Quote Originally Posted by Penthea View Post
Sorry I don't think it's good enough reason to justify players being punished by a system that seems designed to be unclear. The sort of attitude that's like "the system should remain unclear and awkward so I can get a house" is frankly mean and spiteful.

They should instead leave their server or devote their love for housing by advocating for the system to be improved. I know what it's like to not have a house. When I didn't have one I didn't become uppity or crazy whenever someone had ideas on improving the demolition system.
I wholeheartedly agree, but it's still a motivating factor.

Quote Originally Posted by ko_ View Post
I'm not threathen and I don't think anyone else is. The point everyone seems to be missing is OP himself didn't look into anything and lose his house because of it. And cause of his own mess up he's crying about quiting? Something he could've prevented in the first place? How is this a SE issue? and not a user issue?
Where do you suggest we draw the line on what is or is not a user issue? What if SE notified about housing demolition only in the EULA? What if they had a policy of deleting your house wholesale if you dropped your subscription for any reason? Where does it stop?

There are things that people can prevent, and things that people should be reasonably expected to prevent. Clearly this is a scenario the OP could have prevented, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect. Housing is the only system that has consequences for taking a break; it's the only in-game content that triggers email contacts; it's the only timer in the game to be active only when it's close to expiring; it's one of only a few timers that has to be accessed via a secondary tab within the Timers tab. I'd say this constitutes an unreasonable burden on the player. If you disagree, may I ask why? Again I point to the EULA example, or housing deletion if one's subscription lapses. Would those be fair game too, in your mind?

Regardless of your response, there's also one other factor about this that should demand SE take action: it impacts a player's sense of attachment to Eorzea. I'd argue that Housing, as much or more than any in-game system, tends to anchor people to FFXIV. It offers near-endless customization, activities, etc. Losing one's house is extremely likely to cause someone to at least consider quitting, even if they don't ultimately follow through. Therefore, from a business standpoint, SE should want to avoid this happening at all costs. A simple mechanism like the Achievements pop-up when time gets short, and making the timer always visible in the main Timers tab, would go a long way toward accomplishing this - and they can clearly do both.