Housing Demolition Feedback?

Though being a fairly active player, my house got demolished while I was online yesterday.

I was technically at fault - I took a small 2, maybe 3 week break from the game and since returning I didn't have the thought to go inside the house itself.

I actively hung out with friends, logged in and logged out in the garden/on the plot itself. When you have an FC house that has all the amenities such as crystal bell, The Unending Journey, etc., and only inn rooms can have glamour dressers and beds you can log out from... and retainer bells can be placed outside and can be found all over housing locations... well, coming on to play content there's not much reason to actively go inside your house. But, that can be on side with the argument that, if you don't actively use the actual house, it's unfair that you have it, so I can't argue much with that, just some very loose general feedback.

It was also my mistake that my account does not use my current main e-mail, so I did not see the demolition e-mails (mainly because I did not expect them). But the player who shared the plot with me, did not receive any e-mails at all, which may have been helpful.

The primary feedback I have in regards to this is if it is possible to send out... a notice via the Delivery Moogle or a pop-up in game to alert players when they log on/are online. I discussed with some other players in my FC, and quite a few said that they didn't receive/see any e-mails at all regarding their demolition.

Therefore I just thought it would be more applicable if there was an active, very visible pop-up in the actual game itself - especially considering how hard the housing system is in this game to get a house in the first place. Maybe this already exists and I totally missed it - if so my bad. But if not it sure would be helpful.

You receive an email when your house is about to be demolished. There is also a section in the Timers tab for Estate activity, and that will also tell you what is going on with your house. At the end of the day, as much as I hate the system and sympathize, this is something you probably should have kept an eye on. Even so, a more visible notification isn't a bad idea.

Yes, a pop-up message at character login would be a good idea.

As a precaution i set up a google reminder for the first of every month to enter my house.
Even though I do receive mt warning e-mail. (tested it)

As you said , housing is hard enough ti get.

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Originally Posted by Nightroad

Yes, a pop-up message at character login would be a good idea.

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I think that is a reasonable request for something like losing a house. Personally I mend in my house especially with alts that can't self mend or at the very least be sure to use the retainer bell inside the house to sell things. I spend most of my time in my garden when at my house.

And to the OP sorry that happened to you it's got to be pretty devastating to lose a house given they're so hard to get nowadays. If you haven't be sure to check with the resident caretaker to retrieve gil and furnishings. There is a time limit on how long they'll hold those items. I think it's 35 days but not sure.

At least the red message in timers should be on the first page, and not on the second tab where no one ever looks because they don't use fc airships.

Read your email/spam filter more often, OP.

Put a repair NPC “inside“ your house and start using it daily
Any complaint about house being demolished is just pure nonsense when you choose not to do that

There's in game "popups" for a number of things - from those annoying quests and achievements list (if you don't turn it off), to things like your in game wedding anniversary. I saw popup, but really it's just a thing in the corner you can click and doesn't actually get in the way if you don't click it.

These notifications seem like the ideal tool for this. No reason there couldn't be one for auto demolition too.

I agree that it would be nice to have a better system in game - something a little more obvious.

Until we get that, though, I can only advice anyone whos worried that they might lose their house to set themself a recuring appointment using the calender of their choice - a paper one, in your smartphone, outlook... whichever one you use most. Set yourself an appointment at a date and time that works best for you (aka: a time you'll have time to log into the game or normally play anyways) and have it recure every 4 weeks to stay well ahead of the timer.

I would also like to entertain this little idea: The purpose of the timer is to ensure that the limited ressource housing is used by people actively using their house - while the main reason is that its limited in numbers, one might consider the prevention of "ghostwards" an additional reason (at least I do - I know that most wards are pretty dead most of the time anyways, but this problem only increases when houses are taken up by people who stopped playing for good months and years ago. Even when housing was a real gil-sink and available to anyone who had the massive amount of gil required - back then it was a massive amount of gil for most people - I used to see the occassional "dead plot" with no decoration, that no one ever visited and it was quite... sad, really).
Wether or not you consider my second reason valid, the point still stands: The houses should belong to people actively using them. The bar for "active use" is set very, very low: One step inside the house once every 45 days. If you dont manage to do that, even though you're playing the game (which would be the only way a better ingame notice would help you at all), you might want to reconsider if you actually use and need the house. There are ways to make your house useful (NPCs, summoning bells, retreat for crafting/listening to music...) or even just a place you want to be (I'll shamelessly admit that I sometimes only enter my house to look at the decorations I put up...)
If you dont clear the low bar of "entering the house once every 45 days" automatically by playing the game, I think one can raise the question: Do you need the house as much as you think you do?

tenants actually do see a message in their timer window about housing demolition for shared estates. guess they weren't looking either or just assumed the owner saw the message too. regardless you should be looking at your timer window too.

While the system is a necessary evil as long as the demand for plots outstrips the supply by as much as it does, it'd be nice if they like, sent you an in game mail as well as an email. Or some other in game notification to let you know the timer's ticking down that pops up and not just tucked away in a timer menu that I honestly didn't know existed for the first couple years I Played the game.

If you don’t go in your house for 45 days then there’s no reason it shouldn’t be offered up to another player. You weren’t “technically at fault” you were entirely at fault and your reasoning of you only took two or three weeks off, but have been planing daily since, is completely irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if you’re crafting, raiding, AFK chatting in Limsa 24/7, or whatever other in game content there is. You aren’t using the house.

And this is coming from someone who got their house demolished too. It sucks, but no one to blame but ourselves for not using it.

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Originally Posted by Vahlnir

You receive an email when your house is about to be demolished. There is also a section in the Timers tab for Estate activity, and that will also tell you what is going on with your house. At the end of the day, as much as I hate the system and sympathize, this is something you probably should have kept an eye on. Even so, a more visible notification isn't a bad idea.

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You're technically meant to receive 3 emails, a... I think 2 weeks prior, 3 day prior, and a "we'll it's gone" email.

Though, Square's not exactly the best at emailing. Sometimes, it gets stuffed in spam, and in other times (Such as my fc leader with their personal) there was nothing for those first 2 emails at all, she only got the "well it's gone" email.

But yes, we really really need an in game alert of this. If Square's gonna bug me about my closed ticket for a whole week while I spam close on it, they can alert someone their house is on a week long life span left.