When will you really address the housing availability problem?

[Miah_G]

I really don't think the time they give players to use a house before its reclaimed is a ploy to get them to re-sub. It might serve that purpose as well in some cases, but I don't think its the intent.

Sometimes people run into money issues and cant pay a sub, or other real world issues keep them from logging in (moving, job, school projects, family, tragedies and so on). For example, if I had something come up IRL and I couldn't pay a sub for a month, I'd feel really cheated if I were to lose something as large as a my FF14 house and knowing that its gone... well, it may serve as a deterrent for me returning at all.

People shouldn't be able to be un-subbed or inactive for long periods of time and still be able to retain their house, however. The houses need maintenance and housing plots are limited in supply (thats just the way it is at the moment). It would be unfair if once bought, the plot belongs to its owner until the end of time no matter what. Thank goodness there's a month and a half of inactivity allowed before the house is placed on the market again.

The current system isn't perfect, but its the step in the right direction, I feel.

[Gyson]

I really don't think the time they give players to use a house before its reclaimed is a ploy to get them to re-sub. It might serve that purpose as well in some cases, but I don't think its the intent.

While I don't know how it's working in FFXI now, it's worth pointing out that for several years following FFXI's launch SE only guaranteed keeping your character data intact for 90 days following the lapse of your subscription (which is a *lot* worse than losing your house). My friends and I all lost our FFXI characters during a one year hiatus we took from the game (and I doubt my newest character even exists there anymore). So, this is not the first time they've used this tactic to encourage subscription payments from inactive players.