NA/EU Server Congestion: The Problem & A Solution for Devs (PLEASE READ)

[EmiliM]

the technical reason is the Na/EU physical locations for lower latency. thats why we would want to pick those to have the best connection possible, thats why they made them. they just didnt make enough of them

and some of us cant just hop on a JP server because we have 1.0 characters that we want to keep.
i mean we technically can but im not gonna make another throw away character or just restart on a JP server (located in japan) and lose all that i did on 1.0
they need to add more NA and EU servers

That makes perfect sense in theory, and is probably why SE went with separating the servers in the first place along with whatever business benefits that came with it. In reality however, you end up with lopsided server population distribution and you are stuck with thousands unable to connect even though there are perfectly functional servers that would serve their purposes just fine, if only they weren't designated as "Japanese" simply because they are physically located in Japan.

And what I am proposing is not to create a new character on a JP server, but to abolish the JP/NA/EU designations altogether. Instead of saying "I'm going to play on a JP server because the NA/EU ones are full", you'd simply go to, say, Atomos, not because it's Japanese or whatever, but because it's available and not already packed to the brim with people. If everyone did this, then you'd end up with a even distribution of players speaking all languages across all servers. Sure, some of these servers will have somewhat higher latency, but IMO that's a small price to pay to avoid all of this.

For relieving congestion, free transfers should be available only to new servers. Assuming enough people do this, it should relieve the stress on existing servers so you wouldn't have to move your 1.0 character.