Provide a warning about garden crops dying during extended server downtime

[AzhiDahaki]

Anything that a large number of players talk about in a short space of time. Unfortunately this thread or the issue it is about doesn't qualify for that. It may be a hot topic in this particular corner of the forums, but compared to other parts of the forums it's very quiet here. Likely because most players don't have access to housing so they don't feel what goes on here affects them much. A hot topic is also usually brought up in other places too like twitter and reddit. It rarely stays contained in one place.

I see, thanks for explaining. I'm inclined to believe what you say since you've obviously been around the forums longer than I. It seems like short of starting a multi-platform social media campaign, posting this thread was still my best shot at getting somebody at SE's attention drawn to the issue, though. And if it could be brought to the right attention, and they agreed it was reasonable, my solution could be implemented in a matter of minutes (theoretically). It's not even for me that I suggest this-- I'll probably never let an important crop die due to server downtime ever again, having experienced such a huge loss this time. But at a time when SE is gearing up for an expansion and should strive to be as friendly as possible to newcomers, it would seem prudent to go ahead and include my suggested warning ASAP to ameliorate any further frustrations that will undoubtedly arise.

[Penthea]

I have no problem with community reps, that makes perfect sense. I guess I just find the apparent cynicism on these forums, particularly that people (players) are so eager to jump to defend the status quo, distasteful.

The cynicism comes with years of playing mmos and being active in their forums. You eventually pick up how a lot of things work in the forums themselves, what sort of things community reps communicate to the devs and the circumstances that usually lead to it happening. One major factor is of course numbers.

As I said in another post; numbers talk. A lot of the time truly excellent feedback can be lost in the ocean of threads and posts because not enough people relate to it, so it doesn't get promoted with responses, likes or reposts in other media platforms.

This shouldn't deter you from giving feedback but if what you're talking about is experienced by only a very small number of players and they don't experience it very frequently (once every few months isn't frequent, which is the case with this plant issue) you can't expect it to get fixed anytime soon. Especially if it's something working as intended and not a bug. The plant issue is working as intended, it may not be good design but it's working exactly how it was designed to. If it was a bug then it would get fixed quickly because bugs can create more malfunctions over time if they're left untouched.

[Besame]

I agree Lexia, bad housing system is BAD! I was spoiled with Wildstar housing which is the bomb and Star Wars the Old Republic was not too bad either. This is horrid in comparison and reminds me of a facebook hello Kitty Island hehe. Oh, BTW, my hubby tended the seeds before maint about 7 pm that evening and logged in after work Wed to find his plants dead.

[Elamys]

The amount of hostility surrounding a simple and great QoL change is astounding. As mentioned, plants such as Onions and Jute, etc take 7-10 days to grow and we won't necessarily get a few weeks worth of warning before every maintenance. Is it really going to make your game experience worse for this change to happen? Like, this is a game, we shouldn't have to worry so much about your personal responsibility or something. The fact that ready to harvest plants can die to begin with is absolutely ridiculous.

This is a worthwhile suggestion and I honestly have no idea why people seem to be against it.

[AzhiDahaki]

... if what you're talking about is experienced by only a very small number of players and they don't experience it very frequently (once every few months isn't frequent, which is the case with this plant issue) you can't expect it to get fixed anytime soon.

Mm, perhaps. I get that numbers draw attention. But I feel like we're underestimating SE here. Making assumptions about their corporate workflow based on outsider/player observations is understandable, yet the fact remains that addressing this issue with a simple warning would immediately benefit SE & it's players, both in terms of showing goodwill towards gardeners/housing enthusiasts (which you've admitted is an oft-neglected segment of the playerbase) and by improving the integrity of FFXIV's design (which includes community interactions through media like downtime notifications). Yes, it's an issue of minute importance in the grand-scheme of FFXIV, yet it's also something which can be addressed swiftly and with minute effort to yield immediate benefits.

I'm talking about seeing SE as a company that is capable of acting with flexibility-- after all, that's a hallmark of any good MMORPG. It's also a matter of degrees-- one who can only see the "big issues" and is blind to the "little issues" is letting those little issues snowball into bigger issues. As you and others in this thread have brought to my attention, this plant issue is another in a long line of problems that paints the picture of FFXIV's housing system as "bad."

[AzhiDahaki]

The amount of hostility surrounding a simple and great QoL change is astounding. As mentioned, plants such as Onions and Jute, etc take 7-10 days to grow and we won't necessarily get a few weeks worth of warning before every maintenance. Is it really going to make your game experience worse for this change to happen? Like, this is a game, we shouldn't have to worry so much about your personal responsibility or something. The fact that ready to harvest plants can die to begin with is absolutely ridiculous.

This is a worthwhile suggestion and I honestly have no idea why people seem to be against it.

I appreciate this support! Any positive responses increase the odds, however slim, that SE will make this change ^_^

[Lexia]

The amount of hostility surrounding a simple and great QoL change is astounding. As mentioned, plants such as Onions and Jute, etc take 7-10 days to grow and we won't necessarily get a few weeks worth of warning before every maintenance. Is it really going to make your game experience worse for this change to happen? Like, this is a game, we shouldn't have to worry so much about your personal responsibility or something. The fact that ready to harvest plants can die to begin with is absolutely ridiculous.

This is a worthwhile suggestion and I honestly have no idea why people seem to be against it.

48 hour maintenance is very rare like it has happened like maybe twice in the life span of this game, also only major patches last 24 hours which only happens like once every 6 months other all other maintenance is only 3-6 hours long which gardens survive fine during that time. So not like gardens are in danger when every time maintenance happens.

[AzhiDahaki]

... not like gardens are in danger when every time maintenance happens.

They could potentially be, someone might really need to water their garden on the day, or even the span of hours, that maintenance occurs. A warning in the notification when maintenance is announced would help people avoid such a situation.

[Penthea]

48 hour maintenance is very rare like it has happened like maybe twice in the life span of this game, also only major patches last 24 hours which only happens like once every 6 months other all other maintenance is only 3-6 hours long which gardens survive fine during that time. So not like gardens are in danger when every time maintenance happens.

This. I 100% support warning players about plants not being in stasis when servers are offline or putting them in stasis during maintenance. Any additional QoL is always great! However because of the point Lexia made (although I think major patches are sometimes bit more often than every 6 months), as well as the fact that so few players garden, I think some people in this thread have greatly exaggerated the magnitude of the problem.

SE do have a habit of adding QoL that don't have high or even any demand, so maybe we will see this improved soon. But I won't be surprised if it's not soon or ever at all. It would be a QoL feature that would seldomly benefit a tiny percentage of players. But this is a symptom of the house shortage. I think we can safely say that if everyone had access to outdoor gardening this issue would have been brought up a very long time ago and would have gotten a lot of support.

[XiXiQ]

as far as I'm aware retainers don't return during maintenance, nor is maintenance time counted. If you send one out for an hour just before maint, you'll be waiting that hour after after maint ends. There's no excuse for plants dying while the servers are down - particularly with grow times of 10 days. No idea why anyone would bother defending the indefensible.