that question, even from the people desperate to find one, aka, the legion of "love it or leave it", "got mine, screw you", and "I deserve an entire block of housing to myself" players.

There's simply no excuse, and maybe if people stopped making them the game would improve.

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Originally Posted by Feron

There's simply no excuse, and maybe if people stopped making them the game would improve.

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Always amazes me how the consumers who should be asking for a better service are often the first ones to jump to the defense of the companies that are perfectly capable of hiring their own PR to defend their poor decisions.

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Originally Posted by Feron

The housing deletion system is absolute crap.

The FFXIV devs make these data/server explanations and really they're just demonstrating incompetence.

There are piles of subscription games that don't delete your items, even when you're gone for months or even years. There are piles of subscription games that are able to handle FC/Guild storage just fine. Some of them are FAR FAR older than FFXIV.

So. Why is FFXIV so completely inferior in this area? I mean, honestly. Why are they so subpar compared to other games?

I've never seen a reasonable, legitimate answer to that question, even from the people desperate to find one, aka, the legion of "love it or leave it", "got mine, screw you", and "I deserve an entire block of housing to myself" players.

There's simply no excuse, and maybe if people stopped making them the game would improve.

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While I can't say for sure why... my guess is that numerous shortcuts were taken and much band-aid coding was done to turn FFXIV 1.0 into ARR in a timely manner. I imagine those shortcuts and band-aids have hamstrung optimization efforts as time went on. I agree with you that there are issues that seem like they should be relatively easy to address, but in practice they may be far more complex due to the aforementioned shortcuts/band-aids. The thing I've learned about game development over the years is that oft times seemingly unrelated systems are actually intertwined and futzing with one can break several others.

In short, there's probably good reasons why issues that seem simple on the surface to address, have not been so yet. It's easy to say "there's no excuse" when you haven't seen the game code or have the education to understand it if you had seen it. If it were as easy as we might think it is to address such issues, does logic not dictate that SE would have already done so?

There is no excuse for this.
They disable things for storms, but never for people who serve. It's a pity. A straight up pity.
I barely have the energy these days to play for very long after chemo. I often wonder when I'll get screwed over too for needed to spend time in the hospital.
It's going to happen, just wondering when.
I've been trying to get a house for ages. Now I'm prioritizing my fc over myself. It's stupid that they have this unbearable timer in game, then they punish players for needing a break.

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Originally Posted by MomomiMomi

If I'm going to have to pay an extra 2-4 dollars per month to perserve my junk, you can be damn sure I won't be playing the game.

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You don't have to. If you manage your inventory better, you can easily store 200 housing items on yourself and on your free retainers. But for the price of a pizza, you can have some convenience.

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Originally Posted by Feron

The housing deletion system is absolute crap.

So. Why is FFXIV so completely inferior in this area? I mean, honestly. Why are they so subpar compared to other games?

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Here is a legitimate answer:
Because this game isn't trying to excel in housing as their main selling point

If you need a housing specialty game, try the Sims or maybe just decorate your own actual house. :)

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Originally Posted by Feron

There are piles of subscription games that don't delete your items, even when you're gone for months or even years. There are piles of subscription games that are able to handle FC/Guild storage just fine. Some of them are FAR FAR older than FFXIV.

So. Why is FFXIV so completely inferior in this area? I mean, honestly. Why are they so subpar compared to other games?

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I feel the need to point out that I grew up with Runescape. They delete your account along with all your items in it if your inactive for a year. It's not unprecedented that unused data gets deleted to free up more space. That's money they have to spend to keep your data preserved and you're not even guaranteed to come back to play the game.