Can someone tell me why everyone is upset about the logout timer?

[Zyeriis]

The "short" answer is that the afk kicker doesn't actually accomplish anything since they solved the problem (for the most part) of the inability to login. All it does is inconvenience people. The people that are whining that they couldn't log in, are likely stuck in the past.

Other than that, I'm just going to laugh at anyone going "you don't have the right to take up the game's resources". The game is still going to be there even if we don't log out. And, actually, if you think about it, you're the ones wasting development resources trying to get something this useless implemented in the first place.

The only place the afk kicker would be useful is in instances/duty finders to get rid of griefers who afk to mess up runs.

Edit: What if I want to put up my flag for materia meld (or something similar) while I step out for a bit?

[Z3M0G]

But this is ruining my IMMERSION!

For maximum immersion, sleep / log-out at the INN. Don't stand in a crowded area like a statue for 12 hours. :P

[KyahAlmasy]

Afkers are going to kick and scream the entire time about this because they can no longer remain logged in for 24+ hours doing nothing.

To be honest if you're not going to be on the game for the next half an hour then just log off instead of just idling.

[Ruprect]

I have a queue on my server everytime I go to log in. I dont want to wait in it. So I will set up a macro to cast something once every 20 minutes so I don't have to log out. As soon as there are no more queues I will log out.

[Stumbleina]

People are upset about this?
That's just silly.
I was one of the people who, until the first major system improvement, would stay logged in all night. I didn't do it to be a jerk, I did it because there was literally NO other way for me to be able to play the game unless I logged in at non-peak hours and stayed there (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em).
Once the maintenance cleared up the 1017 error and I was able to at least get in a queue, I stopped doing that.
Now that there is an AFK timer (which, by the way, 1/2 hour is VERY generous), I bet the queues will become even shorter. I really don't understand why anyone would complain about it. The whole "I am paying for this game, I should be able to be logged in whenever I want!!" just sounds bratty. No one in any other MMO that has had an AFK timer from the beginning has EVER complained about it.
Because there's nothing to complain about.

[Itchyness]

AFK should be implemented in open world and no afk timer once the person is already inside a dungeon. That would work out just fine.

[Virgil]

I personally don't understand why they added it the login issues have already let up immensely. If they had did this nearly 2 weeks ago I'd be all for it but its way too late now and serves little purpose other than to piss people off

[Violent_Vengeance]

AFK should be implemented in open world and no afk timer once the person is already inside a dungeon. That would work out just fine.

Going to have to go with a big NO for that. The last thing we need is people grouping up and logging off in the instance severs clogging those up.

[Stumbleina]

The problem with AFK Timers comes in during instances. I have had many times where an FC'er needs to take his kid to school or something, which means he's gone for 30 min. So all of us just take a 1quick break and come back. THis timer will prevent that, which is lame.

Yes, but if you know you need to take your kid to school, you should be planning your time better.
I wouldn't stay in an instance if someone said "OOPS NEED TO TAKE MY KID TO SCHOOL LOL BRB 30 MINS". No.

[Joshhoowah]

To answer your question, from what I’ve seen these are the main concerns.

1) People are concerned they will be logged out while waiting in duty finder. I don’t think anybody really knows if this will happen. SE might consider your character ‘active’ while registered in Duty Finder. Although I don’t idle while waiting in the Duty Finder, I understand this could be an inconvenience to people.
2) Some people don’t want to miss out of any LS/FC chatter and /tells when they AFK to run errands, make dinner, etc. For these people a half hour too short a time.
3) Others have gotten used to using MMOs as pseudo chat rooms for their LS. They want to come back from work and see what everyone has been up to. To the best of my knowledge this primarily an FFXI and FFIV v1.0ish thing. I know it was normal in FFXI since you had to AFK to bazaar stuff in town.

I’m sure some people want to hold their spot on the server, but nobody is openly stating this.