My absence and return - thoughts on demolished houses

[Masekase_Hurricane]

Funny thing is though you never complained about the lack of houses when you had a house. You talk about putting your money where your mouth is etc or banding together, but where was your support to others who never had a house?

Yes the system needs changing, yes instanced housing needs added or some proper fix. But unfortunately reclamation needs to stay until they come up with a real fix to the problem.

[Penthea]

But unfortunately reclamation needs to stay until they come up with a real fix to the problem.

Demolition is a necessary evil. It fixes one thing but breaks another. However demolition very much works in favour of players who actively use their houses, so it is better than before in which you could not log in for over a year and still have your house.

I'd be willing to bet that SE lost more subscriptions from players who had almost no hope of getting a house than from players who lost their house from demolition.

I will add though, for like the millionth time in these forums, that 45 days is stupidly short.

[hydralus]

I will add though, for like the millionth time in these forums, that 45 days is stupidly short.

Really? I think it's a bit on the long side. Every MMO I've played that had limited housing gave you a month (EQ2, Asheron's Call), and Archeage (The only MMO in recent memory to not do instanced housing) gave you 2 weeks. Not only that but they all made you pay rent for upkeep. And Archeage had some content you couldn't do if you didn't have a house, much like gardening or airships in FFXIV, so it made even more sense to make the holding period shorter. So, I'm not seeing where the 'stupidly short' comment comes from, when this is one of the, if not the longest grace periods I've ever seen.

I was honestly shocked to learn that people were able to keep hold of housing for over a year before they finally wised up and realized that, hey, people who stopped subbing shouldn't keep this limited resource.

[Penthea]

Really? I think it's a bit on the long side.

I am saying this based on experience from playing mmos for over ten years. It is actually very common for active players to not log in for a month and a half.

They might have exams or school/college project to do, parents sometimes even prevent them from logging in at exam time, they might go on a work trip, they might have to go to hospital, they might be moving house or even emigrating and getting internet running could be taking long, or their gaming machine could die and they don't have enough cash to get a new one within 45 days.

What is far less common is players not logging in for 90 days, which is three months. Very active players in a mmo seldom don't log in for a quarter of a year.

Every MMO I've played that had limited housing gave you a month

That doesn't make it right though. This decision making is certainly not done in the interest of fairness to the home owner. It is instead an incentive to be more active and continue to pay your sub, or be more active and pay your sub in the hopes you can snag a house someone lost.

[hydralus]

I am saying this based on experience from playing mmos for over ten years. It is actually very common for active players to not log in for a month and a half.

Does gaming experience matter? If so I've been playing MMOs for just over 16 years, and this is the first MMO with limited housing that I have ever seen people complain so much about the grace period.

What is far less common is players not logging in for 90 days

The optimist in me says that's a good thing, ain't it? People who play more get to have the good stuff while people who play less (or at the very least do not subscribe for very long periods of time), do not.

And this is only for personal housing, mind you. Long as you have a FC house you're golden, long as someone's stepping inside the house.

[Penthea]

Does gaming experience matter?

Well considering the point I was making yes. I was just stating that in my ten years of playing mmos I have seen it to be very common for active players to be unable to log in for around 45 days due to very common events that happen in life.

this is the first MMO with limited housing that I have ever seen people complain so much about the grace period.

As Skivvy already pointed out, housing in FF can grant a very significant financial advantage to players.

Fcs cannot get airships to fetch crafting materials only available through airship missions without a house. Fcs cannot craft housing skins to make money without a house. You can't do any cross planting without a house, which means you will have to fork out hundreds of thousands of gil for Thavnairian Onions (which most players need at some point), Jute for weavers or for the seeds/already grown minions.

I am one of the fortunate ones who has a house. I have made millions from gardening.

Housing used to its full capabilities is most certainly not only cosmetic. This is why players are demanding change.

[Ilan]

I am saying this based on experience from playing mmos for over ten years. It is actually very common for active players to not log in for a month and a half.

They might have exams or school/college project to do, parents sometimes even prevent them from logging in at exam time, they might go on a work trip, they might have to go to hospital, they might be moving house or even emigrating and getting internet running could be taking long, or their gaming machine could die and they don't have enough cash to get a new one within 45 days.

What is far less common is players not logging in for 90 days, which is three months. Very active players in a mmo seldom don't log in for a quarter of a year.



That doesn't make it right though. This decision making is certainly not done in the interest of fairness to the home owner. It is instead an incentive to be more active and continue to pay your sub, or be more active and pay your sub in the hopes you can snag a house someone lost.

You may think its not fair that someone loses the house after 45 days of not logging in but think of all the active playing people who want a house and didn't get the chance to buy one (the reasons for that don't matter). Is it fair that buying a house still gets blocked by someone who doesn't even log in and/or doesn't pay a sub? I don't think so. And even if they would increase the time there would be people who complain that its not enough.

[Dark-Saviour]

You may think its not fair that someone loses the house after 45 days of not logging in but think of all the active playing people who want a house and didn't get the chance to buy one (the reasons for that don't matter). Is it fair that buying a house still gets blocked by someone who doesn't even log in and/or doesn't pay a sub? I don't think so. And even if they would increase the time there would be people who complain that its not enough.

Personally, yes, I'd say that would be fair, as any system should have permanence as one of its core features.
If that system then has issues (as the current implementation does), then you need to rethink the bloody system.

[Ilan]

Personally, yes, I'd say that would be fair, as any system should have permanence as one of its core features.
If that system then has issues (as the current implementation does), then you need to rethink the bloody system.

In what world is it fair to favor a non paying customer over a paying one? Just because you "could" return and complain? We don't need to discuss that there are way to less houses, thats obvious.

[Geryth]

You may think its not fair that someone loses the house after 45 days of not logging in but think of all the active playing people who want a house and didn't get the chance to buy one (the reasons for that don't matter). Is it fair that buying a house still gets blocked by someone who doesn't even log in and/or doesn't pay a sub? I don't think so. And even if they would increase the time there would be people who complain that its not enough.

After 12 pages and we're still getting these comments. Since the very first page, people continue to bring up "but what about the active subscribers who would like a house".

I've said it for 12 pages and I said it in my original post that housing demolition is absolutely required in the current model they have set up.

1. It never had to be that way, and it never should have been (especially given that they promised housing would never be tied to a subscription, they should have changed the model for that reason alone)
2. That doesn't mean they have to delete all our furnishings with it.

Let's bring it back to the point of my post:

Deleting my items/furnishings discourages me from wanting to pay for this game again.