The only incentive to get me back to Materia is DC travel.

[Tigerlilley]

For those who say taking a JP server to OCE would fix the population issues, what makes you think that the non-OCE players wouldn't just transfer off immediately? Also the OCE players who don't want to leave statics/friends likely wouldn't be staying either. Wouldn't the end result be just another low population server on Materia and thousands of people pissed off at SE for uprooting them for no good reason?

That is exactly what would happen. No one is asking for this except that one guy a few pages ago. It's a terrible idea. Forcing players to a new region is bad enough but Japanese players don't want to be part of the wider community and we shouldn't make them.

What if moving FC, FC house and workshop progress was an option? Would more ppl from JP want to move to Materia? Also throw some extra wards for personal housing?

No. Sure, it would sweeten the deal but the reason people play MMO's, at it's core, is people. We've had 10 years building communities and people need a good reason to leave those. If we had the option to travel to NA for those low peak times, to get some queues and be able to actually play the game, build statics, keep old friends and make new ones, then a ton more people would have moved.

While OCE stands alone, no travel whatsoever, it's lonely island. The ping is great, there's a ton of housing still but people aren't moving because without people they can't play the game.

[VelKallor]

No. I, and the majority of the original members of my FC, rolled on Atomos because we were tired of the BS found in Western MMOs as long ago as 2.0. Leave all JP servers and DCs separate from NA/EU/OCE.
<snip>

No.

Materia as an OCE server has a huge potential for growth.

Whilst it is easy for you to say you want to be isolated, with respect you are dismissing the larger issue here. Whether you like it or not, accept it or not, JP has and will continue to have a significant EN speaking population. A great many of those will not move to OCE for the simple reason they will be abandoning their established friends, communities and AFC's which they have been a member of for years..which, I might add INCLUDES a great many JP players who enjoy their company.

No one is asking to move the servers, didnt happen when OCE was created and no one was asking them to, then or now. But the greater picture is that without DC travel and without access to established servers and markets, OCE is failing as it cannot and SHOULD NOT BE EXPECTED to stand alone.

Growth of those communities means greater player retention, greater retention means long term viability for the game as a whole.

What is needed is DC travel JP - OCE or OCE - NA - EU, to allow Materia growth. Over time, that may itself incentivise further influx to Materia, as those who come to play there ARE NOT cut off from long term friends they have made over the years. As it is now, OCE is an either / or situation, the DC is struggling to cope because they dont have access to the same resources and playerbase as thew new servers elsewhere.

We have waited a long time for local servers, our gameplay means as much to us as yours does to you, FF 14 has broad international appeal, the missing element is at the moment DC travel.

This was slated for 6.18

For example, a character might be on the Lamia World, which is located in the Primal Logical Data Center, which in turn is in the North American Physical Data Center. FFXIV Data Center Travel lets players travel from one Logical Data Center to another within the same Physical Data Center. That means the previously mentioned character from Lamia on Primal will be able to visit a friend on Balmung on Crystal.

Congestion led to this in July:

Due to the number of requests which makes it difficult to resolve the issue while keeping the Data Center Travel system open, we will temporarily suspend the Data Center Travel system and gradually open this feature as we monitor the situation.

Since then no news, but a lot of the hype for OCE was due to the fact that with DC travel that people COULD travel and not have to leave their current communities.

Square Enix needs to revisit this issue....soon.

[VelKallor]

Look at this

A new logical data center and Worlds have been added for the North American region.
New Logical Data Center
Dynamis

Newly Established Worlds
Halicarnassus
Maduin
Marilith
Seraph

Will they be isolated from the rest of NA? No.

I submit that DC travel is necessary and required urgently for Materia's long term viability.

[DeNada]

I think the most balanced way to rebalance population is to allow cross-data center travel between Materia datacenter and EU datacenters.

Given that both JP and NA already have 4 datacenters each while EU only have 2 at the moment, allowing EU and Materia to cross-data center travel would help increase server activity for the player population in those regions, not to mention there would be less of a culture shock compared to allowing DC travel between Materia and JP servers.

[VelKallor]

I think the most balanced way to rebalance population is to allow cross-data center travel between Materia datacenter and EU datacenters.

Given that both JP and NA already have 4 datacenters each while EU only have 2 at the moment, allowing EU and Materia to cross-data center travel would help increase server activity for the player population in those regions, not to mention there would be less of a culture shock compared to allowing DC travel between Materia and JP servers.

I am not sure how the EU players will deal with the latency differences...your thoughts?

[Shibi]

I think the most balanced way to rebalance population is to allow cross-data center travel between Materia datacenter and EU datacenters.

Given that both JP and NA already have 4 datacenters each while EU only have 2 at the moment, allowing EU and Materia to cross-data center travel would help increase server activity for the player population in those regions, not to mention there would be less of a culture shock compared to allowing DC travel between Materia and JP servers.

The ping between the to DCs likely makes this a bad sole option. AU to CA/US = 130-150ms, AU to EU = 280-320ms - you need to double these times of course for a return.

The game is playable AU->CA/US although double weaving is impossible - played on FF-NA servers since 2013. But it's a little tough when you double the ping time to get to EU. I tried some characters on Raiden, but it was unplayable. I couldn't single-weave and the snapshot went off pretty much as soon as I saw the ground-marker.

[VelKallor]

JP / Kujata 120-130 ms, Phantom EU 305- 320 ms = OUCH.

OCE- JP would be the most optimal.

[Ralphe2449]

Tbh even though some ques take longer and later alliance raids are harder, I much prefer playing on OCE than NA or EU with terrible latency.

Having Oce servers is a big deal and honestly when people said its dead when I started I thought they meant people had trouble queing even for MSQ content, but I ve reached up to the latest patch and even though some ques took a bit longer than usual I never had problems doing content I needed and i ve unlocked all main trials/hildi trials/raids up to endwalker with the exception of Shb raids just fine so honestly I wouldnt use the word "dead" for it.

[DixieBellOCE]

Tbh even though some ques take longer and later alliance raids are harder, I much prefer playing on OCE than NA or EU with terrible latency.

Having Oce servers is a big deal and honestly when people said its dead when I started I thought they meant people had trouble queing even for MSQ content, but I ve reached up to the latest patch and even though some ques took a bit longer than usual I never had problems doing content I needed and i ve unlocked all main trials/hildi trials/raids up to endwalker with the exception of Shb raids just fine so honestly I wouldnt use the word "dead" for it.

Arent you the same person that sat in queue for 10 hours straight waiting for copied factory to pop on Materia?
You can blame it on Ilvl skippers, but there sure as hell should be more than 24 legitimate players queueing for alliance raids.

The datacenter is the size of a single server. Without crossDC travel/play there is no reason to main a character on Materia other than the ping, which doesn't really matter if you can't do content on demand

[PirateRyanG]

Tbh even though some ques take longer and later alliance raids are harder, I much prefer playing on OCE than NA or EU with terrible latency.

Having Oce servers is a big deal and honestly when people said its dead when I started I thought they meant people had trouble queing even for MSQ content, but I ve reached up to the latest patch and even though some ques took a bit longer than usual I never had problems doing content I needed and i ve unlocked all main trials/hildi trials/raids up to endwalker with the exception of Shb raids just fine so honestly I wouldnt use the word "dead" for it.

You have to remember that for most gamers, the definition of a 'dead' game or server doesn't line up with reality.

Plenty of gamers claim that Halo, Overwatch, and Fortnite are all dead, despite all being exceedingly active.

I think for most people, the definition of 'dead' applies if one of the following conditions is met:

1. They don't play that game any more, so they assume that nobody else plays it.
2. They queue for 15 seconds longer than they used to have to queue.

I would never take somebody's word for something being 'dead' game wise, as gamers tend to highly exaggerate situations. To me, 'dead' is never being able to find a game. Queues that are hours and hours long for matched content during peak hours, etc.