So what would you do to solve the problem? Why do you think people insist on going to Balmung?

First of all, there is no other server with as vibrant an RP community as Balmung. Gilgamesh is more about raiding now. Mateus has a small community but nowhere near as large.

The incentives to get people to leave didn't work. The second the server opened people came flooding back. Why?

SE can't realistically keep the server locked forever or forcibly split the server without taking a huge PR risk. They could maybe end up doing the former, but a split isn't going to happen. It's too risky. There's no way they could realistically do it. Because all it takes is friends getting stuck on either side of the divide and everything goes up in flames.

Because ultimately, that's why a lot of people didn't transfer. They valued their friendships higher than the content they were missing out on. But that doesn't mean they should miss out. There's no other content in the game that requires you to transfer servers to participate. That doesn't mean they are forbidden to complain about an obviously terrible system, a system that people are lately hellbent on defending for some reason despite the formerly common acknowledgement that it is truly awful.