On House Relocations...

Yup so sick of players from balmung wanting special treatment because their server is a "RP" server. So what? I was one of the very first to be in balmung when the merger happened between besaid and the other server was. If you want a house go transfer to a different server there are more then one rp server to play in.

Pretty sure it's just because people want the ability to purchase something for a little more than three minutes, not because it's an 'RP' server. The server could be locked forever for all I care, but it would be nice to be able to have the ability to purchase any plot at all. Is that so much to ask? It's not like one server will get 'special treatment' anyway with how things are implemented in this game.

So what would you do to solve the problem? Why do you think people insist on going to Balmung?

First of all, there is no other server with as vibrant an RP community as Balmung. Gilgamesh is more about raiding now. Mateus has a small community but nowhere near as large.

The incentives to get people to leave didn't work. The second the server opened people came flooding back. Why?

SE can't realistically keep the server locked forever or forcibly split the server without taking a huge PR risk. They could maybe end up doing the former, but a split isn't going to happen. It's too risky. There's no way they could realistically do it. Because all it takes is friends getting stuck on either side of the divide and everything goes up in flames.

Because ultimately, that's why a lot of people didn't transfer. They valued their friendships higher than the content they were missing out on. But that doesn't mean they should miss out. There's no other content in the game that requires you to transfer servers to participate. That doesn't mean they are forbidden to complain about an obviously terrible system, a system that people are lately hellbent on defending for some reason despite the formerly common acknowledgement that it is truly awful.

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Originally Posted by Elamys

So what would you do to solve the problem? Why do you think people insist on going to Balmung?
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Let me repeat it again, "it is not our problem". Balmung do not deserves a special treatment. It is your personal choice and it is merely one of the decision you will be making in rest of your life. You decides to stay on Balmung. Then you will need to have a rough experience with housing. This is the con of your decision why you are enjoying your little RPing. This will not be only time you have to choose, so deals with it

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Originally Posted by Divinemights

Let me repeat it again, "it is not our problem". Balmung do not deserves a special treatment. It is your personal choice and it is merely one of the decision you will be making in rest of your life. You decides to stay on Balmung. Then you will need to have a rough experience with housing. This is the con of your decision why you are enjoying your little RPing. This will not be only time you have to choose, so deals with it

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You're right, it isn't your problem. It's SE's problem. Which is why we're here on the forums, talking about it.

How does solving the issue so that Balmung can have adequate housing negatively effect you?

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Originally Posted by Elamys

There's no other content in the game that requires you to transfer servers to participate.

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Originally Posted by Elamys

You're right, it isn't your problem. It's SE's problem. Which is why we're here on the forums, talking about it.

How does solving the issue so that Balmung can have adequate housing negatively effect you?

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Let see ...
Oh right, last time Balmung is having login issue because of over population, SE installed a force log out that is impacting every other servers...

How is that sound?

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Originally Posted by Elamys

You're right, it isn't your problem. It's SE's problem. Which is why we're here on the forums, talking about it.

How does solving the issue so that Balmung can have adequate housing negatively effect you?

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Let see ...
Oh right, last time Balmung is having login issue because of over population, SE installed a force log out that is impacting every other servers...

How is that sound?

Oh, I also forgot about daily crying about unlock Balmung server I am seeing every day until this week.

It is your own undoing caused us start to dislike any Balmung related issue

The issues were because people weren't logging out. They were cheating the AFK kick timer but sitting there mid-craft or at a summoning bell, AKA exploiting, and why people weren't banned for it I can only imagine is because of the sheer amount of people there.

If people were logging out normally, the problems would not have happened. We know that's the reason because once people were being forced to log out, the problem magically fixed itself. Balmungers were far from the only people exploiting this loophole.

Also, if forum threads you don't agree with are causing you that much grief, perhaps you should consider not going to the forums.

Agreed, same goes to you rhat isn't it just easier just transfer to other servers with plenty of open plot available?

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Originally Posted by Divinemights

Agreed, same goes to you rhat isn't it just easier just transfer to other servers with plenty of open plot available?

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Oh my god. Can you at least read my posts, please? I've explained why it's not so easy for people to pack up and leave.

Are you the guy who told me "just move lol" when I told them I couldn't get a decent internet connection out here? lol.

also i have a house

The Balmung players expecting special treatment simply for being Balmung are a textbook case of "have your cake and eat it too". So Balmung has a community and culture you don't want to leave behind, that's fine and totally your decision, but you don't get to have a tantrum and expect SE to cater to you when you knowingly choose to stay on a server that has consistently had a population problem for years now. Balmung's a resource-eating machine, everyone knows it's overcrowded, and if you choose to stay there because of the culture, then you are knowingly choosing to prioritize that culture over ease of purchasing housing.

Every other server is fine, and by expecting SE to dedicate even more resources to a preexisting resource drain, you are basically saying you deserve more because you're overcrowded and the other servers can just stuff it.

I, again, invite anybody here to explain how they would solve Balmung's population problem because it's obviously not going away with incentives.

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Originally Posted by Elamys

SE can't realistically keep the server locked forever or forcibly split the server without taking a huge PR risk. They could maybe end up doing the former, but a split isn't going to happen. It's too risky. There's no way they could realistically do it. Because all it takes is friends getting stuck on either side of the divide and everything goes up in flames.

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https://www.engadget.com/2008/12/19/...-server-moves/

Don't be too sure on that. I would prefer them to lock it again so other servers have a much longer time to build up and take the heat off Balmung, even if it takes years.

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Originally Posted by Elamys

I, again, invite anybody here to explain how they would solve Balmung's population problem because it's obviously not going away with incentives.

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Bluntly, lock the server until the population requires it to be a preferred server to transfer to. I think the method before worked for its purpose. If it actually is unstable (again), then it wouldn't be as it was. What's funny is that Gilgamesh crashed harder than Balmung on Stormblood release. Still Balmung's fault though. Obviously.

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Originally Posted by Enjuden

Bluntly, lock the server until the population requires it to be a preferred server to transfer to. I think the method before worked for its purpose. If it actually is unstable (again), then it wouldn't be as it was. What's funny is that Gilgamesh crashed harder than Balmung on Stormblood release. Still Balmung's fault though. Obviously.

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I suspect Balmung gets the hate and Gilgamesh doesn't because roleplayers just attract a lot more hatred for whatever reasons.

I'm not sure that locking it actually was that successful because after this long, we are still far and above everyone else.

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Originally Posted by Elamys

I suspect Balmung gets the hate and Gilgamesh doesn't because roleplayers just attract a lot more hatred for whatever reasons.

I'm not sure that locking it actually was that successful because after this long, we are still far and above everyone else.

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If you want a permanent solution to it, it has to be something people don't like and will be divided on, a forced transfer, where you just don't get a choice and get divided by lottery. I do not think splitting the server will work, since the majority will probably move to one and abandon the other (Besaid before it turned into Balmung). Locking is pretty much the only solution that may do something instead of move the problem to somewhere else. Only other thing that can be done is infrastructure, which SE has showed time and time again they don't want to bother with.

Simple. Lock the server until it loses its reputation as most populated server. Players will give up and move on, complaining all the while about how "dead" it is.

Maybe instead of asking what all the other players would do about Balmung (the same way Balmung just expects other players to deal with their mess to begin with), perhaps Balmung players should be the ones coming up with an acceptable solution to Balmung's problems. One that doesn't amount to "give us everything we want because we deserve it."

The problem being that 90% of the problems that get blamed on Balmung are not Balmung's problem at all, or at least, not exclusively (see: Gilgamesh at Stormblood launch). It's a bunch of players dogpiling on a server for no reason, the inhabitants of who have done nothing wrong by choosing to play on that server.

This problem isn't up to the players to fix. It's Square's problem, it's a problem with their server's infrastructure, and while players can certainly help make the situation better, it's odd that the players on Balmung are told to solve the problem themselves when every other problem that could have been resolved by the cooperation of other players is placed solely on Square to fix. (see: players exploiting the AFK kickout at Stormblood launch)

If you really do value housing above all else in this game, then you should leave Balmung. I won't deny that. But the majority of the players here have a history on the server. And they don't want to leave because of that. I don't find that particularly heinous. Again, there's nothing else in the game that is actively hindered by you being on a server. I wouldn't say it's asking for "special treatment." I would say that it's asking Square to find a way to properly allocate resources so that no matter what server you are on, you have at least sort of a fair chance at participating in all content in the game.

The answer to that, in regards at least to housing, is to improve apartments to be more than glorified and awkward FC rooms, and to unlink content like gardening from housing.

Gilgamesh is also a resource drain and blaming Balmung alone for Aether's problems is a mistake on my part, I am sorry about that.

But I haven't seen any Gilgamesh players expecting SE to cater to them and their overpopulation problems, while 90% of the angry-at-housing-and-demanding-sweeping-changes threads are specifically from Balmung players. So while Gilgamesh is also responsible for other sets of issues, they really don't have any hand in the current problem. Which actually is an interest contrast - why is one heavily overpopulated server expecting to be catered to while another seems mostly content with the current situation?

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Originally Posted by Sothis

Gilgamesh is also a resource drain and blaming Balmung alone for Aether's problems is a mistake on my part, I am sorry about that.

But I haven't seen any Gilgamesh players expecting SE to cater to them and their overpopulation problems, while 90% of the angry-at-housing-and-demanding-sweeping-changes threads are specifically from Balmung players. So while Gilgamesh is also responsible for other sets of issues, they really don't have any hand in the current problem. Which actually is an interest contrast - why is one heavily overpopulated server expecting to be catered to while another seems mostly content with the current situation?

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The loud people are not the ones you should listen to.

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Originally Posted by Sothis

Which actually is an interest contrast - why is one heavily overpopulated server expecting to be catered to while another seems mostly content with the current situation?

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Balmung is ultimately a server for roleplayers (albeit not officially) and housing is like catnip for them, so the interest in it is much higher. Gilgamesh's main jam appears to be raiding, which isn't supported much by housing. I actually don't even see many players from Gilgamesh posting on the forums in general, though, so that's strange.

Also, yeah, these forums aren't super representative of the game's main population. I don't know the exact number anymore or who it was but someone on the forums has a signature from a poll Square did as to who posts frequently on the forums and it was something like only 6% of responders - an abysmally low number. Even worse when you consider how many people probably didn't do the poll. So that's a good thing to keep in mind.

When it comes to in-game, I'm not seeing a whole lot of people upset about the situation. Most people were, I think, prepared to be disappointed with this last patch, and nobody really talks about housing now as they've moved back on to playing the game normally. Those who were lucky are having fun decorating and I'm happy for them.

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Originally Posted by Elamys

Balmung is ultimately a server for roleplayers

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Ok, no. Balmung may be the go to server for roleplayers, but it is not a server for roleplayers. You'll find roleplayers are still actually the minority in Balmung.

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Originally Posted by Settiesama

Ok, no. Balmung may be the go to server for roleplayers, but it is not a server for roleplayers. You'll find roleplayers are still actually the minority in Balmung.

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Obviously, but you can't really deny that RP is still a huge part of Balmung. It's kind of what the server is known for. It's a huge server, with a huge population of RPers (minority or not it's still very large) and that's probably why the interest in housing is so much higher than in other large servers.

It is actually REALLY simple when it comes to players from balmung wanting a house TRANSFER TO ANOTHER SERVER! if you do not want to do that then you get to stay on a over crowded server where all housing will be taken within minutes of new wards being released! I am pretty dang sure that SE will NOT give you balmung players special treatment because you know why? you are NOT special!!! you pay your monthly sub like everyone else and you stay up until the servers go up when new wards are put in place to get a house like everyone else! if you do not like that you are fighting other players for a house then transfer to a less crowded server it is that simple!

No they will not take wards away from other small populated servers and give balmung more wards that is just insane to even suggest that so basically what i am saying to these special little snowflakes from balmung that want change only done for their server

Transfer servers or Suck it up princess!!

Also yes I have a large house but I am on a smaller populated server that gave me a fighting chance in hell in getting the dream house I wanted.

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Originally Posted by Vonleo

No they will not take wards away from other small populated servers and give balmung more wards that is just insane to even suggest that so basically what i am saying to these special little snowflakes from balmung that want change only done for their server

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Literally nobody suggested that it be just for Balmung. You could read, princess.

I say it's not SE's fault that players decided there should be one RP server. It's not SE's fault that players decided that server should be Balmung. It's not SE's fault that players decided to keep forcing themselves onto a server that was already overpopulated by paying for transfers to bypass character creation being closed to the point they had to lock the server completely just to stop even more people from transfering to it.

It's not SE's fault that players on Balmung can't get houses. It's not SE's responsibility to to fix it. Balmung is just a piece of hardware that is physically identical to ever other server.

The fault for Balmung's problems and the responsibility for the solution both lie with the players who refuse to play anywhere else. Stop blaming others for problems you caused yourself.

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Originally Posted by Enjuden

Literally nobody suggested that it be just for Balmung. You could read, princess.

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Read the whole thread someone suggested it in different words. Oh and by the way since I see you are on balmung have fun with your over crowded server you special little snowflake :)

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Originally Posted by Enjuden

If you want a permanent solution to it, it has to be something people don't like and will be divided on, a forced transfer, where you just don't get a choice and get divided by lottery. I do not think splitting the server will work, since the majority will probably move to one and abandon the other.

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Splitting is doable if they handle it correctly. Back in the day when I played Everquest they did a few server splits and during the later transfers they had people sign up to be moved with the incentive/loaded gun that if they hit a target number of transfers no one would be split against their will. They sent out emails to all the service accounts that had a character on the overpopulated server, released info about how many the server had vs how many needed to leave and gave it a time limit so that people could try to organize to move with friends. Of course usually in the end not enough people volunteered and the remainder were randomly chosen and forcibly moved, which would cause a huge drama explosion for a couple of weeks. But it did work.

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Originally Posted by Vonleo

Read the whole thread someone suggested it in different words. Oh and by the way since I see you are on balmung have fun with your over crowded server you special little snowflake :)

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The conversation between some Balmung players and the rest:
Everyone: You could transfer....
Balmnung: lalalalalalala... i cant hear you.
Everyone: ... solution.

Oh to not forget, their suggestions are perfectly described in this VIDEO.

Is there a problem? Yes. Should there be a solution? Yes. However, "Everybody ignored the current solution, but you should still give us the things we want although the problem hasn't gone away" isn't a solution. It's selfish. And yeah, I'll point it at Gilgamesh, too, when I see them complaining for hours on end that they don't care for the official solution but it's just not fair. It has nothing to do with disliking RP - I'm an RPer myself. I couldn't get onto Balmung when I started, found some friends on Exodus, and came here. Never regretted it.

You're playing on a game that has its parameters set out, and you choose to ignore those parameters and still demand your 'rights.'

If SE had intended Balmung to be an official RP/high pop server and had advertised it as such, then yeah I'd put it all on them to fix this mess. But since everybody waltzed into what basically amounts to one condo in a line of 50 and said "we like this, expand it to fit 500 of us, not 5, who cares if you have to make the other condos smaller", I'm just hearing entitlement and nonsense. YOU built this problem, but you think WE should solve it for you because you don't like that sometimes, solutions aren't fun. And who cares if WE lose resources because well, we're not overburdened like YOU guys? Hey. I LIKE that the house near my FC house is still empty. Someday a new player will buy it (flippers won't make anything off it at this rate) and they'll be excited about their new house and it'll be great to see and help them out.

Honestly, I wish they'd just split the server(s? My understanding was that Greg had evened out and was still a decent size, but I could be wrong) and be done with it. I'd go with the emails, as was mentioned above, but at this point it doesn't matter. 36 players would take advantage, the rest would wait and complain that their rights had been violated.

And for what it's worth, I'm all for "FC transfer" incentives and etc. Sure, let people take the ranks and even FC storage, ships, etc that they built up. Maybe it'd help. But stubbornly sitting it out, ignoring the publisher's incentives, and saying 'give me more' just makes you look spoiled and sour.

You talk about "fair"? - what about the servers you're going to take down every time you bloat enough to crash? They're not overpopulated monstrosities, is it "fair" to them to lose their access because you can't regulate? And you can co-blame Gilgamesh all you want but even if you share half the problem (really, it's more now), you share 90% of the selfishness.

Balmung is a metropolis. It is an extremely large population tucked away into a limited space. Like any metropolis it's residents have access to a greater number of goods, people, and opportunities. It bustles with activity and drives a large economy. However, space is limited and many extra people compete for what space there is. So, like a real metropolis, a large percentage of it's residents will not own a home.

Coeurl is a town. It's got a lower population spread out over it's area. With fewer people comes a smaller economy, fewer opportunities as there are less people creating them, and less selection in goods as there are fewer crafters at work at any given time. However, with a smaller population you see a larger percentage of home ownership because that same amount of houses goes further for the population.

Servers really are like cities. Real-life cities in heavily populated areas cannot expand without swallowing their neighbors and if their neighbors resist their attempts...then they don't get that extra space. They build up, not out. Balmung cannot steal more space from Coeurl, from Zalera, or from Goblin to feed their needs so Balmung's personal housing needs can and should be met by the addition of new apartments, not new wards. Those individuals who just cannot live in an apartment and need their own space are now faced with the same option that real life people have and move to the burbs. Or get creative and use alts to 'commute'.

If housing is still that big of an issue on congested servers maybe they should look into un-grandfathering in people with multiple houses on these servers... that should free up a few houses...

I disagree balmung should NOT get special treatment if people want a house in a ward so badly they should transfer it really is that simple. As an example I will use your analogy. What happens in real life when a city is over populated and there is no work? people look for jobs/homes in other cities. So it really is simple how to fix balmungs population problem and it isn't SE I am looking at I am actually looking at the people of balmung themselves. They are the ones to blame when it comes to over population and they are to blame for staying on a overpopulated server and they are also to blame for swarming balmung as soon as the server was unlocked for transfers/character creation.(SE is to be blamed for even unlocking balmung in the first place.)

So again Balmung players have two choices either stick with the over crowded server or transfer to a less populated server to get that sweet house they want.

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Originally Posted by Vonleo

I disagree balmung should NOT get special treatment if people want a house in a ward so badly they should transfer it really is that simple. As an example I will use your analogy. What happens in real life when a city is over populated and there is no work? people look for jobs/homes in other cities.

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So you're agreeing with me? Because I think you need to re-read the last line where I told them to move or commute via alts?

My point about apartments was that SE already said they were looking to apartment improvements and also that they could be more dynamic with when and how they added them. Thus, servers (not just Balmung) can get more apartments before more wards.

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Originally Posted by Keridwyn

So you're agreeing with me? Because I think you need to re-read the last line where I told them to move or commute via alts?

My point about apartments was that SE already said they were looking to apartment improvements and also that they could be more dynamic with when and how they added them. Thus, servers (not just Balmung) can get more apartments before more wards.

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Big problem with apartments tho is that for "role players" apartments arent enough they want to have a "neighborhood" feeling so wards are what they are gunning for.

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Originally Posted by Vonleo

Big problem with apartments tho is that for "role players" apartments arent enough they want to have a "neighborhood" feeling so wards are what they are gunning for.

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So roleplay that your character has an apartment... problem solved...

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Originally Posted by Vonleo

Big problem with apartments tho is that for "role players" apartments arent enough they want to have a "neighborhood" feeling so wards are what they are gunning for.

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I have seen a lot more people arguing that they're small (which they are) and lacking gardening. Also Balmung folks aren't the only ones against the removal of wards, a lot of folks like the neighborhood feel as you see whenever the argument for the removal of wards is raised.

But with the devs looking into apartment changes we might seen them start actually being an alternative for people who want personal space. Houses will remain a luxury good and a goal but folks might not be completely locked out of things.

FCs would still be up the creek until new wards come out.

Yeah bigger apartments could help but the complaining wouldn't stop people want the best and if they see others have something like ward housing and they are stuck with apartments then you know they will complain it will either have to be full instance or full wards at this point.

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Originally Posted by Okamimaru

If housing is still that big of an issue on congested servers maybe they should look into un-grandfathering in people with multiple houses on these servers... that should free up a few houses...

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You'd free up a dozen houses at most, wouldn't help much at all.