A server has a star next to it and gives the "Road to . . ." buff when it is low population and is set to Preferred. If the star/buff are now gone that means that the server now has a higher population and has been set to Standard. Honestly the EXP buff isn't really necessary as everything is gated behind the MSQ and the MSQ will give you plenty of EXP. "The Road to . . ." is only really useful if you are trying to level multiple jobs on a character within the first 90 days of creating it.