The Demolition Timers Need to Be Clearer for Peace of Mind

[Luna-M]

I enter my house daily. Problem solved.

[AriesMouse]

I enter my house daily. Problem solved.

100x this.

Short of RL problems/disasters/etc, I really do not feel like a house demo should be an issue. Unless there is a bug where your house is demoing within the time period that it should be safe, there isn't a bug, and there isn't a problem.

I would ask: If you need a reminder to keep your house, or you risk hitting the demo timer more than once (with the exception of RL emergency), why is it you even have a house?

I personally think they should do away with the e-mails, or make them limited. You get three, and that is it. I also think they need a better system for handling keeping/maintaining a house in the case of RL issues, such as not being able to pay for the game for a time, or natural disasters (because they do not pause the timer for all of them, only the big ones).

[Kittypryde]

100x this.

Short of RL problems/disasters/etc, I really do not feel like a house demo should be an issue. Unless there is a bug where your house is demoing within the time period that it should be safe, there isn't a bug, and there isn't a problem.

I would ask: If you need a reminder to keep your house, or you risk hitting the demo timer more than once (with the exception of RL emergency), why is it you even have a house?

I personally think they should do away with the e-mails, or make them limited. You get three, and that is it. I also think they need a better system for handling keeping/maintaining a house in the case of RL issues, such as not being able to pay for the game for a time, or natural disasters (because they do not pause the timer for all of them, only the big ones).

Amen. It takes 5-10min tops to log in, warp to your house/houses and enter to reset timer. I do this every day when I get home from work. If it's difficult to do for some players every day, set aside 5min on a Saturday and do it every. Single. Saturday.
I have a character on Mateus that I play about 2-3hrs on the weekend. Every single Saturday night I log onto her and enter her personal and FC house. Make it a routine and you will never hit that 30 day warning. If for some reason your job has you traveling every day, bring your laptop/PS4 and do it for 5min daily....while your food heats up in the microwave or something. Lol

PS. I'd like to add, another tip that I do that MAKES me log into my house every day, is have a crop growing in your gardens that requires you to water it once every 24hrs, like jute. Or, you could send off your airships. Log on, water your gardens, go inside to reset, send off airships, collect drops, check retainers, MB. This all takes 10min tops.

[Penthea]

If for some reason your job has you traveling every day, bring your laptop/PS4 and do it for 5min daily....while your food heats up in the microwave or something. Lol

I have a normal 50/hr week job. I drive 50miles to work, 50miles back. Wife and kid, but somehow by a miracle of God, I log in every day and enter my houses.

So normal that you casually say people should just "bring their laptop" if they need to work away from home, and end that phrasing with lol? Forgive my cynicism but you're not making a convincing case that you deal with money the way most people do.

I'd imagine you won't find alot of full time MMORPG gamers who have jobs that keep them from civilization, and hotels for over 45 days at a time

How nice of you to completely ignore the other reasons I stated that could make a person be away from the game for more than 45 days.

And good for you if you make things work. But I really am very disappointed in the sort of attitude that is saying "if I can always easily work with the system, then so should everyone else" and use that as reasoning to keep the housing system in its current state. The lack of empathy in some posts with these sort of statements is astounding.

But this is all beside the point I was making when I made the thread. My first post states the timer should be visible in the estate tab in the timers window at all times. This has no effect on the length of the demolition timer. That is another debate altogether.

[Kittypryde]

So normal that you casually say people should just "bring their laptop" if they need to work away from home, and end that phrasing with lol? Forgive my cynicism but you're not making a convincing case that you deal with money the way most people do.



How nice of you to completely ignore the other reasons I stated that could make a person be away from the game for more than 45 days.

And good for you if you make things work. But I really am very disappointed in the sort of attitude that is saying "if I can always easily work with the system, then so should everyone else" and use that as reasoning to keep the housing system in its current state. The lack of empathy in some posts with these sort of statements is astounding.

But this is all beside the point I was making when I made the thread. My first post states the timer should be visible in the estate tab in the timers window at all times. This has no effect on the length of the demolition timer. That is another debate altogether.

Yes, I said lol, because it doesn't matter what you do, just to take 5min out of a busy schedule and be pro active about your house.

[Penthea]

Short of RL problems/disasters/etc, I really do not feel like a house demo should be an issue. Unless there is a bug where your house is demoing within the time period that it should be safe, there isn't a bug, and there isn't a problem.

I would ask: If you need a reminder to keep your house, or you risk hitting the demo timer more than once (with the exception of RL emergency), why is it you even have a house?

Sometimes people miscount the days since they logged in. It is a bit ridiculous to expect players to make note on personal calendars regarding their house if they want to or need to unsub, or are unable to log in due to irl emergencies. So the emails do help players be aware of the time-frame they're dealing with. However I feel as if the emails are a poor substitute for another potentially far better way of informing players of demolition.

I personally think they should do away with the e-mails, or make them limited. You get three, and that is it. I also think they need a better system for handling keeping/maintaining a house in the case of RL issues, such as not being able to pay for the game for a time, or natural disasters (because they do not pause the timer for all of them, only the big ones).

Which brings me to a thought that occurred to me earlier. It would be very handy if the companion app tracked and informed you about demolition. It would eliminate the potential issue of the emails being sent straight to a spam folder, and it opens up the possibility of having a more sophisticated and easier way of keeping track of various estate alerts, not just demolition, but also airship voyages. Certainly it would make the app much more relevant to more players in the game.

Although in an ideal world demolition timers wouldn't exist : /

[AriesMouse]

Sometimes people miscount the days since they logged in. It is a bit ridiculous to expect players to make note on personal calendars regarding their house if they want to or need to unsub, or are unable to log in due to irl emergencies. So the emails do help players be aware of the time-frame they're dealing with. However I feel as if the emails are a poor substitute for another potentially far better way of informing players of demolition.

They have 45 days. That is over a month. I excluded RL emergencies in my comment that you quoted, so again, short of that, what is the excuse? 45 days is more than enough time to step into your house once. Once. When it's a finite resource, I think that people shouldn't be hand held and reminded to keep it. I don't think Daddy SE needs to remind us kids to play with our toys. If we want them that badly, we'll play with them, other wise, they should go to someone that would use it when we are not.

[Jojoya]

Sometimes people miscount the days since they logged in. It is a bit ridiculous to expect players to make note on personal calendars regarding their house if they want to or need to unsub, or are unable to log in due to irl emergencies. So the emails do help players be aware of the time-frame they're dealing with. However I feel as if the emails are a poor substitute for another potentially far better way of informing players of demolition.

A player actively using their house doesn't need to count anything because the timer resets each time they enter to use it. There's no need to use a calendar.

Real life emergencies are a different situation and still all that is needed to reset the timer is to enter the house as soon as the player is able to play again as long as they're back within 45 days of when they last entered.

What better way do you propose that won't be ignored the way players are ignoring the other notifications that are available?

People need to stop trying to push the blame for their own negligence onto others and start accepting personal responsibility. Entering the house you purchased once every 45 days is not a difficult thing. If you can't do that much then maybe that demolition is a good thing so you learn something about responsibility.

[Penthea]

If for some reason your job has you traveling every day, bring your laptop/PS4 and do it for 5min daily....while your food heats up in the microwave or something. Lol

Do you really think every possible destination for a job trip always has internet access? A tv that can be hooked up to a ps4? That everyone can splash out on a laptop? I don't know what job you have, but I personally know a lot of people who had little other than a poor mobile phone signal to keep them entertained in down time while away for work reasons.

People need to stop trying to push the blame for their own negligence onto others and start accepting personal responsibility.

Okay but this thread is about making the demolition timer permanently visible, not about allowing people to be more negligent about their house. I personally think the timer should be longer but that is not why I made this thread. I don't even mention that in the main post.

What better way do you propose that won't be ignored the way players are ignoring the other notifications that are available?

The email system hasn't even been working properly for months. That alone is something that can be readily proposed as a form of improvement. You can't ignore notifications if you're not receiving them. Another is to give the companion app more utility and have notifications about demolition accessible from it.

Why are people who will never be affected by a simple QoL change so against it?

I admit I am a bit surprised at the uppity tone of some of the responses. It appears some seem to think that just because they can deal with the system fine that anyone else who can't or wants it improved is asking for handholding. I don't understand the hostility towards a QoL change that will have zero impact on them personally, and no negative impact on anyone. Nothing bad can happen from the demolition timer being permanently visible.

I don't disagree that people who don't use their houses when they're perfectly able to have little ground to stand on if they complain about losing their house. However this issue is entirely unrelated to the demolition timer being invisible. People who lose their houses due to negligence won't be saved by a small ui change, but people who try to be practical would benefit from it. And of course having the timer permanently visible won't confuse anyone new to housing who is expecting to be able to view it...you know...like every other timer in the game.

[Jojoya]

Okay but this thread is about making the demolition timer permanently visible, not about allowing people to be more negligent about their house. I personally think the timer should be longer but that is not why I made this thread. I don't even mention that in the main post.

Back to the point that if people were actually using the houses they have purchased and entering them when they played, an in-game demo timer notification would be irrelevant because they would be constantly resetting their timer.

No, the demo timer doesn't need to be made longer if it's primarily benefiting hoarders not using the limited resource they purchased even though they're actively playing the game. If anything, it should be made shorter to force them to use it or lose it so it can go to a player that would be using the house. It's not something I actually want to see happen. I feel the 45 days is a good period to help those with genuine real life crisis retain their houses. But if more hoarders than players with genuine crises are benefiting then maybe the change is warranted.

Use it or lose it. If you were using it, you wouldn't need any in-game notifications because you wouldn't be in danger of losing it.