FFXIV Server and Community Woes; is there an email to send feedback to?

[Thalvaus]

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/ but then I'm sure you knew that.

Is there anyone who doesn't know that it's Balmung? Always has been. Is this just about getting an actual (RP) tag on the server list?

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Yes, I am aware of both the site and the server. Though I believe there is an inherent flaw in relying on a Legacy Server to be the main end-all, be all bastion for Role Players. Many will be too afraid to join an established server, and their innate beliefs (not to be confused with inane as there's nothing wrong with doing such) will probably spread the community even further in the long term. Thrice have I personally tried to get some sort of new regarding this, but it has been as elusive as ever and it is my hope that they do have something planned as some in this thread believe.

I'm no one special, and I don't believe my somewhat auspicious hopes or wants are above anyone else's, but I do care about a thriving RP community. Balmung will likely be merged with another server six months from now, and perhaps even then what it becomes may still be considered the "main" unofficial RP Server, but by then it will be too late for many would-be Role Players who have split amongst five or six or more of the servers available.

In my opinion something quite livid will be needed at the start so as to attract the new RPers that come in (both the ones on the forums who already seemed to have decided and the many who will simply log in and look for that "RP" tag next to the server name). Indeed, I'd surmise that without such, the community will be split beyond recognition in time and the already extraordinarily rare yet inimitable experience of random RP will be lost as our "life-blood" is split between multiple servers. Some finding that there are five plus servers that started out with niche RP communities through research -- having to wade through each to see which still has RPers left -- and therefore joining multiple small communities versus one that is officially recognized from the start (with it still being their choice on where to go, but in my opinion guidance from youth usually has great benefits, even when you talk about young RP servers). Others will just pick a random server and hope they get lucky, yielding the same results but perhaps with even less enthusiasm for the game as their favored pastime is not supported.

@AmyNeudaiz

Yeah, there are quite a few budding RP servers that have been announced by the community. It's one of the problems I'm seeing (for a strong unison between Rpers) as I have seen threads for support for Gilgamesh, Behemoth, Cactuar, Hyperion, Leviathan, Midgardsormr, Ultros and Adamatoise. Some have more support than others, yet I have witnessed a numerous threads for each in different volumes. It's somewhat alarming, as I just get that feeling of "divide and conquer" whenever I think of non-legacy RP servers.

It's good to know that transfers will not cost money; my understanding of Japanese is somewhat poor and I was playing a game in the background while reading (also looked over the official question to see if an RP server was mentioned, while skimming over the answers for each category to make sure my translation was optimal). I'm just hoping my fears will be curtailed by some sort of official response in some capacity well before Open Beta.

@Arkham

Yes, time is running out for this to happen. It gives me a feeling of mundane disdane when I think about.

The transfers won't be free? I don't know, it wouldn't really make sense if they were since they need to make back the money invested in this remake. Though at the same time it would be near diabolical to put a group of people in a position whereby they need to transfer to be with others of their same mindset when all of this could have been avoided entirely with an earlier reveal (if in fact they are charging for said transfers).


@Hestern_Nestern

Thank you for your input and words. It's my hope they do have something special planned. With me special things and big fuss usually isn't required; I'm sure many of the RP community are the same way. Though it is nice once and a while if we get it (which is a rarity in itself). I have cast my feelings into the group that thinks we've simply been forgotten, though it would be a nice treat indeed if something as such is in the works.

I don't really advocate doing things that may take development time away from other playstyles, but the official recognition / tag will go a long way for a lot of people. It could even just have parenthesis next to the name (RP) and make me satisfied. But I do reiterate and declare that it would certainly be a nice surprise for myself if something unique is announced, and that's why we have yet to be given any information.



Thank you for your encouragement. I'm not overtly depressed as I'm typically a happy go lucky kind of guy, but in terms of my passion of RP in games -- and playing games as my pastime -- I am very much so; whenever I think of such I just feel mistreated. Square Enix has been a company I've been looking up to since they started patching 1.0 and working on the new version of the game. Though I can't help but to be fearful that we're being taken for a ride what with the announcement of a RP server the past couple years, yet nothing coming to fruition with but days left until open beta.



Though why focus on the negatives?

Some things they are doing are perhaps advantages to role players and others who want to partake in such systems.

These systems are being able to sit in chairs and even the in game marriage design. While we have little information in the latter, it should just go to show how easy it is to make RPers happy (and how badly we are usually ignored in other games for us to be happy with such simple features).

I'm grateful for these and hope that we will also have a official RP server to for which to embrace them (even if we individually decide to join other servers).




Here's hoping that Balmung will get a RP tag, as well as potentially a non-legacy server. Once the economy has settled on both, they could probably be merged to increase the RP community unity (one idea, at least).