EX-Balmung Players of the Mass Stormblood Exodus - Where are they now?!

[Socomlord]

Character name-max grant
Current server-goblin
Reason- balmung was just to crowded as was stated above waiting hours to get on was a bummer. Almost my whole fc transferred so it's been a wonderful transition to a much smaller intimate server.

[Theodric]

Character Name: Graeham Ridgefield (...and other characters of mine!)
Current Residing Server: Cerberus
Short (or Long) Answer Response: There's various reasons for the transfer. I played on Balmung since 2.0 but in that time I only met a handful of people who were genuinely reliable, friendly and loyal. Everybody else proved to either be indifferent and distant or manipulative and unhinged. Role-play is also pretty much a joke on the server, too. The quality in many cases is awful and I wish I was exaggerating when I said that most of it ends up revolving around romance and erotic role-play. This is to be expected of MMO RP to an extent but I have never seen it as common or as shameless elsewhere as it is on Balmung. Still, very few 'role-players' actually want to get out into the game world. Instead they just want to talk about how 'cool' such would be, planning stuff out for hours in some cases but then never actually committing to anything. All that aside, I get better ping over on the European servers anyway and a handful of people moved alongside me. The server being locked for character creation and server transfers to the place also means there's no fresh blood.

[MisterSpamtastic]

Character Name: Little Spamlette (my alt)
Current Residing Server: Mateus
Short (or Long) Answer Response: how i ended up sending an alt there is a story within itself. basically my wife and i bought her mother a ps4 for mothers day so she could play online with us since she lives across the country. because character creation was closed on balmung we started her out on mateus and created alts there to play with her figuring we'd be able to pay to transfer her in a couple days. on her first day eligible to make the paid transfer the gates to balmung slammed shut. it was literally the first day they closed off paid transfers. i transfered my high level alt there to be able to craft gear and such for all our characters stuck on mateus. i know it sounds weird but being there feels like being in someone else's house. the zones are all identical but for some reason it just doesn't feel the same. i regret sending a character there even though it's just an alt. it's not home to me. in my opinion the only good to come out of it is that i got a really nice house in the mist. being able to casually walk through all the wards in all the zones and having a choice in housing is an experience everyone should get to have.

[Aamalthea]

Character Name: Kohia Wolndara
Current Residing Server: Adamantoise
Short (or Long) Answer Response: I actually created a new character here rather than transferring. My old character I just abandoned. I can't say I'm having too good of a time. I'm having trouble meeting people and finding a good FC, although that's partially my fault as I'm very picky about FCs.

Nothin wrong with that. You spend a lot of time with those folk you have to be picky.

[BigRed5392]

Character name-max grant
Current server-goblin
Reason- balmung was just to crowded as was stated above waiting hours to get on was a bummer. Almost my whole fc transferred so it's been a wonderful transition to a much smaller intimate server.

goblin is a pretty good server. Welcome

[Mazora_Espeon]

Hmm... So from what I've read, it seems pretty up and down so far. I'm glad those of you who had transferred were able to find a new place to be and that it all worked out for you. I would be interested to read more about how others who have transferred are doing. Let us know how things are with you on your new server if any other Ex-Balmung Players are out there!

[ilea]

Moved to Mateus, soon moving to Cactuar in a few days. I followed the RP, but now that content is more my thing, I'll be making an alt to remain on Mateus instead.

Leaving Balmung was great at first (no more queues!).
Then it sucked (you want me to pay how much, MB?)
And then, ultimately, it was whatever.

I think the whole act of transferring was a learning experience. I like being on a more populated server, especially when it comes to RP, but I was able to get an actual house on Mateus. Being on the outside really shows you how messed up the housing market is.

[Tillie]

character name: Toukta Mol (was Tillie Noveaux on balmung)
current server: Mateus
reasoning: Left because balmung is a cesspool of toxic attitudes, have bad memories on that server, and several of the people I cared about are no longer there. Housing is a complete joke and making money off the MB even moreso. Now on mateus, was able to secure a house, have high hopes for shirogane opening, and part of a blossoming RP community. Was able to earn enough for a large house within a month of moving because the server actually rewards hard work put into crafting and gathering.

[ColorOfSakura]

Character Name: Aerik Tirel / Ashildr Ravenscrime
Current Residing Server: Mateus
Short (or Long) Answer Response: While I mostly enjoyed my two years on Balmung, things had drastically changed about the server from the time I joined so I felt it was a good time to take the offer to head to another server. Roleplay was fun - but Balmung's community quickly became stagnant and insular due to the character creation lockout and eventually the lock out of the world transfers. There was a lot of toxicity on the server and people white knighted the hell out of well known members of the Roleplay community simply because they didn't want to be excluded from the social scene - even if those members of the community were really awful, manipulative people. Connections were EVERYTHING on the server - if you didn't make good connections or you did something to piss off one of the big community favorites, you could pretty much guarantee that you were shunned from most roleplay events or just ignored altogether. A lot of this was hidden under the surface of the community so you didn't really see it until you jumped in and got involved. There was also a LOT of pettiness, a lot of talking behind people's backs - it really wasn't a healthy environment after a while. I'm certain if I had stuck with smaller outlying RP groups things would have been fine, but I got involved in the major part of the community and it wasn't very pretty.

Mateus, for the most part, has been a nice change of pace. The RP community is blossoming there - and with character creation open - it allows for the community to grow naturally. The small server vibe is still kinda there - people seem to be generally friendly (although I've met some Mateus players who really dislike Balmung transfers.) The Hunt community isn't a toxic pile of nastiness either - which is really welcome. Overall, I'm happy with the change I made. I had several friends come with me, we founded our own FC and since many of us have high level crafters and gatherers - we've been able to easily make money. We're holding out for Shirogane in 4.1, and hope that while it'll be a mad dash, it won't be nearly as horrible as Balmung's used to be.

[Mazora_Espeon]

Hmm... Well, the thing about Balmung is that it's a buyers market. Things are sold cheaply because there's an abundance of resources (sellers) and with all that competition, prices tend to be low on the marketboard. Personally, I don't find that to be a problem since I have another source of revenue to make money on the server. Not to mention that my needs to buying things are very low. Because I'm not much of a raider or a roleplayer, I have no need for high-end gear and glamour prisms, both of which are the ways of making a lot of money in the game. However, selling high-end gear only lasts for a few months at the beginning of each raid tier.

There is also the fact that because Balmung had a lot of people that were very generous and charitable in helping other people for free. Depending on your relationships with the person, you might be able to get things crafted at little to no cost to you. And items tend to get sold at fairly reasonable prices below the "standard price" which I'm still trying to figure out who decides cost of these things in the game. Honestly, if I don't have any use for it, I would be willing to giveaway expensive items that I get from doing Treasure Maps or minions from dungeons that I've already acquired. However... Anyone that knows me know that I don't really give things away for "free". There's usually some kind of game or activity involved that tests the player's ability and skill. Plus... And maybe I'm partly to blame... But you have a lot of people hosting events that giveaway free stuff to people which I think that even though it might be bad for the server's economy, it is still a good thing for the community as a whole. I am starting to notice that with the lack of players we used to have on the server, the prices on the market are slowly creeping back up again and stabilizing at a higher rate than normal, but for the most part, the prices are still more or less fairly cheap compared to other servers.

Hopefully, the gates of Mateus doesn't end up getting closed indefinitely like the way Balmung does, but I think it's only a matter of time until people will start to flock to a server with well established roleplaying community just as they did with the Balmung server. If Mateus does become "the new Balmung", then we will have to see how the server will hold up in catering to the demands of the roleplay population. As for getting shunned by the roleplay community... I can't relate to that, but I know a few people who have been affected by such a thing.

As for the toxicity in the RP community, most of it is from what I hear from other people, but I haven't experienced it myself since I not deep within the RP circles. I do know that there is a "No Mod" places on the HRPC forums which is pretty much a toxic pit where people can dish out all the dirt, throw shade and be extremely salty at people. Most of the toxicity that I have experienced on Balmung usually involves Lalafell hate. And while I did have many people who told me that most of what is said is meant to be humorous, funny and a joke, I'm not the one who is laughing.

This is actually all really great. I would like to hear more from other Ex-Balmung Players on how their doing. Don't be shy to let it all out. Thinking about it now, another reason for this thread can be a good stress reliever and a healthy way to get things off your chest that's bothering you. Please submit more entries and thank you!