Reclamation of Inactive Housing announced

[Toguro]

snip

I can't remember whether or not you saw my "scenarios" post nor do I want to go back to find it. But with the vultures vs have-nots thing, let's just drop it now okay?

So the people are not like "vultures"(which was a simile anyway but..), they are players. Active players who desire a home. Understandable. Now... Scenario.. #7

The "Haves"- Players who have homes
The "Have-nots"- Players without homes

Houses are demolished. The "Have-nots" instantly take the houses. There's no argument there. People crowd when something is new in-game. The "Haves" are now "Have-nots" including the original "Have-nots" that got beat by the others. In the end.. no change. No fix. Just a change in position for a select few "Have-nots".

And also to make sure I remind you once more that I am not a selfish "Have", I am a "Have-not". And I do not think this fix will help the community as a whole. Only some people who win the race. The others who lose still lose.

Excuse me if I did not say I didn't have a house in my previous responses to you specifically. But I know I've said it in previous posts

[Catwho]

Yeah, I'm a x2 homeowner (FC house and personal house) and I'm also openly and aggressively defending housing reclamation. I think 45 days is a bit short for personal houses, but the very idea of housing reclamation? Yeah. We needed it. Dead FCs are cluttering up the neighborhoods and have to go.

45 days is perfect for an inactive FC, especially combined with the email notices.

[Meirii]

my ward is full of empty houses. Only a few people ever there

[Raist]

My concern is less about what they are doing and more about how they are doing it. It's just a bit too much of a strong-arm tactic for the personal housing. Such a short time against how often you open the front door just doesn't sit well with me.

I live in an area where houses go "unused" in this sense (not the owner),for months on end. They may not even be occupied by renters for consecutive months. That doesn't give someone the right to arbitrarily seize it. Now, if they are behind on payments, taxes, it is dilapidated to the point of being condemned, etc. then you have a different debate.

So my real life experience just causes me to buck against the aggressiveness of the policy. If it were focused more like a couple months of unpaid subs it wouldn't bother me as much. But simply because someone hasn't opened the front door in 45 days doesn't automatically mean you haven't used your property. Just as an example, choco stables don't require you to actually step inside.

Many may understand and even support the need...they just take issue with the tactics.

Just as an example, they could have made the first round be any one with inactive accounts for a set amount of time. 6 months, 3 months...or even 45 days of not paying your subscription would likely have been much more widely accepted as a starting point.

[Colorful]

So my real life experience just causes me to buck against the aggressiveness of the policy. If it were focused more like a couple months of unpaid subs it wouldn't bother me as much. But simply because someone hasn't opened the front door in 45 days doesn't automatically mean you haven't used your property. Just as an example, choco stables don't require you to actually step inside.

If they're using the chocobo stables right in front of their house, is it really too much to ask that the they enter it once every 45 days? I don't believe so, and if their only desire is the chocobo housing, then FC housing is perfect for that and there's no real need to occupy a house. But I do agree with you, it should have been based on subscription and not on entering the house, but the majority of complaints have been about being "forced to subscribe" so I don't think it would have been any more accepted.

[Seryl199]

But I do agree with you, it should have been based on subscription and not on entering the house, but the majority of complaints have been about being "forced to subscribe" so I don't think it would have been any more accepted.

It seems more of culture shock than anything. If people really felt forced to subscribe, they wouldn't really be enjoying the game, so they shouldn't care so much about their estate anyways. However, it is one of the first measures in FFXIV that is actually punitive for unsubscribing. Glamour gears are always relevant, and gear becomes irrelevant at a rapid enough pace that it's easy enough for a returning player to catch up, facilitating a dynamic that makes it easy for players to drop the game and jump back into it at a later time.

The reclamation effort, however, adds a definitive measure of permanence to unsubscribing, where your house is demolished, you are (generously) refunded 80% of your gil and given (less generously) 35 days to reclaim some potentially very valuable furniture, and some items can be lost in the process. It adds actual consequence to unsubscribing, something that this game is rather unfamiliar with. It discourages and entirely excludes all but the most frequent subscribers from owning property. The limited availability and permanence of housing make it available only to a limited number of permanent residents, making people feel "forced to subscribe" because housing has become some of the most limited and simultaneously punitive content in the game.

[Tyrn]

you are (generously) refunded 80% of your gil and given (less generously) 35 days to reclaim some potentially very valuable furniture, and some items can be lost in the process.

The actual valuable furniture can't be recovered and you're likely to lose more gil in destroyed furniture than the house cost you to begin with, I'd be less upset with the very short time limit if we got all our furniture back.

[Kayote]

My concern is less about what they are doing and more about how they are doing it. It's just a bit too much of a strong-arm tactic for the personal housing. Such a short time against how often you open the front door just doesn't sit well with me.

Exactly. Despite what some here try to argue, im sure most here are fine with the fact theyre reclaiming houses. The problem is how theyre doing it. Once the initial lots fill up again, itll be the same steady stream of new lots opening up ... 45 days is too soon. Im fine with having to go in the house, doesnt seem like a big issue despite the fact it seems excessive. The only issue is the time. Its a month and a half, or even less unless you last logged off in your house! I know im not the only one that unsubs every now and then with full intentions of coming back when a patch (or 2) adds content ... in fact id say its the norm.

I dont want to call it extortion ... but its at best extortion-like tactics. "Pay us money or we destroy your work and only give you some stuff back" There is a line between freeing up housing out of necessity and threatening players to take their housing, which they probably spent a lot of time and gil to purchase and customize. The fact this is a band-aid fix to a problem rooted in their crap design, which isnt going to fix the core issue only makes it worse.

For the record, I dont like housing, dont have housing in this game, and dont plan on ever buying a personal one in its current implementation.

[Raist]

But the complaint has been largely about property not being used...not that no one enters the house. There aren't mechanics like XI gardening that compelled you to check on plants often enough to keep them from dying, so people just aren't in the habit of going into their house unless they have a specific need/desire too. I port to the FC a lot to save on Limsa taxes at the market board right around the corner...and use the bell right there. I have no particular need to actually go inside on those runs, but I am still technically using the house (used the teleport option it provides).

So there is a bit of a disconnect between using the asset/service provided by housing versus opening the front door. Often times there is no reason to go inside...but that doesn't mean you haven't used it.

[Pomelo]

I'm hoping this free's up my neighbourhood so my actually active friends can live in the houses and we can have sleepovers and other social stuff *wierdo*