RAF: Server Restrictions (Dead-Horse)

I've recruited two people who've used up their entire 30 day period just waiting for the opportunity to get on my server.
This is beyond frustrating, as the person who is trying to get them into the game, I have to keep apologizing on YOUR BEHALF because of such a ridiculous system.
30 days, people continually trying to make characters. I look like an idiot saying, "oh no, the game is really worth it." But they're investing a TREMENDOUS amount of effort just for the chance to give your game a shot.
At the VERY LEAST, RAF should bypass these restrictions. You're talking a pretty small population that will be as evenly distributed as those players who do the recruiting are already distributed.
I cannot tell you how silly I feel after going through this twice trying to get them to play the game with me and they can't.
It boggles the mind. You're killing your potential new playerbase before they even get into the game. I won't be recruiting anyone else.

Instead of "wasting" 30 days they could have transferred to your server at some cost which is quite possible as far as I know.

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Originally Posted by Yaichiro

Instead of "wasting" 30 days they could have transferred to your server at some cost which is quite possible as far as I know.

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I would have to agree with OP. RAF should by-pass any such restrictions. What's the point of recruiting a friend, if they can't even be on the same server as you?

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Originally Posted by Yaichiro

Instead of "wasting" 30 days they could have transferred to your server at some cost which is quite possible as far as I know.

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Oh, right.

He should have his friends pay an additional 20$ on top of their initial purchase of the game + Monthly fee + Expansion (if they opened with the expansion, some might've gotten the pack even though it's useless to them pre-50) just to be able to play on the same server as their friend.

Yes, that's a sound business decision.

For square enix. NOT for the players. Don't encourage bad business practices.

If you have a character on the server
> You should be able to make alts without restriction.

If you refer a friend
> They should be able to make a character on your server without restriction.

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Originally Posted by Eidolon

Oh, right.

He should have his friends pay an additional 20$ on top of their initial purchase of the game + Monthly fee + Expansion (if they opened with the expansion, some might've gotten the pack even though it's useless to them pre-50) just to be able to play on the same server as their friend.

Yes, that's a sound business decision.

For square enix. NOT for the players. Don't encourage bad business practices.

If you have a character on the server
> You should be able to make alts without restriction.

If you refer a friend
> They should be able to make a character on your server without restriction.

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Reason why character restriction exists (probably):

RMT/Bots.

really it in my opinion. maybe not but who knows.

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Originally Posted by UltimateAoe2

Reason why character restriction exists (probably):

RMT/Bots.

really it in my opinion. maybe not but who knows.

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Balmung is actually one of the few servers you can go to where there are... very few RMT tells. This is because it's constantly locked; there's no way for the RMT/bots to get characters on there.

So they don't seem to have a character on the server to advertise with.

They don't seem to have a character on the server to refer more to the server with.

And honestly... Punishing the playerbase in an effort to stop RMT on -one- server is a very flimsy reason. That's neglectful to all the other servers and is even painful for the people on the server who want to invite their friend. It's basically a lose-lose-lose with the RMT being stopped in the trenches while the rest climb your walls and slaughter your king.

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Originally Posted by UltimateAoe2

Reason why character restriction exists (probably):

RMT/Bots.

really it in my opinion. maybe not but who knows.

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Nah. Character creation restrictions don't do much to RMT. It just keeps them off of the busiest of servers because they can't make characters. It's an effort to try to funnel players to the less populated servers because there's a point at which the size of a server population becomes detrimental. There was a thread awhile back where someone from Balmung posted this gem:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psnymfysnl.jpg

I really don't think RAF should allow you to bypass character creation restrictions. I understand people want to play with their friends and all, but trying to cram more and more players onto the more populated servers leads to performance issues. :s

If a world is full, the world is full... any way of bypassing character creation restrictions will just make things worse.

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Originally Posted by Nekodar

If a world is full, the world is full... any way of bypassing character creation restrictions will just make things worse.

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Absolutely not. First off, that doesn't even make sense. Server capacity has nothing to do with the number of people who hold characters on a server; it has to do with activity, usually during primetime. Additionally, hardware upgrades can make that a non-issue. Log-in queues are one way of getting around this even once that limit has been breached. Certainly not ideal, but there are myriad options for dealing with servers being overpopulated, including offering free realm transfers to less-populated servers.

I reject the premise that RAF does not allow the recruited to join the same server. Population distribution will naturally take care of the recruited.

Sorry, but I don't buy that Exdous was completely impossible to get on for an entire month. Even Balmung and Gilgamesh open up on a fairly regular basis (I've had four friends successfully create characters on Gil in the past month alone) if you track them.

Are they more difficult to get on? Yes, as well they should be, because they're already packed. But impossible? Not by a long shot.

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Originally Posted by Yaichiro

Instead of "wasting" 30 days they could have transferred to your server at some cost which is quite possible as far as I know.

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Oh lord. "Sure, you can play the game with your friend, but only if you give us $20 on top of what you've already spent for the box and sub."

Totally reasonable. Yup.

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Originally Posted by LunaHoshino

Sorry, but I don't buy that Exdous was completely impossible to get on for an entire month. Even Balmung and Gilgamesh open up on a fairly regular basis

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Well, their own site states that realm restriction updates occur at: 4am, 8am, 1pm, 6pm, and 11pm (PDT). Every day for 30 days we checked at 11am, 4pm, and 9pm EST.

I suppose we should commit full 24-hour shifts to allow for us to get in, amirite? I'll grant that the 7 am EST or 2am EST "might" have had an Exodus available. Covering 60% of available realm times for 30 days should have netted at least one. It did not.

My point is that you shouldn't have to spam check every few hours and pray just to get to the same server. Clearly, some people think this is reasonable. I would call those people insane. It simply should not be this difficult for recruited friends to play on the same farkin' server. It just shouldn't.

You need to get them to make a character at night like midnight or 2am most of the servers open at that time.

Last day of his trial period - we finally got one toon made! Unfortunately, Exodus closed out a mere 5 min after it opened.

He's an RPer and interested in making more, but at least he's got his main in. And it only took the entire free period to get there.

Anyway, all's well that ends well, I guess. Even if it was stupid, pointless and incredibly frustrating.

Cheers!

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Originally Posted by Ayame_Totsuzenshi

Absolutely not. First off, that doesn't even make sense. Server capacity has nothing to do with the number of people who hold characters on a server; it has to do with activity, usually during primetime. Additionally, hardware upgrades can make that a non-issue. Log-in queues are one way of getting around this even once that limit has been breached. Certainly not ideal, but there are myriad options for dealing with servers being overpopulated, including offering free realm transfers to less-populated servers.

I reject the premise that RAF does not allow the recruited to join the same server. Population distribution will naturally take care of the recruited.

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The world servers were designed for X players logged in at any time... For the worlds that are full, the number of players logged in at any time is many times more than what was designed for.
If a world is so full that it's ALWAYS 24/7 at full capacity, there is no population distribution that can help with RAF.
It's also a common misconception that just throwing more hardware at the problem will fix the problem automagically. There is such a thing as diminishing returns.