Auto Demolition Timer Needs to be Extended

[MOZZYSTAR]

Although COVID-19 continues to have a large impact on our daily lives and economy, we are grateful for our many players worldwide who have continued to play FFXIV after our decision to suspend auto-demolition. We believe this new lifestyle and economic situation of living alongside COVID-19 will continue for the long-term and have therefore decided to resume auto-demolition.
(Source)

The auto demolition timer was already asking a lot of its players: to sub every single month, every month of the year, for as many years as they'd play. It was steep and unforgiving should one have a bad financial month or two beforehand. Now, it absolutely needs to change especially where Square Enix acknowledges that we could be living with Covid-19 and the economy taking a plunge worldwide. The US' stats alone haven't been this bad since The Great Depression in the 1930's. I don't know the statistics for other countries, but doubt it's much different on their end.

If we're going to truly live with Covid-19 for a while, and Square Enix does recognise that, then Square Enix should lax the demolition timer from approximately one month to approximately three months. This will make it so actual dedicated players don't get "punished" for one or two bad financial months, while also weeding out the players who have a.) passed, b.) taken a long break from the game, or c.) quit the game all together.

Please consider changing the demolition timer. Thank you. /bows

[Kurando]

Then you'll have more players only subbing for like a month just to log in every three and reset their housing timer. Regardless of whether someone is dedicated or not, housing is a finite source in this game and if a player has financial issues in real life, I'd like to think they have bigger priorities to deal with than a fake house. A timer extension doesn't solve anything with housing, probably make things worse honestly, so nope to this.

[LaylaTsarra]

8 months is more that enough to allow for this pandemic. Keeping the timer permanently suspended is unfair to those who want a house and can't get one because of it. Lots of stopped playing and it's not a result of Covid.

[Nezerius]

Three months definitely sounds better than the current demolition timer. Acts as a good safety net for when shit happens, while it wouldn't really increase the amount of people keeping up their plot by too much. Would also mean that SE won't have to suspend the timer as often.

8 months is more that enough to allow for this pandemic. Keeping the timer permanently suspended is unfair to those who want a house and can't get one because of it. Lots of stopped playing and it's not a result of Covid.

It's a good idea to read the OP before typing up a response. They're suggesting the timer itself to be extended, from 45 to 90 days, not for the timer to be suspended for longer.

[LaylaTsarra]

It's a good idea to read the OP before typing up a response. They're suggesting the timer itself to be extended, from 45 to 90 days, not for the timer to be suspended for longer.

Thank you for clarifying. Multi-tasking while playing the game isn't always a good idea.

I'm not sure but extending it to 3 months seems a bit long to me. If extending to 3 months meant no more suspension of the demo timer I'd be willing to support it. The demo timer is off more than it's on it seems to me and that hasn't been a good thing for those playing the game who want a house. There will always be natural disasters that will be cause for concern that can initiate a time suspension.

[Sonikku13]

Category 4 Hurricane Eta blasted Nicaragua about two weeks ago, before this news hit.
Category 4 Hurricane Iota just hit the same exact area yesterday.
It is reasonable to think people who play FFXIV, who were hit by both hurricanes, are not be aware of the housing timer.
Now, I don’t know how many players are from Nicaragua, but resumption of the timer would be a bitter pill to swallow when they’re able to play FFXIV again.
Finally able to rebuild after these hurricanes, just wanting to relax and get away from life for an hour or two, log into FFXIV, see virtual house gone...
It rubs me the wrong way thinking about it.

[Iscah]

Finally able to rebuild after these hurricanes, just wanting to relax and get away from life for an hour or two, log into FFXIV, see virtual house gone...
It rubs me the wrong way thinking about it.

While it would be disappointing, I don't think it's a fair argument that "losing a virtual house compounds the pain of losing a real one". It's a loss on par with a nice-but-nonessential possession, not losing your physical house and shelter.

Owning an in-game house also isn't the centre of the game - maybe for some players it is, but it's not set up to be that way. It's side content, nice to have, but not an obstacle to playing the game as a whole. Unless their entire focus in the game is doing stuff in their house, it is not going to prevent them from "relaxing and getting away from life for an hour" in the dungeons and gameplay that are the actual core of the game.

The timer system isn't the best, but giving examples like this just feels like "feel bad for this hypothetical sad person who could be happier if you give me what I want".

And I'll be honest - I'm not sure where the line lies between that approach and genuine compassion, but I think it's in the severity of the overall circumstance vs the specific problem you're trying to address, supposedly on their behalf.

[tdb]

I would think if someone is not able to afford a $15 MMO subscription on a semi-regular basis they have bigger problems to think about than losing their virtual house. As it is, you can be subbed for a month and then have a six week break without losing your house (just remember to log in and visit your house on the last day of your sub). That's just $6 a month on average to keep your house.

Also I would think there are games which provide a more comprehensive interior decoration experience and aren't subscription based so you can keep your houses indefinitely.

[Jojoya]

Category 4 Hurricane Eta blasted Nicaragua about two weeks ago, before this news hit.
Category 4 Hurricane Iota just hit the same exact area yesterday.
It is reasonable to think people who play FFXIV, who were hit by both hurricanes, are not be aware of the housing timer.
Now, I don’t know how many players are from Nicaragua, but resumption of the timer would be a bitter pill to swallow when they’re able to play FFXIV again.
Finally able to rebuild after these hurricanes, just wanting to relax and get away from life for an hour or two, log into FFXIV, see virtual house gone...
It rubs me the wrong way thinking about it.

It rubs me the wrong way that someone would grab the name of one of the most impoverished countries in the world out of the headlines and use it to advance an agenda to protect their assumed first world luxury privilege.

Also, you forgot to mention Honduras or did your headlines fail to mention that it was also hit hard by those hurricanes?


Just to put it briefly, it's unlikely there are any FFXIV players in Nicaragua (or Honduras for that matter).

Income is very low with most families making less than $1,000 a year. Internet access is mostly smartphone and rarely high speed at that. There's no Spanish localization for FFXIV and less than 1% of Nicaraguan residents have any level of English fluency. Most Nicaraguans only know a handful of English phrases useful for talking to travelers, or that they've picked up mimicking dialog in American movies they watch on their smartphones.

The rare resident with the means to play a MMO is more likely to play WoW or other games with Spanish localization. It's possible there are a few expatriates currently living in Nicaragua that brought FFXIV with them but the number would be smaller than the number of other players who face their own unique real life challenges interfering with their ability to play.

Stop grasping at reasons to keep the demo timer suspended when it doesn't do anyone any genuine good. Rebuilding in a game is a trivial task compared to rebuilding your life.

[not_ya_wify]

8 months is more that enough to allow for this pandemic. Keeping the timer permanently suspended is unfair to those who want a house and can't get one because of it. Lots of stopped playing and it's not a result of Covid.

The problem isn't other players owning houses. The problem is that there are not enough houses for everyone.