Housing abandoned plots, this is needed SE!!! Thank you!

[Syrehn]

So why not delete all n-months un-subbed characters instead of just delete their houses?
by doing this, all associated properties (i.e. the house everyone looking at) will be removed automatically,
moreover, not only the house, in accordance with current system, their FC and the FC house will be deleted as well when all members are deleted, it also helps everyone clean up their LS/Frd List/Black List.
Of course, let these players restore their characters when they re-sub, hopefully there will be some compensation for losing the house.

This has been mentioned before but for a brief run-down... deleting inactive characters is not even close to the same thing as removing an active housing resource from an inactive player. Houses are loaded all the time, inactive characters are not. Additionally letting inactive houses sit for months/years also negatively effects other players who would use that resource.

There isn't a need to delete un-subbed characters as they aren't putting the same strain on the infrastructure as an active housing plot in a ward. What they're planning to do with what appears to be some sort of decay timer fills the need for recycling unused houses without deleting anyone's character.

Deleting characters isn't the best method to clean up a LS/FRD List/Black List either. However, I would like to add that a mass remove option (are you listening SE... MASS REMOVE) for those lists would be incredibly helpful, especially for Black lists.

[Valaska]

snip.

Reductio ad absurdum, a lot of people here don't understand how to counter point properly and they simply resort to reductio ad absurdum. They can't properly counter why there should not be a decay timer and they start reaching to the furthest extremes they can think of to try and place those extremes on the same level as a reasonable and just system such as a decay timer.

"Why don't you delete their accounts!"

If you find yourself posting this, YOU are resorting to one of the lowest forms of debate and would get you ejected from a competitive debate in a second, its not even a warned offense you simply get ejected now adays. This is a question of people who don't play the game inadvertently robbing active paying customers from features and causing an impact to the stability of the game's servers etc.

[Valaska]

they're certainly not "hemorrhaging" positions and equipment. The heck did you get that idea? - at least know what you're talking about with the other game you're trying to disparage.

Sorry to double post but there's that ridiculous low character count!

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/23/70...tudios-layoffs

CS has been selling off not only equipment but cutting jobs en mass due to development costs and poor profitability. The decor limit isn't a good solution, its a desparate scramble to drum up more paying members under the farce of "more features!" They'll continue to lose money for foolishly expanding features in area's that literally hurt the rest of the experience. BUT with the sharp decline in actual connected players maybe they have the bandwith to play with.

[Naunet]

You do realize that article is from a YEAR ago, right? Almost to the date. A year. Around the time when WS hit its lowest. Since Dec/Jan the game has been steadily improving. They've continued to release patches, changes, new features, improvements, and housing is one of WS's banner features. They have quite possibly the BEST housing system in the entire MMO market. I can make a mystical tree house, or a creepy cave, or a dense, soggy jungle, or a mechanic shop/junkyard, or a high class estate with a villa and bathhouse and very classy interior. This is FFXIV's competition in housing. And they're not alone. Rift also has very similar housing, with decor limits in the multiples of thousands, and Rift is not exactly a struggling game. How do games do this? Instanced housing and actually good coding.

You say foolish, but the community surrounding WS's housing says perfect.

SE's housing system is bottom of the barrel. It's awful. There's so much good about this game, but housing? It's an embarrassment.

[Valaska]

That hasn't stopped the studio that is developing from cutting more jobs in the meantime which they have, and being considered rolled into one skeleton like developmentteam. Having the best system doesn't mean a thing in the MMO market to be frank with you, APB had hands down the BEST character creator. Darkfall hands down had the BEST clan warfare system. Age of Conan had hands down the BEST nudi- *ahem.*

SE's housing system is fine, multiple games run with limited plots and it has a competitive, end goal like air about them. When you have a house it MEANS something and there are meaningful rewards to them. The difference with the systems that work? Decay timers or otherwise systems so they won't be exploited and held by abandoned non paying customers.

[Nicobo]

...Decay timers or otherwise systems so they won't be exploited and held by abandoned non paying customers.

Obviously you know nothing about previously what timer SE was going to implemented and objected by a lot of paying customers.
Better save my breathe. ^^;

[Nicobo]

...
"Why don't you delete their accounts!"
...

Why delete ppl account? Just delete the inactive characters. And they are allowed to restore their characters when return.
Anyway I think deleting characters is a complete solution but it may hurt some ppl's selfish self-entertaining suggestion.

[Valaska]

Just delete the inactive characters.

Oh no I know the previous timer well enough and saw the backlash, and now I am seeing the backlash against not having the timer! The only difference being the people not wanting a timer give no feasible, viable or otherwise practical solutions... Add more servers, that's basically telling someone to buy an entire new car instead of replacing the brakes. Add more wards... Well that's going to choke the game servers and gameplay making the game unreliable in places it matters most!

Deleting a character is more attacking a persons "sacred" ground, though some MMO's have done it to keep data clean so it does make some sense I will grant you that much. But its VERY different from letting a house lapse, where accounts and characters are controlled by population limits so we don't supersede what SE can handle, houses are limited similarly yet unlike accounts or characters makes them no money!

[Naunet]

Oh no I know the previous timer well enough and saw the backlash, and now I am seeing the backlash against not having the timer! The only difference being the people not wanting a timer give no feasible, viable or otherwise practical solutions... Add more servers, that's basically telling someone to buy an entire new car instead of replacing the brakes. Add more wards... Well that's going to choke the game servers and gameplay making the game unreliable in places it matters most!

Why do you think that removing a few dozen inactive houses is going to have ANY significant effect more than adding more wards or servers? The reality is that NONE of those things will actually help. There is only one solution for everyone to have a house.

[Valaska]

Why do you think that removing a few dozen inactive houses is going to have ANY significant effect more than adding more wards or servers? The reality is that NONE of those things will actually help. There is only one solution for everyone to have a house.

In Ward 1 of Lamia 8 of the houses alone are empty. Several are accounts that haven't logged in for months. I went to a couple other wards and some have upwards of 10+ empty houses. I think you are underestimating how many houses are abandoned, or how many are held by the same person on different accounts! Adding new servers and more wards would have more impact, but it would also cost more money to Square Enix and more maintenance work, more staff, more issues with the games core functions!

If money and equipment were non issues, you would be more than correct! But what happens when those wards get filled with abandoned accounts? What about the teleporting bots claiming them etc?