Pushed to quit after 1,860 days subbed

[Solarra]

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?

Storage is much, much cheaper than it used to be. This isn't an issue of cost.
I suspect that the timer is due to them wanting to remove the gil from the game permanently after a period and just tying the furniture to it as well because it was easier than keeping them separate. Whatever the reason, I think deleting a person's furniture along with their gil was a terrible decision and one that the community took surprisingly quietly. If nothing else changes regarding housing, I'd like to see that decision reversed.

[Raskbuck]

Only because you seem to be set on insisting it has to be one or another, while pretty much everyone who responded to you stated that it is both. Can the system be improved? Sure. But that still doesn't change the fact that the OP in this case take the lion share of the responsibility over losing his own house. The reasons why had been given to you over many times by other posters in this thread so no need for me to repeat it. I only make this point to point out you shouldn't be so binary in your thought.

It's not like they were hiding information. They were headlight material in patch note and launchers many times before, especially for who has been invested for as long as OP claimed. The information is still there there for those who seek it out. The timer in the calendar ...etc... The email, whether it works or not is just one of the MANY measures in place to warn the players. In my case, it doesn't matter if it works or not, I would check my house on interval regardless, simply the fact that I'm informed.

Accountability has to have a minimum floor somewhere. I do gardening on my private lots, and I had lost count how many times I lost my expensive crops because I forgot to care for them. The reasons varies: didn't log in for many days, too focus on raid progression, too busy playing brain death in Pagos, sometime it's as comical as I actually visit the house daily, but forgot to pass by the garden (since they way I decor my yard they're hidden from the main pathway). Do I wish for a system where the game literally yell at my face "HEY YOUR CROP ARE GOING TO DIE SOON, MOVE IT!", I had never blame anyone or anything else but my own. If you start accepting any and everything as excuse, there will never be enough.

I know I said that was going to be my last response, but since you've edited your post to add those extra couple of paragraphs, I'd like to elaborate further where I'm coming from.

OP has been a long time subscriber of the game, stating they would have supported the game from beginning to end, and then this incident happens to them. They share their frustration on the forums, and explain how this has impacted their experience with the game while offering some feedback to improve upon it.

A lot of people seem fixated on arguing whether OP is the one at fault here or not, judging that they didn't deserve to own the house in the first place. This is the point that, to me personally, I find difficult to wrap my head around. They didn't make this thread with the intention of pointing fingers or trying to shift blame; they were explaining where they were coming from and, maybe, get some support from the community so that it stings less. Instead, we are greeted with several comments remarking that they were the one at fault here for not doing X and Y.

It's difficult to offer heartfelt feedback on the official forums when people are so quick to jump the gun and attack each other. At the end of the day, I'd like to believe we all want to see the game grow and improve. This thread was meant to shine a light on some of the issues part of the community has with the current housing system.

That's what I find so disconcerting about the whole way the thread has evolved, and why I feel it's necessary to mention. You may keep thinking I'm looking at things in binary, and that's okay. At the end of the day we are all just offering our point of view.

[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.

[Squigley]

We have that annoying unhideable "This and that achievement is nearing completion" upon login. Why isn't there a similar notification for "Your house explodes in five days"? Or better yet, "We will permanently delete stuff you paid real money for in three days"?

There is a very clear usability problem in the game client if the player needs to actively look for this kind of information instead of the info being presented at the appropriate time in a convenient way.

[KageTokage]

I almost lost my house due to not getting any notifications, either.

It really should give you an in-game notice whenever you log-in until the issue is resolved.

[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.

[ko_]

I know I said that was going to be my last response, but since you've edited your post to add those extra couple of paragraphs, I'd like to elaborate further where I'm coming from.

OP has been a long time subscriber of the game, stating they would have supported the game from beginning to end, and then this incident happens to them. They share their frustration on the forums, and explain how this has impacted their experience with the game while offering some feedback to improve upon it.

A lot of people seem fixated on arguing whether OP is the one at fault here or not, judging that they didn't deserve to own the house in the first place. This is the point that, to me personally, I find difficult to wrap my head around. They didn't make this thread with the intention of pointing fingers or trying to shift blame; they were explaining where they were coming from and, maybe, get some support from the community so that it stings less. Instead, we are greeted with several comments remarking that they were the one at fault here for not doing X and Y.

It's difficult to offer heartfelt feedback on the official forums when people are so quick to jump the gun and attack each other. At the end of the day, I'd like to believe we all want to see the game grow and improve. This thread was meant to shine a light on some of the issues part of the community has with the current housing system.

That's what I find so disconcerting about the whole way the thread has evolved, and why I feel it's necessary to mention. You may keep thinking I'm looking at things in binary, and that's okay. At the end of the day we are all just offering our point of view.

The issue is had the OP been more informed he never would've lost his house. Noone here is going to feel sorry for you on the housing issue when it's so extremely limited AND so many people are without houses to begin with. This was the LAST place to look for hugs and pats my friend. Not saying I agree with it, but you HAVE to know what you're jumping into period. Savage, dungeons, housing, forums crafting etc etc.. or hell in LIFE itself. Noone is going to just give you everything you need on a plate without you first asking for it. The point is don't blame the people here for questioning like they did, we all have access to the same info. If you're playing the game you have no to little excuse to not be informed on the limited resource. It's just how it is sadly.

[Claviusnex]

- snip -

...No, you just made it an actually very good reason why it doesn't matter how many times we have warning pop-up messages. There will always be careless fools.

Yes there will always be careless people and in the 30 plus years I did software engineering one of the things that got no argument from me was adding another message. It was one of the easier things to do and created a lot of good will from the customer. If someone inadvertently makes a mistake because they don't know, have forgotten or are just rushing to get done doesn't matter, I considered it part of my job to compensate for that. Keep in mind the products I worked on were supported and used by highly skilled IT professionals not your average consumer so they should have always known what to do yet even they made boneheaded mistakes. By your logic we should get rid of deletion confirmation messages because it doesn't matter that some careless person, perhaps even you, might need it to stop them from inadvertently deleting a one time item. I don't remember what you see when you buy a house but it is in all player's interests to be warned about the timer when they purchase. Then you might have an argument about that personal responsibility you are so fond of falling back on in your posts. Sorry but you are on the wrong side of this argument.

[NessaWyvern]

My husband knew about the auto-demolish, but not the timer in which you lose all your stuff. He lost a ton of valuables too :/ It really sucks