The Demolition Timers Need to Be Clearer for Peace of Mind

[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.

[AriesMouse]

I think my only real issue is that, while yes, the QoL change wouldn't be a bad thing, it would help people time things like dropping sub and intentionally losing house for whatever reason (as others have stated), I worry that it's just a waste of time. Nice to have, sure. Honestly needed? Not really. The time/effort/resources put into fussing with a realistically unneeded timer, is something I would much rather see going into just making the housing system better over all. Like giving us a way to sell houses to each other/force auto-demo and get our gil back. If they can do ALL of those things in one? Fantastic. Have the timer, have better housing management over all. Let us make Tenants Co-owners so they can reset timers as well, in case of emergencies and RL issues.

There is a whole list of things that could be changed, or should be changed, but as far as the timer itself goes? I'm not sure asking for just that one thing is the best usage of the devs time when they should be working to fry bigger fish with the game's housing.

[Penthea]

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.

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.

...have you even read my first post? I did not say there should be extra or more notifications in game. I said the timer that is constantly in the game should be constantly visible. Do you even know how the timer works? You don't get notified when it becomes visible. It just happens. With my suggestion the timer would simply be visible at all times. No extra notifications in-game. You simply would be able to see it at any time if you took it upon yourself to look at the estate tab of the timers window.

This wouldn't even be a new feature, but only improving an existing one with a pretty minor but sensible change. Why is this so difficult to understand?

No, the demo timer doesn't need to be made longer if it's primarily benefiting hoarders

So let me get this straight. You're saying even if life events happen such as work trips, bad health, losing your job, your parents preventing you from playing while you're studying for exams...all this counts as hoarder behaviour if someone is unlucky enough for this period to last longer than 45 days?

Do you not realise that demolition isn't always the cause of people not appreciating the house they own? That some people who loved their houses just had bad luck? Are you really so bitter about who you feel deserves a house that you can't even fathom an extended timer benefiting someone who isn't a hoarder?

I don't know how long you have been playing mmos. I have been playing them over a decade and I have found it's not unusual for people to be unable to play for six weeks, but it is much more unusual to be unable to play for more than two months. It is for this reason I think it should be increased to 60 days. Not because I have some misplaced sympathy in hoarders who use their house as little more than a status symbol they don't interact with. I know from personal experience from my own life events, as well as those who I have played with throughout the years, that 45 days is too short for some of the most mundane reasons to be unable to play.

[Kittypryde]

I honestly don't think it would be too much to have an active housing timer in the menu. We do have it for everything from Grand company turn ins, airship/retainers timers, even fashion report. I don't think it would be that hard for SE to add another timer in the menu. However, now we would have to hope that players would actually remember to hotbar the timers shortcut and check their houses. I don't see this option as SE holding our hands. If the owners STILL manage to loose their house/houses with a timer like this, then they really didn't care about their homes in the first place.

[Kittypryde]

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.



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.



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.



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.

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.

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, and if I were that person, I probably wouldn't even bother with trying to keep a house. I'd get an apt and be happy. Or share a FC house. Or have my wife/husband log me on in my absence.

[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.

[Canadane]

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.

I mean, if you can't remote in to your computer with your phone or something, if you can't spare the modicum of effort to step into your house, then the system is working as intended and houses are not for these people.
Don't get me wrong, I wish houses for all. It's sad to see anyone lose their property, but there are types of players that houses were made for, and types of players the demolition was made for... If you're out for work in the middle of nowhere for months at a time, then your house in FFXIV just isn't for you.

[Jojoya]

...have you even read my first post? I did not say there should be extra or more notifications in game. I said the timer that is constantly in the game should be constantly visible. Do you even know how the timer works? You don't get notified when it becomes visible. It just happens. With my suggestion the timer would simply be visible at all times. No extra notifications in-game. You simply would be able to see it at any time if you took it upon yourself to look at the estate tab of the timers window.

Yes, I know how it works. I have a friend with a house who takes breaks a couple of times a year and as a tenant I keep an eye out for the timer popping up in case his break is lasting longer than he anticipated.

No, the last thing I want is another UI element cluttering up my screen. I don't need a constant timer on display because it's irrelevant to me. I actually use my house so I'm in no danger of having it demo'd unless I stop playing, in which case a timer on display in game is useless to me.

It's no more difficult to open up the Timers menu once a day, hit the Estate button and check to see if a house is getting close to demo than it is to actually go to the house and walk in it to reset the timer.

Use the house. Problem solved. No need for something else cluttering up your screen.

I honestly don't think it would be too much to have an active housing timer in the menu. We do have it for everything from Grand company turn ins, airship/retainers timers, even fashion report. I don't think it would be that hard for SE to add another timer in the menu. However, now we would have to hope that players would actually remember to hotbar the timers shortcut and check their houses. I don't see this option as SE holding our hands. If the owners STILL manage to loose their house/houses with a timer like this, then they really didn't care about their homes in the first place.

The timer is already there.

You know how I mentioned my friend above? He's been focused on WoW since the expansion release. While his subscription is still active, he hasn't logged into FFXIV to play since Battle for Azeroth was released. Guess what showed up in my Estate timers yestrday (image taken just before I'm posting this)?



We're absolutely getting into hand-holding territory when someone can't take 10 second to flip through a submenu on their own to look up information about something they presumably care about and they expect someone else to bring that information to their attention instead.

And it would be totally unnecessary if they were simply using their house in the first place as SE intends. If SE didn't care whether or not players were using their houses, there would be no auto-demo timer based on house entry. It would have been tied to active subscription.

Let's stop enabling the hoarders who are wasting limited resources that others would be using if they had the access. Let's start encouraging personal accountability instead.

[Claviusnex]

The timer is already there.

You know how I mentioned my friend above? He's been focused on WoW since the expansion release. While his subscription is still active, he hasn't logged into FFXIV to play since Battle for Azeroth was released. Guess what showed up in my Estate timers yestrday (image taken just before I'm posting this)?



We're absolutely getting into hand-holding territory when someone can't take 10 second to flip through a submenu on their own to look up information about something they presumably care about and they expect someone else to bring that information to their attention instead.

And it would be totally unnecessary if they were simply using their house in the first place as SE intends. If SE didn't care whether or not players were using their houses, there would be no auto-demo timer based on house entry. It would have been tied to active subscription.

Let's stop enabling the hoarders who are wasting limited resources that others would be using if they had the access. Let's start encouraging personal accountability instead.

Which is what the OP and others have been saying. No changes to the UI but since the timer is already there just display it in the timers tab all of the time so it can be checked on demand. There is no reason to start showing time left at the 15 day ticker.