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.

[worldofneil]

Woah there! I was only talking about why the FC room was attached to the FC house, which seems pretty logical to me and that not having it attached would need a pretty good explanation...

If you want a room not attached to the free company you can get this with the upcoming apartment housing which sounds like it's due in 3.4 (October/November?) and those houses will (apparently) have 500 rooms per house and won't be attached to a company as no one will own the overall house. Or just buy your own house, more are coming to existing wards in 3.3 apparently (June/July?)

That being said, they'll likely have the same 45 day inactivity "demolish" rule as the main houses and the same 35 days after that to get your stuff...

[Aoxaviar]

Silly game design or not, your base problem is that you had a private room (which is a one time charge) at your Free Company's Estate and (per your own post) have been gone for 6 months.

If your Free Company had disbanded, I would first ask why you weren't told they were doing this during your 6 month break from the game. It would have given you an a chance to resub long enough to get your room items back.

Also, considering you were out of the game for 6 months, there are several things you should consider before simply blaming a new game mechanic added while you were away:

1. If your FC disbanded, it is possible that the last member sold the rights to the house prior to the demolish mechanic being added. That would mean you would have lost everything with no option to get it back.

2. If you FC disbanded and simply removed itself and the house (which I think you can do) then you would have lost everything, but the up side is no single person would have profited from it.

3. If, by fate or whatever, that it is the actual fault of the new demolish game mechanic for housing, then I have trouble feeling sorry for you for 2 reasons:

A - If you posting I am then guessing that you do keep up with game information,
could have gotten on to check the status of your FC and made changes to your
membership then, or

B - You don't keep up with game news at all which probably also means you don't
check video blogs of those who do.

So the fact that you lost everything boils down to the simple fact that you took a 6 month break due to life or your gaming needs but didn't take any steps to prevent what has happened from happening in the first place.

Sucks to be you is all I can think to say.

I am one who plays regularly (weekends) and (before the demolish mechanic was added) hardly ever went to our FC house (maybe once every 4 months). The mechanic has been added and the only thing that has changed is I end my game there every night when I play.

Also, I am the only active member in my FC with about 4 members who still play during the month. I stay with the FC cause I helped start it and I like the perks of having it available to me.

I am sorry that no one in your previous FC was willing to show that commitment to the group to save you (and possibly others in your previous FC) from your (and eventually their) new found housing fate(s).

[skeletonfingers]

Aoxaviar, thanks for contributing.

What I got from your post is that you support the idea that if a player has to take a break from the game and unsub, they are responsible for keeping in contact with their FC and current game updates that might include: deleting ones items for not being subbed or available to claim items being trashed in the event a FC disbands.

Just out of curiosity, how many MMO's have you played that deleted any housing items of yours while you were away for an extended period of time? I can name 6 MMOs with housing I play casually that do not delete my stuff in this way. Many of them are F2P.

It's silly and destructive. I don't see how anyone can actually defend it as if it makes perfect sense and is the right way to do things.

[Neira]

Just out of curiosity, how many MMO's have you played that deleted any housing items of yours while you were away for an extended period of time? I can name 6 MMOs with housing I play casually that do not delete my stuff in this way. Many of them are F2P.

It's silly and destructive. I don't see how anyone can actually defend it as if it makes perfect sense and is the right way to do things.

You're wasting your time. This debate is very old around here, and anyone who is actually okay with how the housing is will not change their mind. I'd suggest you just write off FFXIV and stick to one of your other MMOs, because this is what the XIV community accepts and expects now. It's blasphemy to imply that a free game can do housing better, despite the fact that there are clear examples that they can, and we should all be happy that this subscription-based MMO with a cash shop gives us any housing at all.