Auto-Demolition?

[Nabril]

Are there any rumors yet as to when this might be enabled again?

[ElHeggunte]

Which one? The JP suspension ended with the 4.5 patch. The NA suspension is currently ongoing and I haven’t seen them even ballpark when it might end. And they’re usually pretty good at giving plenty of forewarning before flipping the switch so players have time to prepare.

[Taebok]

They need to stop turning it off, period.
If your real house gets demolished because of a natural disaster, the LAST thing you should be worrying about is your video game house.

[Rhus]

Controversial Statement: Don't know why they bother with Auto-Demolish. It seems like its already off for large chunks of the year and as we get more and more extreme weather occurring it will probably be off longer and longer each year. That or do they eventually just need to say "screw it. Its getting silly the amount of time we have this off. If you lose your house you lose your house. We will give you a full refund and I'm sure another will turn up eventually for you to buy" If NA is off because of the cold weather they might turn it back on in time for ShB which is just in time for Hurricane season to be turned off again no doubt which leads nicely back into winter when ....yea, you get it.

Or do they say "Screw it. It's getting silly the amount of time we have this off. Lets just not bother with demolish and find another way to manage houses in game" (maybe allow people to place a bid if they want your house and you have to decline it or accept it in a set amount of time. If it isn't actioned the house is sold for that value as you're deemed to be afk. No bid then your house stays indefinite)

I just see from sigs they said they wouldn't have an Auto-Demolish and now they do it's off more than it's on, it feel like. Except for the EU, it feels like ours is never off. Don't think it's been off since they turned it back on after Shirogane got released, unlike Jp and NA.

[BillyKaplan]

If your real house gets demolished because of a natural disaster, the LAST thing you should be worrying about is your video game house.

True, but it's a very good form of customer retention and basic sympathy. You've been through so much and you're trying to put your life together, the last thing you need is to go through a pixelated version of the same thing by discovering your virtual house is gone, too. That can easily get someone who finally logged back in after a long period to just log back out and never come back.
Flip it around - so much happened, you finally log back in and your house and all your stuff is there. That's a nice feeling.

[SannaR]

I'm thinking they haven't turned it back on yet because we're close to the data center splits. Normally it isn't this long of a pause but we don't know how the splits will effect that data.

[Nabril]

True, but it's a very good form of customer retention and basic sympathy. You've been through so much and you're trying to put your life together, the last thing you need is to go through a pixelated version of the same thing by discovering your virtual house is gone, too. That can easily get someone who finally logged back in after a long period to just log back out and never come back.
Flip it around - so much happened, you finally log back in and your house and all your stuff is there. That's a nice feeling.

Yes, but so many people can't get houses because there's been a storm somewhere. Customer service is a double-edged sword. Those that are paying their subs get a diminished gaming experience because a small portion of the non-paying subs may have been in a storm. Most of the inactive player base were never in a storm. They just quit playing. And we get to look at all these vacant houses that we can't buy.