@Devs: Please allow us to travel at will between servers.

[ZakarnRosewood]

I know what hes asking for, the same server scheme they had in the original guild wars, right? It worked and was good for guild wars but I don't particularly want it for FFXIV and SE is not going to do that. I guess i misconstrued the OP's lengthly post as a complaint that he wanted it, my apologies.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

I know what hes asking for, the same server scheme they had in the original guild wars, right? It worked and was good for guild wars but I don't particularly want it for FFXIV and SE is not going to do that. I guess i misconstrued the OP's lengthly post as a complaint that he wanted it, my apologies.

II prefer GW2's theory of all in separated server, but with Guesting Theory that allowed anyone one to show up in our world just by being in PT

[Abriael]

They wont do this and i dont want it. They already stated they want to keep the 1.0 players seperate from all the new characters that will be created upon ARR's release. Complain all you want, they wont change it.

Actually They said *very clearly* that such a division is temporary.

@Sakasa: You absolutely don't need to "drag" all your data from one server or another. The system can copy over only the essential data, depending on the available bandwidth. You don't necessarily need to be able to access your achievements or item storage in a server on which you're just a guest (mind you, in other games you can, it's just not necessary)

Mind you, you're massively exaggerating the size and scope of even the non essential data. Character data in a MMORPGs is compact enough that MMORPGs can afford having it fished externally via APIs whenever someone pleases (including FFXIV with the Lodestone). So temporarily copying it over to other servers is no problem.

[ZakarnRosewood]

They also said "very clearly" that the first server transfer will be free and available for apprx 6 months after the server transfer feature is open. After that you will probably have to pay to transfer (or why differentiate by saying "first one free"). Again, I do not think they will set it up as a free easy thing to do. If i am wrong, awesome. I too hated playing FFXI and finding out some local friends play but were on a different server, switching servers at a cost, then having them stop playing and then being out of a linkshell.

I get your reasoning's and I empathize with you but I seriously doubt they will do this. Sorry if that disappoints you.

[Abriael]

They also said "very clearly" that the first server transfer will be free and available for apprx 6 months after the server transfer feature is open. After that you will probably have to pay to transfer (or why differentiate by saying "first one free"). Again, I do not think they will set it up as a free easy thing to do. If i am wrong, awesome. I too hated playing FFXI and finding out some local friends play but were on a different server, switching servers at a cost, then having them stop playing and then being out of a linkshell.

I get your reasoning's and I empathize with you but I seriously doubt they will do this. Sorry if that disappoints you.

It doesn't disappoint me, because whether you doubt or believe, what matters is what Yoshida & Co will believe.

As I already said, no plan is set in stone until it actually happens, and with so many developers looking (and managing) into making server borders obsolete, I actually doubt the plans to keep the server separate will survives much longer, here, like in any other major MMORPG. They're simply going the way of the dodo like many other elements that used inconvenience players like harsh death penalties and heavy grinding.

Yoshida wants to make a "world class MMORPG", and the industry is starting to show that "world class MMORPGs" don't keep you away from your friends, whatever server they play on.

If they don't do it now, market trends will probably push them to do it later.

[Roaran]

This works as long as you get the markets global among all channels/servers.

[mbncd]

I like this cross server system. I've played RS2 since just after it's launch and it has this system. They even give the worlds themes such as locations (better pings if you go somewhere local) and activities that are particularly popular on those worlds (like if you're really into group questing or a certain mini game or role playing, you can go to a world that specialises in that, and specialisations are based on natural evolution of the community and where those players have tended to gather on that world, as opposed to the company deciding what worlds should specialise in what).

Of course, everyone can do everything on every world, but you're more likely to find a crowd doing what you want to do on a world dedicated to that activity, or you can go to a server with less ping time, or more/less crowded servers in general, etc. There is a cross server market that was formalised a while ago now but even without it, prices evened out across the worlds just between normal trades. If anyone wants to log into a different world, all they have to do is log back out into the lobby and select the world they want, taking a 1min wait time before they can log back in. Friends lists even list which world your friend is on at the time so you can go meet them there or they can come to you.

I really can't see any reason for the rigidity of the current server system...

One thing I've really wanted to see come out of this sort of cross server system is updates to worlds happening at different times, especially as FFXIV tended to take hours. Say an update was due to happen at 7am and go until 11am. Instead of shutting down all servers for 4 hours, they could shut down half of the servers at 7am, then the other half at 11am, when the first lot of servers would be finished. That way, people could choose to hang out on the servers that stay open longer (playing the old content of course), and when those servers go down they could go on the other servers that already have the new content. There would be conjestion issues of course but if the update was spread out over a sufficient number of zones, that could be minimised until the rest of the servers were updated (only have to give people enough options to spread out for 4 hours).




PS. Sorry if all of this had already been said by others. I'm really just sort of flicking through the forums at the moment so only read the first page.

[ptcg]

The most server-efficient way to do it is actually the opposite of a transfer. It's simply to have the whole character database stored in every server, so what changes is simply what server your client is connected to. Then, when you switch world again, updated data of your character is sent to all the other servers only once.

How is this efficient? A copy of every character ever created on every server? You're joking right?

One thing you fail to realize is that just because the servers need to talk to each other for the content finder, it doesn't mean that transferring characters from one server to another is feasible. They specifically said that the content finder would be to create an "instance" of the dungeon or w/e content you and your group are doing. This is not even close to the same thing as a server transfer. It's a localized instance of one particular zone with at max 8 people in it.

[Zumi]

How is this efficient? A copy of every character ever created on every server? You're joking right?

One thing you fail to realize is that just because the servers need to talk to each other for the content finder, it doesn't mean that transferring characters from one server to another is feasible. They specifically said that the content finder would be to create an "instance" of the dungeon or w/e content you and your group are doing. This is not even close to the same thing as a server transfer. It's a localized instance of one particular zone with at max 8 people in it.

It works more like this, your character data is being saved to 1 server that manages that stuff, your items,levels, exp position ect. When you go to another server your client is just being fed the info from that world, your character isn't moved there but just being fed info on whats happening on that world and sends info to the server on how you interact with that world, character data is still being saved to the characters original server.

[Abriael]

One thing you fail to realize is that just because the servers need to talk to each other for the content finder, it doesn't mean that transferring characters from one server to another is feasible. They specifically said that the content finder would be to create an "instance" of the dungeon or w/e content you and your group are doing. This is not even close to the same thing as a server transfer. It's a localized instance of one particular zone with at max 8 people in it.

And? To create that instance, your server needs to be able to send your character data to players that play on other servers, and those players need to be able to receive it. The principle is exactly the same.

Or maybe you think that your character data magically appears on the screen of players playing on other servers by aetherial teleportation?

The framework for character data communication is already in place, and this system is an evolution of that.