Which Aether world to join?

[Canadane]

Join me on Hyperion (Primal) for fun times!
Cons: We're highly populated enough that we're not always open to new characters.
Pros: We're not grouped with Balmung!

[Bourne_Endeavor]

As noted, larger servers have significantly lower prices on average. On the flip side, you sell items much faster due to the demand. Honestly, I would focus more on other factors than market board prices. If you or your friends have any PvP aspirations, definitely stick to Aether servers. The pool of players is notably larger. As for the rest, if you fancy big populations and seeing large gatherings, I'd recommend Balmung. It's more casual minded, especially with the strong roleplay focus. So if you do want to dabble in raids later on, this may suit you. Gilgamesh favoures a more hardcore mindset, though that is somewhat debatable at times. Can't speak too much on other servers since I don't know them well. People talk about Sargatanas and your current server being decent.

[Tsumdere]

I recommend Balmung definitely if housing is not your #1 priority.

Many different people so many different playstyles, a world that actually feels alive and isn't an empty zone (came from Adamantoise, it is very depressing seeing worlds completely empty), tons of events ranging from RP to games, active market board, active hunts, active groups doing old content... etc etc.
Heck, even when it comes to housing/apartments it IS possible to get one. I got one within a month of being on Balmung. You just have to look.

IMO, no real downside to Balmung besides housing situation (which as I mentioned before, is not entirely hopeless) and Idyllshire load times.

[Hikuras]

Come to Zalera.... me and Playstation - lol that name- moved from big servers and have been enjoying the free space. There's tons of open space here. but that's all I'm going to say on that. >.> Well his last name is Vita now but still.

[GemMoonstone]

Im actually considering doing a character transfer to Mateus (and bringing items a gil with my characters) since getting a small or medium house in lavender beds right now on my world is way too much for me (small alone at least 12mil gil just for them to relinquish it), could I ask if there are any small or medium houses in the Lavender Beds available on Mateus? Also, if anyone has done the world transfer before, about how long does it take? Minutes, hours, days?

[Talraen]

Im actually considering doing a character transfer to Mateus (and bringing items a gil with my characters) since getting a small or medium house in lavender beds right now on my world is way too much for me (small alone at least 12mil gil just for them to relinquish it), could I ask if there are any small or medium houses in the Lavender Beds available on Mateus? Also, if anyone has done the world transfer before, about how long does it take? Minutes, hours, days?

There are small and medium houses available in the Lavender Beds on Mateus, or there were last week when I was scouting my housing location. Of the five medium houses that exist, four were available in at least one ward. Which is too bad, because the fifth one is amazing and I definitely would have bought it had any been available, lol. There are small houses all over the place, though I didn't check to see if any specific plots were available. And almost all of the available plots are at minimum price (typically 8-10m for medium, <2m for small).

The transfer was basically instantaneous, I was shocked. And I moved four characters at once. Definitely took minutes in my case. But keep in mind you can only bring 1m gil per character plus 100k per retainer. If you have more than that, invest in something to sell once you get to Mateus. (You could also try making more characters on your original server, since you can transfer them all at once. I didn't do that myself because making new characters on Gilgamesh was a pain in the butt, but I think it will work.) If you're really looking to maximize your cash, I'd suggest making a character there and scouting around in the market boards to pick some good stuff to buy. Or if you're lazy and impatient like me, just stock up on MSQ coins, which typically let you bring over about 75% of your money but do so instantly. Things sell slowly on Mateus due to the low population, so even though you may end up with far more money, you won't be able to make it instantly.

[LunaFaye]

I!

Housing and moving your old house into the new zones won't be available right at the start of the expansion. It will be at least a minimum of 3 weeks before that's going to open up, if not even 4.

However you're correct if someone is looking for housing plots, you won't find these on the high populated servers due to the fact that the housing isn't limited to one character per account as example. As everywhere, first comes first serve will be the motto and if you make it on an high populated server, right after the housing patch hits, you'll be able to purchase a couple of houses for the first 5 minutes, after that it's sold out.

@OP, if you're looking to raid way later down the line, pick one of the high populated server aka Balmung, Gilgamesh & Sargatanas (being an legacy server, different rules/prices apply here). But if your interests lay only on crafting, pvp and housing, pick servers that are med populated in comparison to real low population. These servers would be Mateus, Cactur & Coeurl. I would stay away from anything else unless you want to sit in party finder for hours (if you get even people to join or duties completed), raiding is nearly none existing and while there are a couple of groups, mostly its extreme casual or statics/fc's filled with friends and as an outsider, good luck to get a spot or anything accomplished. Your good bet would be running everything and anything via duty finder when joining one of these low pop servers, since duty finders throw people together from the whole data center. PvP in this game is non existing, and while SE pushes and updates their pvp content the last couple of months, it is not comparable to other pvp games out there. But again, the server won't mater since pvp will be accessible via duty finder. Crafting wise, when joining on of the low pop servers as others have mentioned, items will sell very slow if at all. You'll have to constantly adjust your prices and maybe if you're lucky you can make a gain comparable to other servers, were prices are much lower, but it might also take months to sell it and in most cases, you just put it up at a low rate to make space in your retainers.

For the primal data center: Hyperion, Excalibur, Behemoth & Leviathan.