Quote:We are almost certainly heading for a server split. They did it in FF11, so they have precedent. Stats on Balmung have shown that although the active population has lowered, we're still nearly double their volume for an unlocked server - and the majority of those who transferred off did so during the queue and 90k woes immediately following the launch of Stormblood, and they had incentives for transfer. Transfers off are basically a trickle now. There's no logical outcome for us at this point but a split. Do yourselves a favor and don't pretend that it's not going to happen. Avoid being surprised by it. Expect it. Plan for it. Stay tuned to the community so you can be aware of the general consensus as to which server the other roleplayers are going to once the split comes.
First off, it's not really a good idea to compared this game to FFXI in the sense of what can or should happen. This game is completely different in regards to UI, gameplay, and allocation of server resources, and comparisons like that are part of what caused 1.0 to flop. They tried to make it too much like FFXI, and the UI was a dying system that making improvements to was creating more problems than fixing them. ARR was an overhaul, and thus should be handled differently. I think such a drastic measure requires even -more- careful consideration now than ever before because, now, you're not just affecting players' communities, but you're affecting their FCs, their housing, all the money they put into the house/apartment they have, all the money they put into the private chamber they'd be losing by being separated from their FC.
Sure, you can reimburse them, but you can't guarantee they'll get a house on the new server either. It's a more complex system than FFXI was. To my knowledge, you didn't have whole housing communities, just Moghouses. You didn't have FCs, just Linkshells, which were little more than private channels anyway. You didn't have a community you actively contributed to and were rewarded for, other than simply playing the game with others. A splitting of servers was more feasible in FFXI, but not so much for FFXIV.