FFXIV Server and Community Woes; is there an email to send feedback to?

[Thalvaus]

I'm seeking assistance in finding an email whereby I may send feedback for file a complaint if the FFXIV team has such a thing (many MMOs I know do, so I figured it would be the same here).


If anyone is able to provide me with this information, I would appreciate it.



In short, and with a distinct lack of eloquence and ample articulation, I am inexorably frustrated and irritated over the lack of information pertaining to a group from which my friends and I hail.

It was naught but two months ago when we were told that information was to be given to us so that we would be able to plan out our congregation to a specific and destined server location. Yet, the 15th of July came and passed with no revelations being presenting even thenceforth. To be more frank, I'm speaking of the Role Playing community and the information we have been fed for the past two years regarding the official proliferation of our own server.

So as to provide context as to why in fact I am so miffed and feel as chastised as I do will paraphrase (or otherwise quote) with appropriate accuracy some of the messages we've received in the past:



Quote from Yoshi-P:

"Yoshida: We do recognize a need to set up a designated roleplaying world. We will look into this in a proactive manner!"


Quote Originally Posted by Bayohne

Greetings,

Apologies for the delay, I know you've all been waiting on a response to this topic.

There aren't any plans to designate a roleplay server for the upcoming World Merge. However, Yoshida did tell us "I also like roleplaying, so with the launch of version 2.0 we'll prepare a roleplay server."


Quote Originally Posted by Hvinire View Post

While we understand you guys are eager to hear about an official role-playing server (especially before you choose where you and your friends want to play), the team doesn't have any new progress on this idea just yet. We're continuing to look into it, and hope to have something to report later.




"<We are stilling conducting research for how we are going about implementing an official RP server. We will inform you when we have new information on the subject>" -Square Moderator




With Open beta looming -- and the ability to keep your characters you work on during said beta -- the window is rapidly closing on any hope for us (my friends and I, though I'm sure many of my colleagues will agree) to assure each other that we will be located on the Official RP Server. Sadly, a great deal have already gave up hope in both the ideal and in Square Enix itself, thinking they have just been hoodwinking us with what we wanted to hear.

While I may soon count myself among them, the silence is near infuriating for me, and I typically find myself to be a man of great patience and understanding. While I'm sure the near completion (or release, that is) of the game is one of great trials and tribulations, one must also contemplate on the idea that a group of people can only take so much silent treatment both as customers and as human beings especially when it's related to picking a permanent home that may not be the same as them (We have back up plans, but an Official Server is a big deal for both the future growth of a community <also needs to be nurtured in it's own way with events that may have a greater chance to succeed with a higher amount of people> and requires additional coordination since no word has been given and we've been forced to split our community a dozen ways with the current servers... not to mention that we have no idea if it's even a reality anymore, thus our frustration).

Many are fearful that by missing the July 15th deadline we are deadlocked where ever we are. The community has been split with people picking new unofficial servers left and right (I think there are 5 now, which has severely split the RP community up and made some shun the game and the community entirely). The damage that has been done is almost irreparable upon a community that is usually well know for being organized, simply because simple words were not given by our benefactors (Square Enix).


How lurid and unreasonable I must seem for writing my feelings, but after years of patience and little more than sentence or two every four months or so I've become slightly pessimistic to the whole ordeal. "They will probably answer this in the next Live letter", I thought with the last remnants of my optimism. "I've seen multiple questions regarding it." But alas it was not so, and it was possibly foolish of my to think it would be.


Many of my friends and colleagues are also quite patience and easy going people. They take words as sacred things; promises are believed with almost no worries becoming external. Though at times some individuals -- as abrasive or perhaps daft as they may be -- must break that silence and write a message such as this to calm their own ignorance and provide for others information if such a message is truly recognized.


I am unhappy. Many of my friends are unhappy. When will this information be presented? Will we have enough time to mingle amongst each other before the Open Beta servers are established? Will the Official RP server -- assuming that words are kept -- be in this collection of worlds? Or will we have to start over yet again when the game is released or -- Twelve Forbid -- sometime after the game is released (which, sadly, nine times out of ten, in the past, means that it will never happen in supposed MMO Dev talk)?


For the past two months I have been looking on the forums, FFXIV social and fan sites, and the beta forums for answers before I go to bed. Every day I get just a little bit more disappointed.

Please alleviate our worries with any sort of information regarding this!




P.S. Keep up the otherwise great work on the game!

[Mjollnir]

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/ but then I'm sure you knew that.

Is there anyone who doesn't know that it's Balmung? Always has been. Is this just about getting an actual (RP) tag on the server list?

I'm looking forward to Hestern's RP Linkshell on my very own Sargatanas (OI HESTY, ARE YOU SORTING ANYTHING OUT FOR THAT PRE-LAUNCH???). I love roleplaying, but there's no need for me to move over to another server to facilitate it. Ergo, anyone who wants to roleplay on Sargatanas, please contact our fearsome leader Hestern_Nestern at your earlier opportunity.

[AmyNeudaiz]

I recall hearing that there is going to be a strong RP community on Hyperion, but I'm not sure if that was due to posts on a third party unofficial forum or an official statement somewhere that I haven't myself seen. You will also be able to switch servers for free at your convenience a few weeks after launch so being "locked down" is a non-issue, that was announced just at the last live letter.

Also, off topic but I love your vocabulary.

[ArkhamNative]

RP Servers: SE hasn't announced the launch server list yet. (I assume they will.) That would probably be the last chance for them to tag some servers as "RP" if they're still planning to do so. Only a week left.

Server transfers: The slide said "fee-based service" for moving up to 8 characters to a single world. I don't think it will be free, unless they make an exception of some kind. It sounds kind of like FFXI's transfer service.

[Hestern_Nestern]

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/ but then I'm sure you knew that.

Is there anyone who doesn't know that it's Balmung? Always has been. Is this just about getting an actual (RP) tag on the server list?

I'm looking forward to Hestern's RP Linkshell on my very own Sargatanas (OI HESTY, ARE YOU SORTING ANYTHING OUT FOR THAT PRE-LAUNCH???). I love roleplaying, but there's no need for me to move over to another server to facilitate it. Ergo, anyone who wants to roleplay on Sargatanas, please contact our fearsome leader Hestern_Nestern at your earlier opportunity.

I did not expect to see my name in here while reading this thread.

Actually, I became friends with a sexy man cat named Nox Ruo during the beta tests, and decided to join the FC he was planning to create.

He knew that I was interested in roleplaying, so he said that I could put up my RP LS as a subbranch of his FC. That was very sweet of him. But one does not have to join the FC to join the RP LS. He told me that the name of the FC would be "ZOHAR". With that word in mind, I created the storyline premise from which prospective RPers could launch off of (although, again, you are not required to base your character around my roleplay premise).

And then I hired a co-RP coordinator from among his friends because I really don't like having that much power, he he he. And we'd need more than just me to handle RP events (and oh yes, there will be LS-wide RP events for the interested...Including a Murder Mystery! Ha ha ha ha).

Um, *blush*, yes, please contact me if you are interested in joining the RP LS. I welcome any and all skill levels. ^_^ We'll try to go over some basic tips for those needing help, also~~

Now to be clear, the RP LS will not be active during the Open Beta, nor Early Access, and will involve slow and relaxed RPing for the first two to three weeks after launch, to give everyone enough space to devour the entirety of the game, without feeling pressured to do anything extracurricular. If you want to roleplay before launch and the like, feel free to send me a /tell, or a friend request, for mail delivery (So far I will be playing with the characters Hestern Nestern, Swaying Island, and Prin'to Limhric).

I'll try to have everything neatly written down somewhere in time for launch.

@Thalvaus I'd like to think that they have some extra goodies planned for RP servers that they are slowly working to implement, and that is the reason for why they cannot simply add an [RP] tag to a server. Or at least, that would be really swell! I am going to roleplay, regardless of whether or not I am on the 'proper' server for it, at least for now (That being said, I had an awful RP experience on Ragnarok during 1.0). I think you are very fortunate to already be on Balmung. There should be plenty of RPers out there on your world!

Oh, and... *HUGS* ... I hope the stars shine brighter for you.

[Thalvaus]

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/ but then I'm sure you knew that.

Is there anyone who doesn't know that it's Balmung? Always has been. Is this just about getting an actual (RP) tag on the server list?

<Snip>

Yes, I am aware of both the site and the server. Though I believe there is an inherent flaw in relying on a Legacy Server to be the main end-all, be all bastion for Role Players. Many will be too afraid to join an established server, and their innate beliefs (not to be confused with inane as there's nothing wrong with doing such) will probably spread the community even further in the long term. Thrice have I personally tried to get some sort of new regarding this, but it has been as elusive as ever and it is my hope that they do have something planned as some in this thread believe.

I'm no one special, and I don't believe my somewhat auspicious hopes or wants are above anyone else's, but I do care about a thriving RP community. Balmung will likely be merged with another server six months from now, and perhaps even then what it becomes may still be considered the "main" unofficial RP Server, but by then it will be too late for many would-be Role Players who have split amongst five or six or more of the servers available.

In my opinion something quite livid will be needed at the start so as to attract the new RPers that come in (both the ones on the forums who already seemed to have decided and the many who will simply log in and look for that "RP" tag next to the server name). Indeed, I'd surmise that without such, the community will be split beyond recognition in time and the already extraordinarily rare yet inimitable experience of random RP will be lost as our "life-blood" is split between multiple servers. Some finding that there are five plus servers that started out with niche RP communities through research -- having to wade through each to see which still has RPers left -- and therefore joining multiple small communities versus one that is officially recognized from the start (with it still being their choice on where to go, but in my opinion guidance from youth usually has great benefits, even when you talk about young RP servers). Others will just pick a random server and hope they get lucky, yielding the same results but perhaps with even less enthusiasm for the game as their favored pastime is not supported.

@AmyNeudaiz

Yeah, there are quite a few budding RP servers that have been announced by the community. It's one of the problems I'm seeing (for a strong unison between Rpers) as I have seen threads for support for Gilgamesh, Behemoth, Cactuar, Hyperion, Leviathan, Midgardsormr, Ultros and Adamatoise. Some have more support than others, yet I have witnessed a numerous threads for each in different volumes. It's somewhat alarming, as I just get that feeling of "divide and conquer" whenever I think of non-legacy RP servers.

It's good to know that transfers will not cost money; my understanding of Japanese is somewhat poor and I was playing a game in the background while reading (also looked over the official question to see if an RP server was mentioned, while skimming over the answers for each category to make sure my translation was optimal). I'm just hoping my fears will be curtailed by some sort of official response in some capacity well before Open Beta.

@Arkham

Yes, time is running out for this to happen. It gives me a feeling of mundane disdane when I think about.

The transfers won't be free? I don't know, it wouldn't really make sense if they were since they need to make back the money invested in this remake. Though at the same time it would be near diabolical to put a group of people in a position whereby they need to transfer to be with others of their same mindset when all of this could have been avoided entirely with an earlier reveal (if in fact they are charging for said transfers).


@Hestern_Nestern

Thank you for your input and words. It's my hope they do have something special planned. With me special things and big fuss usually isn't required; I'm sure many of the RP community are the same way. Though it is nice once and a while if we get it (which is a rarity in itself). I have cast my feelings into the group that thinks we've simply been forgotten, though it would be a nice treat indeed if something as such is in the works.

I don't really advocate doing things that may take development time away from other playstyles, but the official recognition / tag will go a long way for a lot of people. It could even just have parenthesis next to the name (RP) and make me satisfied. But I do reiterate and declare that it would certainly be a nice surprise for myself if something unique is announced, and that's why we have yet to be given any information.



Thank you for your encouragement. I'm not overtly depressed as I'm typically a happy go lucky kind of guy, but in terms of my passion of RP in games -- and playing games as my pastime -- I am very much so; whenever I think of such I just feel mistreated. Square Enix has been a company I've been looking up to since they started patching 1.0 and working on the new version of the game. Though I can't help but to be fearful that we're being taken for a ride what with the announcement of a RP server the past couple years, yet nothing coming to fruition with but days left until open beta.



Though why focus on the negatives?

Some things they are doing are perhaps advantages to role players and others who want to partake in such systems.

These systems are being able to sit in chairs and even the in game marriage design. While we have little information in the latter, it should just go to show how easy it is to make RPers happy (and how badly we are usually ignored in other games for us to be happy with such simple features).

I'm grateful for these and hope that we will also have a official RP server to for which to embrace them (even if we individually decide to join other servers).




Here's hoping that Balmung will get a RP tag, as well as potentially a non-legacy server. Once the economy has settled on both, they could probably be merged to increase the RP community unity (one idea, at least).

[Rowyne]

I'm 100% in agreement, OP. I won't cross-post, but I made my points as to why I believe one or more officially designated RP servers are needed (not to mention were promised) here.

I'm getting nervous about this, myself. Open beta starts in less than a week, and considering data is supposed to transfer over to release, many people will be locked into a server choice. Which means one or more roleplay servers need to be designated before this weekend. The final server list needs to be released ASAP!

I'm hoping Balmung is designated the official legacy RP server, since most of the community is already there and it would cause the least amount of upheaval. There also seems to be enough demand to designate one non-legacy RP server, as well. There is a split decision as to which non-legacy server the community has chosen (the RPC voted Gilgamesh, the beta forums voted Behemoth). Officially designated servers would clear up confusion and point people in the right direction.

[ArkhamNative]

Update: No RP-designated worlds on the phase 4 list.

Not much more to say, really.