PSA/ALERT: Houses are getting demolished when they shouldn't. SE needs to see this!

[Penthea]

Unfortunately email is guaranteed and this is no fault of SE.

I think in some cases it is SE's fault. Some players didn't realise their email was going to filter demolition notices into their junk or spam because all other emails from SE (for things such as mog station receipts, subscription payment notices, promotional emails, etc) get to their standard inbox just fine. I don't think that the players in cases like these can be blamed for expecting the demolition notices to also behave like all other emails from SE.

If the above is indeed happening then SE need to change something about the demolition notices. It's very misleading if a player has zero issue getting every other type of notice from SE.

[worldofneil]

I don't think that the players in cases like these can be blamed for expecting the demolition notices to also behave like all other emails from SE.

SE has no control over *their* spam filtering. It's also on them to go in their houses once every 45 days. The email that SE sends is just a courtesy reminder.

If the above is indeed happening then SE need to change something about the demolition notices. It's very misleading if a player has zero issue getting every other type of notice from SE.

Then those people really need to complain to their email provider (or to whatever software is filtering their junk mail). They're the ones that have classified it wrongly. There's only so much the sender can do and it's simply not possible for an email sender to guarantee they always appear as a genuine email, otherwise every person intentionally sending spam would do that as well.

[Jojoya]

I'm not denying that there is a problem but nobody from SE won't do a thing if some conditions can't be defined as to what happens. As I said I never saw a 10 day notice so why does someone get one of those or why did I get 15 and 3 day notices. This is regardless of when the 10 notice was received and might give some insight into what is happening. What did the delayed 10 day notice email show for time stamps and delivery route? Was it across maintenance windows? There is a lot more to looking at a problem than just saying it's broken. If I were SE I would keep an open problem report to collect this information but as they don't appear to be doing that it is left up to the players to do the problem determination for them.

I'm not even sure if conditions for problem notifications can be defined such that SE will do anything about it. Given their history I highly doubt they will do much of anything even if players can come up with a set of conditions that cause the error. I'm willing to bet if YoshiP could have his way he would just yank housing from the game entirely but realizes it's too late for that.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...3e7ccabefa9954

So the 10 day email notice was the way the system was set up originally. If you're getting 15 day email notices, something changed since then. Perhaps the notice period is different depending on whether the house was purchased before or after that change was implemented? They've done weirder things with their code.

This still wouldn't be a problem if people would just walk into their houses on occasion. Most players probably have a routine they follow after weekly reset to get tomestones capped, custom deliveries completed, etc. If they added walking into their house to that routine, demo notices would be a non-issue.

I doubt they'd yank housing from the game. Too many players enjoy it and it helps to keep them subscribed. I do expect to see a change in how housing gets updated in the future. Increasing the number of wards hasn't been an effective solution. They need to start adding more instanced options beyond the small apartments and FC rooms.

[Alleo]

The email has the earliest date/time the house will demolish, so regardless of 3 days, 10 days or whatever... the date is right there, they just have to read it.

If the topic of the mail has x days in it then I as a owner want this to be the right days and not see under the date that its in truth much less. Those things should be delievered with the right informations. So if you have only 3 days left than the email should state that in its topic.

[Divinemights]

How difficult can it be to enter your house once per week? Why people belived someone should hold their hands for everything?

[worldofneil]

If the topic of the mail has x days in it then I as a owner want this to be the right days and not see under the date that its in truth much less. Those things should be delievered with the right informations. So if you have only 3 days left than the email should state that in its topic.

Do we know if that information was actually wrong at the point the email was sent? Emails cannot be guaranteed to be delivered at all, let alone in a specific timeframe (Because of things like spam filtering). The headers in the email will show the date and time it left Square Enix, but after that it's completely possible for it be delayed via other mail servers. Square Enix probably realise there could be potential delays to the email, hence they include the exact date and time of demolition.

[Kuzulo]

Why is this even a thing, on a paying subscriber's account? This is ridiculous.

I know I'll never be buying a house, that is for sure. How can they not be a virtual space anyway, in a modern MMORPG?(where a lack of housing room would not be an issue.)

This is not a way to retain customers.

[Final-Fantasy]

Why have a house if you're too incompetent to enter it once a month and require hand-holding to keep it in your possession!

[TalithaSolarien]

SE has no control over *their* spam filtering. It's also on them to go in their houses once every 45 days. The email that SE sends is just a courtesy reminder.



Then those people really need to complain to their email provider (or to whatever software is filtering their junk mail). They're the ones that have classified it wrongly. There's only so much the sender can do and it's simply not possible for an email sender to guarantee they always appear as a genuine email, otherwise every person intentionally sending spam would do that as well.

That is not completely true. Any of the big email providers (like google or yahoo) have very stringent requirements on the senders of emails to prohibit automatically filtering their emails into spam folders. This requires special email headers and specific DNS records from the senders domain. If the demolition mail land into spam folders, esp. on services like google then yes, this is on Square Enix, not the receiver. They manage to setup up their other emails quite well, they should do that for those emails as well.

[Solarra]

Why have a house if you're too incompetent to enter it once a month and require hand-holding to keep it in your possession!

I doubt you were expecting a civil response to that, because you've made it clear why you think it happens and it's not very polite.

I'm sure you are right up to a point, some people probably do find housing isn't as much fun as they thought and don't bother entering their house (though they don't usually come here and complain), while others simply don't understand the process (there is a good case for making it clearer and having the timer more visible in-game, I think).

In other cases people lose power or internet for long periods due to natural disasters, are deployed away from home, have accidents or get sick and end up in hospital. Other people are simply following Yoshi's advice and taking a break from the game.
TLDR: Not everyone is stupid and lazy.

If players can't rely on Square to send emails their house is under threat, or the emails contain inaccurate information, then that is a problem that needs to be addressed.