Premature reinstatement of auto demolition

[Pyrious]

Hello everyone and thank you for reading this. I'm posting to raise awareness and concern over the decision to reinstate auto demolition during these trying times when many are still economically impacted by the pandemic that still rages out of control. On March 26 2020 Square Enix decided to suspend auto demolition of housing citing concerns of the economic impact of the virus.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...211113e4ab392f

This was a wonderful show of compassion from the company. However, in November of 2020, Square Enix decided to reinstate auto demolition citing, and I'm paraphrasing, the impact of the virus could go on far longer than expected and thus they would be reinstating auto demolition as of the release of 5.4 in December of 2020.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...634fa6df3f42b8

This feels like a slap in the face to those more impacted than others. The decision seems to go on the assumption that the player base is impacted equally which it is not. I have had to watch as friends and loved ones have left after losing their homes while recovering from the impact of the pandemic. Many of my friends and acquaintances in the medical field have lost their homes in game not from a desire to play but from a lack of time as they are working twelve or sixteen hour days often six to seven days a week depending on virus outbreaks. Reinstating auto demolition was an atrocious decision. With the vast amount of housing that was in development when these decisions were made, there was no good reason to take current players housing from them.

Make this right Square. Roll back housing to the state it was in before the release of patch 5.4. Give back the homes of these players who were already suffering from the pandemic only suffer the indignity of losing their Eorzean home that brought them happiness in these bleak times. Show the compassion you showed at the beginning. Yes, it will be hard work restoring all the homes to their owners and it will disappoint players who have purchased a home made available by this decision, however, it is the right thing to do. Auto demolition should not have been reinstated nor should it be reinstated until the impact of the pandemic is over.

Thank you for reading

[ItMe]

Make this right Square. Roll back housing to the state it was in before the release of patch 5.4. Give back the homes of these players

I dont think they can do this without resetting all housing to the way it was in, what, December?
Anything people did to change their house in almost 4 months would be gone, items irrevocably lost forever.
Anyone who bought a house in that time would have it yanked from them.
Etc.
That's such a big ask I dont think we can reasonably expect it, especially since they gave us such a heads up auto demo was going to be coming back on.

[Pyrious]

I do understand and agree with your statement. I do still think the decision of the reinstatement and the reasoning behind it is absurd and needs addressed. It was very poor timing to make the decision and I do think it would go a long way to do something for those, specifically speaking of those in the healthcare field with no free time, who lost something. I did not lose my home and have taken appropriate steps not to, however, I have watched as friends and loved ones have lost theirs. I have seen the heartbreak and tears as loyal players and die hard fans have lost homes to the reinstatement. Real life couples who built digital homes together to feel closer even though they are apart have lost what is to them a symbol of their love. Something needs to be done to address this and make it right.

[LaylaTsarra]

Make this right Square. Roll back housing to the state it was in before the release of patch 5.4. Give back the homes of these players who were already suffering from the pandemic only suffer the indignity of losing their Eorzean home that brought them happiness in these bleak times..

You can't do that without taking away those home from someone else who worked hard to get them as well. Whether or not the demolition timer should have be restarted is another issue but pretty much a done deal at this time. There is no way they'll undo that decision at this point in time in my opinion.

[ItMe]

I do understand and agree with your statement. I do still think the decision of the reinstatement and the reasoning behind it is absurd and needs addressed.
[...]
Something needs to be done to address this and make it right.

Perhaps, but resetting housing ain't it.
At best that's just gonna replace one set of tears with another (those who lose their house to auto demo vs to the reset).
What other ways of addressing the problem would you like to see? Is there something else you think could work.

[Vahlnir]

Doing a rollback is not the solution to this issue. Not sure how the heck you even came to that conclusion. 2 wrongs don't make a right.

[Pyrious]

I understand my "eye for an eye" solution is harsh. Other options could be to give those who lost houses priority when new housing is added such as allowing them to purchase houses in the upcoming wards one day before others have access or making the new Island Sanctuaries a type of instanced housing that allows players to still use houses (walls, roofs, fences, prefabs) to recreate the homes they lost during this time while allowing them to share them with friends and loved ones.

[Pyrious]

Doing a rollback is not the solution to this issue. Not sure how the heck you even came to that conclusion. 2 wrongs don't make a right.

You're absolutely right. It is an unjust idea born of anger from seeing the anguish of friends and loved ones who have suffered additional loss during an already difficult time. There are better solutions.

[Kaiproberts]

This is a game. People that lost homes allowed others to fulfill their dreams and buy one. You can even prorate your subscription by logging for one day and then cancelling. People who lost their house due to hardships either 1. shouldn't be playing in the first place because life has more pressing matters and 2. didn't want to put in work to pay a fraction of their subscription to keep their house (pay for a month, login, cancel sub, wait close to 45 days, resub, repeat). I wouldn't have gotten my house without autodemo so I am grateful it came back.

[Penthea]

People who lost their house due to hardships either 1. shouldn't be playing in the first place because life has more pressing matters

And what about if they come back to the game AFTER said hardships have been dealt with? Are they worthy of your pity then?

I strongly disagree with any sort of rollback, but I really dislike this stance of "they got better stuff to do" to just shrug off people losing in-game assets through no fault of their own. Going through hardship doesn't automatically make someone not think about or not want to play a game. A lot of people experiencing hardship right now are dreaming of when things can go back to a normal boring life to do things like play a game. I know someone who was hospitalised for over two months due to covid and they were only able to keep their house because someone else logged in on their behalf. Even when they were suffering in bed they were thinking about when they could go back to the game and finish decorating. They had the awful luck of falling ill very shortly before demolition came back.

I am glad you got your house, congrats. I know how frustrating the housing system is. It sucks. I'm glad that chapter is finally over for you. I just want people to have a bit more compassion for those who lost theirs because of a crazy situation entirely out of their control.

All this just shows how intensely broken the housing system is. So many times demolition has been paused because of large scale disasters. If we had a proper instanced housing system this entire sort of conversation wouldn't even vaguely exist. Some people who lost their house due to covid spent years trying to get it. There is something wrong with an in-game asset if you can spend years trying to get it, and then lose it so quickly purely because of bad luck that didn't even take place in the game. I'm so tired of this song and dance. I wish we had a proper housing system so we could all enjoy it without any worry.