Server Merge Solution: How we, as a community, can resolve this dilemma

For the past hour or so, I've been quietly observing the community's reaction to the latest lodestone update, and devised a solution that, in theory, could work, so long as we all set aside our discrepancies and unite as one.

What I am trying to propose is a movement where all frequent users of these fine forums band together to unofficially assign old servers to new ones, and then, during their time spent in Eorzea, make this movement known. No, it won't solve the problem of inactive players being sent to randomized servers, but unless Square Enix is willing to rethink this process, it's the best we can do.

I figure we can base the server assignments on the alphanumeric system that has been mentioned in most of the threads concerning the merge. The following chart is the most organized example I could find.

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Originally Posted by Magnesium02

Istory -> 1story
Lindblum -> 1indblum
Figaro -> 4garo
Fabul -> 4bul
Mysidia -> 3ysidia
Melmond -> 3elmond
Wutai -> 3utai
Selbina -> 5elbina
Saronia -> 5aronia
Gysahl -> 6sahyl
Trabia -> 7rabia
Besaid -> 8esaid
Bodhum -> 8odhum
Cornelia
Kashuan
Karnak
Rabanastre
Palamecia

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Furthermore, we could adapt this to fulfill the needs of those seeking an english-speaking-european dedicated server, as well as a roleplay server, and whatever else the community may desire.

All this really takes is the involvement of a few well-established individuals to help sway the otherwise indifferent or torn towards the most efficient and amiable direction.

So what say you, fellow FFXIVers?

wait... wat?

Giving un-named servers a name will destroy the quality they currently have as un-named servers.

Gysahl -> 6ysahl for example:
Obviously people from Gysahl would just pour into this one. Same for any other server. That's not the purpose of this merger.

I realize that everyone still has the freedom to choose which one they end up, and we could designate which server is for what language etc. but that also defeats the purpose of being able to choose where you go by limiting the servers by our own design.

If the merge outline does not change before execution people are just going to have to suck it up. I suggest everyone start planning -now-.

I think a numbering system is okay too. I made another proposal in this thread: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...r-Organization

But all the same it will require the english community to reach out to the other languages on these boards. My concept is for more timezone/region-based servers rather than a simple "2 becomes 1" idea as there's no rhyme or reason behind that. It's gonna take a lot of work, whoever decides to take up the challenge. I'll help but not taking the helm on it.

@Vaen: Sorry, what didn't you understand? I admit that I may have been a bit vague. If there's something specific you didn't get, just let me know so I can clarify it.

EDIT:

@SirOrleas: What the names end up as is, in my opinion, completely superficial. What matters most is staying together.

@GreyJorildyn: I'm sure I can find plenty of people in my own server capable of communicating across the various ethnic boundaries to help organize this. Otherwise, if an LS is comprised only of japanese speakers, it'll make very little impact on the rest of us.

How does giving the new servers made-up names solve any of the problems people are having with this?

edit: (not trying to sound snarky, just genuinely don't get it)

@Vaen: The point is to assure that all people on, let's say, Lindblum, move to server one. That way no previous ties are severed. Additionally, since there are less servers, we have all people from Istory move there as well, thus artificially keeping all the communities together as Square Enix should have done in the first place while improving population.

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Originally Posted by Vaen

How does giving the new servers made-up names solve any of the problems people are having with this?

edit: (not trying to sound snarky, just genuinely don't get it)

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It's really just organizing it so people who are currently subscribed can move as an entire server by naming them the same thing though the community since SE won't name the servers.

People who are not subscribed are still screwed. Oh well to that.

Sorry, 'hope it's alright dropping this link to the thread about the issue over on the Role-Play Coalition forums:

Which server ought RP'ers regroup on? [SERVER MERGE]

It seemed appropriate, since you were willing to mention the issue.

I'll do my best to keep an eye on all the threads I can though, and I'll try and link back to here in the above-linked post and all.

It's perfectly okay, Fensfield. Our best bet as remaining intact as a community is getting everyone involved.

Before we can begin to propose a solution we need to determine first how best to organize the servers. There are ways to do this as mentioned in the OP and in my thread linked above. There's also the business of the RP servers. RPers are gravitating toward world 09 and EU have already been alotted World 10. I personally feel we should organize by time zone or at least region. That way our server primetime improves for partying and doing events. Simply smashing two servers together arbitrarily isn't gonna solve that. It will just guide the sheel around in the same cires as before.

However if you outline the servers by region or timezone as an encouragement to the current players (and provides nice direction for incoming players too), then linkshells/communities are free to move to those servers they can be best served or choose to go elsewhere. The above proposal is lazy in the sense that it doesn't fix the issues with locating people at your time of the day and all the other problems experienced on anything but a high-pop server.

Sure it sounds "like every other mmo" to organize by timezone but y'know... If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

there's a problem with this: ghysal, selbina and mysidia are already full as capacity, meaning : after the current population move to the new server, space for others will be few.
i'm not entirely positive on this matter, it'l like say "we are good as now, go in your downtown, low-population immigrate".
I'm exagerating of course, but i think it's good splitting people if you manage to bring linkshell and friend together

@Grey: Personally, I think the greater problem is people being separated from their friends. While I understand your perspective, that's what I feel like server 10 should be for. Sure, there are those who are forced to solo because they are unable to find enough players during their allotted playtimes, however, the opposite seems to be true for the vast majority where the primary concern is that they'll lose ties with all the friends they've made and are unwilling to accept that loss without leaving outright. By having servers 1-9 dedicated to keeping people together, server 10 could be used for the 1% who are unable to find anyone to play with. Also, keep in mind that since eight servers are being removed, each of the remaining servers should receive a significant increase in population, which could potentially solve the problem of being unable to play with anyone in the first place.

@Yuki: It's to my understanding that these new servers are improved both when it comes to the quality of play and the quantity of players allowed within them, meaning that we shouldn't face the problem of overpopulation. However, if that does not actually prove true, than the problem can simply be solved by having all Ghysal's go to the same server and no one else, and same goes for the rest.

It could be solved. Could.

There's no guarentee with a system that randomly assigns two servers to merge into one. It would be a stroke of luck and that's not something we should rely on where SE is concerned imo lol

>_>
And what about people that just don't want to stay on the same server but want to move to others with their linkshell?

Gysahl is full apparently: So we all move into new Gysahl.
A linkshell decides it hates Besaid and wants to move to Gysahl but can't because it's full...because we as a community limited it.

Eh.....

@SirOrleas: If an individual wishes to go to another server, that's their decision to make. This is not meant to force anything on anyone, just an attempt to get everyone who is personally impacted by this merge to band together and do something about it.

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Originally Posted by RexArkania

@SirOrleas: If an individual wishes to go to another server, that's their decision to make. This is not meant to force anything on anyone, just an attempt to get everyone who is personally impacted by this merge to band together and do something about it.

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Thus impacting people who wish to move to a new server as a group....
I am not trying to throw your or your idea through a loop. But there is concern to be had with this plan as well.

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Originally Posted by SirOleas

Gysahl is full apparently: So we all move into new Gysahl.
A linkshell decides it hates Besaid and wants to move to Gysahl but can't because it's full...because we as a community limited it.

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To be quite honest with you, the group wanting to move from Besaid to Gysahl will have to deal with it. They are willing to leave their server, potentially leaving some of their contacts behind. So in the end they will be starting fresh in a group on a new server - which one, doesn't matter.

The Gysahl group, however, already has contacts on their server and are NOT willing to cut them. So why should the Besaid group be preferred?

It's completely beyond reason that SE forces you to transfer instead of giving you a choice. I'm perfectly fine with Trabia and if someone wants to join us, they are welcome to do so. But don't make me choose a random server!

In addition to Soukyuu's statement, SirOleas, I feel like your point is kind of moot in that it'd be completely irrelevant if A: there was no server merge at all or B: SE did what they did in XI and just squished servers together themselves. If either of those were true, you'd still be stuck with the same people, regardless of your personal choice. My goal is to recreate that as best we can, and leave the people who wish to do what you suggest to their own devices.

@RexArkania
How would it be moot? Everything would be moot if there was no merge for one....What happened in XI is different from what the current plan SE has is. Different than your plan even so I don't understand why it particularly matters. Leaving other people to flap in the wind just because they want a new home is not the best we can do. Please re-think your position on that.

@Soukyuu
People who choose to change server are just as important as those who wish to stay with their community. There is no difference. Just because you're happy with your community doesn't mean that those looking for a new home have less of an impact on the community or server(s).

I'll use my own method to remedy the situation.

Talk to the people I enjoy playing the game with, and pick a server based what we decide would be best for us.

Honestly, this isn't rocket science.

Sorry, I guess I was being vague again. I'm not trying to leave anyone in the wind, nor am I trying to say that any one player is less important than any other. What I'm trying to say is that by organizing ourselves, we are in no way affecting the people who want to go off into an entirely new community. Like I had said earlier, these servers are supposed to be an improvement from the old ones. There shouldn't be an issue of a server filling up and thus denying someone from entering. If that's not the case and these servers have the same limit, that problem is unavoidable anyway, organization or not.

@Kiri: I wish it was that easy for everyone. After reading through the community's responses, it seems that method won't be good enough for a majority of players, which is why I decided to propose this plan in the first place.

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Originally Posted by SirOleas

@Soukyuu
People who choose to change server are just as important as those who wish to stay with their community. There is no difference. Just because you're happy with your community doesn't mean that those looking for a new home have less of an impact on the community or server(s).

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So you think it would be more fair to instead kick the group that wanted to stay with their friends and let the newcomers move in?
Sorry, but that would just lead to the newcomers being resented by both Gysahl group that couldn't move back and it's contacts on the "new" Gysahl that could. (keeping your example here).

It's one thing wanting to move and start anew and another thing to be forced to do so. So in this case, people that didn't want to move should be allowed to stay where they are. This is the purpose of this thread - to coordinate people and we should not fill it with discussion whether it's acceptable or not.

People will do it anyway.

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Originally Posted by KiriA500

I'll use my own method to remedy the situation.

Talk to the people I enjoy playing the game with, and pick a server based what we decide would be best for us.

Honestly, this isn't rocket science.

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Thank you for bringing some common sense into the fold!

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Originally Posted by RexArkania

@Kiri: I wish it was that easy for everyone. After reading through the community's responses, it seems that method won't be good enough for a majority of players, which is why I decided to propose this plan in the first place.

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No, I'm sorry. This is entirely the community being lazy and not wanting to actually do anything about it. It'll be as simple as this:

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Hey guys! Which server are we thinking of joining?

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We have over a month to decide which one we're going to. That's 30+ days to pick a number between 1 and 10. Like I said before, this isn't rocket science.

I don't care the name of the server I go to, because I'm there for my friends.

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Originally Posted by KiriA500

Honestly, this isn't rocket science.

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it isn't rocket science, it's narrow-mindedness.
you do realise that some people you enjoy playing with, have other friends, who don't want to go on the server of your choice?

That's exactly the point I'm trying to make. I'm not saying the names matter at all. This entire thread's purpose is to organize the community to do exactly what you're doing, except on a much larger scale. The point is to make sure that everyone stays with their friends. And to do that, we need to synchronize everyone who feels the way you do (which is the vast majority).

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Originally Posted by Phe

it isn't rocket science, it's narrow-mindedness.
you do realise that some people you enjoy playing with, have other friends, who don't want to go on the server of your choice?

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You also realize that it's possible to get a general census before making the decision, yes? We won't know the names of the servers until after we've made our selections...so there is absolutely no favor for a particular one.

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Originally Posted by Phe

it isn't rocket science, it's narrow-mindedness.
you do realise that some people you enjoy playing with, have other friends, who don't want to go on the server of your choice?

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So go with them. Or convince them to come with you. You have a month, and I doubt they're going to be like "OMG NO WAY, I'M NOT GOING TO SERVER 3. 3 IS A HIDEOUSLY UGLY NUMBER AND I'M NOT GOING THERE! PISS OFF!"

some people still don't have the overview about the consequences and how every single player is involved.
let's say i manage to convince my friends and their friends and they convince the friends of their friends - that means
let's say i convince the whole server to go on server No.3... then server no.3 could be full quite fast, because the people of Istory, Fabul and Besaid had the same idea.

guys this is a large scale organization and it requires to know the population numbers of the servers...
FFS it's SE's job to merge 1 server into another, not ours to organize that.

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Originally Posted by Phe

some people still don't have the overview about the consequences and how every single player is involved.
let's say i manage to convince my friends and their friends and they convince the friends of their friends - that means
let's say i convince the whole server to go on server No.3... then server no.3 could be full quite fast, because the people of Istory, Fabul and Besaid had the same idea.

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This is exactly what I am trying to get us to do in the first place. Organize people across all servers so that three communities don't try to cram into the same one.

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Originally Posted by Phe

FFS it's SE's job to merge 1 server into another, not ours to organize that.

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SEs plan for the merge can be called many things. Organized isn't one of them.

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Originally Posted by RexArkania

This is exactly what I am trying to get us to do in the first place. Organize people across all servers so that three communities don't try to cram into the same one.

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the idea is good. and it works when all servers agree upon where to go.
but there are several ideas and concepts about which server goes where and i doubt,
that the community (especially JP players) will agree on whose idea is best and realize it.
and we'd have to figure out the current population numbers.

I have a better idea. How about everyone on every server choose to transfer to server one, at roughly the exact same time?

I'd love to see Square's reaction to that.

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Originally Posted by auritribe

I have a better idea. How about everyone on every server choose to transfer to server one, at roughly the exact same time?

I'd love to see Square's reaction to that.

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Wouldn't work because Server 1 will lock out once it reaches a certain population, then so will 2 and so on so forth. That's actually exactly what they want us to do.

why have to go each server to other different server because their first letter seemed a number? its ridiculous, this is a good opportunity to gather together people from the same time zone in one or two servers!

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Originally Posted by Khazar

why have to go each server to other different server because their first letter seemed a number? its ridiculous, this is a good opportunity to gather together people from the same time zone in one or two servers!

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And no one forces you to, feel free to go to a server with players of your timezone. I'll stick with multizone servers.

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Originally Posted by RexArkania

What I am trying to propose is a movement where all frequent users of these fine forums band together to unofficially assign old servers to new ones, and then, during their time spent in Eorzea, make this movement known.

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This i think is the best way.

Cornelia is actually one of the bigger servers....

No thank you.