Reclamation of Inactive Housing announced

[FriendlyUncle]

If you think SE is letting the XIV team keep even a tenth of those profits, you have no idea how a large conglomerate business works.

All profits from XIV are remitted back to SE, and SE then apportions them back a chunk of them in the form of a yearly budget. The XIV team was lucky that they're not officially paying off 1.0 (they wrote that investment off) - if that was the case, the game would still be in the red.

As it is, they're profitable to the company, but SE does not and will never let them keep 100% of the money from monthly subscriptions.

SE just pulled of a full data center move in less than a day, I would hardly argue that they are under that tight of budget constraints, especially since they are all ready half way through their fiscal year.

[Catwho]

SE just pulled of a full data center move in less than a day, I would hardly argue that they are under that tight of budget constraints, especially since they are all ready half way through their fiscal year.

That was good fortune and luck and also probably the majority of their entire FY 2015 hardware budget.

[Yeldir]

All of you against this change are self-centered crybabies with monstrous senses of entitlement. Wards are non-instanced content, and this means they are (compared to instanced, personal housing) expensive to host and maintain. You want SE to pay to host the homes of non-paying, non customers? Do you have any idea what that would do to FFXIV's budget as a whole? Do you think server towers grow on trees? Those funds you want pissed away should be used to develop and maintain new content, not burned on people who aren't even paying for the game!

[RiceisNice]

As much as I'm glad they are finaly doing something about the housing situation this is just a bandaid and a bad one at that. Other than the first clean wave of totally unsubed characters getting their houses wiped I doubt this will effect the wards much at all.

I don't think anyone, or even SE themselves, had said that this is the end-all fix to housing issues. It's not. I don't recall it ever being mentioned as that. It's a step in the right direction in some aspects, as far as freeing up houses from people who can't be bothered to log in once every 45 days.

[Eidolon]

All of you against this change are self-centered crybabies with monstrous senses of entitlement. Wards are non-instanced content, and this means they are (compared to instanced, personal housing) expensive to host and maintain. You want SE to pay to host the homes of non-paying, non customers? Do you have any idea what that would do to FFXIV's budget as a whole? Do you think server towers grow on trees? Those funds you want pissed away should be used to develop and maintain new content, not burned on people who aren't even paying for the game!

So what do you say to someone who is paying a monthly fee for the game... Who doesn't go into their house in 45 days and loses their house while paying a monthly fee?

[FriendlyUncle]

Speaking as someone who owns an L personal house, I seriously have zero problems with the system. I get there's a demand, and with my RL work that I do, I get how much bullshit goes on in terms of higher ups not allocating appropriate funding to departments that do the most work (but bend over for ones that don't because of public opinion). Logically, it doesn't make sense... but consumer logic has very little to do with the world of business and how a companies funds are allocated. Having said this, I own up to accountability in light of the situation that we players are in.

You also make the opinion that 45 days is the game breaking, if you are gone that long SE shouldn't give a shit about ever wanting your money back right? SE doesn't need/want money, right guys? No, they should be trying to get us to bring our asses back to the game. 45 is going to work on of two ways for people who have homes, it makes them feel TRAPPED into paying the sub and never taking a break. Yes, for some people this is more than the 16 hours they work/sleep or the weekend, shocker. And then you have the other type who also feel trapped, and the appeal of losing their home due to an absence pushes them towards leaving permanently rather than taking a break from the game. They do have more to lose, a lot more because they put time into a system that will not function the way it is needed to.

I've said it before and I'll do it again. We will see a single wave of houses being removed come Christmas, housing will be gone immediately and we will back here yet again bitching about no available plots. Then people who felt like they are being cheated and forced to play to keep their house will either stick with it, or say to hell with it and just quit. Walking away with their subs which is another loss for SE with an additional bonus of their house being gone should they ever decide to return giving them more incentive to never resub again.

Then you will see one last wave of houses go up three months later, again bought immediately. And then after that it will be dry, the only people hanging around with homes are people 100% dedicated to the game, people who will just keep playing because they fear loosing their homes, or people buying and holding them on alts for whatever reason. Housing freeing will be slow running from there on. So there is your solution. An extremely limited portion of houses being freed up over a 6 month period, in which they will last less than a week and then we will have come full circle to not having enough housing plots and need to spend more money and develop another plan when they could have just gone with an instanced housing addition with this change(Which other mmo's and games have used and proved works very effectively) instead of delaying an actual fix and spending additional development costs of multiple 'fixes'

If I'm inactive for 45 days, I know what I'm getting in to and what results of this (due to limitations and demand by the players, our peers). I'm more amazed that there's the 80% cost recovery for the plot. Speaking from my own situation, if I quit for 45+ days, it's because I'm done. I'm willing to bet an overwhelming majority of players would be in the same standing on the matter, where they are not in a situation that sub cost means going homeless sort of thing. In light of the problems players face now, the solution is simply one that you take into account for your actions. If you're done with a game, why the hell would you give a damn about something not being there if you have no foreseeable intentions of returning? SE, and thus the players, hardly need to think about such fickle consumers. Great if they come back, but they're not going to bank on that over already existing subscribers.

Mind you, I'm not saying this system is perfect, but it's just something they want to try. And again, from my own standing... I'd say I have more to lose on the matter than most players, in terms of costs spent and time investment for the housing situation.

I couldn't disagree more. FallOut 4 comes out, you think I want to have to keep my sub and run to my house at least once a month to keep it? Fuck no, I'd rather take the break and play FO4 until I'm bored. Come back and not have to worry about my shit being gone because I wanted a break from the grind for a little bit. I've been subbed to this gave for over 2 years iirc. It's a slap in the face after giving them all this money, plus the CE reservation for FFXIV before that horrid beta was even out, now I can't leave or risk the company house that I put a shit load of work into with my fiance and small group or friends.

This is on top of the new issue with EU data center move and unexpected latency during off peak hours, meaning I might have to transfer my character if I want to be able to play at any meaningful level where yet again, I lose my house AND I do not get that sweet 80% return on cost. So what the shit? Hell yeah the ward looks nice, do I need it for my purposes? No. How many people randomly wander over to my corner of the map and see my house? For that matter how many people do you see in your at the nearest market board on average because in mine it is extremely rare if I see another soul near my houses 'block'

I want an instanced house, because it can be moved just as easily as character data albeit larger.

[RiceisNice]

So what do you say to someone who is paying a monthly fee for the game... Who doesn't go into their house in 45 days and loses their house while paying a monthly fee?

They snooze, they lose? Everyone is paying a monthly fee.

If both people are paying monthly fees, are they both not at equal oppertunities (and thus, equal risk) of losing their housing? They're paying for at least of two months of sub and can't find a time to log in for a minute in the 45 day period, that's more than enough time for you to find some way to log in if housing was that important to you.

[AeraLure]

So what do you say to someone who is paying a monthly fee for the game... Who doesn't go into their house in 45 days and loses their house while paying a monthly fee?

They deserve to lose it? Honestly, because that is ridiculous. Log in once during that time for 2-3 minutes or teleport over to your house once in those 45 days if you are playing but don't use the house. If they are paying and for some reason can do neither of those things due to military service or extenuating circumstances, then a family member could.

The bigger issue I have with the whole thing is, for the investment, 45 days or you lose your house is too short. It should be 90 days, just like the development cycle. On top of that, they failed to address a potentially bigger problem, which is housing owned by alts. It really should be one house per one account, given how limited it is. When new plots open up it's almost a guarantee many will be picked up by alts.

[DeceptionsWrath]

I must've imagined a lot of posts if no one ever asked for a reclamation system.

I also saw quite a few about having bigger butts and where did that get us? Bigger butts doen't really help SE, but making property people paid for get cleared out and resold seems to be their fix to the housing issues. Just yet another bad decision in a long line of bad decisions. "Stay subbed or lose your house". Goes perfect with the greed SE has been showing the past year with this game.

[Eimian_Eda]

You are not paying for the right to have a house, if that was the case everyone that pays a sub would have a house.

If I have already bought my house and am currently paying for the game, how am I not paying to keep my house?
What kind of logic is that?