Pushed to quit after 1,860 days subbed

[Niwashi]

And you can tell me - he didn't have time- I dunno if I buy that.. it literally only takes a few seconds to load in and go inside. It just looks like he didn't give a damn until it was already gone.

You're mixing up action with knowledge. It only takes a few seconds to just go inside the house IF you know or suspect there is any reason to do so. OP didn't know about the demolition that SE doesn't provide any notification of. So she was basing it on whether there was time to do actual productive stuff in the house, redesign it or whatever, and whether that's what she wanted to spend her limited time on when she only had a short while to play. People only do the "step in to deactivate the timer" pattern if they know about the timer. That's why the bulk of this thread is about SE's terrible lack of notification.

You keep saying that SE couldn't do anything about it, but SE was the one who failed to notify her first that there even is housing demolition, and then more importantly, that her house was nearing the point when it would be demolished if she didn't enter. If they'd done that, she could have prevented the loss.

OP was interested in getting back to the house when her real life issues cleared up and she had time to enjoy it. She just wasn't spending time there when her time was limited and her attention elsewhere. Temporarily not using a feature doesn't mean you've lost interest in it.

[Penthea]

I also explained why. but you aren't reading.. you're just looking to insult cause I'm not blindly agreeing with you.

I am reading. I'm reading you responding to comments about improving the ui with your opinion on OP. Going on about how he should have read third party sources all the time doesn't really help when people are talking about in-game ui. OP's problem stems from the in-game housing information being poorly displayed. But you seem disinclined to discuss that and would rather just constantly remind us that he messed up.

I explained why I'm on the stance I'm on. And you keep throwing insults on this and that, saying I'm not reading. When you haven't read shit I said.

Well honestly I really disliked the way you were expressing your opinions about OP. You kept stressing as to how everything was his fault despite so many people telling you that he cannot google something if he has no reason to think he will get his items deleted. When people were discussing why the ui is bad you kept barging in with how everything is OP's fault. You really appeared to be on a mission to make sure everyone knew he deserved what he got.

Cause if you did you wouldn't be throwing insults like some emotional child. Funny how I had decent replies from everyone EVEN THE FREAKING OP HIMSELF yet you is the one throwing insults. Tho you did that to other people i nthe beginning of this thread so shrug.

I see. It's insulting to point out that your posts suggest you're very fixated on highlighting OP's faults that it almost looks personal, rather than putting your thoughts on improving the game in a positive manner.

[ko_]

I am reading. I'm reading you responding to comments about improving the ui with your opinion on OP. Going on about how he should have read third party sources all the time doesn't really help when people are talking about in-game ui. OP's problem stems from the in-game housing information being poorly displayed. But you seem disinclined to discuss that and would rather just constantly remind us that he messed up.



Well honestly I really disliked the way you were expressing your opinions about OP. You kept stressing as to how everything was his fault despite so many people telling you that he cannot google something if he has no reason to think he will get his items deleted. When people were discussing why the ui is bad you kept barging in with how everything is OP's fault. You really appeared to be on a mission to make sure everyone knew he deserved what he got.



I see. It's insulting to point out that your posts suggest you're very fixated on highlighting OP's faults that it almost looks personal, rather than putting your thoughts on improving the game in a positive manner.

So how am I posed to take this then? I honestly think had he did his homework he'll have his stuff. I don't think anything SE could've done would've saved his stuff. Nothing that I read is leading me i nthe other opinion. Cause we all had to go out of game for something, that's just how it is. It just looks like he didn't care. Sorry if that's how I feel on what I read but it is. No insults, just my bare rare opinion of it. I only been here cause my opinion was and still is, none of this would've happened to him had he read. Thats all. But when people reply I reply back and here we are. And the only thing ?I've said about op is that he didn't care from the way it sounds until it's too late. I never insulted him, matter of fact I even said he seems like a cool chill dude. Doesn't change my opinion on the topic at hand tho.

[Brynne]

Here's my thoughts about some things that could maybe improve the demolition process and make it a bit clearer.

1. Disclaimer explaining the auto-demolition process when purchasing the house - preferably in a pop-up notification just after the house is purchased.

2. Log in notification when the house enters the 'danger' period (ie, when the timer becomes visible and an email is sent out), informing the player that they must enter their house before X date. The notification should indicate where items can be recovered in case the demolition happens before the player logs in.

3. Remove the 35 day limit on item retrieval. Honestly, the only semi-decent reason I can come up with for why there's a time limit at all is because they assume players might use it as indefinite extra storage. I give this a massive side-eye, because players could use an apartment or free company room for the same purpose and their items would never be deleted. Just remove the time limit.

On a side note, OP, I really sympathize with your predicament. We're all human, we make careless errors, we miss things - it definitely sucks when it happens to you. I don't blame you for quitting over the loss of the items - that particular part of the demolition process is needlessly unforgiving imo.

[Claviusnex]

I disagree.. he missed EVERYTHING even ingame stuff, so how was SE posed to fix his current issue? THATS what I'm talking about tho. How did he miss it ALL. He missed the text at log in, he missed millions of people talking about it ingame, he missed everything so he would've missed whatever you are mentioning too. Cause he missed it all. 1000 days and NEVER heard of the timers? Come on man.... SE can't fix user error. They just can't.

SE could fix it easily. When a house is purchased a clear warning message in red explains that they will lose their house if they don't enter it at least every 45 days. SE will have done their job by providing the information to the player when it is relevant and after that it is up to the player to conform to the rules. That is the point the majority of folks have been making. It is irrelevant how the player got into the situation as it is SE's job to inform the player with the relevant information at the relevant time.

SE can also improve the notification process. There is no rationale to not send an in-game moogle mail at the same time they send the email notifications for demolition. Yes it is possible that the moogle mailbox is full so it will be rejected but it is likely to be just as or more reliable than email. This covers cases where the email is undelivered or the player email address has changed. It is important not just for notifying the player their house is scheduled to be demolished, it is this email that tells them the rules for retrieving their items and how to get their gil refund.

Does the OP share some culpability? Probably but the majority of culpability lies with SE and their haphazard implementation of the demolition timer and no amount of blaming the players will change that.

I dunno man, I can't understand it.. LITERALLY I can't. It's taking alot for me to picture someone willing to brave gettign a house in 4.2 and never entering itt for whatever reason but doing all the events and buying housing items. I'm sorry.. I just can't wrap my head around it. It still makes no sense to me they played for so long and didn't know about the demo timers. It literally doesn't not comute in my head. :c But I'mma bow out cause I don't get it.. it doesn't make sense to me... and to me it just looks like they didn't care. So I'm out. Sorry for the trouble.

I totally understand the OP's actions as I did the events to get housing items before I could ever afford a house. I was aware that if I didn't get the seasonal items I wouldn't be able too later. Owning a house was a long term goal so it made sense to collect stuff I couldn't use and bank them for the future. I did eventually learn about the timer but only because I frequent the forums and saw the periodic demolition timer threads. I didn't know about the demolition timer display or Estate timer tab for that matter until a week or so ago when it came up in a different thread about always showing it in the UI. Even though I went to look at my other timers frequently the Estate tab never registered with me so just sat there never to be looked at. There are a lot of people in this game and most don't look at things the same way. My guess is there are a large number who know very little about the intricacies and quirks of the game which is all the more reason for SE to tell players the rules when it is relevant.

[Penthea]

So how am I posed to take this then? I honestly think had he did his homework he'll have his stuff. I don't think anything SE could've done would've saved his stuff. Nothing that I read is leading me i nthe other opinion. Cause we all had to go out of game form something, that's just how it is. It just looks like he didn't care. Sorry if that's how I feel on what I read but it is. No insults, just my bare rare opinion of it. I only been here cause my opinion was and still is, none of this would've happened to him had he read. Thats all. But when people reply I reply back and here we are.

Well how I feel is that you are being merciless towards OP. You are putting him down for daring to think the game would warn him about something important. The game warns us about many very trivial things like selling items to a retainer, achievements, throwing away an item, capping on currency, etc. It's not unreasonable to think it would also warn us about something much more pivotal like having our items getting auto-deleted. It is very rare for games to auto-delete your items without telling you.

It's baffling that you can't understand that OP had no way of knowing he had homework to do. Truly baffling. You're basically condemning him for not magically knowing the game didn't tell him everything he needed to know when he bought the house. Every other help tool in the game tells you all the essentials when you interact with new content...except for housing. But it's OP's fault for expecting consistency, amirite?

I don't think anything SE could've done would've saved his stuff.

There is no way OP would have ignored a pop-up message indicating the game was going to delete his exclusive items if he wanted to keep them. SE could have done a lot to prevent the events that lead to this thread being made. Again another baffling thing about your stance regarding OP. You have this wild idea that not even an act of God could have helped him keep his house.

[Final-Fantasy]

They should place a Warning prior to buying a plot, because some people might not want to purchase one after being informed they need to login at lest once every 45 days to keep it.

[R-Pete-G]

All the agreeable discussion about how this system could be improved has been really reassuring, and hopefully this topic flags some of that to Squenix. Though given that we've had one GM response which basically just agreed that emails aren't a reliable way to notify someone, I'm not holding my breath!

It does make me genuinely a bit sad that it's getting a bit personal - a bit to me, but also between other people discussing back and forth. It distracts from the constructive criticism of the thread and highlighting the issues with the in-game system. I don't think it's anyone's fault, because this is obviously a heated topic that people are passionate about.

Anyway, Ko - I know you don't get it. I hope that maybe you do, but other replies in the last couple of pages who've also maybe missed stuff are asking the same old question - "Why didn't you care?" So for one final recap on my personal situation:

- I wanted to enjoy a lot of features in the game, as well as my house. I cared about my house, Main Story quests, new dungeons, all that stuff. But I literally wasn't able to devote more than a couple of hours a month to the game, due to unfortunate real life stuff I couldn't control. But I stayed subscribed because I wanted to do what I could, and I just had to pick a few limited things to do in that time, and postpone everything else until I could play again.

- Seasonal events are time-limited, so I did those. Cactpot has finite chances to win, so I did that (which takes about 60 seconds). Not knowing that my house could be demolished, visiting it just didn't make the cut. Nor did levelling, but none of the levels I've already earned were taken away. Nor did doing raids and dungeons, but none of the gear I've already earned was taken away. The house was taken away, and while I know why that system exists, it's the only system I can think of that actually punishes you for not using it. So it definitely needs to flagged far more clearly in game.

But it wasn't really about my house getting demolished. My mention of my subscription time in the post title was not to brag, or to bait any discussion, but to be completely blunt about the impact that losing my furnishings (not auto demolition) had. Auto demolition sucked, but it was the loss of furnishings - that either cannot, or cost real money to be replaced - that hit me. And I wanted to make it clear that it was such a significant blow to my enjoyment of the game that even as a player who had subscribed and played that long, it was enough to put me off returning.

And the point of the thread was to use my personal experience to highlight why the system needs improving. Why it needs to be clearer. I'm presenting myself as an example, a real-life case study on what can happen with the system the way it is. It's disappointing that people want to focus on my presumed failings more than discuss how the game could be improved, as if my action or inaction invalidates the need for improvements in the game.

That's it. At this point, saying I "didn't care" or that I "obviously wasn't bothered" can still be your opinion. But given how extensively I've explained it, and how reasonable an explanation it seems to be to many other people in the thread, you might just be mistaken.

And that's OK too. I genuinely don't understand how some people don't know the difference between "your" and "you're". I honestly cannot get why people don't understand how percentages work ("This has a 1% drop rate, I did it 100 times, so why don't I have it?", etc). But we all have things we don't get about other people, and we think they should know. That's life, and when we judge people or making sweeping assumptions about them, that's when we're more to blame than they are.

[CrystalRainbow]

I lost my house when my wife broke both of her legs. Needless to say. RL is more important then IG.
It happened just before 4.0 lanched. She was in a hopital bed for over 7 months as our home as too many stairs for her to come home.
I logged on and got content done and got 2 jobs to level 70. But the RP side of our play was really not there as that is something we do together.
With her in the hopital I didn't go to my house. I to never got an email.
When she finally logged on she noticed right away it was gone.

Gladly when they added more housing we finally got a new home.

When we got the new house. We both put events in our cell phones to goto the house every 2 weeks just incase RL happens.

[R-Pete-G]

I lost my house when my wife broke both of her legs. Needless to say. RL is more important then IG.
It happened just before 4.0 lanched. She was in a hopital bed for over 7 months as our home as too many stairs for her to come home.
I logged on and got content done and got 2 jobs to level 70. But the RP side of our play was really not there as that is something we do together.
With her in the hopital I didn't go to my house. I to never got an email.
When she finally logged on she noticed right away it was gone.

Gladly when they added more housing we finally got a new home.

When we got the new house. We both put events in our cell phones to goto the house every 2 weeks just incase RL happens.

Sorry to hear that. This is basically the crux of the argument - that real life doesn't always allow for you to be the best informed, most active player. And sometimes just not active or informed enough to not miss one particular feature.

Glad you managed to snag a new house for you to enjoy together. I know if I ever do decide to come back grab a house in the future, I certainly wouldn't be letting myself forget about the timer either. Once you know, it's not so bad at all. It's the finding out that needs more support from the game.