The duration for the suspension has not been stated yet, but EU players will have to test their patience for now if they want to get a house.

If you’ve wanted to bid on a house that hasn’t seen its owner for years in Final Fantasy XIV, you’ll have to hold onto your FF14 Gil a little longer. That’s because Square Enix announced that the automatic house demolition for the MMO has been suspended for the time being. This is due to the earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey on February 6. The suspension aims to offer some relief to those who suffered from the two countries. The FFXIV management and development team have put out a statement stating that their hearts go out to those who are affected by the massive earthquake.

EU Only

The suspension of automatic housing demolition is only applicable to players in the EU region; this includes the Light and Chaos Data Center Worlds. As for all the other regions, their timers remain unchanged, and players who won’t log into their FFXIV accounts that much anymore will still need to check the automatic demolition timer to keep their housing from being destroyed.

As of today, players at the EU center will see the counter for the demolition to stop completely. If your house happens to be set for auto-demolition, you’ll be able to stop the process by entering your estate. When the suspension gets lifted, those who own a house will see their counter tick down again. The timer will be based on the time left on February 9 at 8:25 AM CT.

The Disaster

The main reason behind the suspension of house demolitions is a simple one: the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. The tragedy happened when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the two countries, resulting in 20,000 deaths. Moreover, the quakes and aftershocks destroyed thousands of homes and infrastructure in the regions. At this point, providing food and shelter, freeing people from the rubble, and saving lives are more important than worrying about a house in a game.

Not the First Time

This isn’t the first time Square Enix decided to halt the housing demolitions in Final Fantasy XIV. In the past, they turned off the auto-demolition feature for a whole year. Initially, it was due to the congestion that happened after the release of the Endwalker expansion. The server issues made it difficult for players to log into the game, forcing the dev team to stop the automatic demolition while they sorted things out. But then, it got even more extended because of the war in Ukraine.

Thankfully this time around, most players understand the need for the suspension, and they’re glad those affected by the catastrophe won’t suffer the loss of their house while unable to connect to the MMO. However, some are frustrated by how long this will go on. You have to remember that the last time Square Enix did this, it went on for a whole year. It’s understandable to feel that they’ve lost their chance of buying a house for their in-game character.

Because of the demand, player housing has been incredibly challenging to get. And while Square Enix added another Data Center—Dynamis—earlier this year, the plots filled up quickly and didn’t relieve much of the problem. At the very least, Naoki Yoshida announced that the next patch of Final Fantasy XIV would bring even more housing opportunities.

How Does the Auto-Demolition Work?

The feature works in the sense that housing will automatically get demolished after 30 days if players don’t take the time to log in once a month. For every 30 days, you must make sure to enter your house to restart the timer. You can check how much time there is left before your house gets demolished via the Estate tab of the Timers window. You can easily access this by simply pressing Ctrl+U.

The Duration

Square asks for their players’ consideration and understanding at this time, and they added that they’d monitor the situation in the coming days. There’s no surefire date when the auto-demolition will be up and running again, but we’re crossing our fingers that it wouldn’t take too long. Housing demolitions are an excellent way for other players to get their own homes, and suspending them for too long can aggravate the community. If you happen to be one of those looking to buy a house with FFXIV Gil, you’ll have to hold onto that money for a while.

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Ruby has been a writer and author for a while, and her content appears all across the tech world, from within ReadWrite, BusinessMagazine, ThriveGlobal, etc.

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