Can we get an Official clarification on housing Demolish timer (45 or 90?)

[Malicewolf]

They really need to revisit the policy is all. There are better ways to go about than an arbitrary countdiwn being the only determining factor.

They issued deeds with the impression/understanding they would be permanent. These deeds could be grandfathered to remain permanent until the user gets rid of it somehow (transfer, deletion, etc. on their terms), and all new purchases could get a different agreement that has the new reclamation policy applied. Then they could add new wards or even new zones. Remember how they mirrored zones at HW launch? They've demonstrated how quickly they can copy/pasta a zone...they may need to apply it a bit differently to make a new housing district of sorts (zone in and choose different prefect or something perhaps even?). The point is it is well within their ability to increase housing...for whatever reason they are choosing not to do it.

Another thing that could be done is to add a layer of verification to the notice. It could be an email receipt or an acceptanc button on a popup when they log in. Once verified, it would trigger a countdown. After x number of days from verification he property is reclaimed. That is kind if how these things happen in the real world, so that would likely be accepted far more readily than we send emials and stick a notice on an in-game menu and after 45 days we take it. Just because a message is sent like that,there is no guarantee it was received. I have about a year worth of PSN notices in a hotmail account that I never read. I don't check that account unless I am looking for something that I know is going there. Thunderbird downloads them as an additional account...but I almost never look in he folder.

Just saying....right ways and wrong ways. There is a far better way to manage this situation.

1. If you already quit the game, why in the world would you bother to click the "acceptance/verification" email to give up your house? Usually when someone quits playing something, they stop caring for the notifications and simply don't bother reading. This would leave the houses that we MOST want out standing. The one's that truly have no purpose being there anymore and the reason everyone has pushed for this update in the first place to happen.
2. Although making new wards is possible, they still take up space that MUST be paid for. That's a lot of data. Every item you place in your house must be saved individually on the server. Now multiply that by 50 in a single warded area. Now go ahead and think about how many wards we have. Now, let's add on top of that the fact that we have multiple locations in which these wards are located. Then think about how many server's are running. I'm not saying they "can't" add more. But this is probably a huge amount of space being used up already. The money to support it must come from somewhere and personally, I'd rather it go to more content.

[sirDarts]

They really need to revisit the policy is all. There are better ways to go about than an arbitrary countdiwn being the only determining factor.

They issued deeds with the impression/understanding they would be permanent. These deeds could be grandfathered to remain permanent until the user gets rid of it somehow (transfer, deletion, etc. on their terms), and all new purchases could get a different agreement that has the new reclamation policy applied. Then they could add new wards or even new zones. Remember how they mirrored zones at HW launch? They've demonstrated how quickly they can copy/pasta a zone...they may need to apply it a bit differently to make a new housing district of sorts (zone in and choose different prefect or something perhaps even?). The point is it is well within their ability to increase housing...for whatever reason they are choosing not to do it.

Another thing that could be done is to add a layer of verification to the notice. It could be an email receipt or an acceptanc button on a popup when they log in. Once verified, it would trigger a countdown. After x number of days from verification he property is reclaimed. That is kind if how these things happen in the real world, so that would likely be accepted far more readily than we send emials and stick a notice on an in-game menu and after 45 days we take it. Just because a message is sent like that,there is no guarantee it was received. I have about a year worth of PSN notices in a hotmail account that I never read. I don't check that account unless I am looking for something that I know is going there. Thunderbird downloads them as an additional account...but I almost never look in he folder.

Just saying....right ways and wrong ways. There is a far better way to manage this situation.

Aaaah, finally your true greed is showing. Was clear from the start that 90 would not satisfy you either.

[Raist]

Aaaah, finally your true greed is showing. Was clear from the start that 90 would not satisfy you either.

Nothing to do with greed, nor 90 days.

It is about principles. Ethics. Right and wrong.

If anything, you are demonstrating greed by wanting to arbitrarily seize property. No extenuating circumstance is acceptable. No fair trade practices. No just cause required. No chance of an equitable agreement to be made. Not even a confirmation of a notice of intent required.

You want it...and you want someone to take for you. Conscience and morals be damned.

[Raist]

<snip>

Guess you are unfamiliar with.email receipts. Granted there are ways to circumvent them, but most don't bother changing the configuration.

Cost of storage? Either you are overestimating hard drive costs or overestimating the size of the data per item...or perhaps both. For certain you are ignoring how quickly they threw up multiple instances of zones at HW launch. Not a zone of mostly static content mind you...highly active zones complete with mobs, players, fates, hunts, missions/quests...complete down to he dynamic weather effects and all.

They have the hardware. They have the template. They have the ability. They are choosing not to implement.

The problem is less an issue of idle properties,,but more that SE is not providing new properties.

Wait. Take that back. It in fact is that they aren't adding new properties.

[Catwho]

It's not just storage space, which is something that people who don't work on large IT systems don't understand. It's server CPU overhead. It's memory.

I'm working on a fairly complex web application at my office, but we only deal with around 400-500 users at a time, not four million. Our test server? We have to reboot that daily because of RAM creep every time we make a tiny change. The production servers get rebooted weekly for the same reason due to database churn. XIV's servers do not reboot; they have built the code with enough robustness to self-trim RAM and keep everything manageable while people are playing. Adding another housing ward adds much more overhead than you'd realize.

I'm still hoping to see Ishgard housing in the future - ideally they will find a solution to the CPU and RAM overhead costs by then.

[Malicewolf]

snip

Email receipts... really... Anywho, the argument I was trying to make was that your suggestion negates the initial reason behind this occurring. Those that DO NOT LOG ON ANYMORE AND QUIT are the one's we REALLY want off of properties. But you want to send those people emails and get their "acceptance" before taking it away? Or, we end up having people who never bother checking the darn emails and instead, no acceptance, therefore, no demolished houses from those people. It's simply backwards from what this update is meant to accomplish.

And as for storage. I like her answer

It's not just storage space, which is something that people who don't work on large IT systems don't understand. It's server CPU overhead. It's memory.

I'm working on a fairly complex web application at my office, but we only deal with around 400-500 users at a time, not four million. Our test server? We have to reboot that daily because of RAM creep every time we make a tiny change. The production servers get rebooted weekly for the same reason due to database churn. XIV's servers do not reboot; they have built the code with enough robustness to self-trim RAM and keep everything manageable while people are playing. Adding another housing ward adds much more overhead than you'd realize.

I'm still hoping to see Ishgard housing in the future - ideally they will find a solution to the CPU and RAM overhead costs by then.

Thank you for that ^^

My apologies for not using all the right technical terms however. Storage is all I said, but the point I was trying to get at was, everything adds up. Think of it this way. Sure, an enemy hitting you at 10 dmg per hit ain't bad. But add in 30 hitting you at once and you got 300 dmg per coming at a time. Things add up. We got what? Couple million players?

As I said, I don't doubt they "could" do it. But SE is a business too and everything still has to be calculated.

[Nihility]

It's really just a matter of what they have to work with
-their resources are limited to the point of only being capable of very limited housing areas(they can't even extend the armory chest to make room for new jobs it's so limited)
-there are tons of people constantly complaining about no houses available and also a surprising amount of super rich individuals that have multiple homes
-they are going to favor and support those that maintain a constant subscription over those that only come on for a month or so after a major patch
-they are not going to form policies around fringe cases of "what if i get stranded in a snowed in cabin on a remote mountain for 2 months?!"

It is what it is and i even remember them mentioning you'll be able to lose a house to inactivity back when they were first implemented and no one could afford them at all.
They even send you warnings when time is getting short. If you play normally it's a non-issue

[Sicno]

So, bottom line is that there's a lot of people who are ok with tearing down other people's homes because they want one of their own and they consider "those are wasted resources that would be better used on themselves".

Such a nice, friendly community!

[Kietsu]

So, bottom line is that there's a lot of people who are ok with tearing down other people's homes because they want one of their own and they consider "those are wasted resources that would be better used on themselves".

Such a nice, friendly community!

No, the bottom line is that there is no space left and people want to own housing. It's a bit hard to care about the property of somebody who doesn't care about the property.
If you want to keep your home, you just need to check in every 44 days or so, that's hardly a lot of work on your end. And if you don't have a subscription because content dried up? Well now.

[Sicno]

No, the bottom line is that there is no space left and people want to own housing.

No, bottom line is that people who want homes want them at any cost even if it involves stripping other people of their own.