Suggestion: Turn Balmung into an Official RP Server

[Abriael]

It's already the RP server. Everyone on there knows it's the RP server. Why would labeling it the RP server make them want to leave?

I believe you overestimate the public visibility of a decision taken unilaterally by the RP community, and never acknowledged in any shape or form by Square Enix. I know a ton of people currently playing on Balmung who don't have the slightest idea that Balmung has any specific status, albeit unofficial. Even more had no idea when they joined, and even those who know have absolutely no reason to leave, simply because the server is not a sanctioned RP server.

Lots of roleplayers know, because they're part of the community to begin with, or they searched for like-minded people before they joined. But non-roleplayers joining the game have absolutely no reason to know unless they went out of their way to do some research.

The more realistic option is to make a new server and make it an official RP server.

There really is no reason for Square Enix to attempt to displace the entire RP community. It wouldn't even work. Some would move, some would not, with the sole result of fragmenting the community.

No thanks. Even as a role-player myself I have no interest on playing on a server where role-play is encouraged above all else. I enjoy the game as a whole and want to see people encouraged to commit to the PvE and PvP side of things if they so desire - so making it less desirable for people who don't role-play is very, very dubious and a slippery slope.

I'm not sure where you got this idea that roleplayers don't commit to PvE and PvP. Of course they do. I don't know a single MMORPG that has RP servers in which those two aspects are neglected in any relevant way.

[Theodric]

-snip-

Quite a lot of role-players either do not keep up to date with content or just focus primarily on role-play and little else. On Balmung, quite a lot of role-players spend most or all of their time online standing around in private instances, attending player made events or just lingering in hubs such as Ul'dah. Does this apply to every role-player? No, it doesn't - not did I imply as much.

It's still a decent amount, though - and it's mitigated by having players who are primarily interested in PvP/PvE who will head out into the game world to gather, hunt and queue up for duties. It's also not fair to expect players already playing on Balmung to just up and leave or find it less desirable (your words, not mine) to remain there because it suddenly gets flagged for 'RP'.

[Abriael]

Quite a lot of role-players either do not keep up to date with content or just focus primarily on role-play and little else. On Balmung, quite a lot of role-players spend most or all of their time online standing around in private instances, attending player made events or just lingering in hubs such as Ul'dah. Does this apply to every role-player? No, it doesn't - not did I imply as much.

Roleplayers are a very varied bunch. Tons of them enjoy PvP and PvE like the next fellow. They simply also enjoy to RP. I've been on official RP servers since the times of Dark Age of Camelot (where the RP server Guinivere had some of the best PvP i ever had), and I never had any problem finding people to enjoy normal game content, from PvP to hardcore raids.

That's simply a non-issue. Official RP servers have worked great, and retained plenty of PvP and PvE oriented active population for decades in other games. I didn't just invent the concept myself

It's still a decent amount, though - and it's mitigated by having players who are primarily interested in PvP/PvE who will head out into the game world to gather, hunt and queue up for duties. It's also not fair to expect players already playing on Balmung to just up and leave or find it less desirable (your words, not mine) to remain there because it suddenly gets flagged for 'RP'.

It's quite fair if they're given tangible incentives to do so. No one is forced to leave any place if they enjoy it.

[Lauront]

I'm not sure where you got this idea that roleplayers don't commit to PvE and PvP. Of course they do. I don't know a single MMORPG that has RP servers in which those two aspects are neglected in any relevant way.

Based on the progression figures of pure RP servers. And those are often buoyed by their non-RPer communities.

Which isn't to say an RPer can't be good at PVP or PVE, just that by and large, they're not concerned with them.

I echo Theodric's views and do not want an explicitly labeled RP server. I prefer the way it is currently managed.

You can label them however you like, but from experience, these servers will still have large non-RPer cores. Unless they want to draft an RP policy for these servers, that they actively enforce, they end up being mediocre servers (in PVE/PVP terms) with a visible minority that RPs.

As for a newer server, I am still reluctant. There is little to stop RPers from self-organising and electing a server to this end. I'd rather that the perceived dorkiness of the label (which, to be clear, I don't agree with, especially amongst players already engaged in an activity seen as dorky by the broader public) did not prevent decent PVE players from gravitating to the new server, so that it has a healthy balance of RP and PVE activity.