Auto-demolish

[DeaconMoore]

the idea of leasing systems is not to remove demo timers entirely. but create a system that fits inline with developer opinion and comments. such as "i'ts perfectly ok to take a subscription break between content patches"

under a leasing systems houses of players that never came back would still be relinquished and made available for newer players, however houses of players that simply took a break could be held until that player returns next patch...

failing a leasing system what they need to do is at least allow tenants to reset the demo timer when they enter the property or something such.. thus a house could be safe even if the owner took a break as long as the tenants were using it.

maybe even have an auto transfer that if the owner doesn't return after 180 days the first tenant becomes the plot owner. or something.

if they fixed the tenanacy system you would find so many more players willing to share plots. and thus free up some plots for others to have there own house.

but when the devs repeatedly say "it's ok for players to take breaks" the games systems need to support that. and auto demolition simply doesn't.

45 days is plenty of time 180 is excessive. Housing is a finite resource with uses beyond a place to decorate, it provides in-game functionality for FC's, chocobos, and crafting. It's a resource paying customers should have access too, not something to sit around collecting dust for 6 months while you decide whether or not to come back next patch.

[KaivaC]

snip

Given how FFXIV's instances work, with the way the system is, well, here's the deal - either keep going to the house, or lose it to players who haven't been able to get a house yet. How is that not fair? Maintain your house, or lose it. That's the name of the game until the devs figure out how to get housing up to industry standards.

[Leloa]

It's either don't get a house or just check in every now and then. If you don't and go on a break you don't care of the game so why care about a house? Simply dont get one then Let people who want and play the game activly get one yee

[LyraKuroneko]

Instance plot seems weird to me. Simply because, what about the garden? If you want the whole plot to be instance then you want the garden to be avaible right? Then what will be displayed? A random garden to see? If instance it's not only yours so...
Or have house without garden be instanced like it is for appartment. If you want instance i can only see that. And it could be done for "waiting player" if i may say, the one without a plot. For free maybe, or a small fee, like again the appartment.
But demolition might still be a thing even with that, for ressources sake.

[killstein]

Autodemolish is needed. No point in having a ward full of houses of people not playing. Simple solutions? don't stop playing OR don't buy a house to avoid the problem all together.

i can't agree with this more. in my old fc there was one member in particular i remember who owned a house in the ward the fc was in. he hadn't logged in in close to a year. auto demolish came, ate his house and was reclaimed by someone new. without auto demolish, he would likely still be squatting on this empty house. i understand the disappointment of losing something you worked hard on but also the game goes on and it's not waiting for you.

[savageink]

Given the current system, I won't ever buy a house. I did buy an apartment so I could get most of my furnishings out of retainer storage. But auto demolish is a game breaker. I'm all for making the current system FC only and making some sort of full featured instanced housing for players....or just adding expandability to the apartment system like SWTOR or something.

[Vhailor]

There should be no "auto-demolish" option, we all put in more than enough money into this game to be able to keep what we purchase. I just gave up my FC to a friend because I'm thinking of unsubbing, partly because of this housing problem, and I didn't want the FC house to be lost or for the main control to go to a random player in the company. I have also given up on the concept of a personal house for myself, because of the same issue - I play and craft my ass off to buy a house, then life happens and I have to unsub, then I lose the housing I worked so hard for in-game? Housing shouldn't be a battle between players - it should be an option that will always be there, regardless of sub or no sub, which is why I say instanced housing would allow this.

It's a horrible, but arguably necessary, response to one of SE's most stupendous screw-ups (and that's saying something). There should be no Housing limits, people should always be able to get one if they want one, and once purchased, they certainly shouldn't have to maintain a subscription in order to keep it.

That said, rather than focusing on the demolition, keep bringing up the issue of limited housing on the forums. There are plenty of others who do so routinely, and that's the way it should be. SE has created an awful system, which I can only assume arose from a breathtaking lack of foresight. They need to be held to task, which means focusing on the real issue - limited housing. Bickering about their 'solution' to the problem is a pointless and unhelpful distraction.

[Skivvy]

Given the current system, I won't ever buy a house. I did buy an apartment so I could get most of my furnishings out of retainer storage. But auto demolish is a game breaker. I'm all for making the current system FC only and making some sort of full featured instanced housing for players....or just adding expandability to the apartment system like SWTOR or something.

Ayeee, my thoughts exactly! I also went the apartment route vs. house as I do not like the auto-demo system.

Housing originally launched with Yoshi stating they would not resort to such methods, but here we are. I'm half expecting them to implement it for apartments as well. D:

[Bourne_Endeavor]

That's why people suggest leasing systems because the demo timer simply isn't a must at all.

a leasing system would achieve the exact same thing (remove houses from long standing inactive accounts) whilst allow allowing players the freedom to take take temporary breaks and such between patches which Yoshi himself says it's ok for players to do.

The demo system contradicts everyting the devs say. right down to the promise of housing not being tied to active subs. and the fact the devs say its ok for players to take breaks and unsubscribe safely.

with the demo system you simply cant take a break despite Yoshi saying you can..

Leasing entirely defeats the purpose of auto-demolition. If I can maintain my house through in-game gil or have a tenet reinstate it, houses will almost never be relinquished. Furthermore, Yoshida's statement still rings true. He never said, "you can take breaks and everything will be exactly as you left it." You can still take a month off without losing your house, so in that sense he is, again, not wrong. They simply don't want people leaving for 2-4 months at a time and keeping something better served to a continuously active player.

[Vstarstruck]

Leasing entirely defeats the purpose of auto-demolition. If I can maintain my house through in-game gil or have a tenet reinstate it,houses will almost never be relinquished. Furthermore, Yoshida's statement still rings true. He never said, "you can take breaks and everything will be exactly as you left it." You can still take a month off without losing your house, so in that sense he is, again, not wrong. They simply don't want people leaving for 2-4 months at a time and keeping something better served to a continuously active player.

Um.. you are simply word twisting... why are you defending someone going back on their word?

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.

"We wont have ANY SYSTEM LIKE THAT" the auto demo system IS like that.

You know why they had to do what they did? Because they do not have enough funding, SE needs to give the FFXIV development team a bigger budget, all it is.