How to Decentralize Ul'dah

[Viridiana]

Ishgard will definitely be the new centralized city once it opens, and the world will be normal again.

Except that it won't be, unless it links the wards. Think about it, who's going to want to be the first to go set up shop in a new market, when the existing market is still in another city? What would be the point? Unless everyone moves, you'd just have to go back, anyway. Even now, with many people branching out to Grid because their leves are better for SP, the MW in Grid is still struggling. Why? Because not enough people are setting up shop there for it to work, so people are giving up and going back to ole reliable.

Basically, unless enough people move to Ishgard for it to be self-sustaining (kinda doubtful), Uldah will continue to be the only market in this game. Even if enough people do move over, after a few months, we'll be having this same discussion, only replacing "Uldah" with "Ishgard."

[Technolust]

Except that it won't be, unless it links the wards. Think about it, who's going to want to be the first to go set up shop in a new market, when the existing market is still in another city? What would be the point? Unless everyone moves, you'd just have to go back, anyway. Even now, with many people branching out to Grid because their leves are better for SP, the MW in Grid is still struggling. Why? Because not enough people are setting up shop there for it to work, so people are giving up and going back to ole reliable.

Basically, unless enough people move to Ishgard for it to be self-sustaining (kinda doubtful), Uldah will continue to be the only market in this game. Even if enough people do move over, after a few months, we'll be having this same discussion, only replacing "Uldah" with "Ishgard."

Couldn't agree more. I really hope that other can understand the reasoning behind all of this.

[Jericho]

Except that it won't be, unless it links the wards. Think about it, who's going to want to be the first to go set up shop in a new market, when the existing market is still in another city? What would be the point? Unless everyone moves, you'd just have to go back, anyway. Even now, with many people branching out to Grid because their leves are better for SP, the MW in Grid is still struggling. Why? Because not enough people are setting up shop there for it to work, so people are giving up and going back to ole reliable.

Basically, unless enough people move to Ishgard for it to be self-sustaining (kinda doubtful), Uldah will continue to be the only market in this game. Even if enough people do move over, after a few months, we'll be having this same discussion, only replacing "Uldah" with "Ishgard."

It's not an "if"... They will move over. The majority of the population wants it to be the central hub and will move as soon as they can. The one major city you can't start in serves as a common ground. The home cities are for doing things you specifically have to in them, and for enjoying yourself in your personal home space. Questing, gathering together, forming will be done in the major city. It doesnt take much. The market is a bunch of people standing around with items in their bazaar.

Theres nothing wrong with Ish being the new space (see Jeuno).

[Viridiana]

It's not an "if"... They will move over. The majority of the population wants it to be the central hub and will move as soon as they can. The one major city you can't start in serves as a common ground. The home cities are for doing things you specifically have to in them, and for enjoying yourself in your personal home space. Questing, gathering together, forming will be done in the major city. It doesnt take much. The market is a bunch of people standing around with items in their bazaar.

Theres nothing wrong with Ish being the new space (see Jeuno).

Even if we grant that most everyone moves to Ishgard, you didn't really address the last sentence of my post. What's to keep us from having this same conversation a few months after Ishgard opens, only complaining that, "Hey, guys, I've done all I want in Ishgard. I'd like to head back to LL now"?

[Jericho]

Even if we grant that most everyone moves to Ishgard, you didn't really address the last sentence of my post. What's to keep us from having this same conversation a few months after Ishgard opens, only complaining that, "Hey, guys, I've done all I want in Ishgard. I'd like to head back to LL now"?

I doubt anyone will have a problem with Ishgard being the central hub, whether they want to head over and hang out in LL for a while or not. The problem people have right now is that of the 3 starting city-states, one is clearly the "better" choice, and that just breeds too much animosity... The fun-loving "My city is better than your city" banter isn't quite as harmless when one party is correct. When Ish is the place to go to work, and the 3 starting cities are our home, there shouldn't be any issues. The Jeuno example comes to mind... The social map can pretty much be copy and pasted off FFXI.

[Viridiana]

I doubt anyone will have a problem with Ishgard being the central hub, whether they want to head over and hang out in LL for a while or not. The problem people have right now is that of the 3 starting city-states, one is clearly the "better" choice, and that just breeds too much animosity... The fun-loving "My city is better than your city" banter isn't quite as harmless when one party is correct. When Ish is the place to go to work, and the 3 starting cities are our home, there shouldn't be any issues. The Jeuno example comes to mind... The social map can pretty much be copy and pasted off FFXI.

Except that there will still be people who won't want to hang out in Ishgard. I could care less if it winds up being the central hub, at some point I'm going to want to hang out in another city for a while. When that time comes, I shouldn't wind up cut off from the rest of the world.

Again, I'm coming from having played WoW for years. There, if I went to the least popular city in the game, I could still communicate with the players in the other cities. There was very little chance of my missing out on anything that was going on, and the entire market was still there for me to use. The only concern I might have would be transportation, and that wasn't a likely concern, either.

If Ishgard opened tomorrow with no changes to chat or to the MW system, the best we could hope for is a mass migration to Ishgard. The worst would be what I mentioned before with the market staying in Uldah. Either way, Limsa and Gridania would continue to be deserted, and those of us who prefer to stay in one of them would now have two other cities we'd have to go to to get stuff done, neither of which we'd want to spend much time in.

One major solution, though, is already confirmed as being planned: cross-zone chat channels. All that's left, then, is to hope they also decide to link the economies.