Suggestion: Allow Free Transfers TO European Data Center

[Aegis]

Seems pretty simple to me. If your on Chaos, regardless of where you live in the world, and the datacenter move negatively impacts your gameplay

And EU players have been negatively impacted for 5 years now. US players might have to *shock, horror* put up with the ping the EU players have had to put up with for a very long time. We can't have that!

[Chrolo]

And EU players have been negatively impacted for 5 years now. US players might have to *shock, horror* put up with the ping the EU players have had to put up with for a very long time. We can't have that!

Thats not the point though. The move would make their gameplay experience worse from what it was. Its like you deciding to buy a Smartphone with Android 5.0 and then then the Smartphone manufacturer forces a downgrade to an earlier Android version onto your phone after using it a few years.

[Kageru77]

And EU players have been negatively impacted for 5 years now. US players might have to *shock, horror* put up with the ping the EU players have had to put up with for a very long time. We can't have that!

Dont get me wrong, I understand they should have had a EU datacenter, located in the EU from the start. Thats on them

Whats not on them, is your decision to not play on a datacenter designated as EU whatever your reasons may have been. Maybe it was friends, or your free company, or just the belief that the server you picked didnt matter. But now, that there is going to be a actual EU datacenter, all those things that made you chose a different server are irrelevant and you feel entitled to a free move? You chose a non designated EU datacenter at your own risk period. It was never a secret that there would someday be and actual EU datacenter, and maybe the amount of active subs hasnt necessitated one until now.

Again, if your not on Chaos, you remain unaffected and therefore are owed nothing. Yes youve been inconvenienced from the start, theres no doubt about that, but you chose to keep playing beyond your free trial, shitty ping included, and you chose a non EU datacenter, thats on you

[Noshpan]

Since the EUR & NA datacenters were all physically located in the same place (Montreal, Canada), the latency was either the same or worse. For me, latency was the same for my on NA, EU & JP servers. So, because of that, I can understand why EUR players decided to just stay on the NA recommended servers.

And while this doesn't affect me in the slightest, I see nothing wrong in allowing free transfers from NA/JP servers to EU servers. Or, hell, free servers to where for everybody.

(Turkey! Turkey for everyone!)

[Gumbercules]

they could also just be allowing migration in one direction first, then checking the stability and populations. imo they shouldn't have made the transfer "option" available, or at the very least advertised, yet. They do tend to make these "small" mistakes that are very easily flammable in the "western" mmo market lol.

[Culfinrandir]

I'm in the UK and play on a NA Server. When I started playing I was faced with two choices - NA servers based in NA or EU servers based in NA. I therefore ran various technical check to see if there was a difference and I got slightly better pings and clearer tracing to the NA servers than I did to the EU servers I was considering. As a result I picked Leviathan as I had a friend playing on it (I also had one on Lich [EU]).

For some reason the EU servers were not, and never have been, the *best* choice for me regardless of what was recommended. Why would I have gone for a worse service by selecting an EU server? They were also stating they had no plans to move at that time. Now I find that I have to pay to change over after they move... that is really a kick in the nads.

[Yshnal]

- NA player -> Chooses a server labeled as EU willingly and/or because they get the same experience as in the NA ones -> Gets a free transfer once EU servers move to Europe because his/her experience will be the same as that that those in EU have had for 2+ years

- EU player -> Chooses a server not labeled as EU willingly and/or because they get the same experience as in the EU ones -> Gets the middle finger once EU servers move to Europe in order to provide the same experience that NA and JP have had, despite having paid his/her sub for 2 years while having an inferior service than those living in the other two territories (that paid exactly the same, not more) without a better alternative to choose

Tell me again, why do NA/JP players get a free transfer and EU players not? Why does it make sense business-wise to give the middle finger to part of your customers when the status quo is obviously changing for everyone directly or indirectly affected? Moreover, and this is more a consequence of this decision, is it okay to potentially make EU servers less populated while passively preventing them from getting back some population in exchange? Really SE, you keep screwing things on the EU side as if you wanted us all to stop playing or something (expansion price disparity, limited PS3 versions when compared to the other territories, worse special events, etc., and now this "thing" once we get proper EU servers).

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that we're finally getting our servers closer. But please, think about how are you handling this and reconsider it. Thanks.

[Taika]

As said, before 2.0 this was the server situation (everything was Japan or NA/EU):



Before that everything was in Japan only.

I think this also comes down to the fact that not giving European players on NA servers free transfers doesn't give any advantage to anyone, while offering them the same service the NA players on European servers get would simply be good customer service. Additionally, some of the up-to-the-fullest NA servers would profit from European players and Free Companies moving away from them (there already are many European players posting from Balmung in this thread). I don't see any sensible reason to object this request, especially as it probably doesn't have any effect on the players posting against it.

[EveK]

...some of the up-to-the-fullest NA servers would profit from European players and Free Companies moving away from them...

I concur. Congestion issue examples:

1. 2.0 launch - difficult to connect at all, often disconnected
2. Gold Saucer launch - denied entry because the zone is full
3. Heavensward launch - had to have separate instances of each area like Coerthas Central, made staying together as a group while teleporting very difficult
4. Now - still common to be unable to enter a house or workshop because the server is at its maximum number of instances.

I even find myself hoping Gold Saucer will get a few additional instances for the launch of Lord of Vermilion so I'm not denied entry because Gold Saucer is full.

As it stands now, allowing a large population to transfer TO the Aether data center for free (but not FROM it) will only exacerbate all of these issues.

[Hirmu]

I don't understand why would anyone argue against this? It has no effect on you at all. It's a matter of us as customers asking for equal treatment.

When choosing a server we made an arbitrary decision - all the non-japanese servers were in the same physical location and no mention of any kind was given that one day they'd move. Given how MMO servers have a tendency to merge or shut down (which btw happened with XIV too) and seeing as this was around the time of version 1.2 which came in 2011 I'd say it's a tad unfair to say we should've seen this coming. If after four years they decide to finally make the european datacenter the proper and good customer service is to allow free transfer within a certain time window. And the thing isn't even about the payment, I fully expected I have to pay. What's messed up is them making it free only one way and not the other.


The thing is, the people who now have to pay are probably some of the oldest, best paying customers they have who actually kept the game afloat even when it was terrible. So yeah, we'll pay regardless. The customer service is still crap though.