How long until transfers to the big servers return?

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Originally Posted by Paladinleeds

However for the sake of the game's health long-run we might need to say to those friends of Balmung/Gilga players "Alright, either start on a server without your friend, get your friend to move with you, or don't play at all", and leave it at that ulimatum. The fact they've stopped transfers to that server which gave them a decent chunk of change means the server is (most likely) on the brink of collapse. Else why would they shut off that revenue source? The ultimatum sucks, but it seems it was required.

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This. They didn't close transfers just for kicks and giggles.

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Originally Posted by ValamLym

Not immediatly, but slowly. You'll certainly tear a massive chunk out of new player influx. Face it, people enjoy playing with friends, when they can't they wont go to a diff server, they'll quit.

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Each time I hear this argument it makes me think - you had such a long time to convince your friends to start playing the game before the servers got locked. If you didnt manage to do that until now, what are the odds you convince them next week, so to speak?
If you feel you cant leave Balmung because of the connections you've made there, its most likely you've been on that server (and on the game) for a while already and yet you couldnt get your friends to join you the whole time?
So I cant really get behind this whole problem, sorry.

Also: with no new people coming to Balmung/Gilgamesh, there wont be more people with this problem in the first place (except some long term player goes and makes new irl friends...)

And again: Sorry to say that, but full server is full. The stability of the game has to be a priority over atracting now people at somepoint.

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Originally Posted by Lexia

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Undeniable facts are that these servers hold the largest pops, as such its fairly simple to deduce that they'll also attract the most people through means stated above, which would result in the situation I stated.

You seem to believe I want this game to ''die'', I dont. I just dislike the thought of stagnation and judging by the letter about leveling potions, so do the devs, so the issue is real already otherwise they wouldn't attempt to address it, perhaps my intent wasn't clear, but I meant stagnant in general, not just cause of the server, but all of these issues pile up.

Argent Dawn used to be woefully overpopulated, but it never got locked. Instead, they let it ''suffer'' for a bit, which in turn made most people not dedicated to the server swap on their own accord. Another example is GW2, where this exact same issue surfaced and they decided to go with mega servers.(it wasn't the only reason of-course.)

If too many players move to Balmung, the game will in the quite litteral sense die. The servers will break. Noone wants that.

What i beleive they should do is offer free permanent moves off the big servers to the smaller ones, kind of what they are doing with the newly created servers but in reverse. They should also slap n RP server tag on one of those smaller ones, or a newly created one so the dedicated RP'ers can go and RP in peace.

They are allowing transfers off Balmung and Gilgamesh.

Also, an RP tag wouldn't fix the problem, as most RPers want to go where the RP is, which is Balmung, and RPers on Balmung aren't going to move unless everyone else does, which won't happen.

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Originally Posted by ValamLym

Undeniable facts are that these servers hold the largest pops, as such its fairly simple to deduce that they'll also attract the most people through means stated above, which would result in the situation I stated.

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You're still only talking about a percentage more compared to the other servers.

Those two servers would have to bring in significantly more players than all other servers combined for your doom and gloom scenario to play out the way you think it will, and that is simply not what is happening.

If they want people to move off of the big servers they will need to address the main reasons people want to go there. Why does large population still matter?

Hunts
Economy
Friends

Need cross server friends lists and ignore lists, with the ability to group in open world and be in the group leaders server zones.
Need data center wide market boards to balance the economies together
Need an answer to hunts to prevent the use of above ideas for some form of abuse
Need a couple servers specifically labeled for RP. Not just Balmung unofficially but actual rp labeled servers to draw in that crowd.

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Originally Posted by Edewen

Need data center wide market boards to balance the economies together

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Why should my experience with the market be dictated by the actions of those not on my server?

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Originally Posted by Berethos

Why should my experience with the market be dictated by the actions of those not on my server?

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At least if such a thing happened, I'm not on Aether. Keep it away from my market!

I don't understand what's the obsession with joining high populated servers. Is not like having more people means more "skill" people.

At the end of the day you will still have to create a PF to clear stuff. You will still beg for help to clear stuff wherever you go

No that PF is cross server it doesn't matter where you go.

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Originally Posted by Enur

What i beleive they should do is offer free permanent moves off the big servers to the smaller ones, kind of what they are doing with the newly created servers but in reverse. They should also slap n RP server tag on one of those smaller ones, or a newly created one so the dedicated RP'ers can go and RP in peace.

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Giving bonuses for transfers off of big servers will only move the problem from one server to another. It won't actually solve the over-focus problem. They need to distribute the weight to the proper places.

The new servers are not the only ones that will be designated for the bonus. All players transferring to/creating new characters on the designated servers will get the bonuses.

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Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

Giving bonuses for transfers off of big servers will only move the problem from one server to another. It won't actually solve the over-focus problem. They need to distribute the weight to the proper places.

The new servers are not the only ones that will be designated for the bonus. All players transferring to/creating new characters on the designated servers will get the bonuses.

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Simple solution to this would be to instate a limit on how many can transfer onto that sever, adding in a lock to both character creation AND transfers once it reaches a certain population density. Which is also what SE should have been doing all along, which would have prevented the current problem in the first place.

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Originally Posted by 347SPECTRE

Simple solution to this would be to instate a limit on how many can transfer onto that sever, adding in a lock to both character creation AND transfers once it reaches a certain population density. Which is also what SE should have been doing all along, which would have prevented the current problem in the first place.

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True, but I suspect due to the timing of the transfer lock that they might not have previously been able to lock transfers in while letting players transfer away. The update to the Servers might have given them the ability to individually lock flow direction.

My real question is why is everyone so obsessed with those particular servers? If it's closed off to new transfers/character creation why not designated traffic to another server and have a 2nd unofficial RP/Raid server to go to? Those servers are closed because for years that's where everyone was told to go if they wanted to do X or Y thing in this game. It's time for other servers to gain some of that spotlight.

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Originally Posted by seraf

My real question is why is everyone so obsessed with those particular servers? If it's closed off to new transfers/character creation why not designated traffic to another server and have a 2nd unofficial RP/Raid server to go to? Those servers are closed because for years that's where everyone was told to go if they wanted to do X or Y thing in this game. It's time for other servers to gain some of that spotlight.

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The simple, basic reason is that it is incredibly hard to set up. It requires dedication and time to build up a sustaining community of multiple groups. People seem to think it is as simple as telling a large FC group to move and that will do it. It's asking 20+ FCs of 15-30 members to move.

Otherwise, it's very easy to eventually ostracize individuals and have them feel unwelcome in such a small group. Sooner or later they will want to move somewhere else. Then the community starts to cannibalize itself as 'content creators' aka those who tend to majorly help pillar the stories and RP events get exhausted / have other obligations etc stop.

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Originally Posted by Areonus

Which is exactly WHY they'll probably never be unlocked. Unless some people decide to bite the bullet and give up their connections and friends or convince those friends to go with them, the servers will never de-populate.

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Exactly this. Unless SQEX starts moving characters or even full FCs over to other servers with all loot, the people who are going to go have gone. The rest are established, comfy, and have put in way too much time/effort at this point to change.

That said, this would also be an excellent chance for cross-server/lodestone messaging to happen so others can keep in touch with their current friends. Making people be paying players and at a certain level would help cut down on the gil spammers.