does a server makes any difference?

hi i am new to this game, i initially wanted to roll on tonberry,marasume or w/e that is, but was unable to because only a few jp servers accept new accounts. With no choice i had to roll on valefor. I did not chose a NA server because jp servers are close to where i live (GMT +8) (77 ping on jp server to 239 on NA) and also the timezone issue.


However, i soon realised i barely met any english players in my server except for a few and so i decided to join a NA server. However i soon read that there is this duty finder thing for pvp and raiding. My concern is does being in a JP server matters for endgame raiding and pvp, putting communication issues aside? what is the point of a server then if i can join duty finder for pvp and raids?


is the duty finder something like the dungeon finder in WoW, where raids are dumbed down in the dungeon finder but better gear can be found by doing a heroic group raid on your own server?


thanks in advance whoever decides to reply. :)

It's a bit like the dungeon finder in WoW, except that it's not an altered version of the instance, it's the same as if you took a preformed group with you. In fact, the larger instances don't even allow preformed groups at this time (Frontlines and either version of Crystal Tower). The server you are on still matters for the duty finder though, as it grabs people from the same data center. I forget where you can find information on which servers belong to which data centers, but it's not especially important. All Japanese servers are in Japanese data centers, NA servers are in NA data centers, and I believe the EU designated servers are in a common datacenter.

As such, on a JP server you won't encounter people on EU or NA servers and the lag will be more or less the same as if you weren't in an instance. I think if you poke around a bit you can find what JP servers have the highest EN speaking population. Character creation restrictions are dynamic based on the total number of characters currently logged in, so you can typically create a character even on heavily populated servers by doing so during off prime hours.

Basically, on the Japanese servers, if you wish to really take part in the server community you will need to speak Japanese. If you cannot do this, I would really recommend rolling on an English-language server, because otherwise you will find it extremely difficult to find a Free Company to join or any friends to make in-game.

oh i see, tyvm for both replies. I would most definitely love to be in a english server, but jp servers give me great ping which is my primary concern for raiding and battles, i just didnt expect tonberry to be closed for new signups. I will keep trying for tonberry but play my char in NA in the meantime ^^

I play on the same time zone as you do HarpHarp (Perth, Australia), and I still play on a JP server for the same reasons you do (plus it was also my server in version 1.0 and I'm kind of sentimental like that ;)). Most of the JP servers now have smaller English-speaking populations than they used to as a lot of people switched servers, but if you look hard enough you should be able to find more than a few English-speaking FCs to join.

Tonberry and Masamune have the largest English-speaking populations amongst the JP server group though so it's definitely still worth trying to transfer to either of those, or, another alternative, is if you would like you're more than welcome to join Ridill as there I co-own a small but friendly English-speaking FC/ls with my bf, but it's up to you. :D