My absence and return - thoughts on demolished houses

[AxlStream]

Aren't you missing the main point poor design, equaled them not returning? If demolish was to retain subs again poor design is costing the company. Anyway we look at from your post and even most consensus on the forums. Poor design and refusal to admit to the mistake has led to lost subs, player misery and/or resentment like the op.

And I acknowledged that the system is flawed and that improvements must be made. Also it is not a mistake but a choice. Demolishing wasn't about retaining subs it was about letting newer subs have an access to housing from players who quit the game or had unsubbed for extended periods of time. I can guarantee that if the timer was 1 year, players would be up in arms about the timer being too long and plots never becoming vacant at reasonable pricing. Also can we agree that he had unsubbed BEFORE the change was made so it is safe to assume the game lost him on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ASPECT than the housing? Personally I highly doubt that the terrible housing system is a top contender in the reasons people unsub for.

[Beckett]

Just your standard bit of Asian MMO hostage taking, nothing to see here.

I wish I could find it, but there's a great quote from Yoshi-P along the lines of "Your house will never be tied to your subscription in any way."

[Moonlite]

And I acknowledged that the system is flawed and that improvements must be made. Also it is not a mistake but a choice. Demolishing wasn't about retaining subs it was about letting newer subs have an access to housing from players who quit the game or had unsubbed for extended periods of time. I can guarantee that if the timer was 1 year, players would be up in arms about the timer being too long and plots never becoming vacant at reasonable pricing. Also can we agree that he had unsubbed BEFORE the change was made so it is safe to assume the game lost him on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ASPECT than the housing? Personally I highly doubt that the terrible housing system is a top contender in the reasons people unsub for.

Lets say he was never coming back.I can agree to that. It doesn't negate the fact that this discussion should come back up. Maintenance fees is one of the dev lies. And while the dev team will sit down and try to sell us plushies. I have yet to see a real discussion about why they refuse to change this system.

People are quitting over the devs team failure to work on inventory in any serious matter. I get the idea why some one would give housing as a reason. It is concrete just like inventory. People would/do just make fun of people who say devs have failed to deliver/work on basic infrastructure and QoL features.

The devs added demolish feature because they support these communities. The system was/is a failure, demolish lets them pretend they have enough turn over everyone could have a chance.

[Dark-Saviour]

Personally I highly doubt that the terrible housing system is a top contender in the reasons people unsub for.

The initial implementation of personal housing is actually one of the major reasons I left.
One of the few points that eased it enough to get me to come back was the introduction of apartments. If they start a policy of destroying those without an alternative, I'm pretty well done too.

I wish I could find it, but there's a great quote from Yoshi-P along the lines of "Your house will never be tied to your subscription in any way."

He also said something to the effect of "Personal housing will utilize a different system than Company Housing, and prices will, naturally, be far cheaper."

So... yeah...

[MaikoRaines]

They saw a system designed to force them to sub being implemented, said, "If I can't take breaks without losing all my crap then I'm done with this game." and came back to tell SE that losing everything majorly destroys any incentive to ever sub again. The only two major issues are SE's design and SE's architecture. Nothing community-wise needs to be done if those problems are addressed properly. When your means of 'saving' it is paying a sub during a period you will either not be playing or simply can't afford to pay it, I won't fault a person for not playing along.

If one says nothing, then a company never finds out what is causing people to leave. Feedback about WHY you're leaving is critical in improving a product.

Not disputing this issue - it's a slippery slope. If someone owned a home, decided to either take an extended break or quit altogether, how is S-E going to determine that the house belongs to a player that just quit outright versus a player who unsubbed?

Some people argue 45 days is more than enough or not enough at all. What is a reasonable amount of time? A year? Never? If someone quits and they own a house, why should they still be entitled to own it if the assets never get used? Tell me how it's fair that someone who hasn't subbed for more than a year with no intention on coming back should keep their house versus someone who needs to take a break past 45 days should receive the same treatment? 45 days is a slap in the face. A year is justifiable to release assets to people who are active.

Or better yet, instanced housing is eternal.

I've also never known for S-E community reps to log in, ask what's up for an individual who makes posts like these because post like these are a dime a dozen. Then again, I've never seen them recently address this housing debacle either.

[Geryth]

Some people argue 45 days is more than enough or not enough at all. What is a reasonable amount of time? A year? Never? If someone quits and they own a house, why should they still be entitled to own it if the assets never get used? Tell me how it's fair that someone who hasn't subbed for more than a year with no intention on coming back should keep their house versus someone who needs to take a break past 45 days should receive the same treatment? 45 days is a slap in the face. A year is justifiable to release assets to people who are active.

That's thinking within the walls they engineered around the housing system. What they've done makes sense with what's there. In fact, as I've said, the apartments are actually a decent compromise. But the real issue is why they had to delete houses in the first place...

Or better yet, instanced housing is eternal.

You're on the right track!

[Naunet]

Or better yet, instanced housing is eternal.

That's why we want instanced housing.

[Dark-Saviour]

That's why we want instanced housing.

The only problem is, I have a strong feeling instanced housing would either have a cap on it, or ultimately be subject to deletion as well.
"The amount of storage it takes up is far too much and our system will become unstable, yadda, yadda."
:-(

[Skivvy]

I wish I could find it, but there's a great quote from Yoshi-P along the lines of "Your house will never be tied to your subscription in any way."

Here you go
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/113554

Relevant text to spare the search:

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.

This was in October of 2013. They announced home demolitions in October 2015.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

I wish I could find it, but there's a great quote from Yoshi-P along the lines of "Your house will never be tied to your subscription in any way."

Yes they did say this originally but they also listened to the playerbase. There was a massive thread asking for houses to be removed from people who stopped playing the game.

Also your personal house is really the only one tied to your subscription as only one person can reset it. In my opinion the housing reclamation is fine for FC's but I do agree that it should change for personal housing. Any player you share with should reset the timer.