I can't answer everything, but...
Is getting into Balmung as difficult as it sounds?
Transferring a character bypasses the whole character creation lockdown thing when there's too many folks playing on a server. As such, moving an existing character to Balmung is easier than trying to sneak a new one on, if you don't mind the extra cost involved.
Do you recommend Steam?
While I don't have the game ON Steam, I DO use the Steam launcher to get it going. Mostly to let my Steam friends know that I'm there and basically around. Often it's a sign for "Hey, I'd totally play TF2 with you guys, but I'm kinda in the middle of something" but sometimes they'll shoot me an invite anyway.
As for peak hours, it seems to be a US evening time-frame mainly (EST/PST evenings), but that's usually the only time I'm on during the week so I can't fully say about that. This is my first real MMO RP experience, so I can't fully compare what makes it the same/different from others... and I have been lucky enough to avoid any issues that require contacting SE customer service.
Um... hope that helps!
Is getting into Balmung as difficult as it sounds?
Transferring a character bypasses the whole character creation lockdown thing when there's too many folks playing on a server. As such, moving an existing character to Balmung is easier than trying to sneak a new one on, if you don't mind the extra cost involved.
Do you recommend Steam?
While I don't have the game ON Steam, I DO use the Steam launcher to get it going. Mostly to let my Steam friends know that I'm there and basically around. Often it's a sign for "Hey, I'd totally play TF2 with you guys, but I'm kinda in the middle of something" but sometimes they'll shoot me an invite anyway.
As for peak hours, it seems to be a US evening time-frame mainly (EST/PST evenings), but that's usually the only time I'm on during the week so I can't fully say about that. This is my first real MMO RP experience, so I can't fully compare what makes it the same/different from others... and I have been lucky enough to avoid any issues that require contacting SE customer service.
Um... hope that helps!
~