The character creation restriction is bad, bad, bad.

[Alahra]

I agree it wouldn't be a bad thing to do, but would it actually help though? Or rather would anyone actually do it? What incentive is there for someone to leave the (very) populated server?

While I don't know how successful this was for them, Blizzard did periodically allow free transfers to less populated worlds throughout WoW's lifespan. I'm not sure if they still do so as I haven't played in awhile, but they did so for several years which suggests at least to some degree that people will transfer. I suspect fewer would do so in FFXIV because of concerns about Housing, though.

[Atoli]

I suspect fewer would do so in FFXIV because of concerns about Housing, though.

The people who actually own housing beyond a FC room are incredibly few compared to the server population though. I can imagine some people actually would want to transfer because of housing, since low-pop servers still have free plots.

[Alahra]

The people who actually own housing beyond a FC room are incredibly few compared to the server population though. I can imagine some people actually would want to transfer because of housing, since low-pop servers still have free plots.

That's also true. I do think they're going to have to do something about the huge anchor servers in the long run, and I think offering free transfers to other worlds might have some effect. They definitely can't do mergers without significant changes to Housing infrastructure, at any rate, so something like this might be at least a small step they could take to make some changes.