About the World Merge and Character Transfers (02/09/2012)

[Frisque]

I want a vote connected to log in. a vast chunk of the people who play never come to the forums, so the discussion is horribly skewed. (option 2 ftw)

[Choyi]

So lets say server 4 is very popular, LSs from three other servers all end up choosing it, your LS wants to go there with the rest from your server, you sign up, theres 10 spots left before server is full, and your number 11, {that's too bad}.
While I do not hope anyone gets into that kind of situation, I also won't pity anyone here who does who where in favor for this system.

I'm sad to see the playerbase for XIV include so many people who barely can see past their own nose, instead being content with a system that beneifits themselves over a system which would benefit themselves in the just as much but at the same time also work alot better for more people and reduce the risk of being seperated from friends for thoose who care about their current in game relations.

Honestly you have to agree that its very silly for a developer to go "hey could you guys sort this out? We think you should be able to come to a solution!"i.e have every server talk among themselves to decide which will be their "default" server.
Is that the responce you want for future issues like lag or perfomance problems "hey could you discuss with fellow players to find a solution to your problem, thanks!"

It's by far not the end of the world but its still an important topic to discuss as far as theese forums go.

And honestly though with this kind of attitude I dont belive XIV will ever be a big contender in the MMO market, wouldn't be surprised if populations ends up around pre p2p after 2.0 has hit, and that be sad cause I still belive this game could have so much potential.

[Dragon]

So lets say server 4 is very popular, LSs from three other servers all end up choosing it, your LS wants to go there with the rest from your server, you sign up, theres 10 spots left before server is full, and your number 11, {that's too bad}.
While I do not hope anyone gets into that kind of situation, I also won't pity anyone here who does who where in favor for this system.

It happened in Aion that used the very system you advocate. I should know, I was one of those that got left behind when I wanted to merge with my friends and why I no longer play on their official servers. So using it as a reason when it could happen regardless of how they decide on server transfers is intellectually dishonest, stupid, and pathetic.

[Pallaton]

People are worried that a server might fill up before they can get on with their friend because of unbalanced migrations.

So to overcome this my suggestion would be to have a world pass purchased from the adventureres guild. On the world pass you can choose a number 1-20. So lets say my linkshell decided to all choose number 1, then i can tell friends on other servers to also choose number 1. This would guarantee you all a place on the same server 1 (which is unamed for now) until the certain limit of world passes runs out. There can be a option to change number at any time before, in case it does run out.

Lets assume the active player base is 10,000 and the sever limit is 2000 andthe max world passes per number is 1,000.
If at the deadline numbers 1 and 18 have 500 subscribers but numbers 2, 3 and 12 have only 300 subsribers each. All number 1+18 can be in one separate world and 2+3+12 and 100 randoms can be grouped together into a different world, hence making even distribution, so by splitting it into sections initially you can overcome congestion issues with a few servers filling up completely first and the rest remaining dead, while also allowing 50% of free server space. This way there will be no resultant poplated/unpopulated server, which is what SE is trying to achieve from all this.

In the case that a player has not purchased a world pass then they would be evenly distributed across other servers, possibly matching up EU/NA/JP players. If they ended up away from a friend or LS or just recently re-activated then they can request a world invite by making some sort of in game cross-server message to a PC (one time only and only available to those who didnt get a world pass and the LS leader or whoever could accept or refuse).

[NefarioCall]

I think it speaks volumes that my after 500 posts in this topic, my OP does not yet have ONE like. >_>

[Sidious]

I think it speaks volumes that my after 500 posts in this topic, my OP does not yet have ONE like. >_>

Well it's not like the post itself was anything special xD Just a link to the news. Yoshi's post on the issue has a bunch of likes.

But I gave you a like atpat:.

[Mychael]

I think it speaks volumes that my after 500 posts in this topic, my OP does not yet have ONE like. >_>

I think that 500 posts in a single topic does indeed speak volumes.

At the very least, it could all be compiled into one huge volume.

[NefarioCall]

LOL, true. I was going to qualify my post, but i thought, ...
But yes, though i purposely put no content in it (edit: for the purpose of discussion from both sides i thought better not to take sides on OP), usually even one player who is super excited about the news will click like simply because the news is good ... or i'm not paying attention.

[Jinrya-Geki]

Anyone want to join me on Server 4? Looks like my linkshell is choosing 4. I hope to see all you cool people on March 27th?

/Red Wizard bow

[Terri]

I personally prefer option 2. This "Going with option 4 being for the French/German player base" thing- I'm sure a good chunk of those people this is all for won't even end up on server 10 anyway. There is not really many cons since well, the naming system in this game makes it much much harder for people elsewhere to have your name unless you were lame and named yourself after a popular game/animu/movie chara. It Also helps returning players at least be able to reunite with friends easily, and not get their mules scattered across worlds.

To people comparing it to FFXI's server merges as a con- (I only skimmed and noticed a phoenix/titan comparison) you cant compare it to the Pheonix/Titan merge. That server was well, shall we say home of some pretty hardcore players compared to Titan. Titan was well- more of a casual server. Even Phoenix's casuals were considered hardcore to their standards- hence why they would feel that way. ( You could honestly tell people who was from where just by gear alone lol ) But compared to that, this game is still in primal stages. I know this prolly was the case for other servers too, but take into consideration that the communities here aren't as tight as FFXI's which had people who played together for a good couple of years. many of us were together for a year and a few months at most. Also, the server elitism that existed in XI wouldn't exist due to lack of content.

and honestly the other server i was on when it merged ( Quetz x midgar ) while I was against it for the sole reason of quetz's food market ruining my gil income- the communities blended together well. For XIV, market crash is something that isn't of concern. The markets are meh to begin with due to this game's age. lol


Honestly though, option 4 doesn't bother me ( it's easy to figure out where you and your friends will go- it's how most of us got to x server in the beginning anyway ), but it has many cons to it. Ya wanna be with your friends, server full and only half your friends got in? Too bad, your SOL! Got a mule and it didn't make it to your server? Oh wait your SOL! Come back from that long wait for 2.0? Oh wait, your SOL and lost not only your group who would letcha back in (not like many of us are doing much together since a lot of us have everything lol ), but your mules too!

SE... if you go with 4, at least make sure inactive characters made before the merges have 1 free transfer credit that they can use upon reactivation. You will lose many of those people waiting for 2.0 to come back.