Masamune International Community - Interest Survey

[Katella_Avenlea]

Just an update: our Distant World Linkshells last night (we had around 4 of them in order to include them all our community members during 1.0), has decided to Remain on Masamune. So there will be a NA/EU presence remaining on Masamune! Have no fear!..

"Masamune" was the name of the greatest blacksmith known in Japan, so let's forge the greatest international server that there is!


--------------------------Old Original Post below------------------------------------
Hello all!

My International LS is located on Masamune, and pending the outcome of some testing here in phase III, Many would like to stay even though we are predominately NA/EU. One of the main concerns brought up in our officer meeting the other night was if there would continue to be a US/EU presence. Our Linkshell community is pretty large in itself, making it quite troublesome to successfully transfer all of our members anywhere.

The Mixed culture is something that has always been a draw for me personally to both FFXI and FFXIV, and I know there are others out there that feel the same. I've heard that a couple other US/EU Linkshells that are planning on staying on Masamune, and I'm wondering who else out there on Masamune that are US/EU are planning on staying put?

This is a unique opportunity at this point in time for our community to decide what happens from here. If everyone turns and runs to their designated "region" there won't likely be another chance like this to preserve the truly "International" experience.

Anyone else US/EU planning on staying on Masamune?

[Seirra_Lanzce]

Majority of the Oceanic/SEA will be staying thou

[DubstepNinja]

I agree 100% Katella, the most amazing thing about FF14 and FF11 has been the ability to meet people from all over the world, it is such a major point of difference between other MMO's and it is sad that we might be losing it.

[Katella_Avenlea]

I found this old post from Bayohne where he highlighted the following:


Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida

I wanted to provide more details on how the servers will work because when I briefly explained about data centers it looks like there were a lot of players that had questions about it.

What's going to happen is a player will be shown a complete list of worlds. Within the list, players will see which worlds are tied to which data centers (i.e. this world and this world is tied to the data center in Japan, this world and this world is tied to the data center in North America or Europe). Players will have the freedom of selecting any world they prefer.

This means that they can select a world that’s in the data center in their own region or they can select a world that's based off of one in another region. For example, I would choose a world based in Japan because the data centers are physically closer to me. On the other hand, a North American or European player may choose a world based off of their data center centers to keep the lag to a minimum.

So let me make it clear that we're not separating the worlds by language. For those who want to play with players outside of their region, they will have the choice of selecting a world that's located in another region. Also, through the content finder, you will be able to select a language preference so for those who only wish to play with players that speak the same language, all they have to do is set the language preference to the language of their liking.

I fear that people are reading too much into the region tags and letting it determine more than maybe it should.

Also consider this from one of Yoshi's recent pieces on the subject

■Preparation for Deliberations and Proactive Announcements■

As mentioned previously on the forums, all players with an account from Version 1.0 will be eligible to participate in the beta test starting with phase 3. E-mail notifications will be sent to all account holders regarding this announcement, as well as information on world selections. We've also created a special opening that can only be seen when playing on a character from Version 1.0. So that players can reconnect with old friends, linkshells have been carried over without change, and friend lists have been restored as lists of pending friend requests.

Also, when making a new character, players will be free to play in either region. This will allow the opportunity to test connection speeds, and judge which region will allow for a more comfortable gaming experience.

Of course, there are still players who will be forced to change servers, and I deeply apologize for any stress this causes. We will do everything we can to ensure all players are informed of these changes and facilitate communication between players both in game and on the forums, so that players can maintain their already established communities..

I don't feel like SE is telling us we NEED to transfer to enjoy or succeed in the game as many seem to believe. I feel like this piece is just speaking to those who maybe had horrible connections who might find that they would be better served by moving.

[Pwnagraphic]

Further down the road.. What if people decide to transfer over to a NA/EU server while the Japanese population grows?

[Katella_Avenlea]

Further down the road.. What if people decide to transfer over to a NA/EU server while the Japanese population grows?

I think that is a very decent point, and honestly that is a point I struggle with as well, however I really feel like right now may be the last real chance for us to encourage a continued international community experience. We won't have this opportunity again to keep what we have.

Had SE not ever tagged servers no one would even be worrying about this at all, but they have, now people are reacting more out of fear of what everyone else "might" or "probably" will do. I think many people have been scared into moving, when they normally wouldn't of thought about it at all. I say that because I wouldn't even be thinking of moving at all if it wasn't for this fear that that the server atmosphere may so drastically change. But what if "fear" is all it is, and what if it wouldn't be as bad or as drastic as we all imagine.

Personally, I'm kind of inclined to stay and see.... at least for awhile. If it becomes "unbearable" I guess I'd have a few servers to choose from as I'd try really hard to keep track of friends that have moved, but I wonder if fleeing at this point is actually necessary? What if it actually ends up not being that bad, and some NA/EU new members end up still occasionally joining the server because that is where their friends are?

[Katella_Avenlea]

Just a thought... I wonder how different people would have felt about moving if the data centers would have been labeled as "Data Center A" and "Data Center B" with SE still suggesting to players to try it out and pick the one that fits them the best.

I imagine that if they hadn't been labeled as "regions", that people might have not been so apt to feel the need to move out of a fear of being left alone.

[Katella_Avenlea]

Updated the OP. Distant World Linkshells will be staying on Masamune.

Just wanted to let those know who are still wanting to enjoy that International Server experience, but are concerned that there may not be English speaking people to play with, that we will be there! If you like that International server experience, feel free to come join us!