Lost my House

So I know the rules clearly mention that you need to go to your private estate within 45 days and I know that FFXIV sends an email reminder about that. Even if the email is not received by the player for any reason, rules are rules.

I lost my house yesterday, a special spot next to my fc with 6 months of work and fun on putting furniture together. I had an emergency leave and was not able to log to the game. I kinda forgot that I should check my estate within that period before it’s demolished and for some reason I did not revive an email reminder, or it could be accidentally sent to junk - tbh I haven’t checked yet. Either ways it’s too late now.

I’m wondering why would you put such a rule if I’m paying for my subscription? I paid upfront and an active subscriber, whether I log or not, why would you demolish people’s houses?

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Originally Posted by BraveheartRamo

I’m wondering why would you put such a rule if I’m paying for my subscription? I paid upfront and an active subscriber, whether I log or not, why would you demolish people’s houses?

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Because housing in this game is very limited, a part of the actual world, which becomes unavailable to other players once you take posession of it, and leaves thousands without being able to enjoy that feature and that part of the world.

Thus it was decided that only players that are active and make a regular use of the houses should be able to hold them, because to do otherwise would be a disservice to the rest of the community, and because way too many people would just hoard on houses they almost never use, thus leaving thousands without, for no reason other than passive greed.

Also, your subscription does not pay for "the content" inside the game, it pays for your license to access the servers and services and for the maintenance and support of your account.

You are not entitled to anything within the game by paying your subscription, you are entitled to access to said game.

I guess you weren't playing post 2.38.

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Originally Posted by BraveheartRamo

I paid upfront and an active subscriber, whether I log or not, why would you demolish people’s houses?

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Why? Because for an unknown reason, they think it is better to have limited wards rather than instancied housing, that is kinda weird since they added some instancied housing as Inn, FC room or apartment. And housing, except garden is instancied as soon as you enter. So...

Considering what Wildstar or BDO are able to do with housing, SE choice is bad. But it's not as if it was a new. Many people say the housing is broken since they open to individual.

It sucks that this has happened to you, but it is what it is. They have rules in place whether I agree with them or not...which I don't. At the end of the day, you signed up for it, something came up and you were forced to take a break. It's unfortunate, but it is the system we have, though I do wish they would come up with something better.

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Originally Posted by Eldevern

Why? Because for an unknown reason, they think it is better to have limited wards rather than instancied housing, that is kinda weird since they added some instancied housing as Inn, FC room or apartment. And housing, except garden is instancied as soon as you enter. So...

Considering what Wildstar or BDO are able to do with housing, SE choice is bad. But it's not as if it was a new. Many people say the housing is broken since they open to individual.

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I wish they didn't remove housing after 45 days. Only reason I stay subbed even though I don't really play much between updates is since I have 2 larges in the same ward. Don't want to lose that! :)

Sorry you lost your house OP, truly I am.

The housing timer is a necessary function in the game, but it's in fact merely a symptom of the greater issue which is the lack of housing. A discussion that's happened plenty already and is outside the scope of this thread.

Because SE designed a flawed system and is either unable or unwilling (or both) to actually overhaul the system to be anything different, so the band-aid solutions to extremely limited housing that we're stuck with are demolition timers and days of spam clicking placards for a chance to snatch a plot in the first place.

Sorry that happened, though. I'm hoping they come up with something better eventually.

Honestly, I don't get why they won't just copy paste it like 15 times on plots 1-50 for each setting if they did that, they wouldn't need the clock because there would be enough for everyone. Let's just remember In ffxi everyone got their house from level 1 and later could get another floor so I know they have enough space to do it considering they support directx 11 which very few things do.

The irony of disagreeing with a system meant to mitigate a limited resource while also being a core cause of the need for said system but hoarding said resource.

I’ve lost two houses before, but I’ve managed to keep my current one since the end of HW. You’ll have to spend the next couple of weeks checking to see if one opens up if you want another house. Smalls pop up quite often, but it’s gonna be hard to nab a medium or large. Probably best to nab a small now, incase you can re-locate for Ishgard housing

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Originally Posted by AHelpingPaw

Because housing in this game is very limited, a part of the actual world, which becomes unavailable to other players once you take posession of it, and leaves thousands without being able to enjoy that feature and that part of the world.

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More players would have access to the housing feature if others didn't feel the need to own multiple plots for shits and giggles. Why does one player feel the need to own a FFXIV housing portfolio? Why does one person need to own half a ward? If these people let go of their excessive need to own more than one virtual house, so many more other players would be able to enjoy this feature.

Sadly, all's fair in love and housing...

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Originally Posted by MoonPhaseAlpha

More players would have access to the housing feature if others didn't feel the need to own multiple plots for shits and giggles. Why does one player feel the need to own a FFXIV housing portfolio? Why does one person need to own half a ward? If these people let go of their excessive need to own more than one virtual house, so many more other players would be able to enjoy this feature.

Sadly, all's fair in love and housing...

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Like one person once answered to that "But i decorate houses for others, i need more then one to test it!" lol

But yes... no ifs and buts, they should never have grandfathered houses...

I've often wondered why they've never revamped the housing system into something more forgiving for players that are away for longer than 45 days, like instanced housing. SWTOR does it, and with little effort (its EAWare, for god's sake), homes are permanent until deleted by the player, and you can own multiple venues.

The entering a house model needs to go. I totally agree with you OP that paying a sub should be enough.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

The entering a house model needs to go. I totally agree with you OP that paying a sub should be enough.

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You don't need a house if you can't be bothered to enter it once every 45 days.

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Originally Posted by Sesera

You don't need a house if you can't be bothered to enter it once every 45 days.

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That's not the point. Not everyone is available to enter said house *every* 45 days. Life happens and the game gets sidetracked, and no one should have to return from whatever kept them away just to find their home and all the work and gil they put into it simply gone.

I think they should let friends that share the estate be able to reset the timer. After all, the estate is being used if the one sharing it ... well... uses it, precisely for emergencies such as this.

Though you could always break the ToS (?), lend a friend your account data and let him log in & reset the timer.
Seems like a lot of trouble just to not get punished for "RL-happens".

Still, with the limited spots available and no server side solution in sight, I kinda get why SE does it.

Maybe one day they will look at the housing and put in a better system. haha

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Originally Posted by BraveheartRamo

I kinda forgot

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There's your answer. Set a reminder next time. Sorry.

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Originally Posted by Sesera

You don't need a house if you can't be bothered to enter it once every 45 days.

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This. I don't have a house because I sometimes unsub and can't be certain I'll log in in time. So I have an apartment instead. And I still enter it more often than these house owners. Usually every day. Kinda funny how that works out.

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Originally Posted by Sophie_Lo

I've often wondered why they've never revamped the housing system into something more forgiving for players that are away for longer than 45 days, like instanced housing. SWTOR does it, and with little effort (its EAWare, for god's sake), homes are permanent until deleted by the player, and you can own multiple venues.

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You have instanced housing in FFXIV. Like SWTOR, you can own an apartment that will forever be in your possession. No timers.

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Originally Posted by Sesera

You don't need a house if you can't be bothered to enter it once every 45 days.

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I live in housing districts. I enter my houses daily. I have them on multiple servers. There are reasons why people might not log for 45 days. There is no reason why entering it needs to be a pro forma requirement. If you pay a sub you should keep your house. Sorry I don't agree with the system and the demo system is off more than it's on.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

I live in housing districts. I enter my houses daily. I have them on multiple servers. There are reasons why people might not log for 45 days. There is no reason why entering it needs to be a pro forma requirement. If you pay a sub you should keep your house. Sorry I don't agree with the system and the demo system is off more than it's on.

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I've heard excuses from people couldn't be bothered to enter their homes in 45 days despite playing everyday and it just seems to be to show they don't actually care about housing. They want to own something for the sake of owning it, it's human nature to hoard things.

As has been said already, the reclamation timer is an unpleasant necessity in light of the houses system they've implemented.

People mention they only maintain their sub to keep their housing, as if that is a drawback to this system in the eyes of SE. Of course it's not.

They are too conceptually and financially invested in the current system to change it, or see any reason to change it.

I wonder when they will actually cave in, and fix the real issue at hand. Timer is fine though, make sure you check your email, they do give a lot of heads up.

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Originally Posted by Thunderblaze

I wish they didn't remove housing after 45 days. Only reason I stay subbed even though I don't really play much between updates is since I have 2 larges in the same ward. Don't want to lose that! :)

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Why is it so important to you to be owning houses you don't use in a game you don't want to be playing most of the time?

If you didn't cling to those houses that you aren't using, you wouldn't need to maintain your subscription solely so you could enter them once every 45 days.

Your choice, of course, but seems like a bad one if it's making you unhappy.

Yes remove the 45 day limit so we can go back to having died accounts owne 2-3 houses per ward that no one will ever be able to use

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Originally Posted by BraveheartRamo

I lost my house yesterday, a special spot next to my fc with 6 months of work and fun on putting furniture together. I had an emergency leave and was not able to log to the game. I kinda forgot that I should check my estate within that period before it’s demolished and for some reason I did not revive an email reminder, or it could be accidentally sent to junk - tbh I haven’t checked yet. Either ways it’s too late now.

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I didn't see it mentioned, but I skimmed (apologies if someone already mentioned it), but be sure to visit the Resident Caretaker npc to snag 80% of the gil you paid for the plot as well as any furnishings that could be retrieved. You'll have 35 days from demolition to collect from the npc before the system deletes whatever is left on it.

I always gind these threads interesting... People bash on others for not entering in game homes for 45 days and say things like "you dont deserve it if you dont enter" and so on.

But to be brutally honest, what reason even is there to enter your home? You cant just park yourself in home and run dailies, it kicks you out once you come out of the dungeon, no one is ever in the wards because they are doing things in game. I like the whole neighborhood feel of the wards, but in reality, there really isnt any reason to be at your home.

Apartments are sorta like the mog homes of xi and as far as i know (never looked so correct me on this) they are unlimited and everyone can get one. It would be nice if it had a balcony or something.

Also, i played wildstar, and i do agree that the houseing and land plot system in that game was awesome, but im not sure how that would work in xiv. Your house in that game was a floating astoroid and you could fill your neighborhood with friends asteroids so you could fly to their houses and look about. Pretty sure you couldnt just have rando neighbors but i could be wrong.

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Originally Posted by Sei_Konsetsu

Also, i played wildstar, and i do agree that the houseing and land plot system in that game was awesome, but im not sure how that would work in xiv. Your house in that game was a floating astoroid and you could fill your neighborhood with friends asteroids so you could fly to their houses and look about. Pretty sure you couldnt just have rando neighbors but i could be wrong.

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Realistically, there's no convenient lore excuse/mechanic to have individual houses that you can shift around and connect up within a neighborhood. And demonstrably, SquareEnix wants neighborhoods.

And I can understand that because at their best, neighborhoods are amazing. When I got my house and started fiddling with the yard that evening, two of my neighbors noticed a house had gone up and came over to say hello (and one even gave me a housewarming gift). I now have both of those neighbors on my friend list, and I've even run content with one of them. I keep an eye on the yards my neighbors put together, and head over to wave hello when I see them around. And that's great—I'm almost certain it's what SquareEnix is aiming for with neighborhoods. I admit, I've now found that from that standpoint I vastly prefer having a neighborhood to the SWTOR or Champions Online or whatever else setup where you have an apartment building and everyone just has their own apartment and you never see your neighbors around.

But it's also godawful because of the limited availability this introduces.

Apartments are great because they stick around forever and there's basically an unlimited number of them, but they're also restrictive; I know people who only have apartments who really want to get into gardening. What options do they have? Hopefully their FC has a house and garden plots no one else is using, but if those plots are in use, what are their options?

I feel like if the apartments had more variety—if you could get large apartments, two-story penthouses, etc.—and if they had a little rooftop space with one garden patch, then they'd be a viable alternative to housing. Yes, there'd still be some differences between houses and apartments—like the ability to design a yard—so there'd still be demand for houses, but people who weren't able to get a house wouldn't be completely left out in the cold on things like gardening.

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Originally Posted by Kuroka

Like one person once answered to that "But i decorate houses for others, i need more then one to test it!" lol

But yes... no ifs and buts, they should never have grandfathered houses...

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That's a terrible excuse lol. They need 15 houses to "test" decorating in? Ugh, the humanity.

Not gonna lie....45days is a long time :x
If you couldn't long on because health or w/e. Probably should have asked a FC friend to log in for you. Its against the rules but pretty sure that's a good excuse.

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Originally Posted by AHelpingPaw

Because housing in this game is very limited, a part of the actual world, which becomes unavailable to other players once you take posession of it, and leaves thousands without being able to enjoy that feature and that part of the world.

Thus it was decided that only players that are active and make a regular use of the houses should be able to hold them, because to do otherwise would be a disservice to the rest of the community, and because way too many people would just hoard on houses they almost never use, thus leaving thousands without, for no reason other than passive greed.

Also, your subscription does not pay for "the content" inside the game, it pays for your license to access the servers and services and for the maintenance and support of your account.

You are not entitled to anything within the game by paying your subscription, you are entitled to access to said game.

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So how many houses do you own? I'm completely new so I'm learning how the community is here.

I think apartments would be fine for most if:

a) they had an additional room (like the free company workshop) that looks like a small outdoor terrace and allows for the placement of one gardening plot so apartment owners can engage in crossbreeding. Such a terrace would also allow for the placement of a few outdoor housing decorations like the kiddie pool.

b) they had the same interior item limit as a small house (which is double what apartments allow right now). The current limit on apartment placeables is far too restrictive.

c) a free company that does not currently own a house can purchase a free company apartment instead, which while being the same size as a personal apartment, also has a workshop room as well as an outdoor terrace room, allowing free companies who can't get a non-instanced house to still have access to all the amenities that come with free company housing.

Non-instanced housing would still hold prestige, but it would no longer lock players out of certain features.

If the additional rooms suggested in A) and C) aren't doable, then at the very least create placeable items that can be used inside a standard apartment that allow access to the features those rooms provide. An "indoor hydroponics planter" that allows crossbreeding and an "airship/sub remote access panel" could serve well enough in a pinch.

While I'm all for the idea of freely available instanced housing, within the system we DO have, I support the demolition timer. 45 days is a pretty long time to log in and step into your house.

If you're unsubbed, then the limited nature of housing means the plot should go to someone that can make use of it. The demolition timer is a necessary evil because of the ward system and I don't see them going through the trouble of completely revamping the housing system now. Though part of me hopes they do with ishgard housing.

I don't agree with people being able to own multiple plots, but it's not within my power to make them relinquish land so there's no point in me getting upset over it.

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Originally Posted by AHelpingPaw

Because housing in this game is very limited, a part of the actual world,

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It's an artificial limitation that simulates nothing in the real world, that exists only to produce this drama. If there was an actual housing market where players where allowed to sell and haggle etc. there might be some premise that this simulates a real housing/property market and adds some semblance of emersion. But no, it's not like that. You get a plot in one of dozens of identical wards, each with it's own mirror image version, none of which can be said to have a precise relationship to the rest of the world.

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Originally Posted by Packetdancer

Apartments are great because they stick around forever and there's basically an unlimited number of them, but they're also restrictive; I know people who only have apartments who really want to get into gardening. What options do they have? Hopefully their FC has a house and garden plots no one else is using, but if those plots are in use, what are their options?

I feel like if the apartments had more variety—if you could get large apartments, two-story penthouses, etc.—and if they had a little rooftop space with one garden patch, then they'd be a viable alternative to housing. Yes, there'd still be some differences between houses and apartments—like the ability to design a yard—so there'd still be demand for houses, but people who weren't able to get a house wouldn't be completely left out in the cold on things like gardening.

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Plant Cross-breeding and FC Crafting are pretty much the only reason players need a house currently, but Yoshi-P did mention in an interview something about a Farm involving Minions in a recent interview so that might be something they are planning to add during 5.X to allow all players access to gardening.

I've lost houses twice, the first time I didnt know about the demolish policy and had a forced break due to circumstances. By the time I could come back not only did I lose the house I lost everything inside it. The second time it was another one of those oh crap life moments and couldn't play for 6 or so months. Lost everything again. At least with the apartment they dont take it away.

I understand the timer is needed while I also wish they would give us an option once a year or so do stop the timer for like 4 weeks in total. Im constantly subbed in the game for my house, I have my house for 4 years now and I use it a lot, but I rly would like to unsub once and take a break for a while. I cant tough cause to get my house was A LOT of work and I did put a lot of work in my house. I dont wanna lose it, and Iam sure they make a lot of money by forcing people to stay subbed so they dont lose the house.

I feel you-- my BF bought a house that we had for months- I decorated it, put my time into making is snazzy, it was even featured in FF-HGXIV which is a twitter housing sharing of amazing builds- BF went off to do other things, never touched the plot near the end, suddenly ingame I get a message saying it's been demolished etc. BF had logged in 7 days prior but never actually touched the plot.
I was pretty blue- I constantly took care of the house/ was always in it/ had my FC members in it yet I was punished since I was only a "tenant" of the house & the deed didn't fall to me. An FC member offered to give me the gil to re-buy the plot because he said there was a huge crowd around the plot & knew how frustrated I was but I declined, it wasn't the FC members problem, it was mine- The plot was beachfront right by a market board too. It took maybe an hour for the plot to be won to someone else.

LUCKILY, a plot opened up in the Lavender Beds later that night, I checked on the plot the following morning to see it still vacant- I stayed up to try to buy it but I ended up taking a nap, not knowing how long it'd be- I woke up literally an hour later, noone was at the plot- it was 10 a.m. est- I clicked "purchase" and suddenly, I had a house!

Atleast, you didn't lose to a bot using a 3rd party program to buy a house. A plot near my house went vacant, 2 people were at it- 1 was a bot, bot won the house. I took dozens of screens to show proof- reported them twice, but I doubt SE would do anything about it. They've all but left the housing community to fend for themselves since it's optional content.