Demo lite suggestion

[caspergrey]

I think if you wanted to go with a fairer demo light solution, then maybe you would turn demos back on, but extend some sort of grace period to those who had their houses demolished where they can buy into a new home similar to a transfer.

I'm sure there are probably issues with this suggestion as well, as it's sort of a half baked and off the cuff response to the post. But just a thought.

[Zedix]

I think if you wanted to go with a fairer demo light solution, then maybe you would turn demos back on, but extend some sort of grace period to those who had their houses demolished where they can buy into a new home similar to a transfer.

I'm sure there are probably issues with this suggestion as well, as it's sort of a half baked and off the cuff response to the post. But just a thought.

I think this is a rather neat idea. Giving previous owners a chance to buy back in immediately to avoid going through the strain of buying another home would be helpful to those who just barely miss the demolition deadline.

[ItMe]

I think if you wanted to go with a fairer demo light solution, then maybe you would turn demos back on, but extend some sort of grace period to those who had their houses demolished where they can buy into a new home similar to a transfer.

I'm sure there are probably issues with this suggestion as well, as it's sort of a half baked and off the cuff response to the post. But just a thought.

I'd hate to come back and have to not only rebuy the house, but have to put my hundreds of housing items back up.
And this is on top of the fact that you might come back in that grace period, money in hand to buy a new house, and have there just be no plots available.

[caspergrey]

I'd hate to come back and have to not only rebuy the house, but have to put my hundreds of housing items back up.
And this is on top of the fact that you might come back in that grace period, money in hand to buy a new house, and have there just be no plots available.

To be clear, I don't think any scenario is an ideal one right now. It was simply an idea that would allow more plots to open up in the current market while still not completely kicking people to the curb during the pandemic. I think there would be a way to make it that you can transfer into a house at the same amount that you get when your house is demolished.

Perhaps they can give a housing voucher to those who have houses demolished during the pandemic that you can either exchange for gil or use to immediately transfer into an open plot plus/minus the difference in price.

But, in the current scenario you also have a situation where someone just naturally left the game and are not coming back and their plot is not getting released.

At some point the demo restriction is going to be released and there will still be people that fall on the short end of the stick. So not coming back before a grace period has ended is really not that different than coming back after demos have been reinstated in terms of risk of not getting into a house.

[ItMe]

At some point the demo restriction is going to be released and there will still be people that fall on the short end of the stick. So not coming back before a grace period has ended is really not that different than coming back after demos have been reinstated in terms of risk of not getting into a house.

That's totally true. The detail that makes or breaks it for me is the length of the grace period.

[Zedix]

Do you have your character parked outside those houses 24 hours a day, 45 days straight to know beyond doubt that they aren't getting used at all? Because that would be rather creepy and pretty unhealthy for you considering the total lack of sleep.

Just because they aren't being used in the way you would use a house doesn't mean they aren't getting used, especially if it's a FC house with workshop attached. SE isn't about to tell players how they must use the houses that they buy, only that they must enter them once every 45 days to retain possession. If all someone wants the house for is a cheaper teleport option as they move between the various areas of the game world, that's their choice.

I'd rather see SE address the issue of supply in a constructive manner that solves the problem over dreaming up more ways to make it more difficult for players to buy and retain a house that doesn't solve anything in the long run.

1) I frequently play for 12~ hours a day 4 times a week (my job only requires me to work 3-12's each week) and thusly I am at the FC house frequently so perhaps not 24 hours a day but certainly a large portion, I have never seen this player online, nor at the summoning bell/marketboard near their home in the 4+ months this player has owned it.
2) It is not an FC house
3) Purchasing a house for the purpose of cheaper teleports doesn't even make sense, houses cost millions of gil, in order to pay off that investment you would need to teleport about 3.5k-4.4k (assuming 999g rate decreased to 150g) times to pay it off. That would be an insane amount of teleports to the 1 city or the 1 surrounding zone that is accessible directly from the housing district. This doesn't account for favoring a teleport to reduce its cost lower than the 999g it maxes out at, which would only increase the number of teleports needed.
4) I'm not saying it needs to be a specific use case, I'm saying the specific housing exclusive systems; public decoration, cross breed gardening, RP, chocobo leveling, etc., should be utilized.
5) SE has already made it abundantly clear over the 7 years this game has been out that they will only slowly add housing due to system/server limitation, expanding housing is not something they do frequently. This makes housing ownership a luxury that should be maintained. IMO, this is completely fine, but if the bar is set so low (zone in once every 45 days) demolition should never be turned off. And in the long run what it would do; at least in the way I see it, is that it would foster a closer knit community among the people who play frequently, who own houses and utilize their features, if someone owns a house and is never there and never online except for zoning into their house once every 45 days, that is only hurting the people who want to desperately own houses and partake, and making more headache for SE themselves.

[ItMe]

2) Buying houses in protest is, IMO, abhorrent

Amen.
I wasn't encouraging or defending it.
Just referenced it as a thing because I know people do it.
I also think it's pretty horrid.