Care to share some experience about playing on JP servers? Thinking of transferring

[KaivaC]

So these last few days, I've kinda been toying with the idea of transferring over to a JP server - at the very least, sending an alt over there. I have multiple reasons for doing so, least of all in wanting to improve. If there are EN speaking players who are on JP servers, could you give me some tips/experiences about playing on a JP server? I understand there's a cultural difference - namely more emphasis on team, rather than individually. But I also know that there are some EN speaking players over on that data centre, so I'm hoping to get a general feel for what to expect, what to avoid, etc.

[valho]

I played on JP server since open beta, first in Masamune and later on transfered to Tonberry. There are quite a lot of English players in Tonberry, so it's quite easy to find English players to play with through LS or FC.

PF and RF in JP is pretty simple, you see things like 3 wipe disband, no call out no nothing, simply disband. Though you will usually see JP only in PF since they prefer to be able communicate, especially in practice run. Clear run are usually ok to join even JP PF as long as you already know the fight and the common strat that is use.

It's the same for RF, 2-3 tries then disband, you hardly get any call out, if you do you will notice that it's mostly the English players doing it. In RF you are expected to know the fight, someone will usually have a macro for each fight and it's pretty standard with slight variation here and there. Good thing about RF in JP is that most of the time everyone know what they doing, so it's easily 1 shot clear. I been running Suzaku Ex using RF since yesterday only had 1 fail run.

DF nothing much, go in do your stuff and comes out, you hardly get complains about slow run etc. They also won't scold you if you DC and comes back, they will wait for you, had that happen to me a few times. Even had times where I had to run off for something urgent, so I stop moving for few minutes and died. I usually said sorry and we continue on. You won't see much toxicity in JP though it does happens, one thing about JP players is that, sometimes if things doesn't goes well they will said "there is foreigner in the party" and they seldom will blame on other JP players. Doesn't happen often but it does.

I have read some of your post, I can say that things like that seldom happen in JP server, I once accidentally queue into o6s as bard which I am still learning. We wipe I think 2 times before we clear, I was doing shit dps but once we clear, it's all good game and thank you. I do feel bad for my performance and had to have them carry me, but they won't call you stuff or purposely let you die coz you aren't doing well. Another time I queue into weeping city as tank and I was B, so I was suppose to be MT. But I guess alliance C tank notice that I wasn't doing it right, so he offered to MT instead which I gladly let him do it. So generally run are pretty stress free, everyone just do their stuff and get things done.

[KaivaC]

Oh nice. That takes some worries off my chest. At this point, I think I really only have two more questions then. I know maybe 8 or so phrases in Japanese, and that's it. And I can't type in romanji on my keyboard, so how often would I be required to communicate, in general? And if I were to transfer, which servers tend to be the best for EN-speaking players?

[Mikita]

I agree with Valho. Japanese servers are generally quite peaceful. DF drama is rare and it is usually just quiet in the chat log aside from greetings and thanks at the end. Most runs go smoothly, and people will usually wait for new players. Even if things are going badly, people usually just grin and bear it. Abandon votes are pretty rare from my experience... but then again, I don't do high end content anymore.

I don't know how it is on Masamune or Tonberry, but RMT shouts are pretty uncommon on the non-English speaking servers.

If you do move (even to one of the English speaking servers in Japan), it would probably make playing a lot more interesting if you learn a little Japanese, too. ^^

[Mikita]

Oh nice. That takes some worries off my chest. At this point, I think I really only have two more questions then. I know maybe 8 or so phrases in Japanese, and that's it. And I can't type in romanji on my keyboard, so how often would I be required to communicate, in general? And if I were to transfer, which servers tend to be the best for EN-speaking players?

Auto-translate generally works well enough. Beyond that, if you really wanted to get into it, you could try installing Japanese as a language pack on your computer?

Masamune and Tonberry are the two main English speaking servers in Japan.

[valho]

Oh nice. That takes some worries off my chest. At this point, I think I really only have two more questions then. I know maybe 8 or so phrases in Japanese, and that's it. And I can't type in romanji on my keyboard, so how often would I be required to communicate, in general? And if I were to transfer, which servers tend to be the best for EN-speaking players?

I can't type Japanese at all and I usually google translate what they say and try to use the auto translate to communicate. Usually you can keep quiet and do your stuff unless it's practice party where they might discuss about stuff. So I usually won't join a JP practice party. So doesn't really need to communicate often. Tonberry would have the largest amount if English players, there are also EN players in some of the newer server as well that is under the Elemental data center. Though Tonberry would be your best bet to find English players.

[Iscah]

There's not much conversation in the average DF party, especially if you know what you're doing. People say hello at the start and thankyou at the end, and very little inbetween. (If things are going wrong you might have to resort to auto-translate charades. And have an [I don't speak any Japanese] autotranslate macro ready!)

I've only seen people run a vote dismiss maybe twice? three times? in a year of playing.

Some etiquette that I've had pointed out (sometimes the opposite of what I've read here from the other data centres):
- in alliance raids, team B tank is automatically considered the main tank
- shouting for a party invite at hunt marks is 'incorrect' and you need to go via Party Finder (at least on Typhon server)
- on the other hand, when an NM battle comes up in Eureka, you shout "/" (=raised hand) and someone should invite you.

My server Typhon doesn't have a huge English population, but there's a few English FCs and a server-wide linkshell (plus Discord).

I think we've just gone off the 'preferred server' list though.

[KaivaC]

Oh it's quite alright. I'm maxed on two characters, so really I'd just be going to improve, raid, and get things done that I typically can't here in na.

[CodingSession]

I have a character in Shinryu. Cleared MSQ up to 4.1, but did not raiding at all.
First thing first, the most noticeable difference compared to NA is nobody talks at all in DF. Not about mechanics, not small talks, nothing.
Secondly, the average players' skill in low level (50 and below) dungeons and trials is better than the data center I'm currently on. On higher level it's about the same.
Lastly, I've never met or received any tells from RMT traders during my time there.

Overall, my experience there was quite nice. I'm not a very social person anyway, so the language barrier doesn't bother me that much.

[Xiomara]

Masamune and Tonberry are the two main English speaking servers in Japan.

Kujata as well, a bunch of Aussies moved there when Tonberry was locked.

First thing first, the most noticeable difference compared to NA is nobody talks at all in DF. Not about mechanics, not small talks, nothing.
Secondly, the average players' skill in low level (50 and below) dungeons and trials is better than the data center I'm currently on. On higher level it's about the same.

Yeah, the silence is odd, but you will encounter discussion about mechanics when content is new. For that just copy and paste into Google Translate and you should get a hint about what's being discussed. Otherwise, RF/PF runs go like this:

1) Everyone says hello
2) Tank posts the macro of the fight strat
3) People call out positions
4) Pull countdown begins.

That's pretty much how all high level content goes. It's so nice and drama free I wouldn't trade it for the ability to chat in dungeons.