I'd like to take an extended break from the game, but...

[ADVSS]

I have ti agree if theres no discussion then nothing gets changed. No ideas are exchanged therefore nothing can be done to change things. If nothing else, the recurring threads should mean its a discussion that hasnt been resolved. Even if the op idea isnt perfect its a good cause of concern with examples given in previous posts, that something should be looked at.

[seekified]

The auto-demolition is there to prevent the limited housing plots from being occupied by people who don't play. I think that's fair.

The fact that housing is not unlimited is a problem, but considering it's one that they haven't solved yet, I'm assuming there's a significant underlying technical reason for why they can't do it, and something that would likely require a major redesign of the housing system as we know it. They're working with what they've got until there's a better option. The community cried out because all the housing plots were taken and not all of them were actually being used, which auto-demolition helps mitigate to some extent.

The only real fix here is making housing plots available to every single player who can afford them. Until they have the server capacity or the system redesign necessary to do that, I think it'll be next to impossible to satisfy everyone.

[alimdia]

It's very disappointing that they decide to continue using the flawed ward system for Shirogane when it's obvious the system isn't working.

At the very least they should increase the time before auto demolition kicks in.

ESO has less resources available to them and they still managed to make a housing system that blows ours out of the water, not only there's no limit of houses, you can buy as many as you can afford, you can have a house in every area if you want to. This is only possible thanks to instancing.

[Skivvy]

And before anyone says it, no, I couldn't have known when I bought a house that this would be the case, because our FC got one back when the director claimed he wouldn't put a timer on housing because he felt like it was a cheap way to make people keep playing.

Not disagreeing at all, but do you know where they had mentioned this? That would be a very interesting piece to read after the whole housing debacle. Houses are a huge investment, and that's a huge slap in the face if they did in fact renege on their initial promise.

[Zojha]

Not disagreeing at all, but do you know where they had mentioned this?

Supposedly live letter IX:
https://www.bluegartr.com/archive/in.../t-118689.html

You have to scroll down quite a bit to find the quotes - alternately, search for:"thing of the past" with your browser :P

Couldn't find a better source right away.

[Skivvy]

Supposedly live letter IX:
https://www.bluegartr.com/archive/in.../t-118689.html

You have to scroll down quite a bit to find the quotes - alternately, search for:"thing of the past" with your browser :P

Couldn't find a better source right away.

Thank you! That's pretty horrible in that case. Where are the pitchforks?

I'm baffled at the implementation of housing in this game. :/

[LineageRazor]

Yoshi P was definitely biting off a lot more than he could chew when it came to housing. I think he had a grand vision for housing that there simply was not enough resources to support. There was Free Company housing to start with, which wasn't too bad. It was expensive - but hey, you have a whole FC paying for it, so in that regard it was pretty reasonable. Yoshi P promised that player housing was coming soon, and that it would be cheaper than FC housing. I think he also said that it would be separate from FC housing. Obviously, that didn't happen; player housing was shoehorned into FC housing, without any drop in price and with WAY too few plots to accommodate everyone who wanted a house. I suppose he figured the high price would deter folks, but obviously that didn't happen (and would have irritated plenty of folks even if it did).

He also promised that housing would have no auto-demolition, which from the get-go was a stupid thing to promise when it comes to non-instanced housing. Even assuming enough housing was available for all past, present, and future players, the fact is that people leave the game permanently. Without auto-demolition, entire districts would become ghost towns of players who've left the game without any plans on coming back. Adding auto-demolition to the game was a smart thing to do to clean up these forever-gone players' houses - and the fact that it (very slightly) eased the housing shortage was a side benefit.

Honestly, I like the idea of non-instanced housing, but frankly, the gaming world is not ready for it to be done right. I'd like a single, massive zone with tens of thousands of plots - literally a city of player houses where you can wander for hours and take in the sights. It's a pipe dream for now, but maybe someday...

[Cabalabob]

Not disagreeing at all, but do you know where they had mentioned this? That would be a very interesting piece to read after the whole housing debacle. Houses are a huge investment, and that's a huge slap in the face if they did in fact renege on their initial promise.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ht=Live+letter

1:14:22
Q: Will there be any maintenance fees or other costs for housing, besides the cost of the land and house?

A: In older MMOs, such as Ultima Online, there was a house maintenance fee you had to pay weekly, but in FFXIV: ARR we decided against this system. Similarly, these older MMOs also had a system where your house would break down if you didn’t log in after a while in order to have you continue your subscription, but this is a thing of the past and we won't have any system like that.

[MomomiMomi]

I have no problem with auto-demolition. I have a problem with how short the timer is. If they made it longer, people who quit would still have their houses removed. But as it currently stands you can't even take more than a 1 month break.

I will say again, 95 days would be a great compromise.

[loreleidiangelo]

Pretty sure that YoshiP and the devs didn't want housing reclamation, but the poobahs at SE likely did. This is a company that deliberately does undersized print runs of all of their exclusive merchandise because they know that people won't spend egegrious amounts of money on things that are available all the time.

Reclamation just sucks, period. I don't know how anyone can be in defense of it as a system over a permanent solution to housing shortages as a whole.