Petition to Lift Balmung Server Lock / Impact of Server Lock on FFXIV RP Community

[Kazgrel]

If anything, we're getting closer to Leviathan joining Balmung as NA servers that are congested/locked more than the latter getting unlocked...but if the bleed off continues as is, maybe 4.3ish will see Balmung finally unlock for character creation for the first time since, what, early ARR? Not counting the days where it had a sub 5 min window to make a new character right as servers came up after a maintenance. I only started playing this game at the end of 2.5 (3 months before HW).

Heck, 4.3 release will be approximately 1 year on the dot to when Balmung was put on total lockdown (if previous patch cycle length is an indication of timeline).

[Starfell]

Hopefully it is unlocked soon it's almost been a year at this point and honestly going around the general "populated" areas and it not being as populated to what it once was a year from now is abit sad. Ide love to have my main on Balmung some-time soon so I no longer have to play on this alt account/character but I am grateful to have had friends who've helped me get a character here. Hopefully the unlock is soon.

[DevilsDontFly]

Based on this ( http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...UCOB-clears%29 ) thread, Balmung is still ahead any other server in population.

Congestion numbers point Louisoix as the only server to come remotely close to Balmung, and that's because it was a fresh new server with free transfer incentives and bonuses to keep people interested.



Every other server that is considered populated or crowded is sitting on the 15-16k people, while Balmung is at 22k. I don't feel like it might be a good idea to unlock Balmung right now. And I'm not even saying that because of "balmung hate". If you're already sitting at 22 thousand people with a seven months+ lock, I can only imagine what would happen to your server if the gates were to be open as you're suggesting.

[basketofseals]

Jesus, no new players in 7 months and still the most populated. I wonder what the infograph would look like before the lock.

[Vrankyl]

Except for the fact that Leviathan is sitting at 19k and Cactuar at 18k as well. These two servers are actually pushing it right now. So no, Louisoix is not the only server getting close, in fact it isn't even in the top three servers for pop. That said we do need to bleed off some more, hopefully we hit the needed mark by 4.3.

[DreadRabbit]

Jesus, no new players in 7 months and still the most populated. I wonder what the infograph would look like before the lock.

I had to do some digging (yay Reddit had some of these easier to find). Lots of info graphics coming your way.

This one is from Dec. 2014, and the criteria back then for active players was those over level 21. So you want to look through the 4th column from the left that has 21 in the middle of the Japanese characters:



This next one is from Jan. 2016, and obviously the numbers are a lot smaller because criteria for active players was heavily changed. Once again you want 4th column:



These were the ones I could personally find the easiest. Either way, Balmung and Gilgamesh were giants in comparison to everyone else on Aether, and Balmung's numbers really haven't dropped that much over the course of 3 years (if you take the changes in measurement criteria).

[Rhysati]

Balmung is definitely still populated, but the amount of people in my fc's and friends list have dwindled massively. The amount of substantial RP FC's has been declining at a rapid rate as well. No new blood into the community is killing the roleplayers.

[Settiesama]

No new blood into the community is killing the roleplayers.

But in all seriousness, I really don't see why you need 'new blood' for your roleplay community. Sure, you may be lacking numbers in some FCs, but you have Linkshells still, and don't tell me that every RPer has role played with every other RPer. I still see alot of people seeking FCs as well. The server is huge, you still have enough people to keep things fresh and exciting, you just need to go seek it out.

[Rhysati]

But in all seriousness, I really don't see why you need 'new blood' for your roleplay community. Sure, you may be lacking numbers in some FCs, but you have Linkshells still, and don't tell me that every RPer has role played with every other RPer. I still see alot of people seeking FCs as well. The server is huge, you still have enough people to keep things fresh and exciting, you just need to go seek it out.

Most of the linkshells have died out. Just in the past 2 months I have visited or joined multiple FCs that literally all RP with the exact same crowds. It's become a running joke that wherever I go I will see the same 10 people.

Whether you like to admit it or not, unless you enjoy random RP with the very wide-ranging RP quality in the Quicksand(FFXIV's version of Goldshire from WoW), you are a bit screwed. The community of RP fc's has been hurting. Heck, go look at something like the RPC and the FC's that are available right now. most of them are dead, dying, or no longer exist.

[Alaray]

unless you enjoy random RP with the very wide-ranging RP quality in the Quicksand(FFXIV's version of Goldshire from WoW), you are a bit screwed.

I wouldn't go that far, as someone who played on MG and experienced that place I can at least attest to the fact that the QS is a lot more just basic tavern RP with some thought put into most of what I see go on there. I'd say QS is probably somewhat decent with the few bothersome things that pop up from time to time, but I really feel that comparing it to Goldshire in WoW is... an erroneous comparison.

Personally, I can't say much on the rest. I don't go out of my way to find RP on the server, and I can usually find people to interact with through my own FC or, if I'm feeling less anxious, one of the events that go on.