Give us a sign for potential auto demos.

[Elamys]

There's really no need for this. Very few servers have housing problems anymore. We don't need vultures circling around a property, it's only going to make competition even worse.

In reality, the 45 days should be extended to at least 60 IMO. And I don't agree with that last bit at all. Some people just don't use their house that often, some people only go to the garden which doesn't mean they're not using it. Why should they have to contend with yet another limit? I realize the timer is probably necessary at this point, but it could do with some relaxing.

[AriesMouse]

There's really no need for this. Very few servers have housing problems anymore. We don't need vultures circling around a property, it's only going to make competition even worse.

In reality, the 45 days should be extended to at least 60 IMO. And I don't agree with that last bit at all. Some people just don't use their house that often, some people only go to the garden which doesn't mean they're not using it. Why should they have to contend with yet another limit? I realize the timer is probably necessary at this point, but it could do with some relaxing.

If anything, I think giving people an idea of what houses might be showing up might balance out competition, since people can communicate which plots they see as potential, and what ones they intend to camp, and work together, rather than all mad dash blindly to the same plot, leaving someone feeling ripped off when they are too slow.

As for the timer, I think it's perfect at 45 days. And honestly, I have seen so many houses never touched, that there really should be doing something about it. I've known people that literally kept a sub, and only logged in once a month to keep their house, and that was it. No gardening, no decorating. Nothing. On crowded servers, things like that shouldn't be considered acceptable, so long as housing is a finite resource. I look through the housing wards all the time, and I see the same houses, in the exact same state, no new furnishings, nothing moved, no garden bed in the lawn. A lot of them just have items from quests, if anything at all. I get that housing isn't an issue on all servers, but things like this could help ease some of the tension on the servers that are still facing issues.

Edit: Also, I generally do not think SE should have to hand hold people like children, and remind them to play with their toys. If someone has a house, it should be up to them to keep it, they shouldn't need reminders. If they do, maybe they don't really value that house as much as they should, and should pass it on to someone that does.

[Jojoya]

Displaying a notice that a house is close to auto-demo will only result in more drama. Campers will fight each others. They'll harass owners who show up to reset the auto-demo timer. They'll harass other players who relocate to the plot after auto-demo occurs but before the relinquish timer makes the plot available to new buyers.

Just no.

You're dreaming if you think people are going to coordinate who's allow to camp what. You're dreaming if you think people are going to be okay with someone else managing to get the plot before them if they've been sitting there for days waiting for it to become available.

Owners are under no obligation to do anything with their house other than set up the estate walls and enter it once every 45 days. They aren't required to decorate it. They aren't required to redecorate it. Nor does the lack of decoration mean it never gets used. It's not up to you to be deciding how players must use the houses they have purchased.

There's a much simpler solution if you feel like you're being left out of the housing game - transfer to a server where housing is available. Bring your friends who likewise want a house but can't get one with you. Coeurl had 500 houses available, including over a dozen mediums, when I did a census last weekend. You could have one right now and it wouldn't require any messy drama-inciting system like you want to create.

[Thamorian]

Displaying a notice that a house is close to auto-demo will only result in more drama. Campers will fight each others. They'll harass owners who show up to reset the auto-demo timer. They'll harass other players who relocate to the plot after auto-demo occurs but before the relinquish timer makes the plot available to new buyers.

First part I really don't see that happening. If there happened to be the outlier person that did that, you can blacklist them and report for harassment, cause I'm pretty sure that would fall under harassment.

Second part, people already relocate plots, and some people already harass the relocator after waiting to buy the plot for several hours. That won't change with a public sign showing auto timer. if someone wants their best chance to get a plot, they need to go to goblet to buy a house and relocate later (high pop servers anyway). Nothing will change for this part.

I don't really care if SE added public auto-demo sign or not, but you're really stretching here.