Congested Worlds: SE You need to fix things

[DreadRabbit]

In all honesty: what were people expecting? TL;DR - Balmung has kind of proven that server community does matter in this game despite so many folks saying otherwise. If it didn't, it wouldn't flood all the time while other servers flounder.

I know folks crack jokes all the time that people go to Balmung primarily for the RP, but there really is a lot more to it than that. The overall attitude on Balmung is just way more positive and welcoming (yes, there's drama llamas. Like every other server. Go figure). When the servers were opened there were shouts "Welcome to FFXIV" and "Welcome home returners!". There are vets who will gladly do event fates the entirety of the event so that people who get on them late or newbies have a chance to still do them. Since there's a bigger crowd of players wanting to do the "boring" gathering/crafting classes the marketboard is fast and pretty healthy.

But more than anything you don't have to use content in game to meet people.

See a bard playing on the street? Clap or cheer for them. More often than not that starts a conversation. Hell just sitting and being willing to say hi to folks that are doing the fates is usually enough to potentially get to know someone. Balmung has reached a point where it doesn't matter if you RP, raid, or just chill. Chances are you're going to meet someone that's just interested in having fun and you don't have to be forced into an instance party to get that interaction. And it's active every day of the week, so if you have a weird play schedule it really won't make the game feel lonely for you like it might elsewhere.

Now my personal experiences are on Aether, but for the most part you can't get any of the above unless you blast your way through the MSQ and pray to stand out in the sea of folks in end game areas. The starting cities are barren. What people are there are far more likely to not even acknowledge you if you do reach out.

Two servers stand out though: Mateus and Cactuar. Cactuar is incredibly friendly, and what do you know? People seem to enjoy that about a server because it's grown in spades and has an active player population incredibly close to Balmung. The Novice Network is friendly and useful and goes out of its way to invite sprouts. However it has the same problem most other servers have: no one wants to leave the end game zones. So despite having an active population comparable to Balmung, players don't really meet anyone until they leave the starting areas, giving the game a desolate feel.

Mateus has tried incredibly hard to be the second RP server and I give them kudos for that. I think they're well on their way to succeeding. The few weekends I was on it was very friendly and had that similar social feeling Balmung did. But Mateus has a weird civil cold war going on: there's a lot of folks that straight out hate having the small server feel stripped from them, and a few that hate the RP-ers coming in. And then you have RP and non RP folks outright hating Balmung transfers for various reasons (i.e. "I can't buy a house anymore." Look at the Goblet folks. There were at least seven smalls when I looked...yesterday.). Where Balmung basically said "Welcome/Welcome Home," Mateus had a mix of "Get off our server," and "Please don't go."

And that's the point I'm trying to make. Whenever I look at threads of newbies asking what server they should join most people say "servers don't matter because of cross-server play." But both Balmung and Cactuar's ridiculous growth kind of shows that yes, server community does in fact matter. Surprisingly most sprouts like having their starting areas full of people. I came back on a new character and honestly gave about every server on Aether a try, and frankly it doesn't compare.

Whenever I look at threads with responses like "delete Balmung" or "Don't you dare transfer to our server" I have to wonder why you people think folks clamor to Balmung in the first place? Between a server that's openly friendly and one that openly demands people bugger off, which one would you rather be in when you're not doing instanced content?

So if folks want Balmung to balance out and stop bogarting such a large portion of the player base, maybe some folks on other servers ought to not be so antagonistic/antisocial. If people transfer off of Balmung, don't harshly judge them for it because they picked your server. If newbies are saying they don't like how quiet their server is, don't put the blame on them for not pumping through the MSQ or buying a jump potion.

Until then this juggling of Balmung opening and closing will probably be the new norm: it'll open again in a few months, this process will repeat itself, close again.

[Divinemights]

Until then this juggling of Balmung opening and closing will probably be the new norm: it'll open again in a few months, this process will repeat itself, close again.

Until the human technology advanced further in next 10 years where super server will exist; but currently no and stop asking.

[fantasticm]

Until then this juggling of Balmung opening and closing will probably be the new norm: it'll open again in a few months, this process will repeat itself, close again.

Sounds about right. Balmung is simply too lucrative, there's no way SE would dare keep it closed forever. Gotta make them transfer coins.

[alimdia]

Sounds about right. Balmung is simply too lucrative, there's no way SE would dare keep it closed forever. Gotta make them transfer coins.

Keeping it open would probably cost them more than what they get from transfers, considering they have to buy hardware for all servers just to prevent lag in Balmung. If they only cares about money they wouldn't have locked it in the first place.

[fantasticm]

Keeping it open would probably cost them more than what they get from transfers, considering they have to buy hardware for all servers just to prevent lag in Balmung. If they only cares about money they wouldn't have locked it in the first place.

Yeah I sincerely doubt their spiffy new server purchases/moves were for Balmung's sake alone. Would be hilarious if that were the case, though. And money is their primary motivation, so... I mean, aren't you looking forward to the Final Fantasy 7 remake?

[loaded-god-complex]

Keeping it open would probably cost them more than what they get from transfers, considering they have to buy hardware for all servers just to prevent lag in Balmung. If they only cares about money they wouldn't have locked it in the first place.

They do/did? Can you cite your sources? That sounds very interesting.

[AriaXIV]

So in response to DreadRabbit, i have a little bit of a personal opinion on Balmung as well as i main on the server. While we are a rowdy lot, Everyone here is family.. It's rather weird, once you are a part of them and you transfer off? You just can't wait to come back, atleast most feel that way. The reality of it is this Square Enix, I have said it time and time again. This server will forever be congested, the things you are doing to try and balance the load? Wont work, why? People want to play with friends, family, and just generally nice people. Not be chased off a server because they transferred from the highest population one.

So you realistically have two options. #1 Designate Balmung an official RP server and upgrade the hardware to accommodate a much larger community, add permanent instances in every zone aside the major cities to balance the load, and unlock the server. or #2 Keep it locked, keep attempting and failing to disperse people into hostile servers they want no part of, keep finding people unwilling to move and having issues with server stability, and keep seeing posts like these.

Everything else just wont work, Balmung is a community I am proud to be a part of and will continue to move characters to every time its open. Thats the reality of it, I love my home and theres nowhere else like it.