Taxes to put off auto-demo

[Illmaeran]

I'd love to see an option to retain ownership of a house and have it not be demolished over the long term. I've had stints on the hospital longer than 45 days a couple times over the past couple of years and have lost my house each time. I'm lucky enough to be on a server where small plots are usually available and I've been able to get another one when I was able to play again. However, that resulted in the loss of more than 15 million gil; a not-insignificant amount on my server, and something that takes a lot of time to recover from.

I agree that demolishing/automatic relinquishment of a plot due to inactivity is helpful on full servers with no available housing. However; for those people who are unable to play for more than 45 days due to RL circumstances, auto demo is a significant deal, especially as it can mean they're not going to be able to get a house again in the future.

The old method of needing to maintain an active subscription to keep your house was good as that usually indicates intent to be active again in the future. Barring that, and YoshiP's statement that it's fine to tale breaks, a separate "house maintenance" charge/subscription when cancelling an active sub during breaks could be a good alternative.

[Brynne]

The old method of needing to maintain an active subscription to keep your house was good as that usually indicates intent to be active again in the future. Barring that, and YoshiP's statement that it's fine to tale breaks, a separate "house maintenance" charge/subscription when cancelling an active sub during breaks could be a good alternative.

This isn't necessarily a bad idea, but I think it'd be better to improve apartments so that they could be upgraded (for additional gil cost) to provide all the amenities of a house (outdoor space, additional item slots, crossbreeding, etc). That way those who want to take breaks or who know they may need extended absences can have a permanent space that they know they will not lose. The ward housing can remain for those who enjoy the neighborhood feel, and hardcore housing enthusiasts can use both for the additional decorating potential.

I don't see the auto demo going away any time soon, unless they overhaul housing completely to remove the 'limited quantity' restriction. However, I think they should extend the amount of time that the housing NPC holds your furnishings and gil in the event that your house is demolished. At least 6 months, not just 30 days.

[Vidu]

I'd love to see an option to retain ownership of a house and have it not be demolished over the long term. I've had stints on the hospital longer than 45 days a couple times over the past couple of years and have lost my house each time. I'm lucky enough to be on a server where small plots are usually available and I've been able to get another one when I was able to play again. However, that resulted in the loss of more than 15 million gil; a not-insignificant amount on my server, and something that takes a lot of time to recover from.

I agree that demolishing/automatic relinquishment of a plot due to inactivity is helpful on full servers with no available housing. However; for those people who are unable to play for more than 45 days due to RL circumstances, auto demo is a significant deal, especially as it can mean they're not going to be able to get a house again in the future.

Considering your statment of "15 million gil being a lot of money", a tax actually works against you here, since it would be taken out of your account wether you want it or not, potentially draining it dry before you come back with the possibilty that you still lost your house because there was no gil left to pay the tax. Now you're homeless and broke, while with the current system you can make the choice to either look for a new house and spend money on it again or just write up that one-time-loss and settle for an apartment.

The old method of needing to maintain an active subscription to keep your house was good as that usually indicates intent to be active again in the future. Barring that, and YoshiP's statement that it's fine to tale breaks, a separate "house maintenance" charge/subscription when cancelling an active sub during breaks could be a good alternative.

That was never the old method. You didnt even need an active subscription to keep your house before auto-demolition - you just bought it and then it set there, being yours forever, wether or not you still paid for the game or not.
Considering how limited housing is, I also dont think that that would have been (or is) a good solution - housing should go to those people who actually care enough about the content to engage with it once every 45 days, which is a very low bar (personal crisis aside). If you're already subscride to the game, is it to much to ask to log in once every 45 days (or arrange for someone trusted to log in every 45 days), enter your house and log out again - something that takes less than 2 minutes?

Until we get unlimited, instances housing, I personally feel that thats not to much to ask. And a way better solution than any form of tax.