Forcing players to pay to keep housing is unfair.

[NaesakiAshwell]

In regards to the overall system, 45 days is a bit short, imo 60 days would be a nice compromise until the system changes.

The larger servers especially are well beyond breaking point now, supply just doesn't meet the demand.

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The real issue to me with housing is one account using all their alts to own several houses.
All they really need to do is change it so houses are shared on the account to alleviate that or even just limit a house to 1-2 per account.
I'm well aware this is a thoroughly beaten horse, but in my opinion its a very unfair system, so please no arguing this particular point because it has been beaten enough.

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I lost my house a while ago due to quite simply, burning out on the game, through every fault of my own.

I got completely swept up in the raiding scene by my raid obsessed friends and truthfully I didn't enjoy it at all but I went along as to not disappointment my friends who was so eager to do the raid content that it was infectious. But end result, they got bored and quit the game, left more or less alone as back then my BF was still very new and barely played/game hadn't gripped him yet. As much as it pained me that I didn't want to lose the house, I just couldn't justify a continuous sub for barely logging in to do anything.

6 months later, come back to my old plot now under the ownership of someone I hope enjoys it.

Was I sad about? Of course, but I got over it because end of the day, I stopped playing so its only right someone else gets to enjoy old my plot.

I've now saved up enough gil to more than get a small house in Shirogane when that chance arises, could potentially get medium, I've got a new love the game now that I re-evaluated my wants and needs in the game and I've found that I can't really burn out as such any more. Though at this point my boyfriend and his friends now play a great deal more and love the game to so that helps.

It sucks to anyone who's lost their house but honestly until SE change the system its just something for now that you need to get over despite how hard it might be.

If you're making a digital house such a massive priority in your life, then you really need to sit back and have a good long think.

[AstralKaos]

Guys. I have the answer. Since housing is causing such a problem, I feel the only solution is to remove it from the game entirely.

They absolutely should... and then not add it again until they do it right.

What's doing it right? Making a limited number of wards for those who want that "neighbour" feeling rubbish; then have individual plots of each size on a floating island/scenic field/beach inlet, etc - that's instanced.

That'll never happen though - it's too logical.

[HyoMinPark]

I'm not against the auto demolition system, but 45 days is too short, and either proposal to increase the timer or change the system so it takes into account whether your sub is active or not would be welcome over what we have right now.

The current system is punishing players for taking short breaks, and created a subset of this community with players who actively want to take housing away from other players.

Unfortunately, I feel like basing housing demolition off of active subscription isn't exactly the best idea because it's open for potential "abuse." I took a break around the holidays last year, and returned for 3.55a, but I'd left my sub active (I was really only planning to take off a week or two, but it ended up being longer, and I did sign in briefly for the Heavensturn event for like 20 minutes). So, what if someone decides that they want to take a 6 month break, but leave their sub active just to keep a house? Not only are they wasting money, but they're not even playing the game, much less using the house. And there are others that would just keep playing as normal, but not even use their house. I'm firmly against letting people just keep things that they aren't even using just because they want to keep it (yet, can't be arsed to even step into it every 44 days). Especially if the items are as limited as housing (which isn't the fault of any group of players, but a poor design choice on SE's side). I feel that the ones that decide to abuse that feature would just ruin it for the rest of the playerbase, regardless if the number is small or large.

How many days would you propose would be a good time frame? I think the 45 days is decent enough, but extending it to 60 could possibly also work. I think 90 would be pushing it; max I think should be 75. That's two and a half months. Plenty of time for those that just want to take a casual break from the game due to lack of content or burn out or whatever personal reason, and still maintain their estate.

People that are called away from the game due to extenuating circumstances for extended periods of time (be it work, deployment, illness, natural disaster, etc.)....I know none of that stuff is really within their control, but SE can't and shouldn't offer special catering to those individuals (that probably sounds cold, but that's not how I'm intending it to sound). Especially considering the player's leave time will vary based on circumstances (they could be away for six months on business, or be deployed overseas for a year or more), and why should SE cater to such varying lengths of time? It becomes unfair because not every player receives the same grace period on housing demolition.

If one person gets special treatment, then everyone will start to demand the same treatment. And if they don't get it, Reddit and the forum will blow up with threads complaining about it.

[Chevronone]

All the tears of the homeless in this thread...

[TarynH]

I could be hospital dying.

If you're in the hospital dying, I think you'd have more pressing things to worry about than losing your virtual house on FFXIV.

[alimdia]

Unfortunately, I feel like basing housing demolition off of active subscription isn't exactly the best idea because it's open for potential "abuse." [...]

Thing is those people are still paying the service just as if they were actively playing, their money is still funding the servers hosting these houses, in my head I see no difference between someone who keeps their sub active while on break, someone who only logs in to enter the house once every 45 days and someone who is actively playing but again only using their house maybe once a month.

As for the days, I think you're right that 75 is a nice spot.

[ShadowYomi]

Still on the side that if you have a active subscription the timer shouldn't start. And if they want to pay a subscription to keep a house let them. If people are unable to login but still pay for their subscription their house should not be removed.

Consider the psn players who could not be able to login due to psn being offline or having a messed up internet provider or the platform they play on needing to be repaired.
Also since ps3 support is ending soon it may take time for people to get a ps4 or a decent pc.

[Vhailor]

You don't wanna pay? There's other people who would pay to have your house. In a world where housing is limited, there is no such thing as fair or unfair for you. As much as I hate the word, entitlement is what I smell from this post.

I'm sorry that money is tight though but the reality is the reality.

Edit: I'm saying this as someone who owns a house.

The problem is that housing is limited. It never should have been, and accepting that as a matter of course is giving SE a giant pass on their incompetent implementation.

Unless you bought you house before December 2015, can't really say I feel sorry for you. It not exactly a secret and based on your forum post count doesn't look like you new to the forums either. Which there ton of threads about this, bringing me back to the point that housing reclaim timer not some kind of secret.

It's not a secret that airlines can kick you off the plane if they overbook, either; that doesn't mean it's proper or fair. SE being up-front about a shitty and unnecessary policy should not exempt them from angry responses, nor should it preclude us from sympathizing with those who suffer under the policy.

[HyoMinPark]

Thing is those people are still paying the service just as if they were actively playing, their money is still funding the servers hosting these houses, in my head I see no difference between someone who keeps their sub active while on break, someone who only logs in to enter the house once every 45 days and someone who is actively playing but again only using their house maybe once a month.

We'll just have to respectfully disagree on this point, I'm afraid. If a player is only going to use their house once a month, why even invest so much gil into it, or even own it in the first place? Like with the OP, if someone is going to invest millions of gil into an estate, I would hope that they would use it more than just once a month. Even if it's just a spot to AFK in while they go make dinner or something. I'm still of the frame of mind that if people aren't going to actively use their housing, perhaps they should let those that will have it, and opt for a different housing choice (like an apartment, however underwhelming they may be). And that's not me being bitter that I don't have an estate of my own. I just don't see the point in owning something that you aren't even going to use.

Still on the side that if you have a active subscription the timer shouldn't start. And if they want to pay a subscription to keep a house let them. If people are unable to login but still pay for their subscription their house should not be removed.

Consider the psn players who could not be able to login due to psn being offline or having a messed up internet provider or the platform they play on needing to be repaired.
Also since ps3 support is ending soon it may take time for people to get a ps4 or a decent pc.

With regards to the end of PS3 support, that was announced months ago, giving people plenty of time to upgrade to PS4, purchase a PS4, or switch over/purchase a PC to play FFXIV on instead. And sure, PSN is notorious for having issues, but I don't think there has ever been an instance where it was unavailable for 45 consecutive days (the most I believe was around 20 days or so back in 2011, which was before this game we play was even released). If something so extreme like that were to occur, considering there is a considerable amount of players on PS4, I would think SE would at least extend a courtesy similar to what they did with the earthquakes in Japan to the entire playerbase.

As for ISP, I would hope that if someone had consecutive internet/connection problems for 30 days or more, that they would consider switching providers. And I don't think computer/PlayStation repairs would take the full 45 days, so that's also a bit of a stretch there. At the very least, if keeping their house was so important, they could probably find an alternative method to logging in to reset the timer (i.e., perhaps going to a friend's house and asking to install FFXIV on said platform of choice in order to log in and reset the timer).


People keep bringing up these individual situations, but I don't think that SE should have to cater to these individual needs. They need to either cater to the playerbase as a whole (like they did when they suspended the demolition timer for EVERYONE), or not at all. Why do so many people want special treatment, and why do they think SE should give it to them? I'm not trying to sound cold or callous, but some of the things listed here would be so isolated in occurrence that it doesn't necessitate changing the system for that reason.

Should housing be readjusted in this game? Absolutely. I'm not saying that the housing system in FFXIV is without flaws. What I'm saying is that some of the reasons listed in this thread just don't hold enough ground to be the reason for that change.

[Dualgunner]

We'll just have to respectfully disagree on this point, I'm afraid. If a player is only going to use their house once a month, why even invest so much gil into it, or even own it in the first place? Like with the OP, if someone is going to invest millions of gil into an estate, I would hope that they would use it more than just once a month.

My issue is busybody thinking like this. Whatever someone does with something they invested millions to tens of millions of gil into is nobody's business but their own. Fact of the matter is, they allocated their time and resources into getting that house, and they got it before any competition managed it. In my mind 'fair' stops factoring into the equation after that point and it becomes a game of haves vs have nots.