PSA/ALERT: Houses are getting demolished when they shouldn't. SE needs to see this!

[HyoMinPark]

Are the restrictions still in place where after a plot is relinquished, it undergoes some kind of random timer before it becomes available again? If so, I would advise everyone log in at least once a day. Though it won't guarantee reclaiming your previous plot should it get demo, it will at least increase your chances of doing so. I'm hoping anyway.

Yes, there is still a random timer.

I would also recommend interacting with the house. I know that people who are in the Interior Design Contest are not allowed to move items around or change their estate, so what I’ve been doing is taking a few things out of storage, dropping them into my inventory, and then putting them back in storage. I’m also talking to the Junkmonger NPC every day, purchasing either a random Dark Matter or selling useless stuff to them. Just so my house has me interacting with it, and not just me stepping into it. I’m doing the same with the FC house I own.

I’m also making a point to idle in there (my personal) longer than I usually do. Even if the bug is isolated, I’m doing what I can to make sure I’m not affected, because I have Plot 41 in the Lavender Beds that I secured after the new Wards were added (dream plot), and I would cry if I lost it. ;_; I’m checking my Timers daily, and if I see a demolition timer appear, I’m immediately going to contact Support and talk to them while I’m standing in my house (especially if the timer doesn’t disappear). I will not lose my house to a bug or error. ;_;

[Hamada]

GM said this:
Gm *** >> Unfortunately, the GM Team can not confirm if it is an official bug as we would need to wait a response from our developers. For any updates regarding this potential bug, please keep an eye out on our official Lodestone page in the future.

[Gemina]

Yes, there is still a random timer.

I would also recommend interacting with the house. I know that people who are in the Interior Design Contest are not allowed to move items around or change their estate, so what I’ve been doing is taking a few things out of storage, dropping them into my inventory, and then putting them back in storage. I’m also talking to the Junkmonger NPC every day, purchasing either a random Dark Matter or selling useless stuff to them. Just so my house has me interacting with it, and not just me stepping into it. I’m doing the same with the FC house I own.

I’m also making a point to idle in there (my personal) longer than I usually do. Even if the bug is isolated, I’m doing what I can to make sure I’m not affected, because I have Plot 41 in the Lavender Beds that I secured after the new Wards were added (dream plot), and I would cry if I lost it. ;_; I’m checking my Timers daily, and if I see a demolition timer appear, I’m immediately going to contact Support and talk to them while I’m standing in my house (especially if the timer doesn’t disappear). I will not lose my house to a bug or error. ;_;

This is actually kind of scary. I feel like I'm waiting for the signal to evacuate because of a raging fire, flood, or some other natural disaster. Very good tips. There is no demolition in my timers so I think I am somewhat in the safe zone, and my interactions with my house are commonplace because I spend so much time there: Tending, cleaning stable, checking retainers, mogmail, company chest, eating meals in the café, planting in my pots, the whole nine yards. However, I have not been logging out in my house as usual because I am new to SB and have been logging out at the inn in Kugane. Not anymore.

I feel so bad for anyone who has lost their home. An FC loss, I can't even imagine. What would happen to airship/sub progression? Oh my god the amount of mats that is required to do this. It's one thing to log on with all your possessions in a box and a plot waiting to be claimed, but that would be the same as logging in and your main DoW/DoM dropped right back down to level 1/30/50. As a gardener I also think of the lost crops, and just ouch! The more I think about this, the worse it gets. I need to take additional precautions for the time being. Thank you for the tips

[Cylla]

GM said this:
Gm *** >> Unfortunately, the GM Team can not confirm if it is an official bug as we would need to wait a response from our developers. For any updates regarding this potential bug, please keep an eye out on our official Lodestone page in the future.

Not to be picky but do you have a screen shot of it or a link to where it was said? Just makes things more valid seeing it said by a GM in a screen shot or on a GM post.

[Yhual]

snip

Oh dag! I read your bug report thead and found out you were in my subdivision- you were just down the street from my plot. I'm extremely sorry this happened to you.

We need a dev response at the veryyy least saying they're looking into it, because if everything is true, this is some scary stuff. especially now that i know it happened super close to home pun not intended

[Anghri]

Oh dag! I read your bug report thead and found out you were in my subdivision- you were just down the street from my plot. I'm extremely sorry this happened to you.

We need a dev response at the veryyy least saying they're looking into it, because if everything is true, this is some scary stuff. especially now that i know it happened super close to home pun not intended

Appreciate the sentiment, it's quite an unfortunate situation. I found, as expected, that the plot is under new ownership. I sincerely hope that the new owner loves the lot as it is a pretty great one with a wonderful view.

To your comments, I agree and would really just like SE to post acknowledging the issue. I see a lot of the posts above with good sentiments about finding/replacing what was lost, but as you know on our server that is a feat in itself as housing is a rare commodity. I just hope that they suspend demo, resolve the issue, and come up with some resolution for those affected.

[Lukha]

If this is actually happening, then SE needs to look into it immediately, take steps to prevent it from continuing, and ensure that any plots lost due to the bug are returned to their rightful owners.

Anyone who purchased a plot which opened up due to the bug should have their gil refunded in full, and SE ought to find some way to compensate them for the loss of the plot, maybe a gil bonus or some free playtime or something?

Whether the original or new owner gets to keep the plot, someone is going to be unhappy, but reasonably the original owner has more claim to it; IRL if you buy something that is later discovered to be stolen, in most cases it needs to be returned to the original owner, and I don't really see how this situation is any different.

[AvalonBright]

Honestly, free play time wouldn't even compensate me enough. Housing is such a major draw to me for games, and was a huge deal for me in this one especially. With the terrible way housing launched for personal players initially, missing out was the one thing that infuriated me so much I almost quit the game entirely and unsubbed. As is, I barely touched the game for the next month or two. Now that I finally have a house, if I logged in to find it destroyed randomly I'd lose it. It's a completely unacceptable bug to exist with how terribly Square continues to manage housing, and a response of "tough" is even more laughably inappropriate.

[Yhual]

To your comments, I agree and would really just like SE to post acknowledging the issue. I see a lot of the posts above with good sentiments about finding/replacing what was lost, but as you know on our server that is a feat in itself as housing is a rare commodity. I just hope that they suspend demo, resolve the issue, and come up with some resolution for those affected.

Not to derail the topic, but I wouldn't lose hope on another plot if you really want another one. I see smalls frequently; next time I see one I'll check for your name and shoot a tell.

But yeah! Super agreed on this. Pause every demolition timer across each datacenter and address this, especially because the people caught under fire are not able to be fully compensated. So the next best thing would be to prevent it from happening anymore at all.

[Hasrat]

Housing interaction

This is something I've been curious about since seeing this issue pop up periodically. Everyone knows "you just have to enter your house to reset the timer," but my personal unsubstantiated suspicions are "just entering" and leaving isn't enough for the server to really even recognize the house has been active. Change the lighting, check NPCs, anything to have something in the server record that you've been there.

But, I'm sure there's stories of some folks that have lost out that think they did all that and still lost. Without really digging into the codes and processes running, hard to say anything for sure.