Suggestion: Turn Balmung into an Official RP Server

[Bourne_Endeavor]

No you're not. Hence the point that it would have to be associated with tangible incentives. Because if those don't come, no one (in numbers sizable enough to make a dent on the problem) will move at all anyway.

Okay. Tell us what you'll offer them. If the supposed free game time and EXP gains SE plans to implement on smaller servers aren't enough. What else can you offer that will incentive either of the two FCs I mentioned to leave?

[Dyvid]

Well not to try and dumb this down but you want to kick non-RP's out of Balmung to ease the overpopulation problem? If SE does come out and label a server as RP it should be a very low population one. Or you could make a post in the FFXIV RP Community boards about choosing a second and third server to make Unofficial RP worlds.

[ExKage]

This is about as good a suggestion as the "consolidate all RP on Balmung" idea, which is about as good as "label Balmung an RP server and enforce rules such as lore compliant names" as well as "let's just force a split of the server!"

Meaning to say, if one idea would work it's to do a label on a new server or -extremely- low population server. As it is, it's on the RP community to do the work instead of expecting Square Enix to do it.

[Lauront]

I'm not sure where you got this idea that roleplayers don't commit to PvE and PvP. Of course they do. I don't know a single MMORPG that has RP servers in which those two aspects are neglected in any relevant way.

Based on the progression figures of pure RP servers. And those are often buoyed by their non-RPer communities.

Which isn't to say an RPer can't be good at PVP or PVE, just that by and large, they're not concerned with them.

I echo Theodric's views and do not want an explicitly labeled RP server. I prefer the way it is currently managed.

You can label them however you like, but from experience, these servers will still have large non-RPer cores. Unless they want to draft an RP policy for these servers, that they actively enforce, they end up being mediocre servers (in PVE/PVP terms) with a visible minority that RPs.

As for a newer server, I am still reluctant. There is little to stop RPers from self-organising and electing a server to this end. I'd rather that the perceived dorkiness of the label (which, to be clear, I don't agree with, especially amongst players already engaged in an activity seen as dorky by the broader public) did not prevent decent PVE players from gravitating to the new server, so that it has a healthy balance of RP and PVE activity.

[Abriael]

Okay. Tell us what you'll offer them. If the supposed free game time and EXP gains SE plans to implement on smaller servers aren't enough. What else can you offer that will incentive either of the two FCs I mentioned to leave?

That's something for SE to decide, but it needs to be something with a lasting effect, that you get to keep, and not something the effects of which fades in a month or two. MMORPG players like shinies.

Keep in mind that the gil and free game time promise is valid exclusively for *new* characters (not transfers), and only for European servers. That's gonna be a drop in the ocean.

As it is, it's on the RP community to do the work instead of expecting Square Enix to do it.

Yeah. It's totally reasonable to expect paying customers to do the work, instead of the paid service provider.

[ReplicaX]

Labeling RP a server that isn't the one where the overwhelming majority of the RP community already resides (and will always reside) actually achieves the opposite effect of fragmenting the RP community and the roleplay.

The majority you are referring to unfortunately isn't the majority of the server pop. Regardless, it still won't resolve the issue making Balmung an official RP server. If the servers do not equalize due to player greed and the server continues to bottleneck due to Balmung's high population which also affects its datacenter as well. SE might have to go to extreme measures, forced player transfers.

Atm, the RP community has a choice to correct this on their own and create less "fragmenting" by collectively coming to a decision and moving to servers that can actually accommodate their growth. Balmung has never had room to grow since ARR release, it has always had restrictions in some way.

[Abriael]

Atm, the RP community has a choice to correct this on their own and create less "fragmenting" by collectively coming to a decision and moving to servers that can actually accommodate their growth.

The RP community isn't a hive mind. There's nothing in this world (outside of direct action from Square Enix), which will cause the majority of the RP community to move off balmung without causing fragmentation. That's the very nature of an RP community, which is strongly rooted in numbers. RPers will always try to gravitate where they have the highest chance to find RP, which is Balmung.

[ReplicaX]

Yeah. It's totally reasonable to expect paying customers to do the work, instead of the paid service provider.

There is truth in your statement but...

Every player that waited, spammed, and got into Balmung through a tiny window of server restriction release, knew what they were walking into. Same for those that were able to use the paid server transfer.

[Theodric]

Yeah. It's totally reasonable to expect paying customers to do the work, instead of the paid service provider.

It's a Japanese game. Role-play in MMO's isn't really a common thing over in Japan. The developers throw many bones at the community that benefit role-players directly such as rich lore, a varied game world and all manner of glamour/fluff options. Even then, there's pockets of role-players to be found outside of Balmung (which you've already sniped at a few times throughout this very thread) and Balmung itself has the largest gathering of role-players out of every existing server. Despite that, the server is already home to a lot of people who don't engage in role-play. As it should be.

We don't need a special server tag. Role-players will make things work on their own accord and that is the far better option than being babied by the developers. At the moment, Balmung is also locked - and isn't likely to have that lock removed until the population spreads out a bit more, which means that the efforts to set up Mateus as a proper alternative are genuine...and there's also a movement to set up the equivalent of Balmung over on the EU servers due to the datacentre move having caused many EU players to have a spike in their ping.

[ExKage]

Yeah. It's totally reasonable to expect paying customers to do the work, instead of the paid service provider.

You're basically not going to get what you want so the best actual solution is to go for the next alternative. Otherwise, you're going to get the same response the other threads have gotten with nothing in return and nothing to show for it.