Do you seriously have to keep subbing if you want to keep your home?

[Gilderoy Lockhart]

I am on balmung and have been playing for a while. Around 2 months in or so, I bought a medium lavender bed home. According to all my friends, that was very very lucky. My subscription expires in 5 days and was looking to play something else for a while..but what about my house? Can I log in as a free trial user or something just to reset the timer or do I have to keep subbing?

Because that would REALLY be bad if I had to keep paying despite spending dozens of days on that stupid lottery system and grinding my ever living butt off to get the necessary funds. Quickest way to get me to never play again is to lose it due to missing a mandatory irl payment while in every other game you keep it forever or at least pay in-game money rent in advance (LOTRO)

[awn]

Yes

[Sunny]

You have to keep a sub up enough to log in and GO INTO THE HOUSE to keep it before it's demolished (yelling to make sure you see it, because that note can be missed and it's super important if you're just logging in to stay active to not lose it--you gotta go IN).

The timer is not less than 30 days though (45 days is when you'll get an email about the destruction timer starting), so you should be able to skip a month here and there, afaik.

It does suck though, yes. There's enough demand that the devs have chosen to not let inactive players retain houses. You're essentially paying $15/mo (or w/e) rent for a digital house if you're not playing the game.

[Tekmaal]

With effective leapfrog timing, can probably squeeze it down to 5, maybe 4 months worth of subscription over a year. Reiterating what Sunny says, teleporting to the location of your house means nothing to the timer. It is imperative to actually enter the building to make it count. The last major thread about this was primarily over that specific point (which is why that is being 'shouted' at you)

[Integrity]

You have to log in and go inside the house at least once every 45 days to refresh timer. So you basically have to keep paying your sub to not lose your house. I guess if you want to be cheap you can do one month sub, let it expire for 44 days, then sign up for another month, then let it lapse again for 44 days, sub again, repeat etc. But yeah I pretty much keep paying sub fees to not lose my houses even though I've on a break from the game atm. And no you can't use a free trial account or have your friends or someone you give housing access to reset the timer. You can only use the specific character who owns the house to reset timer.

[galacticcorgi]

Yes, because why should you have a house if it's just collecting dust?

[causality]

Another bad game design choice. Yoshi P even said himself that he doesn't want us to be subbed all the time or exclusively playing FFXIV, contrary to what corporate SE wants from us.

[Stormy Dawn]

The demand for housing is too high in this game because they have chosen not to make it instanced, so yes, you have to login to keep it.

Honestly I prefer it this way. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I prefer housing to not be instanced because I like to interact with my neighbors and other people in my ward. If that means people have to actually, you know.. play the game to keep their house than so be it. You don't need to have a plot if you aren't going to be semi-actively playing the game.

[Gilderoy Lockhart]

Originally posted by galacticcorgi:

Yes, because why should you have a house if it's just collecting dust?

In case I want to take a break from the game? And the fact that I'd have to repeat the grueling process of getting a home every time I decide to take said break..

Took me a month to get this one. Let's say I re-sub later this year, and this time it takes me 3 months. I play for a long time getting that money together again, while waiting on that stupid lottery, and get the home finally. I play for another week or so before I get burnt out from playing. Guess what? I have to do it again when I come back in a few months.

[FreshMint]

Like others have said, this is a measure against houses ending up being deserted, what with the demand being higher than what's available in a lot of worlds.

It could be argued that the auto-demolition time coule be a liiiittle longer while there could be a warning prior to buying a house (if there isn't already), especially the latter because it's big that people should weigh this before buying an house.
Then again the npc that explains everything about housing also covers auto-demolition in detail.

Congratulations with your house though!

[galacticcorgi]

Originally posted by Homelander:

Originally posted by galacticcorgi:

Yes, because why should you have a house if it's just collecting dust?

In case I want to take a break from the game? And the fact that I'd have to repeat the grueling process of getting a home every time I decide to take said break..

Don't take up a limited slot if you don't intend to use it to start with. We'd have a lot less housing problems with the current system if people would stop trying to keep hands on one because they just want to feel good about owning one when it just collects dust for ages.

[Gilderoy Lockhart]

Originally posted by galacticcorgi:

Originally posted by Homelander:

In case I want to take a break from the game? And the fact that I'd have to repeat the grueling process of getting a home every time I decide to take said break..

Don't take up a limited slot if you don't intend to use it to start with. We'd have a lot less housing problems with the current system if people would stop trying to keep hands on one because they just want to feel good about owning one when it just collects dust for ages.

I did intend to use it though, my home is filled with stuff and I spent a bunch of time crafting and buying furniture. Maybe I'll just promote my friend to leader of FC and transfer it to him until I come back? Seems like my only option if I don't want to pay

I know it sounds like I'm a cheapskate but when you already pay monthly for 3 other games, and rent, and high internet speed, and stupid HOA/Maintenance fees every year..you get the picture haha

[GoreTiger]

Originally posted by Homelander:

I am on balmung and have been playing for a while. Around 2 months in or so, I bought a medium lavender bed home. According to all my friends, that was very very lucky. My subscription expires in 5 days and was looking to play something else for a while..but what about my house? Can I log in as a free trial user or something just to reset the timer or do I have to keep subbing?

Because that would REALLY be bad if I had to keep paying despite spending dozens of days on that stupid lottery system and grinding my ever living butt off to get the necessary funds. Quickest way to get me to never play again is to lose it due to missing a mandatory irl payment while in every other game you keep it forever or at least pay in-game money rent in advance (LOTRO)

It's not fair for you to sit on a plot that other more active people should have a chance at if you're not going to be playing that much. You can always get an apt.

[Jethro]

You also need to enter your house every now and again. Just paying the sub isn't gonna cut it.

[Dr Just Strong]

No selfawareness just like homelander

[causality]

Imagine being punished by poor game design for having a life outside video games all to appease a few people who don't have some pixels and here comes the usual suspects already insulting the OP by calling him dumb and what not.