Transferring to Balmung: A good idea?

[RayneLittlewinkle]

While Balmung is definitely populated and you do see RP everywhere you go I agree you do not have to partake in it. I moved from Gilgamesh to Balmung three months ago. I guess my biggest gripe is the market board pricing. I made decent gil on Gilgamesh with things but trying to sell the same things on Balmung can take weeks and and like a 40 or so percent discount.

I sort of agree/disagree to the people talking about you can't get a apartment. I suppose me and my friend got extremely lucky cause in less than a week of being on Balmung we were able to get a apartment in the Mist. In the same building actually. Two empty rooms. and just yesterday I saw another empty apartment in the Lav beds which i told my friend who was wanting one. and they were able to grab that. So apartments DO open up. you just have to search persistently for them.

Housing however.. good luck scoring a home.

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

I'm shocked this is even considered a downside. Consider this: If you're not an omnicrafter, and most of us aren't, it won't cost you the soul of your firstborn child in order to buy something.

Since in game money doesn't adjust for servers, you're passively making more gold comparatively than you would on other servers.

Man when someone told me that new winter jacket thing cost 50 mil on Leviathan I thought I was gonna have a cow. I thought 8 mil was already outrageously expensive.

Cost is relative. As you said, in game money doesn't adjust for servers. Things will be cheaper on the overpopulated server, but your income potential is lower to match so it kind of cancels out. What you consider "selling your first born" might be just "outrageously expensive" to people on those other servers cause they have far more ability to earn gil.

You don't have to be an omni-crafter for this to be a negative. Even if you just gather or sell things fetched by your retainers, those things are going to sell for far less which means your purchasing power will be more limited. So now anything that's on a vendor is more expensive in a way, because your ability to earn gil is hampered by all the competition. On a server that isn't overpopulated you might not think twice about dropping 200,000 gil for that beast tribe mount you just unlocked, because it'll be easy to make it back and/or you already have millions of gil already so 200k is a drop in the bucket. On an overpopulated server where making gil is more difficult, you'll feel the pinch of that 200k expenditure far more cause your ability to bounce back from the expenditure is more limited.

In fact, I'd say on an overpopulated server I'd feel more pressured to be an omni-crafter/gatherer so I could make everything I need rather than spend my precious gil on it.

[Bloody]

Cost is relative.
...your purchasing power will be more limited...your ability to earn gil is hampered by all the competition. On a server that isn't overpopulated you might not think twice about dropping 200,000 gil for that beast tribe mount you just unlocked, because it'll be easy to make it back and/or you already have millions of gil already so 200k is a drop in the bucket. On an overpopulated server where making gil is more difficult, you'll feel the pinch of that 200k expenditure far more cause your ability to bounce back from the expenditure is more limited.

In fact, I'd say on an overpopulated server I'd feel more pressured to be an omni-crafter/gatherer so I could make everything I need rather than spend my precious gil on it.

Absolutely this. Economics goes well beyond supply and demand. Overpopulated server may be a buyers market, but since most riches are made off the marketboard, that means almost everyone is a seller, so you rely on nickels and dimes instead of dollars and quarters when working the MB, but still pay in dollars and quarters for vendor stuff.

[Alestorm]

The only issue with transferring to a massively populated server will be the day of a perhaps the following week of Stormblood's launch. Having experienced World of Warcraft's new expansion launches I can imagine it being like that. Waiting up to 2-3 days before I could log in after a server crash and the mass of players trying to get back in.

Hopefully the new NA data center/new hardware will make this a near non-issue.

[LunarEmerald]

The biggest disadvantage to moving to Balmung would be, you'll probably never own a house. I hear even apartments are full.

[Newmanxeno]

Everything is cheap, which I loved when I got my crafter gear.
Shout chat is pretty much reality tv entertainment level. Which I found annoying.

[Blackcanary]

Come to Odin it's a great server every one is nice here.

[Averax]

I'd avoid Uldah. Being a male cat may or may not make it worse for you.

Quick addition...if you're interested in Housing you're SOL with everything bought up seconds after it's available.

*concern*

/10char

[Moonlite]

Comparatively, what are some key differences between Leviathan (My current server) and Balmung, besides the obvious?

We are full don't give SE money to be on Balmung, move along.

Too late I see world says Balmung /cry. We are seriously full people stop coming.