World Visit System & The Future Of Housing

Context:

• Balmung is the result of a server merge between Besaid and Fabul in the 1.x era
• Balmung is one of the most populated servers, so it has trouble providing housing for all players that call it home.
• The second most populated server is/was on the same data center as Balmung (I don't remember the server's name). I don't remember if it will be moved to a new data center by 5.x

A portion of the FFXIV community (At least NA and EU?) made Besaid the unofficial RP server. This changed over time, and those who enjoy different kinds of role play have moved to or simply started their adventures on other servers. I started on Besaid for the community. I'm not so active in it anymore, but the memories and the people still here are important, so I don't want to change servers.

The World Visit System, does make changing to another server enticing. Move to a server in the same data center where housing is available, but still be able to adventure with your friends on another server.

What I am concerned about, and haven't read any information on, is the future of re-balancing data centers. If the server I move to is moved to a different data center, I would be cut off from the server I wanted to stay in touch with.

More housing will be coming in 5.x, but the odds of there being enough medium or large houses to sate Balmung's thirst is low. New housing typically sells out in the first 5-10 minutes it is available, assuming you can log in without getting kicked out of the login queue because of a lobby server error. Calling it a mad rush is generous. FCs deserve housing. Individuals deserve housing. There isn't enough on this server to go around while houses on other servers sit empty. It is a tough thing for Yoshi and the team to balance.

This is a long winded lead up to the following question:

Has Square-Enix mentioned anything about servers that absolutely will never be separated by different data centers?

If I could move to a server that will never be separated from Balmung, I think I could change servers without worry. I could get housing on that server, but still use the world visit system to complete content on another server (Balmung or otherwise) or adventure with friends who were lucky enough to get housing on Balmung.

Reference:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...de/worldvisit/

I'm thinking the very same thing. Still a bit hesitant myself but am currently mulling over the decision to move or keep my main in Balmung. Probably gonna see the aftermat of all this over the next month before I decide anything personally.

Another question I could be asking is:

"Will the World Visit System ever be upgraded to work across different data centers?"

If yes, even if not immediately available, I wouldn't have anything to worry about. I'm sure it is something they will explore, but have they actually committed to it as a future feature?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TwinMoon

Another question I could be asking is:

"Will the World Visit System ever be upgraded to work across different data centers?"

If yes, even if not immediately available, I wouldn't have anything to worry about. I'm sure it is something they will explore, but have they actually committed to it as a future feature?

---

It would depends on what they are able to manage with the current DC set-up they have now without stressing out the system too much. They already had to do a whole relocation back at STB to get better connections and stability.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ter-Relocation

I doubt very much that SE would promise they will never do another data center change. They can't predict what population changes will occur in the future.

But I think it's safe to say that if happens, they would do what they've done this time - offer players free transfers for a limited period if such a change were made, with compensation for those who would be losing their housing in a transfer, so they can continue to play with friends.

The decision on what to do is yours. Stay on Balmung for fear of what might happen in the future, or transfer to another Crystal world so you can get a house now while continuing to play with your friends on Balmung. I've been doing a lot of world hopping this week and the transfers have been very smooth and fast, even to Balmung during prime time playing hours last night. While I wouldn't expect it to be fast at expansion launch or when a new content patch is first released, your friends would always have the option of coming to you instead of you going to them.

If you genuinely want a house that badly, my advice is to transfer now. No use denying yourself something you want over fears of something that might never come to pass.

Well, we at leas have till May 7th to make that decision if we want to do it for free. XD

Tuesday, April 23 to Tuesday, May 7, 2019
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...d8670191a57ce0