Plenty of Balmung hate going on lately with all the server restart and congestion talk, but I believe a lot of it is misguided.

I started on Balmung, and moved with free transfers, but I enjoyed it. A stable economy, bustling world, and lack of gil sellers were nice. The thing with any massive server (same for other games) is that you have a diverse community, so there's something for everyone.

Want to RP? This is the place.
Raider? Maybe not top world, but plenty!
PvP? Yep!
Spend all your time crafting? Stable economy is waiting for you.

But with that also comes a fair percentage of dbags, and there will always be people who focus only on that. If every server has exactly 5% of their population who are horrible people, naturally a massive server will have MORE, even if it's the same percentage.

Balmung is a popular and beloved server for the same reason people love Tokyo or NYC. There's something for everyone. Even people who just want someone to hate.