Pushed to quit after 1,860 days subbed

[Ilyrian]

That's because it wasn't explained clearly anywhere in-game. I feel like we're talking in different languages here, not to mention completely missing the point of my response.

If deep down you're implying that it was ultimately OP's fault and that there's nothing to improve upon the housing system, I suppose there's nothing else to discuss. I know you are not saying that, but it sure seems like it if we're arguing about technicalities.

It was the OPs fault. Let's be clear about that.
House gets demolished if you don't use it after a set time. He was even logging on and not using it. Working as intended I would say.

How much hand-holding do people need? Perhaps a countdown timer on the log-in screen?

[Alleo]

OP I can fully understand you. If I would lose my house I would probably not come back either or just sub once every half year to go through the story.

It is a bit strange that you have never heard from the demo timer in all the years but people sometimes forget that not everyone looks up stuff outside the game or read on the forum thus might miss it.

The timer should be shown when you log into the game. There is no reason why this was shoved into another window which you might not even look at. Heck when I checked my timer after the last break (since I also did not get any email even though one house reaced the 10 days) I had to search a bit for it because I did not remember where it was.

The not receiving emails do happen to some people, me included and I get every other mail from them, checked my mail on the site and more. There seemingly is a problem but as long as they are sent out by SE they probably dont really care if we do get them or not. Also there were rumors of a bug that could delete your house too. (And there was someone on reddit a few days ago that had it happen too, so maybe its still not just a rumor)

In the end this problem could have been easily solved by SE:

- A notification in the game when you log in
- not deleting any item after certain days..people might get new houses if they ever lose one but as you said, some items can never be recovered again. (And lets not forget that there are items that you can only get through real money and those will be lost too)
- letting a sub be the only rule to still have a house. This way you dont need to go into one house.

[R-Pete-G]

It was the OPs fault. Let's be clear about that.
House gets demolished if you don't use it after a set time. He was even logging on and not using it. Working as intended I would say.

How much hand-holding do people need? Perhaps a countdown timer on the log-in screen?

This is the response I find most perplexing. Do you really consider an in-game helper text - akin to the hundreds that already exist in game for far less significant systems - such a distasteful level of "hand holding"?

[Ilyrian]

This is the response I find most perplexing. Do you really consider an in-game helper text - akin to the hundreds that already exist in game for far less significant systems - such a distasteful level of "hand holding"?

No I think it's a good idea. Put it in if needs be.
What is interesting though is whether it would have made you use your house - a limited commodity, as you know, - something that you seem very upset over to lose but not interested enough to even set foot in.

[R-Pete-G]

As I've mentioned, losing the house was frustrating but something I could deal with. I take issue with the way the system is communicated, but that's that. It's the permanent loss of rare furnishings I'd collected over the years that has really made me feel the impact.

But the answer is yes. If I had known the system existed, I would have kept that upkeep going during the challenging period in my personal life, and would be - now, in fact - putting more work into furnishing it and enjoying it when I was able to again. To know that auto demolition was a thing, where the timer was, and what was required of me, was all I would have needed. Are the timers discrete? Yeah, they are. But I'd have been fine with them if I knew they were there to keep an eye on.

To reiterate - despite all of that, I know why the system is in place. The limited nature of housing is something that's frustrated me since it was introduced, hence my excitement to finally get a plot (real life impacting on my playtime notwithstanding) to call my own. To fall foul of that system is upsetting, but I understand the nature of a limited commodity. But to lose furnishings that were not a limited commodity in this way - no one else benefits from my loss, they don't have a real or meaningful level of scarcity for the playerbase as a whole - is the biggest failing of the system, I think.

[Solarra]

I do feel that this system needs to be looked at again. Personally, I feel that if you are paying a sub then the timer should not kick in at all. 45 days after your sub lapses would be fairer.
However, regarding improving the system we have:

- There definitely should be a clear warning in-game if your house is about to be demolished. A pop up in-game or a Moogle mail is surely not that hard to add (this is Square remember, not some little indie-company).

- The timer should be visible at all times. It's in a very obscure position on the timers menu. I'd leave it there but also put it on the log-in screen perhaps or on a pop-up like we have for achievements.

- There is no justification for deleting anyone's furniture. Storage is cheap; all furniture should be held indefinitely, just the same as your other virtual assets: gear, mounts, minions etc.

[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.

[Ilyrian]

To reiterate - despite all of that, I know why the system is in place. The limited nature of housing is something that's frustrated me since it was introduced, hence my excitement to finally get a plot (real life impacting on my playtime notwithstanding) to call my own. To fall foul of that system is upsetting, but I understand the nature of a limited commodity. But to lose furnishings that were not a limited commodity in this way - no one else benefits from my loss, they don't have a real or meaningful level of scarcity for the playerbase as a whole - is the biggest failing of the system, I think.

I imagine that they'd find issue with this as they keep banging on about server limitations as it is.
It would be nice in theory - but you know there would be some kind of timer placed on top of that too. But then if they can keep your character indefinitely - would keeping all these items with them take up that much space? I really don't know. Probably not?
I get the impression that SE wished they'd never started this whole housing fiasco in the first place.

[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.