Please fix - really poor game design

[skeletonfingers]

I just came back to the game after a 6 month break to find the Free Company I was a part of no longer exists. I quickly joined another and re-purchased private quarters, only to find all my stuff is gone.

This is an extremely poor game design. The amount of time/energy/material and money I spent on items completely went to waste. A player cannot help the fact that Free Companies disband, so why would you ever have the game delete all of those items? It makes no sense. It's bad enough the game charges you over and over for private quarters, another silly design, but deleting the items is a whole new low.

[worldofneil]

I appreciate this won't help, but wanted to clarify that they don't actually get instantly deleted.

When your FC room is destroyed (for whatever reason) all items that can be removed go to the Calamity Salvager. Any items that can't actually be removed without destroying do get instantly destroyed though.

However, you only have 35 days to pick up your items from a Calamity Salvager vendor before they are removed forever.

[Lexia]

Well the just doesn't delete the items it gives a grace period where you can reclaim them which then deletes them after that period of time has passed. Even if you own your own house the game will reclaim the house if you gone for more then 45 days and items then sent to the Calamity NPC for the same grace period before being deleted.

[skeletonfingers]

Yeah, I understand how it works. It's still a really poor game design that needs changed. The game is essentially taking your items and deleting them if you haven't played in 45 days, which is absolutely ridiculous. Imagine if the game deleted your gear, items in your bank and up for sale on your retainers in the same way. I can't understand the logic behind it. The same goes for having to pay for additional private quarters if your FC drops you or disbands. The game is asking you to take a risk at spending a large amount of gil and not guaranteeing once that money is spent that you will continue to keep what you paid for.

Why wouldn't they just make private quarters be owned by your character, but only be able to have access to through a FC instance you are apart of? This is my stuff, I own it, and if I move to a different FC it should still be my stuff, where I had it placed, not be deleted because I couldn't keep my sub active for 45 days or more.

[worldofneil]

I can't understand the logic behind it.

It's a way to convince people to stay subscribed and they also probably rationalise it that they store less data for non-active players then.

The same goes for having to pay for additional private quarters if your FC drops you or disbands. The game is asking you to take a risk at spending a large amount of gil and not guaranteeing once that money is spent that you will continue to keep what you paid for.

This is true. They probably justify it as a gil sink though to remove money from the game (as there are so many ways to get money that comes from nowhere and very few that actually take money out of the game).

Why wouldn't they just make private quarters be owned by your character, but only be able to have access to through a FC instance you are apart of?

Because it's attached to the house and the house is owned by the free company. I agree it'd be nice if you could move it with you to a new house, but that's unrealistic (unless they invent some lore that explains how your room isn't connected to a solid house/moves around...)

[skeletonfingers]

Because it's attached to the house and the house is owned by the free company. I agree it'd be nice if you could move it with you to a new house, but that's unrealistic (unless they invent some lore that explains how your room isn't connected to a solid house/moves around...)

You are defending a poor game design with a need for Lore? Where is the lore around why the characters in this world never sleep? The lore behind the same events/stories happening over and over in different time/space for all the characters in it, endlessly, with an exception to once a week the world ceasing to exist while its makers shut servers down for maintenance? Or, the lore behind why a people randomly disappear into thin air and are gone for hours/days/months then suddenly reappear? (without their housing still intact) Its a game. Lore exists for good setting and story telling, not defining the very existence of every possible element within a game.

[Iagainsti]

. The same goes for having to pay for additional private quarters if your FC drops you or disbands. The game is asking you to take a risk at spending a large amount of gil and not guaranteeing once that money is spent that you will continue to keep what you paid for.

I'm sorry, 300k gil is not a large sum of cash, and SE cannot be blamed that the FC you did decide to bank on lasting folded and you lost your gil investment, #realworld. The system in place makes a lot of sense tbh and doesn't require a fix.

[skeletonfingers]

I'm sorry, 300k gil is not a large sum of cash, and SE cannot be blamed that the FC you did decide to bank on lasting folded and you lost your gil investment, #realworld. The system in place makes a lot of sense tbh and doesn't require a fix.

Towards end-game, no 300 gil is not large. At the time I purchased my housing I do remember it being pretty significant. The deleting of items is what gets me.

All game design should run through 3 checks. (In order of importance)

1. Does it benefit the Player?
2. Does it benefit the Game?
3. Does it benefit the Developer?

Curious to know how you see this game design is benefiting ALL three.

[Nulstat]

You're operating under the assumption that those are the checks that companies use in that order. The reality is that you can develop a game without players - they are the disposable. Will you make money without players? No, of course not... but ultimately, the players are optional. Development is a business, and the business will do what they can to work within their limits for highest profit.

Which means disposing of the data that is unused, so that the data that is being used has a place. While I'm not saying you can't be upset about losing your things, you are paying for the privilege of playing in a creative sandbox - when you stop playing there, or paying to play there, they are no longer obligated to hold your spot and will give it to someone who is paying.

This game has 15 second server backups. That's insane. Even they know it's insane. Your 50 items and their data, no matter how valuable they were to you, were not as valuable as the space they took up.

[Neira]

You're operating under the assumption that those are the checks that companies use in that order. The reality is that you can develop a game without players - they are the disposable.

Do you work at Blizzard/Activision, Capcom, or Electronic Arts? I can't even dispute the point when it's obvious that you're right, and that it's a philosophy SE takes to heart as well.