RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

Haven's Fox · **05-17-2017, 09:09 AM**

Well this is a pretty interesting surprise. Locking a server down 100% seems like a pretty poor idea in the long run and long run I hope this is not.

SE should have taken this chance to continue with the high pop world character creation limits. It would be just as before but offer worthwhile incentives to create characters on all mid/lower pop servers. With what they listed in the post I have a feeling it may only apply to the new and very bottom low pop servers. But it is a start with the bonuses in the end and I wonder when it does start.

Also damn that gil transfer hike. Quick napkin math puts a full 8 characters with retainers at lugging 160m gil around now versus 9.6m gil. That would have been amazing to have at the start... issues notwithstanding.

Kailani · **05-17-2017, 09:11 AM**

My comment really only has to do with the preventing of new players transferring to avoid the irate mob that won't be able to log in on the day Stormblood launches. Coming from a game where an expansion release caused servers to crash nonstop, people being unable to log in for hours if not days, and the idea of pissing off many loyal subscribers... I get it and I appreciate it. It really ruins the whole feeling that a new expansion initially brings when you sit at the login screen for hours and hours, only to be kicked out of queue and to start all over. Instead of them being able to focus on account issues and bugs in game, they will have to take on the immense amount of emails and tickets of infuriated players simply because of a queue and disconnects.

Though saying all of that, I absolutely agree that the transfer restriction should not last more than the inception of the expansion itself because as most people here have said, this server has deep roots and the only way for it to continue to flourish is through new blood. I myself have brought over four or five friends since I started playing and would hate to think that others couldn't be granted the same right to play on Balmung.

But I'm not going to get my tail feathers in an uproar right now since we have no idea how long it'll last and it seems they are already trying to give perks to those who play on other worlds. If I was a new player who came here to play on Balmung, I would just start on one of those other worlds and hang tight (not to mention, take advantage of the perks). Learning the game and leveling up with friends on your screen absolutely does enhance the experience but I wouldn't let that stop me with the possibility that transfers could open up again after the madness ends.

I really do hope to see another server take on the enthusiasm people have for Balmung's RP community though. It would be fantastic to have such an obvious showing of players who are here for the roleplay. Tagging just a few servers would help immensely.

EliBallard · **05-17-2017, 09:18 AM**

What's more likely to happen is that nobody from any of the smaller communities is willing to make the jump as they all wail into the void that theirs is the true "other" RP server. Hell, the Discord made for people to discuss these issues gets prickly at the mere mention of actual community size to avoid hurting peoples feelings.

If people aren't willing to be cold and logical about naming an unofficial second RP server and admit that maybe their FC being open to RP doesn't necessarily make it a real RP community for new people nothing will change.

ExAtomos · **05-17-2017, 09:29 AM**

Thinking out loud... I kind of wonder if it would be a good idea to plant a solid RP community for the EU RPers whose ping has gotten bad on one of these new EU servers that's coming in. Start at the start, so to speak.

Like others have said, part of the problem is that RP on Balmung is so established. It's everywhere; it's a high percentage of the player base on the server; RPers don't have to feel weird RPing out and about cause it's the norm. Every night there are 3-8 publicized RP events; this isn't counting FC/LS events that aren't put on the calendar. Hell, I even had a small group of roleplayers back on Atomos... but I wouldn't transfer back there to foster it; I have a veritable buffet of RP just handed out to me on Balmung. Running events on Balmung is enough work. Trying to grow a new community from scratch (by oneself or with one other person is where I'm coming from here, so ymmv) just makes me cringe. Sad

A major problem is that you don't have any sort of consolidated offering of regular RP anywhere but Balmung. You have Siren, Mateus, Gilgamesh (? I thought all RPers left once it became the hardcore raiding server and some problems happened in the RP community), Phoenix, Shiva, Jenova... each with a small group saying "Come here!" Are any of these groups willing to move to ONE server to work together on this and offer what I see as a viable alternative to the big city that is Balmung?

(edited for clarity. I don't mean move all of the RPers to an EU server, lawls. I mean an actual viable EU RP server.)

Erah'sae · **05-17-2017, 09:31 AM**

I saw mention up above that Balmung has gotten too large to be healthy. Â

I'd say the opposite. Â Balmung is above that critical mass point where RP starts to just happen and the community becomes near self sustaining. Â This as opposed instead of having everything segregated and insular. Â There's enough variety and enough breadth to where you don't see the cliquishness and infighting that's constantly plagued "that other game" because of it's raw size, everyone has the ability to just 'be somewhere else' and have something to do. Â FC leaders aren't as worried about people stepping on their ideas because there's room, population wise, for more then one group to do a gimmick. Â

I do see the need for other RP servers but mostly because we have a scarcity of resources in the form of housing. Â If Square ever fixes that, I'd almost argue they should work on increasing world capacity instead of adding new servers. Â Bring more people together instead of trying to split them apart. Â Maybe with the direction they're going with cluster wide friends lists and the like it won't matter in the end. Â

I do agree with a lock down at the start of the expansion though. Â Expansions bring an influx of returning and new players who will be itching to 'play with their friends' during what is already the highest player concurrency times in a game. Â Queues suck both log in and otherwise, extra overcrowding as everyone rolls a red mage/samauri in the open world is going to be interesting as well. Â At least in this game we don't have to 'get the tag' to get quest credit.

Kage · **05-17-2017, 09:40 AM**

Any decisions should probably be held off until further announcements about how many and where in regards to Worlds transfers unless the congestion really isn't as bad as some people believe. EU is due for some additional worlds so I assume that some may want to even try for those, irregardless of whether or not I think that is really a good decision or not as you won't be able to see what the health of the world is like.

EliBallard · **05-17-2017, 09:44 AM**

Moving to a totally new server, especially an EU one when this problem is as much a thing for NA players as well, seems like the worst possible move.

Aegir · **05-17-2017, 09:48 AM**

(05-17-2017, 08:04 AM)Kylin Wrote: Honestly, this was definitely needed. There's a difference between being "crowded" and "overcrowded." Balmung is the latter. The RP community has grown too large to sustain itself in a healthy manner. It's unfortunate that SE had to walk the path of total lockdown to get things back on track, but it's a necessary evil at this point. Up to this point, everyone has continued to keep urging new RPers to come to Balmung every single time. There has been minimal encouragement to move them elsewhere to help our stability.

I do hope and continue to believe that cross-world play is still on its way since SE has already mentioned cross-world tells, friend lists, linkshells, and FCs being in the works. It's just probably a ways off. In the meantime, it's our responsibility to see to it that RP is capable of continuing to grow, rather than be stifled by Balmung's unhealthy devouring of every single RPer. I see this as a 'forced diet,' and it's definitely needed.

That said, it's up to the other servers to up their game to ensure every new RPer gets the solid experience they deserve. I've been to Siren and Mateus both. Siren has a lot of work to do. A LOT. Mateus is in better shape, but also needs to up its game considerably with more varied event types, more open world RP, and less strict policies that needlessly stifle growth. It's essentially doing what we did here with the Â RPC Council/Charter type of deal, which does not work in coalition environments like this. Gilgamesh was born out of contempt for Balmung/Besaid, and I personally would never consider it for that reason alone. However, it does have the name recognition and really needs to work on its internal issues and presence in the larger community. The forced cutoff may be what they need to accomplish that and become a force to be reckoned with again. Basically, it's up to these communities to seize this moment and run with it, and we should be as supportive as possible through it all.

What does "the RP community has grown too large to sustain itself in a healthy manner" mean? Is there something wrong with too much RP happening on one server?

Kage · **05-17-2017, 09:52 AM**

(05-17-2017, 09:44 AM)EliBallard Wrote: Moving to a totally new server, especially an EU one when this problem is as much a thing for NA players as well, seems like the worst possible move.

Oh, indeed. In the space of getting an EU hub as well as an NA secondary, I don't think choosing a totally new space would be a good idea but it's always something to take into consideration.

Iron Bride · **05-17-2017, 09:58 AM**

Yeah I'm not sure I'd agree with the idea of the roleplay community having gotten "too big" as this is the kind of hobby that only gets better with more people.Â Â The server itself is having issues with overcrowding, but the reality is that Balmung is not 100% roleplayers.Â A rather large percentage are roleplayers, for a non-official RP server, but there's still no small amount of people that don't roleplay that might be just as happy someplace else if they didn't have to give up their stuff and pay real life money for the privilege.Â

Balmung as a server could probably really benefit from free transfers off of it, especially with relaxed caps on moving gil and whatnot. Â I think if this were offered for 3-6 months, the population would probably start to balance out much better.

ExAtomos · **05-17-2017, 09:58 AM**

(05-17-2017, 09:44 AM)EliBallard Wrote: Moving to a totally new server, especially an EU one when this problem is as much a thing for NA players as well, seems like the worst possible move.

It makes sense to me to have a viable RP community on the EU DC somewhere so EU players don't have to fight against high ping since they are playing the game as well as RPing.

In a way, I do wish SE would offer these crazy incentives for people to move off Balmung and designate the server as RP. Gonna happen? Doubt it. Can dream though. XD Heck, if there was a new server officially designated as RP, I'd move. We'd have space for more people either way.

Erah'sae · **05-17-2017, 09:59 AM**

(05-17-2017, 09:29 AM)ExAtomos Wrote: Every night there are 3-8 publicized RP events; this isn't counting FC/LS events that aren't put on the calendar.Â

Yup, there are 37 weekly recurring events on my calendar, that isn't counting the monthly, bi-weekly, or one offs which we seem to have 3-10 of every week.

Currently over 100 discord servers (I don't really know his this related to FCs, some are linkshell based) have the RP Calendar discord bot broadcasting events of the day. Â Balmung has grown well beyond what most games call RP servers and taken on a life of it's own. Â Communities have subcommunities, which have groups inside of those. Â

It's kind of awesome to watch.

What another server really needs is about 100 or so highly active RPers to seed a community. That's about the minimum I'd go for any sort of sustainability. Â In my experience once you go below that you start to experience problems due to players being a scarce Â resource. Â Even 100 is pretty small, all things considered, but it's enough to get a solid foothold going. That's bout 5 decent sized groups to interact. Â To maintain any sort of inertia they need infrastructure (groups need to be able to find each other easily and to communicate) and people pushing the social side. Â You also need your movers and shakers who spend their night coming up with events and helping to facilitate those of others.

I'm personally too old and don't have the desire to push any of that on my own, but for those looking to establish a new community on another server, I think that's about what it would take for another RP server to get a solid foothold and survive long term.

(edit: I am the lord of typos.)

Kylin · **05-17-2017, 10:20 AM**

(05-17-2017, 09:48 AM)Aegir Wrote: What does "the RP community has grown too large to sustain itself in a healthy manner" mean? Is there something wrong with too much RP happening on one server?

Yes. It's an endless sea that is impossible for some to navigate. There are so many RPers out there that get frustrated daily because they struggle to find what they're looking for. They're 'lost as sea' so to speak. They go to events, public RP hot spots, and so on, but still can't get what they're looking for. They either get anxiety from there being too many people or they in some cases get outright ignored (not necessarily on purpose, mind you). That's not healthy. When Rpers get frustrated to a certain point, they just give up. They either leave the game or just leave RP and just 'exist' in the background doing other game things. And nobody really seems to care because they have their own ship with their own crew, so they're good to go. And they see plenty of other ships out there, so 'everything must be good' in the grand scheme. But there's another picture people are quick to disregard or ignore. Just because there are 'a ton of ships out there' doesn't mean they're all doing well and it certainly doesn't take into account the tons of other ships that sank without so much of another ship coming to their aid.

Think of it like an all you can eat buffet. That's what Balmung is right now. And people are so excited about that because it sounds great on the surface. But in reality, everyone is so engrossed in their own plate that they're not realizing what's actually happening to the larger buffet behind them. People have so many options that they don't even touch some of the food, even if the food is actually really good. A lot of the food goes to waste and gets tossed out. And if nobody ever eats the mac and cheese, then the chefs eventually stop making mac and cheese altogether.

Balmung has actually hemorrhaged a lot of good RPers over time. People just don't notice it because they're engrossed in their own 'plate' of food. And there's still so much more coming to the buffet table so it's even less noticeable. With the lockout now, there's nothing more coming to the buffet table now. You have to eat what you can get or leave the restaurant (Balmung) for a restaurant that no doubt offers less.

Talking about what SE should have or could have done is pointless. They deemed the overpopulation a problem and made a decision. There's nothing we can do to change that. Until Balmung stabilizes (if it does), it will remain locked out just as character creation has remained locked for as long as it has. Thus, people need to look internally to keep RP going instead of relying on the vast amount of transfers that have been coming in to keep it sustained. That's the point I'm trying to make. There's a huge buffet table of food already on the table. We need to pay attention to it and stop gorging on the same plates of food. We used to have things like our own internal mentor program for the RPC that helped get these 'just existing' RPers out into the open more. Lately, we've done little in this department. Balmung's hemorrhaging is going to be much more noticeable now without the newbie transfers to hide it...

I know my thoughts are probably all over the place. But as the person who initiated the RPC and has watched it grow since its inception, it frustrates me to watch people be completely oblivious to the reality of the many RPers we've actually quietly lost and just keep using the argument that 'people are constantly coming to Balmung so everything must be okay!' People are just too engorged in their individual plates of food to see the reality around them. And eventually, it's going to hit a breaking point and the buffet is going to disappear without notice (or the options are going to greatly diminish without notice).

EliBallard · **05-17-2017, 10:27 AM**

It's easy to say "Balmung needed this" when you're on Balmung and not someone who desperately wanted on.

LiadansWhisper · **05-17-2017, 10:32 AM**

Kylin, taking all the food away isn't healthy, either. It's also not going to make finding rp on other servers easier.

One of the best things about Balmung is that you don't have to worry that by pissing the wrong person off, you will be cut out from rp entirely. That's a very real, valid fear in a smaller population. I've seen what happens when it's a small community and one or two people are able to create a cult of personality and actively exclude players they don't like.

But..sure...having rp available whenever and wherever is a bad thing...

« Next Oldest \| Next Newest »
Pages (23): « Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 23 Next » Jump to page:

Balmung Transfer Restriction Megathread

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes