If no one access a FC house in 35 Days you lose everything! Coming Patch 2.3 ><

[Craiger]

Here are some actual examples of not-especially-dramatic times various members of my FC have not been able to log-in for 35-day periods.

1) A & B went on a 40 day road-trip overseas, left PS3 at home (wouldn't have worked anyway, that whole voltage and PAL vs NTSC thing).
2) C had a study-abroad term, also left PS3 at home.
3) D bought a new flat, ISP service continually bungled reconnection because it was a new-build block and they couldn't figure out the wiring. It wasn't a major problem because they had mobile wireless but you can't install the launcher to an iPhone.
4) E's city got hit by the mother of all blizzards, ice damaged their outside wiring and their ISP was overwhelmed by other incidents and took forever to get around to fixing theirs. A friendly neighbour let them piggy-back off their wireless signal but there wasn't enough bandwidth between them to run the game without being a jerk about it.

Granted, this didn't happen all at once but there's no reason it couldn't have. Life happens.

This is a game.

Asking a group of people to make a serious long-term and constant commitment to the game to keep their group's progression isn't fun and it's a good way to make sure that when they drop their subscriptions they won't be coming back with the next patch.

Having to come up with a story like this to make it justified for a FC to be absent 35 days, is proof enough that this isn't a problem.... Also, 4 people in the whole FC ? and they have a FC house ?

They could maybe increase the days to 40-50 to be on the safe side, but still... If your whole FC can't log in even once during 35 days, then the FC is dead....

Even if your whole FC for some reason isn't home for 35 days (why??), at least one could log in, either with a laptop, or from an internet café or something....

Point is, that FC's can easily find solutions to this problem, and if they can't bother with those solutions, then they might as well give up the plot to someone who will use it better.

[Miburo]

So many tools...

You don't need a reason to not be able to log on. What if your free company just wanted to take a break or play another game together? Someone shouldn't have to keep subscribed every month to make sure their large in-game investment doesn't get taken from them for no good reason. It's just plain stupid.

A FC full of close-knit bros might go play another game for a few months and then come back to the game when a new patch hits. Sure, SE loses out on those subscriptions for a couple of months, but that's all they lose. If they come back to having something they put effort into being taken away from them though, they might say 'screw it' and play a game that isn't run by dbags instead. Who is more likely to unsubscribe for good? The guys who had their house (Which are a pain in the ass to acquire) taken away, or some dude who thinks "Lol lyke no one is using that plot for over a month, that upsets me for some reason derp-a-herp"? They're not doing ANYONE any favors here. It's just an idiotic proposed system.

Now I know some of you have very flimsy grasps of logic and think that this is good because it frees up space or whatever for other people to get houses. But guess what? SE could just add more wards. Why can't they? They can afford more servers and developers who can actually set-up and run things better. So why not? The options were never choose between either take people's stuff away after a short amount of time of inactivity or no houses for everyone else. False dilemma, look it up.

Not saying they shouldn't free up current wards at all, ever. 90 days would make a lot more sense considering that's around the time between major content updates, and is just a more reasonable amount of time. They could also add a way for people that know they're going to take a break to sell back their plots and building permits so they can get compensated, at least partially, so they're not getting completely boned. "But people will still complain that it is too short..." That's not an argument. Why not make it 8 hours then? People will complain either way, after all. Some time frames are still more reasonable then others. 90 days coincides with major content updates, at least. About a month coincides with...hmmm, subscription charges? Does SE really want to make it seem like this is just a ploy to keep people subscribed indefinitely with threat of punishment? That makes them look incompetent, because if they were good at making a game people would just stay subscribed because the game is full of enjoyable content and they wouldn't need to resort to such pathetic tactics like this.

[Xystic]

A FC full of close-knit bros might go play another game for a few months and then come back to the game when a new patch hits.

Diablo 3. We'll be back in 2.3 maybe even 2.4.

[Naunet]

If your whole FC can't log in even once during 35 days, then the FC is dead

No. An FC is "dead" if no one logs in ever again.

[Taruranto]

Eh, I can see why it bothers people, but It doesn't bother me that much. If NO MEMBER at all doesn't use the house for over 1 month then that FC is probably dead. They could extent the period though, maybe 3 months or 4.

I just hope they won't pull the same thing for personal housing, now that would be silly.

[Skyhound]

Also, 4 people in the whole FC ? and they have a FC house?

This quote alone completely discredits you and shows how much of a tool you really are. My FC only has four people and we own a house in the first ward of Mist. It didn't even take all of us saving up to buy it. U mad bro?

No matter what, this idea is stupid for smaller FC's with the small houses. The price for the small house is perfect for a four man FC to be able to purchase, but it's four man FC's that are more likely to end up not logging on for that time. Is it unlikely that ALL four people won't be able to log in at once for 30 days? Yes, it's very unlikely. However, SE as a company has to account for the incredibly unlikely. That's what running a business is about.

Also, the "People who can actually log on for 30 days at a time, deserve it more" argument is plain idiotic. There isn't even anything you can do with your house as of right now, so it makes no difference who gets it. SE just doesn't want to set up more instance servers, it's plain laziness.

[givemeraptors]

Here are some actual examples of not-especially-dramatic times various members of my FC have not been able to log-in for 35-day periods...

Granted, this didn't happen all at once but there's no reason it couldn't have. Life happens.

All perfectly valid, but the catch is that they have to happen to EVERYONE in that FC. Now I could see how this could be a problem for 2-4 person FCs comprised of people who might go abroad/on a road trip together, but in that case simply park your character in your FC house and give a friend the responsibility of logging in once every 35 days. Millions of people entrust living, flesh and blood animals with their friends and acquaintances, I don't think it would be too much of a burden to give the care of your virtual avatar to a friend.

[Jonny_Tapas]

Hmmm... Merchant and Mender in my house, FC chest in my house, Market Board and Summoner Bell right outside of my house. Garden Right outside of my house....

I wana say I teleport here about 7 or 8 times every game session and almost always run into 1 or 2 FC mates... and I swear I have the least active FC on the planet!

How/Why would your entire Free Company possibly abandon your house for 35 days?

[Craiger]

This quote alone completely discredits you and shows how much of a tool you really are. My FC only has four people and we own a house in the first ward of Mist. It didn't even take all of us saving up to buy it. U mad bro?

No matter what, this idea is stupid for smaller FC's with the small houses. The price for the small house is perfect for a four man FC to be able to purchase, but it's four man FC's that are more likely to end up not logging on for that time. Is it unlikely that ALL four people won't be able to log in at once for 30 days? Yes, it's very unlikely. However, SE as a company has to account for the incredibly unlikely. That's what running a business is about.

Also, the "People who can actually log on for 30 days at a time, deserve it more" argument is plain idiotic. There isn't even anything you can do with your house as of right now, so it makes no difference who gets it. SE just doesn't want to set up more instance servers, it's plain laziness.

Calling me a tool for no reason is what I call being a tool.... I said nothing that could offend you or something....

All I meant with only 4 members, was that there are very few FC's around that have that few member and still have FC house, and to make up a story around how those 4 are all unable to log in for over month seems a little far fetched, that is all... No need to go calling people names.

The only reason for a FC (whatever size) to not be able to log in for 35 days, is if everyone takes a break at the same time... I mainly answered based on what people said about being unable to log in because of trips or whatever, but taking a break is another thing.

I think they can increase the time for that reason, but they have to have some type of restriction going forward into the game. If you take a break longer than 2 months, then you don't play anymore in other words....

[Velox]

This sucks, I had a 35 day vacation planned. Thanks for ruining it SE
Now I have to settle on 34 days...I might as well just cancel it altogether. Not even worth it at this point. T_T
/sarcasm

has to account for the incredibly unlikely. That's what running a business is about.

Actually, statistically they are called "outliers" and are usually discarded before calculating a best-fit because they can skew results.