Forcing players to pay to keep housing is unfair.

[Alleo]

Thank you, hearing things like "The day I lose my house because I don't get on 45 days is my last day." is absolutely ridiculous to me when the rules are all laid out quite plainly. You can take valid issue with the system all you like but everyone choosing to have a house and then complaining is asinine. You don't need and never needed that house.

I bought my house when there was no timer implemented also Yoshida himself said that they wont ever implement such a timer since its something from the old days of MMOs and went back on his words because they somehow are not able or willing to change their fault system. So sorry for complaining about something that should not have come and would take the consequences of it if I lose my house.

Like others have said I am still completely baffled that people are attacking other players because they want a change of this bad system instead of looking at the real culprit that is SE. I mean they straight up lied to us about this.

There are way enough examples of current MMOs that do it different and may even have less players. We, as the customers, also posted enough solutions to the problem. Heck they could just leave the current system in the old zones for all those people that love these wards and just create the instanced housing in the new Doma zone. They had more than enough time to change it, yet instead they choose to punish their player base and its seems that there are enough people that support this..I mean its not only that you still need to pay your sub even if you take a break, no they also made it so that you need to log in too..

They could have chosen a timer of 90 days which would mean that someone could take breaks between each patch (and lets remember that Yoshida himself said that breaks are completely alright..). But right now if I want to take of maybe two months (which is really not that long if you play for years) I not only have to pay at least one full month thanks to the short timer..no I also have to remember to log in at least once. So in a way I not only just pay money for something that I am not even using, I also have to find a way to log into the game too. (I mean maybe someone wants just to take a break thanks to some stuff in real life and maybe travel around a bit..its not that easy to then log into the game)

I mean if this solution would at least be something really effective..but other than maybe after the first round of this timer I barely see open houses on Moogle. Maybe I am always looking at the wrong time but over the last few months I only saw like one big house and maybe a small that where open..which is around the same amount that I saw without a timer. Because even if the houses are all just owned by active players there are not enough houses for everyone, at least on the bigger servers. And even after saying that they will increase the numbers of apartments they did not do that for Balmung and other servers even after they were all sold out..really I am just shocked how they are handling housing...and seeing how we get more and more housing items to craft or as a price from an event..and yet only a small number can even use that..

[LalaRu]

Whoever got his house demolished, will get back 80% of the Gil spent for the estate ground and get back all and every furniture that wasn't bound on placement.

YOU
GET
BACK
80%
OF
YOUR
GIL

Demolishment has been implemented to give back the players the unused housing. And the game's rules are if you don't use it, you don't need it.

Then, the demolish happens after 45 days off, it means one month break still allowed without any consequencies.

Whoever crying about not able to take a little break from game, have a quite personal definition of "little". One month is little. And house does not breaks.

Demolish paused when unsubbed is a no go. What if you change mind and will take six months of break? And why not, never sub again? House permanently locked there? No good for who is playing the game, imo.

[Reinha]

However, the vast number of people who are screaming, "WE SUPPORT THE TIMER." would rather just think of themselves rather then the game and it player base as a whole. This of course with the few people who support the timer but also would like to see an overhaul to the system, but there seems to be very few people in that respect.

I'm a houseowner and I support the timer because it's better for the player base as a whole than not having one. To me it seems the people who want the timer removed are the ones thinking just for themselves, because they want to take indefinitely long breaks and don't care about the impacts of having more and more houses abandoned by those who don't return. Any shared/limited content must be able to be recycled to active players.

I also don't want to see an overhaul to the system (I will never support content being removed), but rather additional wards, Ishgard wards and also instanced houses of all sizes (no timer) with a yard included.

[Alleo]

The stuff from our houses are still only saved for a certain amount of time and after that are destroyed. Also why only get back 80% of the Gil? Its a virtual good..why not get back 100%?
Also if someone plans to play a game for years..one month is not much.

The problem is also that the demolish is not paused even if you have a active subscription since you need to log into the game too. So if someone needs to get abroad for maybe three months he will still lose his house even if he pays three months..how is that fair? Why do we decide if someone does need or not need a house? Why are we completely alright with punishing players for something they might not even wanted to happen? If SE has thought their system through none of this would even be a problem..yet they created that horrible housing system that will always leave the majority of the people without housing...even having a timer of one week inactivity would not solve that problem..but as long as the players are fine with punishing others than why should SE even change the system?

Someone might have bought a big house for themselves before the timer..they put millions of Gil in it which had to be earned before that, played the game for years, always stayed subbed, bought merchandise and much more..and because they landed in the hospital for months thanks to an accident they will lose the house since even if they still pay the sub in the time they are not able to have someone log in for them..well that fair right? I mean how dare that person got hurt and not log in for some time..

Yes there might be some people that will never come back and will block that house, but they just could have simply made the timer much more longer..half a year without a sub would be a nice indicator if someone is still playing this game or not (at least two patches would be out at that time) and if the person still pays their sub..why exactly would SE care if they are logging in or not? Why would you care? Heck even if someone is subbed and visit their house once each 45 days they could barely do anything with it.

Its also completely telling to see some people post for pro timer that at the same time already said that they own multiple houses...how about a solution to that? How many houses would finally be free if every person could only own one personal and one FC house per world? (And not be able to buy those too on their alts) How many FCs own multiple houses just for wanting them to sell..yet its probably better to just punish someone that owns one house, worked hard for it, wants to keep it and just wants to take one break for the game or even was forced to take a break thanks to some real life stuff..

Really I am just shocked how harsh and punishing this community can be...

I'm a houseowner and I support the timer because it's better for the player base as a whole than not having one. To me it seems the people who want the timer removed are the ones thinking just for themselves, because they want to take indefinitely long breaks and don't care about the impacts of having more and more houses abandoned by those who don't return. Any shared/limited content must be able to be recycled to active players.

I also don't want to see an overhaul to the system (I will never support content being removed), but rather additional wards, Ishgard wards and also instanced houses of all sizes (no timer) with a yard included.

But the problem is that we are not even talking about indefinitely long breaks..we are talking about taking breaks that are longer than 45 days...which is not even two months..If SE said that they would make a timer of half a year without being subbed than way more people would understand that and if they at the same time said that they will introduce personal instanced limitless housing soon than I can say that barely anyone would complain..but right now we already know that 4.0 housing will be the same as before so even after all the time they do not plan to fix this system. They had years to change it and yet the only solution is punishing those that might want or need a break and at the same time introducing the limited apartments where they also did not increase the amount after they were sold out..(so many broken promises regarding housing..)

I also want the timer removed but I do not plan to take a xx break. I just dont find it fair and kinda lazy from SE..Also I might not know how many houses opened up thanks to the timer on other servers but at least on Moogle you barely see houses open up and I am someone that checks it every time I log in. And even if they open up they are gone really fast because even if you have to be active each week to keep your house there would never be enough houses for ever active player..especially since people can still buy them with alts.

The timer is no real solution to the problem...its only a bad band aid which wont change the overall situation much and yet punish those that genuinely want to continue playing the game but just need to take a break or are forced too..

[NaesakiAshwell]

I also don't want to see an overhaul to the system (I will never support content being removed)

Why does an overhaul automatically equate to content being removed? You mentioning additional wards and the introduction of Ishgard wards along with instanced housing would technically come under the definition of an overhaul. :P

In ideal world they would change the system so its instanced / everyone can own a house.
(But since SE aren't really speaking about housing in this regard at all, I don't really hold much hope of this ever happening, so the Timer system will continue to remain for valid reasons.)

But if they are adamant to stick with the current system, I can only hope they either expand the amount of wards to 20 for each housing area (That must be enough surely to meet the demands for most of the servers?) especially if they add in Isghard housing to. (Unless you're a resident of Balmung )

Or alternatively like someone mentioned with Lotro, they create a system that automatically adds a new ward as the latest one reaches maximum capacity. (Though this would have to cap at some point)

[Zojha]

I also don't want to see an overhaul to the system (I will never support content being removed), but rather additional wards, Ishgard wards and also instanced houses of all sizes (no timer) with a yard included.

Without an overhaul of the system of sorts, you're unlikely to ever meet the demand on housing >_>

The wards can stay for FCs, but personal housing needs to go instanced. That's all there is to it. We got roughly 150k plots. We got over 300k active characters and somewhere around 100k active FCs, give or take 30k. It's not that hard to figure what's causing the issue here.

[Solarra]

Sorry OP, I can't support players who are unsubbed retaining houses with the acute shortage of houses on most realms. That said, I would be much happier with the present system if gil and furniture were held indefinitely when a player loses their house.

Instanced housing does seem to be the way to go, but it keeps getting suggested and the suggestion has only been taken up in a very limited way.
It's great that we now have apartments and they aren't subject to the timer, but supply has not been increased to meet demand on larger servers and the apartments themselves are so tiny. All that lovely furniture for inside and out, more furniture being added with every seasonal event and the majority of players are limited to one pokey, little room and no outdoor space at all.

A switch to instances for personal housing wouldn't have a negative impact on many of us. As long as there was a garden and it wasn't subject to the timer, I'm sure a lot of people would prefer it, especially if it was possible to have an interesting location (island in the Sea of Clouds, anyone?) or upgrade to a larger house.
Most wards look dead and there's no reason to interact with your neighbours on the rare occasions that you see them, a wave or single emote is usually as good as it gets. If they made instanced housing the norm for all new purchases, and the wards went back to being for FCs maybe we'd get more life and community feeling in the wards.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

It's not a silly analogy just because you disagree. I think people are focusing a little to heavily on the comparison than the point. As I said in my follow up post, this community seems to be far more interested in punishing players over the little things. It's like people treat stepping away from the game once as the same as quitting and that I personally find that to be a silly analogy. Honestly, the problem is not that the feature exists, but rather that 45 days just isn't enough time. It should be extended to 3 months.

A relic has no limited supply. You can leave the game for months at a time and it can still be done, albeit with perhaps more difficulty. Housing, meanwhile, has a finite supply. You can't say "you're focusing too much on the comparison" when there isn't any correlation whatsoever. That's why it's silly. 90 days basically allows people to unsub for an entire patch cycle. Why would Square Enix, a business, cater to people who aren't paying consistently over those who are? This has nothing to do with your assumptions on people's opinion but makes no sense from Square's perspective. Once again, it's entirely fair to criticise Square and/or the devs for how housing was implemented. Blaming players though, comes across just a tad entitled, especially since we have Apartments now. Not the ideal solution, I'll certainly admit, but it's one for those who want something without having to stay subbed.

But the problem is that we are not even talking about indefinitely long breaks..we are talking about taking breaks that are longer than 45 days...which is not even two months..

Right. Now think about this from the devs' perspective. They know there is only a finite supply despite an overwhelming demand. Who better to cater towards; the customers who never unsub for longer than a month or those who take periodic breaks which lose them money? Simply put, under the current housing system, they don't want people who take breaks occupying a house when someone who actively plays could have it.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

Someone might have bought a big house for themselves before the timer..they put millions of Gil in it which had to be earned before that, played the game for years, always stayed subbed, bought merchandise and much more..and because they landed in the hospital for months thanks to an accident they will lose the house since even if they still pay the sub in the time they are not able to have someone log in for them..well that fair right? I mean how dare that person got hurt and not log in for some time..

Yes there might be some people that will never come back and will block that house, but they just could have simply made the timer much more longer..half a year without a sub would be a nice indicator if someone is still playing this game or not (at least two patches would be out at that time) and if the person still pays their sub..why exactly would SE care if they are logging in or not? Why would you care? Heck even if someone is subbed and visit their house once each 45 days they could barely do anything with it.

Please stop saying this is due to subbing or not or even logging into the game. You lose the house if you don't enter the house everything else is a by product of this. I have a personal house and have an FC house and I agree with the system. If I lose them due to not using them then fair enough. No different from losing your ranked position in pvp by not doing pvp.

Its also completely telling to see some people post for pro timer that at the same time already said that they own multiple houses...how about a solution to that? How many houses would finally be free if every person could only own one personal and one FC house per world? (And not be able to buy those too on their alts) How many FCs own multiple houses just for wanting them to sell..yet its probably better to just punish someone that owns one house, worked hard for it, wants to keep it and just wants to take one break for the game or even was forced to take a break thanks to some real life stuff..

I agree alts shouldn't be able to get houses I see many that have 8 houses. This also supports people who buy them all up and sell them on for crazy prices. The system shouldn't release the house straight to the market when relinquished either. The system should add them to the market at random times.

Yes there might be some people that will never come back and will block that house, but they just could have simply made the timer much more longer..half a year without a sub would be a nice indicator if someone is still playing this game or not (at least two patches would be out at that time) and if the person still pays their sub..why exactly would SE care if they are logging in or not? Why would you care? Heck even if someone is subbed and visit their house once each 45 days they could barely do anything with it.

6 months is a silly amount of time. Even if the player paid the sub and didn't enter the house during that 6 months they will still lose it.

I also want the timer removed but I do not plan to take a xx break. I just dont find it fair and kinda lazy from SE..Also I might not know how many houses opened up thanks to the timer on other servers but at least on Moogle you barely see houses open up and I am someone that checks it every time I log in. And even if they open up they are gone really fast because even if you have to be active each week to keep your house there would never be enough houses for ever active player..especially since people can still buy them with alts.

On Ragnarok quite a few opened up I see them on a regular bases. I got the FC house and my house on the same day through reclamation. But if you are saying that the reclamation timer isn't really working, as it is very rare that people lose a house. Then why are we having a discussion about players losing their house?

[LineageRazor]

As I've noted in other threads, even if there was plenty of housing for everyone, I'd still support demolition timers. Why? Because people leave the game. It's a natural phenomenon with MMOs; FFXIV won't always hold every player's interest, and many who leave the game don't ever plan on coming back. When these folks leave houses behind, without a demolition timer those houses will be empty forever. I don't want to see wards full of abandoned houses that can never be occupied again.

That said, I disagree with the current system of requiring players to actually enter their house to maintain it. There are many circumstances that might prevent a player from getting online for extended periods of time, such as military deployment or extended hospitalization. Maintaining a subscription should be enough to maintain your house - it shows that you are still interested in the game, and will be back as soon as you are able.