Incentive to transfer must be increased

[Rita1989]

If not being able to play isn't incentive enough, then may you suffer the queue a thousand times over.

And I'd just like to say to those who say they like Balmung because it has so many people, it isn't going to last. They're going to reduce Balmung's size to that of every other server.

It might fall back to where it was around HW launch but that was still quite a bit higher then all other servers but most people I know who have been here for a long time wont move regardless of what SE offers and queue will drop eventually before SB there was never a queue that took more then 1-2 min to get in.

[Marluxia]

As Clawbriar above said, a lot of the unwillingness to move goes hand in hand with the absolutely nightmarishly-designed "who thought this was a good idea" housing system.

The only way to guarantee that people keep the plots that they bought, is by creating a completely brand new server and restricting it to transfers-only for a limited time period.

It is incredible unlikely that people and FCs who own houses will move unless an airtight guarantee to keep or upgrade their house is made.

[Aylis]

You can't force non RPers to leave Balmung even if it was designated as RP server, the population problem would only get worse with an official RP designation.

Pretty much this. I've played games in the past where a large amount of non-rpers gravitate twords RP servers due to how often the RP community is pretty chilled. I feel most are reluctant to transfer off Balmung simply because they know how the game works pertaining to cycles. The ques maybe God awful now and the thought of moving to a new server may seem tempting. I think a lot know that in a month or so after all the ones that were in a rush to gear up and finish the story before they quit the game and take their five month break before the new content patch already know those servers they're moving to will become eventual ghost towns. While Balmung and other high population servers will still be populated. I feel the only real incentive to server transfer is for SE to break the patch cycle and come up with new and interesting ways to keep people playing after that initial one month rush n' quit between patches.

[Ayer2015]

They needed to make Balmung the official RP server, and those who want off, could of moved.
You're asking people who pretty much set in the stone this server to RP. It would of been easier
for those who didn't care much for it to go off somewhere else, imo. It's just hard to get people
who have been there forever and established everything along time ago and tell them to pack up.

The people who don't RP are investing in the server as well. That said, they do need to make an official RP server. Personally I think a new server would be a smarter move and would avoid the concerns that Yoshi has already expressed.

[HakaseNyan]

I believe more transfers will happen once they roll out a method for migrating FC & House(FC). That's the only part of the incentives that is holding my FC back.

[savageink]

They could just put up a sign on the log in screen that says"This server is closed please select one of these fine servers to log in." But personally I think it should be like one of those sim city/civilization disaster events. Whenever the server gets over a certain population an elder primal or godzilla etches a path of destruction across a random area wiping out personal houses and players who are then dropped into a "You have died" screen which then lets them resurrect in "a new world".

[EusisLandale]

a discount on houses

How about no. We don't need people able to come in and screw things up that easily. All that will lead to is people coming in, buying low, and then gouging the crap out of people who've been here and were looking to buy a place legitimately.
If you want incentives to get off your server, don't make it the ability to screw over the people you're moving in on.

[Colt47]

Literally the only way SE could fix the balmung problem this week, this instant, would be to shut down the server, take half the population, cram it onto another server, and then be done with it because they used a server system that encourages people to huddle into internet hamlets. People in real life deal with having to move out of their original homes because their neighborhoods go bad, get over crowded, or worse. This is exactly the same thing in virtual form and it could have been avoided if people didn't keep sneaking onto an already overstuffed server over the years. Now we have an expansion, all those dormant accounts suddenly flared up, and no one thought to check the numbers and say "maybe we should cap the server by the number of total accounts and not just the active ones..."

The problems with the incentives aren't the incentives: people want to know that if the situation gets better, SE will step in and help them relocate so they don't end up on ghost servers because of those dormant accounts mostly being from less enfranchised players who will leave the game in six months. People play these games for years: They don't want to have to take a long term solution for something that could arguably be a short term problem as far as we know.

The better solution is to offer free level boost items and scenario skips for players on overpopulated servers. This lets the players keep their old characters in place and not lose their old home while still playing somewhere else for the time being. It doesn't take a whole lot of time to complete the stormblood scenario, after all.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I joined balmung in 2010. I left as soon as they opened transfers. Its not a matter of time, its a matter of want. Have friends? bring them with you. have 200+ friends? no you dont.

And if said friends don't want to leave? Balmung has a whole community dedicated to roleplay. While we might not all be friends, it's asking a lot to give up connections and the aforementioned community in the hopes Mateus pans out. If it withers down the road, you're essentially stuck on a lower pop server with a dying RP community. Not that I mean to speak ill of Mateus' attempts, but it's simply naive to assume everyone can easily convince their circle of friends or the community their associated with to pick up and leave. Yours did? Good for you. Your FC doesn't list roleplaying as something its interested in. So.... your decision to leave isn't weighed the same.

Citing only myself, none of my friends have any real interest leaving Balmung. They like the higher population; the larger RP community; the market, and have friends of their own who also don't want to leave nor do I for those same reasons. Like I said, it isn't quite as easy as you're trying to make it.

[Michiko]

The only way I could see a flux of people moving off Balmung would be to keep all the current incentives and guarantee that people get a house. I know it's never going to happen. It's unrealistic but that's the only way I honestly see the population shifting off Balmung.

Personally, I've been on Balmung before it was even named Balmung (Besaid). Now our FC has started to splinter. Those who never cared about personal rooms, housing, all moved off world. Those of us who have homes, an FC house, airships, will lose all of that and for what? a few million gil that amounts to nothing. (If we move). And even if we or those in our position moved. Very high probability currently to never see a house again. More players shifting to the low population servers who will have the money to buy houses. When Shirogane opens up, it will be a landrush regardless. So it's either put up with bad queues until the welcome back campaign stops (and hope the queues diminish at that point) or have entire FCs take a gamble at being homeless on a move.

To me THAT'S the exact reason why there isn't a larger shift of players off Balmung.