Final Fantasy 14 pauses the MMO's automatic housing demolition process for NA players following Hurricane Helene: "Our hearts go out to those who were affected"

Square Enix is temporarily suspending its automatic housing demolition process in Final Fantasy 14 on all North American servers, citing "damages and other factors" after Hurricane Helene.

In a recent announcement on the official Final Fantasy 14 website, the MMO's development and management team detailed the new "temporary" suspension. 

"Our hearts go out to those who were affected late last month by Hurricane Helene in North America," reads the devs' post. "Due to the damages and other factors, we have decided to temporarily suspend the automatic demolition of estates."

As of this morning, the game's auto-demolition counter, which usually operates on a 45-day cycle, is on pause in the Aether, Crystal, Dynamis, and Primal data centers. There's no set date for when the auto-demolition process will resume yet. "We will monitor the situation in the coming days," the team writes, "and inform you all when we have come to a decision that auto-demolition can commence again."

The devs close their message with well wishes: "It is our sincere hope that recovery is swift, and those of you who were affected will be able to rejoin us in FFXIV soon." 

It's refreshing to see a team so in touch with its community - as a longtime fan of the MMO now myself, it's moments like this that have me convinced Final Fantasy 14 has some of the best devs around. I'm not the only one who feels this way, either.

As highlighted in a wholesome Reddit thread on the auto-demolition pause, fans are happy with the act of kindness from the devs. "This is such an amazing thing they are doing for the community," writes one player. "This is such a relief," shares another. "My city was one of the hardest hit by the storm." It's a heartwarming discussion, albeit one born out of a difficult situation.

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