Aussie Server

[seida]

There also seems like there's a pretty big difference between having to move to a truly new data center where there's nothing really there except what you bring and people being caught in the move who then can jump across to an existing and populated server in their region.

The difference is, moving to a brand new server people have completely empty housing wards to choose from.

Forcefully moving the entire server and then saying "oh, JP players can just move back" is completely disregarding the fact we'd be moving back to established servers with barely any open housing available.

In the end it's up to SE, but they'll have a lot of unhappy Japanese players (as well as just non-Aus players) if they do go this route.

If they can somehow guarantee housing then I don't mind so much, but a lot of people would also have to try and coordinate whole FCs moving back, and I'm not sure SE would want to do that to JP players. We'll see.

[LaylaTsarra]

Forcefully moving the entire server and then saying "oh, JP players can just move back" is completely disregarding the fact we'd be moving back to established servers with barely any open housing available.

They did that with the Aether/Crystal reshuffle. They are going to have to do it with this new data center. Yes some people will be unhappy and want to move back. The transfers will be free but as you point out housing is the real problem for anyone moving back to a populated server.

Honestly they don't really have a choice. The new data center has to have a minimum number of people for it to be functional from a game play perspective. They can't simply offer incentives and wait/hope people move to it quickly enough to make it viable.

Edit: Japan has 3 data centers with a total of 32 servers. I would suspect the new data center will probably aim for a minimum of 5 servers with 1 or 2 at most being totally new. They will probably move 3 or 4 Japanese servers to this new DC. I don't think they will be pulling any from North America or Europe (which only have 6 per DC).

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/worldstatus/

[Sairys]

They did that with the Aether/Crystal reshuffle. They are going to have to do it with this new data center. Yes some people will be unhappy and want to move back. The transfers will be free but as you point out housing is the real problem for anyone moving back to a populated server.

Honestly they don't really have a choice. The new data center has to have a minimum number of people for it to be functional from a game play perspective. They can't simply offer incentives and wait/hope people move to it quickly enough to make it viable.

I wouldn't entirely be surprised if they did a shuffle to ensure population then opened new servers in the data centers that lost some. That way you'd sort the population out while opening up housing across the world rather than in a single region, if that encourages OCE players to shift then it would also potentially open up even more housing as some percentage of those players would own houses too.

The hardware would presumably still be there so it doesn't seem implausible, they could also potentially shuffle things around and repurpose that hardware to add more housing wards.

[LaylaTsarra]

I wouldn't entirely be surprised if they did a shuffle to ensure population then opened new servers in the data centers that lost some. That way you'd sort the population out while opening up housing across the world rather than in a single region, if that encourages OCE players to shift then it would also potentially open up even more housing as some percentage of those players would own houses too.

The hardware would presumably still be there so it doesn't seem implausible, they could also potentially shuffle things around and repurpose that hardware to add more housing wards.

That's a possibility. The game has grown significantly and one can argue that many DC's are already in need of new servers as well. It would at least offer those moving back a place to get housing. I don't remember the timing of the last reshuffle but I think it was before Shadowbringers dropped. I would think this will happen as well before Endwalker releases.

At the least this go around DC Travel will be a thing which will at least allow people to keep in touch with friends. That wasn't the case the last time.

[Sairys]

The difference is, moving to a brand new server people have completely empty housing wards to choose from.

Forcefully moving the entire server and then saying "oh, JP players can just move back" is completely disregarding the fact we'd be moving back to established servers with barely any open housing available.

In the end it's up to SE, but they'll have a lot of unhappy Japanese players (as well as just non-Aus players) if they do go this route.

If they can somehow guarantee housing then I don't mind so much, but a lot of people would also have to try and coordinate whole FCs moving back, and I'm not sure SE would want to do that to JP players. We'll see.

So, yeah, you swap out "housing availability" with "will there be enough people on the new servers" and your concerns all apply to people that might move to the new servers. As noted, other aussies I know are saying, even with the incentives and housing availability, the risks of a completely new data center outweigh the benefit of better ping for them.

Given the ping difference listed for some areas is potentially small, people in other countries (looking at Singapore and Malaysia) might have a similar response as those aussies are having and not bother moving back to a JP data center for the ping. Which would create an immediate population base for the new servers that has a benefit for SE in encouraging OCE players on non-migrated servers to move as well.

And yeah, stuff like FC moves... that's going to be a concern for every player who moves to the new data center, it's yet another reason to not move in the first place. It seems in SEs best interested to ensure there is a population level in the new data center to build off rather than taking the chance all these reasons to not move stop enough players from bothering.

[VelKallor]

. It seems in SEs best interested to ensure there is a population level in the new data center to build off rather than taking the chance all these reasons to not move stop enough players from bothering.

Id say that their announcement is proof they've already done the numbers..and, old friend, you are forgetting growth, when more players sign in for the first time and learn there are Aussie servers, thats a huge pull factor.

The OCE community has been angry at Blizzard for a VERY long time and they are sick to death of being ignored. A LOT of OCE WOW players have been hesitant to try FF 14 owing to ping issues, now that thats been solved.....heh heh heh...

[Sairys]

Id say that their announcement is proof they've already done the numbers..and, old friend, you are forgetting growth, when more players sign in for the first time and ;learn there are Aussie servers, thats a huge pull factor.

A LOT of OCE ex WOW players have been hesitant to try FF 14 owing to ping issues, now that thats been solved.....heh heh heh...

Given they haven't announced whether or not its a migration or entirely new means we don't actually know which scenario those numbers are based on, so it's plausible that they also indicate that migration is necessary. Those new sign ups are also a reason in favour of migration, as they wouldn't want to risk such a rare recruitment opportunity funnelling players into low population servers where the play experience could be bad.

There's also a broader picture given that those who have been hesitant to play may likely also have friends who are already playing XIV and those friends may likely not want to migrate to OCE servers for the afforementioned reasons, this is based on chatter from various sydney gaming communities I'm a part of. Which would then mean those potential new players may not be able to play with their friends and not sign up, providing another reason SE will want to really make sure as many OCE players as possible want to move to the new servers.

[VelKallor]

Given they haven't announced whether or not its a migration or entirely new means we don't actually know which scenario those numbers are based on, so it's plausible that they also indicate that migration is necessary. Those new sign ups are also a reason in favour of migration, as they wouldn't want to risk such a rare recruitment opportunity funnelling players into low population servers where the play experience could be bad.

There's also a broader picture given that those who have been hesitant to play may likely also have friends who are already playing XIV and those friends may likely not want to migrate to OCE servers for the afforementioned reasons, this is based on chatter from various sydney gaming communities I'm a part of. Which would then mean those potential new players may not be able to play with their friends and not sign up, providing another reason SE will want to really make sure as many OCE players as possible want to move to the new servers.

This comes under "wait and see", Id guess. Yoshi's team undoubtedly already had a plan in place far in advance of fanfest, so Id posit that what your commented on is already on their minds. That team does NOTHING by halves. I trust them to get this right, so Ill just sit back and wait.

Some communities will be broken up, and that will be sad, but the FF team are always looking long term, so theres that in mitigation. I WILL miss my Kujata family no end, but I will be trading that for a new start and new friends, which is no less than others do when they sign on for the first time.

Besides, I will be able to travel back and forth via DC visit so in one sense, we arent leaving friends behind, just moving to a new neighbourhood. Doesnt mean we cant go back and play with them, we can.

It will all balance out in the end.

[Shibi]

Some communities will be broken up, and that will be sad, but the FF team are always looking long term, so theres that in mitigation. I WILL miss my Kujata family no end, but I will be trading that for a new start and new friends, which is no less than others do when they sign on for the first time.

Besides, I will be able to travel back and forth via DC visit so in one sense, we arent leaving friends behind, just moving to a new neighbourhood. Doesnt mean we cant go back and play with them, we can.

Yeah that's where I am. Hopefully cross DC is easy, and doable.

Unless something changes with FCs my current plan is to take over my second roll character from Coerl to the new DC to buy a personal home, and start grinding a new FC, then relo into the personal spot... and leave my current active roll on Faery with the existing FC. Four x level 90 submarines bring in too much gil each day to just demolish. Although likely we have moved on from subs to spacewhales for that, by then.

[LaylaTsarra]

Yeah that's where I am. Hopefully cross DC is easy, and doable.

I may be wrong but I suspect it's not going to be more than logging out and selecting the data center you want to travel too and log into it. Once there go ahead and select which server and log in. I suspect it'll be just like it is for those of us with alts on different data centers but instead you can simply pick where you want to go and not have to have a character on that server when you select it and use your regular character instead.

The real issue is going to be what the limitations are once you get there. They did seem to say there would be more restrictions then there are for World Transfer. I hope there will be a way to communicate so I would hope we'd be able to join cross world linkshells once there.

I wouldn't be surprised to see mb access not allowed.