Resolving the Balmung Population Issue at Minimal Cost to the Benefit of All Players

[SinisterJoints]

they are offering FREE SERVER TRANSFER's -- take you and your friends and transfer. tired of these threads, you guys have been offered a solution. Dont like it? Deal with the que times. It's that simple

[Marluxia]

Everyone keeps pointing to "gil" and "chocobo feathers" as proper incentives, and they're not.

Square Enix needs to offer incentives for entire communities to transfer, not just individuals.

An RP designation is one such incentive that would encourage an entire community to transfer.

MMOs are social games. They are built and sustained around communities. The idea that gil and chocobo feathers and less queue times are enough incentive fails to acknowledge this fact. If you're an individual or solo player, then hell yeah, those incentives are great! But for anything more than an individual player or a player with a small group of friends, they're wholly inadequate.

[DPZ2]

Square Enix needs to offer incentives for entire communities to transfer, not just individuals..

It isn't as simple as designating World X as the "Role Player Paradise". Until you can do the following, large communities will never transfer.

1) Free transfer of FC and ALL MEMBERS of the FC to new world (with option to leave FC)

2) Free transfer of FC house to same house on another server, complete with furnishings

3) Free transfer of personal houses, apartments and FC rooms with furnishings.

4) Transfer of 'friends list' for those friends who also transfer to new world.

This is not something that can be accomplished in a month, or perhaps even in a year's time. The resources dedicated to this could not be used for anything else in game -- and the result might STILL be no change.

Would you be willing to sign a pledge for your community to the effect that you would take advantage of this if offered?

[Marluxia]

It isn't as simple as designating World X as the "Role Player Paradise". Until you can do the following, large communities will never transfer.

Would you be willing to sign a pledge for your community to the effect that you would take advantage of this if offered?

First off, I agree that all of the measures you suggested need to be implemented. They are absolutely essential to this solution being a solution.

In addition to what you proposed, I also believe that the Character Creation and Transfer restriction on Balmung should remain in place indefinitely, until Balmung's numbers have reached whatever number Square deems acceptable. This way, at least for RPers specifically, Balmung's RP scene is guaranteed to get smaller over time, not larger, thus removing Balmung's appeal as the "RP Hub".

Secondly, you better believe that not only will I move, I will bang the <New Server> drum for everyone to move. I administrate the FFXIV Roleplayers website, so that drum will be a (relatively) loud drum indeed.

The community needs to be given the adequate tools to initiate a smooth transition. Blaming the community is totally pointless (and more than a little bit flawed) as long as the tools aren't there, like FC transfers and guaranteed housing.

[Talraen]

It isn't as simple as designating World X as the "Role Player Paradise". Until you can do the following, large communities will never transfer.

1) Free transfer of FC and ALL MEMBERS of the FC to new world (with option to leave FC)

2) Free transfer of FC house to same house on another server, complete with furnishings

3) Free transfer of personal houses, apartments and FC rooms with furnishings.

4) Transfer of 'friends list' for those friends who also transfer to new world.

Moving a whole FC is tricky, but I don't know if moving it all together can really work. Wouldn't they need to clear that with every member? What if someone says no, or just doesn't log in? Presumably you'd need to leave them behind. Would there be a waiting period for confirmation? If you miss this window, are you just out of luck?

I would propose the FC leader should be able to, by him/herself, transfer, and keep housing and all the FC data. The roster would be reset, and everyone would need to be re-invited. At the same time, create a system where you can move your own FC room, complete with contents. Maybe if your FC transfers, the next time you join an FC the fee for creating a room is waived, and everything is already in it. Depending on how the servers work, that may even be feasible! (But who knows.)

Also I believe #4 is already in place. When I moved, the friends that moved with me were still on my friends list, and I even remained married to one without incident. Other friends were listed as missing, but I suspect if they transferred, they'd appear as well.

[Rhysati]

they are offering FREE SERVER TRANSFER's -- take you and your friends and transfer. tired of these threads, you guys have been offered a solution. Dont like it? Deal with the que times. It's that simple

It's not happening. It's that simple. I run a RP FC on Balmung. I've been here since launch of ARR. My FC has established networks with a slew of other roleplay characters/groups/FCs and there is no way in hell we would move to a barren server where all of our storylines that we've been building over years of gameplay would be rendered pointless. We'd effectively all have to start over from scratch. Unless they release an official RP server and give transfers to it, the population is not going to fall. Period.

[Rivxkobe]

they are offering FREE SERVER TRANSFER's -- take you and your friends and transfer. tired of these threads, you guys have been offered a solution. Dont like it? Deal with the que times. It's that simple

That's Balmung for you.

[ExKage]

they are offering FREE SERVER TRANSFER's -- take you and your friends and transfer. tired of these threads, you guys have been offered a solution. Dont like it? Deal with the que times. It's that simple

Give my FC my house back, my airship progress, my points etc.

[Galgarion]

edit* nevermind, I'm leaving. Balmung is nuts.