Actually, I think it's completely automated. Balmung opens up at around 6am EST. Character creation is just locked during those heavy log on volume times. It's SE's way of filtering people into lower population servers, which is fine. Those who are dedicated to playing with their friends will come here and ask, and we will tell them when to try to create their character (like yesterday someone wanted to get into Balmung, which is also one of the most densely populated legacy servers).