Greenley

I'm going to express some concern I have with this. I was there silently browsing during the text fight rules "drama" and while it got a bit heated, people weren't name calling, they weren't making threats that I saw (do correct me if I'm wrong as I was working at the time and my attention was divided). The chat was still silenced until people were allegedly "calmed down" and any further discussion seemed to me to be discouraged. By the very nature of Text Tone, any time people disagree it is going to read as heated. Seeing the chat locked down because people are debating -- or hell, even harmlessly bickering -- doesn't exactly make me want to waste my time speaking up when someone slams Balmung or for any other reason, because I have no desire to be wrist-slapped and silenced like I'm part of a kindergarten classroom. To note, I'm new, not from Balmung. I have no dog in this fight beyond the fact I want to be part if a community and I don't want it to be toxic. I am very willing to contribute to that mindset but not if it means having a finger waved at me for making things "tense." I don't think it's fair to judge us (general us) for being silent and then when we aren't, to silence us because the way we debate doesn't fit the mold of a one or two or three people's idea of what a "calm" debate entails.

As someone completely new to the game, as are two of my buddies, I can say we've unfortunately witnessed this numerous times already within the Discord chat and in game. Before anyone jumps on me with "Well we're not all like that!" I am well aware, but. Between comments like hoping Balmung "dries out" (note I suspect comments like these are from those who played on Balmung and got their feelings hurt for whatever reason) and some of the GM messages I've seen to the tune of "We're not Balmung. Deal with it." along with demanding respect for Mateus natives specifically, it's... not exactly making us as pumped to be here as we originally were. On the other hand, the people of Balmung have seemed to us like those in Portland. "Stop moving here! There's already too many people!" says a man already enjoying life in Portland. I understand the server strain is a big deal; I played FFXI for years and I was there for Remora and the aftermath. It was ugly. (Although for the record, FFXI had a different breed of players and I don't suspect SE thinks they could get away with that with this game.) At this point we feel like a portion of members from both groups are going through a toxic phase with welcoming people into their circle, although Mateus more so, albeit it might be because Balmung literally can't have anyone new. Regardless, half the pleasant people I've met on Mateus have actually been from Balmung, it turns out, either on alts or as transfers. A good portion of those are doing their best to genuinely assist in Mateus' community and yet I've seen snide remarks about it. To a point I can understand hostility from the old school Mateus natives. Some of them want(ed) a very small server and now it's growing and they're reacting negatively because it's a negative experience for them. As another poster mentioned, I'm sure half the shit-talking is from salty Balmung transfers as well, but the often resounding silence that follows these comments is just as concerning as the comments themselves. Although, any time a conversation about how things are going / being run is brought up people either turn away (what I've seen in game) or the mods just silence the chat (in the case of Discord), which is why I'm not even going to bother bringing them up there. In a way, this makes me a hypocrite, I know. Sometimes a healthy debate / heated discussion (as long as it remains civil) is not only warranted, but necessary, to build a community. People should be allowed to argue a little. We're (mostly) all adults here. For us three, we're enjoying the PvE content as we haven't done any of it before, and waiting to see if it all evens out. I still hope for the best for Mateus and will continue to support the event gatherings when RL permits. I naively bought 120 days playtime in advance + my 30 free days so I personally have nothing to lose by trying. :::EDIT::: To the person who PMed me asking for an invite to the Discord channel, I'm in no way in charge of that and you have your PMs disabled. But what you're looking for is here: https://discord.gg/HPbYNFUBest Best of luck!

Hey, buddy. I'm brand new myself, been playing about a week along with my two friends. We were discouraged by Balmung's closing too, but decided to play the free trial on some of the other servers just to see. I rolled on Faerie, Mateus, and Jenova. I mean absolutely no disrespect to people on any server, this is just my opinion from one new player to another: we liked Mateus the best. The RP seemed most common there. We didn't see it as often as we would on Balmung, no doubt, but we've still run past it several times. PvE folks seem very friendly. They have stopped to help us and to give gil to the one of us who already had the full version a few times now. Annnd, at the time of writing, the idea of us one day owning a house on Mateus doesn't seem utterly impossible as it would be on Balmung, so there are silver lining I suppose!

Whenever someone gets the chance, Bray Thatcher, Rorofen Lilifen, and Reckless Boar would like a linkshell. The latter two aren't on these forums but have given me permission to post for them. We were disappointed to get the game and find the officially unofficial RP server on indefinite lock down, but after finding this thread, we're looking forward to helping contribute to Mateus instead. :thumbsup: