They announced how worlds would be shuffled.

[Mikkairi]

I won't lie, the data center change is by far one of the worst things I've seen Square Enix put forth to this game. Not because it's a bad idea, per say, but doing it so late into the game - and specifically after establishing cross party, to allow us to make friendships with others on other servers - is incredibly detrimental to the community and the connections people have made. I understand why Square Enix needs to separate Gilgamesh and Balmung in particular, but it's just awful timing. I do feel fully entitled to keeping my friendships I have had since 2.0 and onward, but I'm losing them on the game we first met and connected on, and it's a shame.

I started on Gilgamesh and transferred to Balmung when it was open and cross world was offered, because I do enjoy roleplaying. But I've had my friendships on Gilgamesh since 2.0 and now I'm completely shoved out of doing PvE content with these friends. My only alternative is to leave the roleplay connections I've made instead, and I love the friends I have on Balmung just as much. I could make an alt, sure, but I shouldn't have to do such a thing on a game that's incredibly alt unfriendly (at least, in my opinion - having everything on one character truly takes away from alt necessities, aside from raiding and aesthetics). I also prefer to do things on my main; I've had her for so long, she's the character I'm invested in.

I would love for Square Enix to reconsider this as a whole, but I know it's just not an option when they have such high populated servers. I'm sure plenty can sympathize and have in this thread, but I also at least want my voice to join the chorus.

[Jojoya]

Honestly though, if Balmung is the biggest problem, as the unofficial RP server... Why not see what impact an official RP server has before fracturing the community like this? Leave the servers as they are, take this new Crystal data center and slap "Official RP Data Center" on it, add incentive to move there, see how that plays out. It might not have the desired impact, but I'd say it's worth trying before, you know, screwing over a large portion of the playerbase as is the current plan... I don't think ping should be a major issue for RPers, so slap the data center anywhere and have NA/EU/JP servers in it perhaps...

Because that doesn't do much for those of us on affected worlds that aren't there for the RP.

I don't understand the perception that all the worlds being moved to Crystal are RP worlds just because Balmung is also going.

There's already talk about some people leaving Balmung to try and establish a strong role-play community on one of the Aether servers, so the people convinced that they'll finally be free of role-players will be bitterly disappointed.

They should be disappointed already in that case. Just about every server has at least a small RP community that doesn't draw attention to itself.

The number of people leaving Balmung to establish a RP community elsewhere would be small. Most transfers are more likely to be from people trying to get off an overcrowded server while SE is footing the bill or looking for more PF options than Crystal will end up having since most of the servers are low pop.

People who enjoy leading groups tend to migrate to higher pop servers because higher populations make it easier to create groups. Low pop servers tend to be an exercise in frustration for them. Fewer leaders means fewer group opportunities for those looking but don't feel comfortable leading. It's easier to be a leader when you're among friends but that's hard to accomplish when suddenly you can't play with friends anymore. And so people migrate to the servers where groups are getting made, leaving the low pop servers even more barren. That's going to leave the Crystal Party Finder very empty in comparison to the ones for Aether and Primal.

Group Finder in WoW did alleviate the problem for players on low pop servers there to some degree but Group Finder also gave them access to every single server in their region. FFXIV data centers are more akin to WoW battlegroups in size and WoW gave up group matching solely by battlegroup back in Cataclysm, switching first to data center and eventually to region.

FFXIV would need to create cross-region Party Finder to put a dent in the group finding problems this split is going to create for the worlds being moved to Crystal.

[Barraind]

The Aether servers exiled to crystal, except Mateus, are specifically the servers that people moved AWAY from to RP.

[Sunako]

It is already hard to find o12s weekly clear group from pf and now they wanna make it even harder?

[Vaati_Kigu]

It is already hard to find o12s weekly clear group from pf and now they wanna make it even harder?

its going to be even hard for those of us who are going to lose our statics. I hope they are seeing this and maybe rethinking things.

[NocturniaUzuki]

While it's unavoidable when they shake up world distribution like this, it still sucks. Since Balmung, among others, was a major world, guilds are getting split up over this. People are forced to choose between staying without their DC-based guild or staying with their world, its specialities, and their FC.

[meizhiguo]

Primal DC has a great number of the cross world raid groups since there is no single server as large as Gilgamesh or Balmung. Most static groups have members from Brynhildr, Marlboro and Diabolos. Regroup of worlds and data center may be a good way for the game experience but definitely a really BAD idea for the RAID community. For now, 3 statics in my FC all need to choose to stay at Primal, go to Aether, or even transfer to JP servers for raiding. No one is considering staying at Crystal.

Why not give such compensation to players willing to transfer to the new data center with new servers? Just like the second DC opened at Chinese region

and 3 million Gil compensation for furnishing is like a joke. You cannot even but a crafted weapon at most NA servers lol.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I am torn ... I am on Mateus currently and have been before it became a RP server. I don't like the idea of having more RP'ers to annoy me from Balmung with the world visiting coming. I do however enjoy my FC and doubt they would move. I am also getting better at certain and feeling confident enough to start trying to raid savage content so it would be nice to be with experienced raiders that could help guide my newbie self to become a decent raider in FFXIV. This doesn't look to be promising on the crystal DC. So I am torn as to what I will do ....

Crystal may have a very casual raid scene, but if you have any aspirations for something beyond that, I suggest you either level an alt or take the L and transfer. I know a good chunk of the raiders are already bailing on Crystal. So it isn't going to be nearly as active as Aether or Primal.

[NanaWiloh]

I met my boyfriend on online games. We have now been together for 7 years and plan to marry and start a family.

Like...are you even thinking about what you are saying?

You can find meaningful relationships online and in online games....if someone can meet their significant other online then friendships are even easier, hello?

Are you a licensed psychiatrist? What is so unhealthy about having friends, spending time having fun with them, and cherishing your interactions with them?

Having friends and wanting to continue playing with them is "unhealthy"....sigh...just when you think you've seen everything on these forums. This is ridiculous.

I value my ingame friends I just have no emotional attachment to them which makes things like this easy to deal with. My enjoyment of this game is it not dependent on them and I am also quite good at sparking up conversation with strangers when I feel the need to be social. I got a few friends on other worlds we stay in contact as we don't need to play with one another too maintain a friendship or have fun. Learning to let go of people and move on is not evil and sometimes needed, if you cant let go in these times you are just going to drag yourself down with heart ache.

[Xiomara]

still nothing about a aus data center

AU will never get a data center. Our population would be enough to fit on two servers, so there's no point.

I'm very interested in seeing how all this plays out when it happens, and what happens to the subscriber count and population movements. It's a shame this game is so fundamentally broken that this had to happen, but the joke is Japan is like 10 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to IT and it shows.