Reclamation of Inactive Housing announced

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

And so? They are houses. They give free (for the most part?) houses to players, which is what people want. Are you really that picky?

Infact, JUST BECAUSE these are individual houses that we NOW have this problem: can you see what they have to do now for giving us plots? They have to reclaim those unused ones, because there's not enough for those who want it. They could always improve this system but instead they chose the worst possible decision, a decision that was initially revoked because people didn't want it. But I suppose people forgot it, so they tried again without telling anyone. Like those anti-piracy acts.

This is so wrong on so many levels...but so ingenious too: they took this problem at their advantage to make us house owners at least pay once in a while our sub. I would've let it go if it was, say, 3 months of inactivity (Being generous here: I'd give even more), because I doubt someone would come back that soon and when he does, he'll probably have a lot to catch up. But this way? Nope, you'll most likely have to at least pay once in a short while just to keep it up. Hat tip for that, Square Enix.

And also: yes I know this game was built up from a broken game...and as far as I'm concerned, we are into their first expansion and, SO FAR, nothing is really expanded. Big, open spaces with nothing to do and the same exact carbon copy method we had in 2.0. I think that you can see the tons of threads about people complaining on the game to see the "improvements" they did.

It was expanded. They took what was there, and added more. Anyone who thought the base game would change, when they never gave that impression, was delusional.

[Voltyblast]

It was expanded. They took what was there, and added more. Anyone who thought the base game would change, when they never gave that impression, was delusional.

Yeah, we call them patches: they give us more of the same, more content, more "stuff" and more story, and the main difference is that they're free.

I'm not expecting the base game to change, but to expand into various directions: possible skill improvements, new traits, skill customization, possibility of multi role for each job just to name a few.
But so far the game plays exactly like 2 years ago: still the same weekly caps, I still use the same rotations on the same jobs I played 2 years ago (minor differences here, but my monk and warrior still use the same base attacks with no real difference), I still see the same single boss raids from 2.X (why can't they make a raid like CT raids? Those are what I call a raid, in terms of exploring and size).

You're right on this: they definitely added more of the same exact thing and if that's your idea of expansion by all means, don't let me stop you. It's definitely not mine.

[Welsper59]

Yeah, we call them patches: they give us more of the same, more content, more "stuff" and more story, and the main difference is that they're free.

I'm not expecting the base game to change, but to expand into various directions: possible skill improvements, new traits, skill customization, possibility of multi role for each job just to name a few.
But so far the game plays exactly like 2 years ago: still the same weekly caps, I still use the same rotations on the same jobs I played 2 years ago (minor differences here, but my monk and warrior still use the same base attacks with no real difference), I still see the same single boss raids from 2.X (why can't they make a raid like CT raids? Those are what I call a raid, in terms of exploring and size).

You're right on this: they definitely added more of the same exact thing and if that's your idea of expansion by all means, don't let me stop you. It's definitely not mine.

Wait, I'm a little confused on what you consider an expansion. All expansions I have experience with was literally more of the same. All old school RTS expansions, like Brood Wars and FT? More of the same with new units and maps. Nothing noteworthy changed with existing elements of the game, just how you might incorporate the new units. Expansions for FFXI and WoW? More of the same initially. Completely new styles of content were rare and when finally released, were generally introduced sometime AFTER the expansion launched. Raids are almost always done in the same style. We're not exactly far into Heavensward to make the same type of comparisons... in fact, we're not even into the first major content patch yet. I'm curious about why you would conclude something else to be the norm right from the beginning, because I definitely have to disagree with you there.

[Voltyblast]

Wait, I'm a little confused on what you consider an expansion.

This is often subjective of course, that's why I simply summed it up in "this is your idea against my idea: nobody is really correct". But for me when I play an expansion I simply expect things to improve in different ways.

I am glad that the warrior got expanded: they're not fully fledged dps too and they couldn't better than ever. But they're still stuck in their tanking role: I wish I could go as dps but I can't. It's not really well expanded in my eye.

The weekly caps got no real change: why couldn't we have something different, or a way to get more gear within the cap? Or even better: why can't we swap our Eso gear for another job you want to use? I currently play warrior but I'm quite bored so I went monk: my monk won't be any good in the next month and a half, the approximate time that I get full exo.

The places got a big improvement, no doubt on that, but there's nothing to do in these big places: they're completely "empty". No I'm not saying that they're barren: there's nothing interesting to do aside fate grinding and hunting, which is also pointless (for now at least). Infact flying is also useless unless you are grinding: teleporting is quicker.

All I'm trying to say is that, this is just from my own opinion, the game feels the exact same: some improvements were made but no real pizza. It plays like 2.0 and while I know where this game comes from, after 2 years I kind of pretend some more innovation. The expansion, always in my opinion, just brought 3 new jobs, bigger (but empty) areas, and flying. And story, but I don't follow it.

In addition to this...

It's not being picky. You want glorified Inn rooms while we currently have entire neighborhood of 30 houses. Absolutly not the same thing.

I already answered les than two pages before your first post on the matter. Since you don't seem to follow the thread with a lot of attention, I'll quote myself:

But that would be a completly different design. You wouldn't have a neighborhood and all the "life" coming with it. It wouldn't be some kind of hub area but just a private thing only you will see and use.
I like my ward, the neighbors habits and wandering in the place to see what new stuff the neighbors added to their plot. Or even if a new FC arrived.

Yes, the actual system is very demanding in terms of technical ressources, but it add so much more flavor and value than a poor instantiated design you're suggesting.
You'd prefer a bland housing system but for everyone, rather than a flavorful but restricted one. I get where you're coming from, but not everyone think that way. Some people like that unique aspect to the current housing, even if it has quite a lot of issues.

Let me just ask one simple question: do you want something to work properly or not?

Of course the wards give "life", with neighbors walking around and stuff but this thread is just the proof of why this system, while good on some parts, it's terrible on so many others: I'm in the goblet but frankly I don't see anyone nearby me: my FC is dead (they're waiting for the patch), all of the neigbors are always away, and my house is literally in the center where the MB is. Opinion varies here, but it does feel empty for me, but glad to hear you're having it differently.

You are correct for sure: having an house gives me a good feeling of "life" with neighbors and whatnot, but even I admit that it's flawed to no end. However it doesn't work good enough to keep up "whatever" they're keeping up, to the point we are now essentially paying a sort of rent to keep our houses up. I would simply let it go if they could at least fulfill the demand but there's barely enough for 1% of the entire server. On top of that they're expensive too, but it seems that they give back 80% (why not full?) of the money spent which is something.

I can see that you like this system because you like where "you live in", but for some (and many) a house is simply an achievement that they want to share, which is also good. And whether that's bad or good it doesn't matter: what matters is that this method of housing isn't working and now they implemented an automatic relinquish after a certain time. All I'm saying is that, I would prefer a "bland" housing but that works fine, rather than this.

And whether you agree or not, it doesn't matter the least: this is what is going on right now and I assume that either they won't change it, or will after a long time.

I'll just lower my sub to intro I guess. :/