Pushed to quit after 1,860 days subbed

[ern815]

I do think the devs definitely need to do something on the timers. Maybe drop a message in the chatlog when players logged in to forewarn that the house is going to be demolished in 3 days rather sending email notifications. People might not interpret the auto-demolition rule. And wasn't there a period of time auto-demolition was lifted? Players may not know that the auto demolition rule got reinstated earlier this year.

I don't think it's the OP fault to be honest. And I do hope the devs will return his housing items that he earned, one way or another.
This incident have happened to the OP, but it may happen to us. Think about how would you feel if the items you earned are lost permanently? I would definitely lose the motivation to start everything from scratch or even subscribe further. Some items may even not be obtainable anymore which is definitely painful just thinking about it. Hence, devs if you are reading this, please help out the OP who has been with your game for the past 1800 days or so.

[Ilyrian]

This incident have happened to the OP, but it may happen to us. Think about how would you feel if the items you earned are lost permanently? I would definitely lose the motivation to start everything from scratch or even subscribe further.

Not by accident - not by chance.

SE didn't sweep in under the cover of moonlight and rob them. We all have same same timer on our houses. We all know the consequences of not using them.

The OP didn't know how the system worked (after 5 years of playing apparently) - so that's the issue here. And I suppose a valid argument can be made for making the system super obvious/more obvious/easier to understand.

Whether the system is good or not is another argument entirely.

[R-Pete-G]

We all have same same timer on our houses. We all know the consequences of not using them.

And that's the issue there, for me. We don't all know. I'm surprised that people find it so hard to believe that I wasn't aware of this system, when we seem to be agreeing that you're not made aware of it in-game unless you happen to find the timer after it's already started. And if you missed a blog post on the Lodestone, or the patch notes from a specific patch, you're buggered.

That, in theory, is what the emails are for. But as Enkrateia has already noted, Squenix can't even guarantee those are delivered 100% of the time. The idea that this can be somehow an adequate level of player communication is absurd, to me.

[Ilyrian]

And that's the issue there, for me. We don't all know. I'm surprised that people find it so hard to believe that I wasn't aware of this system, when we seem to be agreeing that you're not made aware of it in-game unless you happen to find the timer after it's already started. And if you missed a blog post on the Lodestone, or the patch notes from a specific patch, you're buggered.

That, in theory, is what the emails for. But as Enkrateia has already noted, Squenix can't even guarantee those are delivered 100% of the time. The idea that this can be somehow an adequate level of player communication is absurd, to me.

Noted, you didn't know. But again, and I'm not personally attacking you and I do have sympathy for the situation you're in, the question remains: if you needed to be told you were going to lose everything to make you use your house - why have it in the first place? Why hold onto it when you know other people desperately want them?
I only ask as you said previously that you had been logging on during this period.
Obviously you're under no obligation to be altruistic about housing in an MMO - but it is well known that they are seriously limited and people really want them.

Also - every time you place a piece of furniture it gives you a warning doesn't it? Along the lines of 'once you place this you can't get it back'... perhaps that needs working on as it isn't particularly clear - seeing as I can't even remember what it says.

But ultimately the responsibility for knowing/not knowing rests on you.
The argument for whether SE should be holding people hostage over their subs with houses, whether there should be a timer in the first place or whether there should be any instanced housing at all is - personally I find all of that more egregious than the timers.

[R-Pete-G]

if you needed to be told you were going to lose everything to make you use your house - why have it in the first place? Why hold onto it when you know other people desperately want them?

What's the time limit for how long of a break you're "allowed" to take from a feature before it's taken away from you? How much leeway is taken into account with serious, external circumstances that affect your ability to enjoy a feature? Arguably, stepping across the threshold once a month is no more engaged with housing than I was - you can't really quantify whether someone enjoys a feature "enough" for them to "deserve" it. All I can say is that being inactive for so long was not a choice, and I fully intended to indulge myself in home ownership when I was able to.

I recognise that this is largely subjective, but isn't really the point of my post at all.

But ultimately the responsibility for knowing/not knowing rests on you.

The only way this stance is tenable, given the way that information on automatic demolition is communicated, is to say that players should either a) read all patch notes and blog posts to ensure they retain any information that may or may not be relevant in the future, or b) a player should immediately head to the Lodestone / Wikis each time they engage with a feature of the game that is new to them, and check for any information they weren't previously aware of.

And b) seems reasonable as a good idea. But as something essentially required to not lose significant value from your account? Given the community of players with different playstyles, ways they like to experience and learn about the game, language skills, and a multitude of other factors, this is not a tenable stance.

[Ilyrian]

And b) seems reasonable as a good idea. But as something essentially required to not lose significant value from your account? Given the community of players with different playstyles, ways they like to experience and learn about the game, language skills, and a multitude of other factors, this is not a tenable stance.

I agree you can't quantify how some deserves anything - that would be absurd. But what SE did was put a timer on it to quantify if you have it or not.
I understand you just need this information to be clearer. Fine - nothing wrong with that.
Your initial post and subsequent supporters are/have taken this to the extreme that it is all somehow unfair. I don't think it is. If the timers were different for everyone - or based on some made-up criteria - I would agree with you. But they aren't. They are the same for everyone.

I would perhaps put something in the comments section to say what you would like to improve the clarity of the system.