SE: Please address the enormous imbalance created with the data center changes.

[JackHatchet]

The whole point of what SE is doing is to try and balance the DCs; the result of this will see large numbers of people flocking back to Aether in the very attempt to avoid being locked from being able to do content they want to; which returns us back to the very imbalance SE is trying to fix.

I think you're wrong.

There's two major population groups, raiders and RPers. Square-Enix did a good job segregating the communities. Aether for raiding, and Crystal for RP. Obviously, people should choose the data-center that provides the content they prioritize above all else, and then find little nich groups of the other content when it happens. RPers can still raid with pugs, and Raiders can find niche RP clubs on Aether. It's win/win.

Ultimately, no one data-center can support BOTH the Raiding and RP communities, so a split was destined to happen.

[Atlantasia]

Yes, this is entirely my fear as a raider on Coeurl. I've been raiding since before Cross World party finder and the raid scene on Coeurl has always been small, tight knit and if there's any fall out you were black marked from raiding. It was also hard to find an even distribution of players with the classes needed for raids back then... *shudders*

._. I also don't want to give up my housing plot, the one I waited two years to obtain and the one that I've spent 2 1/2 years in... nor the friends who are staying on my server, since I've been here for 4+ years. But I still want to raid... because raiding makes this game a challenge and fun for me.

I lose my raid group entirely when this hits AND my FC because they're moving for their raid groups!

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Ultimately, no one data-center can support BOTH the Raiding and RP communities, so a split was destined to happen.

And yet this has never been an issue for WoW. The whole reason both communities are big is due to cross over. A lot of raiders also RP. In fact, there's already discusses of building another RP server back on Aether. If it actually takes off, literally everything SE tried to do has been undone. Splitting up communities like this just doesn't work. People will congregate right back to their established roots.

There's a reason why Gilgamesh was the big raiding server. That's where people went to raid. I have a feeling that anyone just chilling on non-raiding servers hanging out with non-home statics were just casual raiders anyways. And you'll still find raiding scenes on Coeurl and such. It's not like all raiding will stop just because Crystal is the RP data-center. Just find new statics.

Do you remember pre-cross world PF, where Gilgamesh devoured practically every other server? Leviathan took almost a year to recover and they're on separate DCs. Gilgamesh as the definitive raid server was among the worst things for the health of the game because it forced people to isolate themselves. Now we're seeing that same issue except spread across a datacenter.

The other option requires players who currently aren't moving back due to friends or statics to not bail on crystal.

I'm probably not in those statistics cuz my static never cleared o8s, but I raid. Most of my fc does, and well probably look to build a group on crystal.

While I agree, I also cannot fault people for bailing en masse. Building an entire raid scene takes an incredible amount of work—work plenty of people simply aren't willing to partake in when they signed up just to play a game. For those who are, great! But when the options are put in a lot of work and potentially never see those results pay dividends or go to an already established community, people will take the latter every time.

[ScarecrowJames]

I think you're wrong.

There's two major population groups, raiders and RPers. Square-Enix did a good job segregating the communities. Aether for raiding, and Crystal for RP. Obviously, people should choose the data-center that provides the content they prioritize above all else, and then find little nich groups of the other content when it happens. RPers can still raid with pugs, and Raiders can find niche RP clubs on Aether. It's win/win.

Ultimately, no one data-center can support BOTH the Raiding and RP communities, so a split was destined to happen.

"segregating" Hmmmmmm...that has always been a good idea. Lets separate the majority of try hards from casuals and rpers!