discussion An EU server, for EU roleplayers *UPDATED 14/06*

[Gwen]

I think a small community can work out, and I'm sure it would slowly grow if people stuck with it. There will surely be new people playing with SB, just gotta hope they come here first and find out what server to play on. 

 

 

But I think it's unlikely that the EU community would up and move from Balmung. The biggest factor in this is everyone is willing to "throw alts" at a new server. But there's not really anyone saying they want to up and move their main. 

 

I think it does have more potential than past efforts however, since Balmung isn't going to get any bigger, so the new players have to go somewhere...

[Nebbs]

... I've been on low pop realms in WoW before and ultimately transferred to Argent Dawn because it was impossible to find RP....

 

I left AD when they created SWC server, but went back recently to realise all the RP had moved back to AD. I would expect something similar to happen in FFXIV as folks shift to alternative MMOs but then we would be looking a merging to a mega server maybe and another set of transfers.

[Virella]

I challenge anyone who supports the effort to create an alternative RP server to explain how this initiative will be different than the numerous other failed attempts to create alternative RP servers.  All prior attempts to create anything greater than a 20-50 person RP clique on another server have failed due to disorganization, conflicting player interests, and the lack of a player base large enough to sustain RP.  This time will be no different. 

 

Some posters express concern about the lack of EU events; however, it is very likely that there will be even /less/ events to attend if EU players break off from the general population and form their own community.  There will also be less potential RP partners and types of RP.  You will not have a sufficient player base to sustain a vibrant, diverse, and healthy RP community in the long-term.

 

It is one thing for a few new RPers who physically can't access Balmung at the present time to select a server to play on until Balmung is open for transfer, it's another thing to repeat the failed efforts of the past and divide a vibrant RP community.

You are a NA player and can do both RP and PvE easily. EU players can't do both due to one little thing called LATENCY. I personally refuse to pay a monthly sub just for RP as I can't do anything other than that after the server move. EU server should be established.

 

And that is the difference between any former attempt and this one. We are forced to do this by a little fact that we can't play the game like we used to.

Unless you're in a slav country, what may be possible, your ping should be around 170-180? That's what I heard from most Dutch, Danish, Belgium German, UK and French people so far. But if you are one of the few people severely affect, my apologies to you, because that sucks.

 

As far as I know, none of my immediate EU friends and acquaintances had to quit the game due to, you know lag currently. I might be wrong and you may be one of them. But the majority of my EU friends didn't really notice the difference.

 

I do really think it is for the best RPs stick together, as much as I'd like to see an EU community, I don't think it's realistic.

[Arty]

I am in a Slav country. I used to have ping of 120-130. Now my lowest is 200, and I can spike up to 265. The game is uplayable as it's so erratic and the attacks go off a few seconds after they should.

[Virella]

I am in a Slav country. I used to have ping of 120-130. Now my lowest is 200, and I can spike up to 265. The game is uplayable as it's so erratic and the attacks go off a few seconds after they should.

I'm sorry to hear that, that's awful. Hope SE can still tweak it a bit. Not sure if a VPN would work, for me it did little.

[DeletedUser]

But I think it's unlikely that the EU community would up and move from Balmung. The biggest factor in this is everyone is willing to "throw alts" at a new server. But there's not really anyone saying they want to up and move their main. 

 

I think it does have more potential than past efforts however, since Balmung isn't going to get any bigger, so the new players have to go somewhere...

 

As an FC leader, with a house and lots of friends made in NA, the cons in moving outweigh the pros. Even if I did demand everyone follow me - which I wouldn't - I could very well end up being the only one from my circle who does leave. Free transfers help, reimbursement on housing helps, but you can't replace friends and that's going to be the biggest factor for a lot of people: will my friends come with me? It's a huge risk to take if you've already established IC and OOC ties. So yes, all I'm willing to do at this point is make an alt elsewhere.

 

But you're right, it does have greater potential than other efforts due to the sheer fact that people can't get onto 'the' big server anymore. I'm watching with interest to see how it works out and I wish all the best of luck to anyone starting a new community. I'm just worried because I've seen similar happen in other MMOs and the results weren't good.

[Kilieit]

Yeah, the reason I think "if you leave Balmung that's bad! stay on Balmung!" is actually completely irrelevant here is because being on Balmung is no longer an option for anyone who started the game after 17/05/17. It is not possible to join Balmung. It is not possible to advertise Balmung as an open, welcoming community - because the game has forced its gates closed.

 

We need an open, welcoming community for roleplayers to join, either to start afresh or to start at all. Balmung can no longer be that community. Full stop. The end. Nothing to do with the people who make up the Balmung community - it is an immutable, indefinite, SE-made decision that - at the end of the day - we have to deal with, whether we like it or not.

 

Our only, singular option for providing that welcoming community, as of now, is to support the creation or growth of a new one - to encourage solid foundations for it so it can continue to grow moving forward. There's obviously a fair amount of desire for an EU-focussed attempt, so I support its pursuit.

 

If you're reading this thread, are European, and either aren't on Balmung, or are on the fence about leaving it because you don't really have m/any friends here... and are therefore considering throwing your lot in with the initiative described in the OP... I'd enthusiastically encourage you to do so. You have the opportunity to be part of something awesome. You are just one person, but those "one person"s add up, and there will need to be a lot of them if we want to make something lasting. You could be one of them. Go in with a positive, constructive mindset and do your best with the others to establish something good.

 

If you're like me and you don't feel like moving would be a good choice for you for one reason or another (any reason! many reasons! this is a hobby, it's your choice) - I would encourage you to promote the efforts (for the sake of those who might feel differently than you do), and to support in other ways if you have something you think you can offer that doesn't involve moving your character. Every roleplayer deserves to have a community that feels like "home" to them, and like I say, it is simply not possible for Balmung be that home for anyone just now joining the game (or anyone whose ping is now unplayable, anyone whose timezone renders USA-friendly events untenable...). Let's try and help those who are acting to stop the gap to do so.

[Erah'sae]

stuff

Not to continue beating a dead horse, didn't they do this at the start of HW as well?  I know I had to wait to transfer in once I started.  It wasn't possible then, it isn't possible now.  It got better.

 

Anyway...  Like I said on the other US thread, what I think you all need to do is sort out who is going to move first, sort out who is going to do your cat herding, event pushing, gathering / publicizing / etc.  Then sort out where they want to go.  We're spoiled by Balmung.  It has hit the mass where it is really self sustaining for most of these things.  

 

Building that from the ground up is a massive amount of work.  I'd suggest get your workers sorted, let them sort out where they're going to set up shop with their people.  Then build a thing, and the rest will fall into place.  I fear if you (plural) move without that infrastructure and I fear for the long term sustainability.

 

For EU, there's time to get that in place before they announce the new EU data center servers.  Low pings mean you'll likely find a server with more then just the RP community looking to move.  That helps with your PvE stuff (hunts, raids, etc).

 

I have very little of a personal stake in this race, I've just seen this done (and not done) time and time again over the years.  

 

tl;dr: Take your time, don't rush, and plan together before jumping.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

stuff

Not to continue beating a dead horse, didn't they do this at the start of HW as well?  I know I had to wait to transfer in once I started.  It wasn't possible then, it isn't possible now.  It got better.

 

Not really. They implemented login queues and added the afk timer again, but most people could still pay to transfer in. (There were a couple small moments when transfers to Balmung were suspended, but nothing that had an official Lodestone post specifically about transfers.)

[Nodem]

stuff

Not to continue beating a dead horse, didn't they do this at the start of HW as well?  I know I had to wait to transfer in once I started.  It wasn't possible then, it isn't possible now.  It got better.

 

Not really. They implemented login queues and added the afk timer again, but most people could still pay to transfer in. (There were a couple small moments when transfers to Balmung were suspended, but nothing that had an official Lodestone post specifically about transfers.)

 

You forgot the instanced zones which people hated.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

stuff

Not to continue beating a dead horse, didn't they do this at the start of HW as well?  I know I had to wait to transfer in once I started.  It wasn't possible then, it isn't possible now.  It got better.

 

Not really. They implemented login queues and added the afk timer again, but most people could still pay to transfer in. (There were a couple small moments when transfers to Balmung were suspended, but nothing that had an official Lodestone post specifically about transfers.)

 

You forgot the instanced zones which people hated.

 

No no, that was "megaserver emulation" but without the option to select which zone server you'd get placed into. From a server architecture view, SE could keep adding extra zone instances like a megaserver, but they gotta make that implementation better.

 

The basic server architecuture is something like

 

Lobby Server (basically your Datacenter)

> passes to World manager (Balmung and others)

 

World Server

> handles global functions (chat, parties, linkshells, FCs, etc)

> sends character to zone/map server (South Shroud, East Thanalan, Idyllshire, etc)

 

Zone Server

> handles NPCs/Mobs

> handles FATEs

> handles hunts

> handles player information and broadcasting to other players

[Erah'sae]

stuff

Not to continue beating a dead horse, didn't they do this at the start of HW as well?  I know I had to wait to transfer in once I started.  It wasn't possible then, it isn't possible now.  It got better.

 

Not really. They implemented login queues and added the afk timer again, but most people could still pay to transfer in. (There were a couple small moments when transfers to Balmung were suspended, but nothing that had an official Lodestone post specifically about transfers.)

 

I must have been one of those unlucky sods who tried during said small moments.  

I consider myself corrected, thanks!

 

I'd continue the server topography discussion but I don't want to derail further then I have.

[Nodem]

stuff

Not to continue beating a dead horse, didn't they do this at the start of HW as well?  I know I had to wait to transfer in once I started.  It wasn't possible then, it isn't possible now.  It got better.

 

Not really. They implemented login queues and added the afk timer again, but most people could still pay to transfer in. (There were a couple small moments when transfers to Balmung were suspended, but nothing that had an official Lodestone post specifically about transfers.)

 

You forgot the instanced zones which people hated.

 

No no, that was "megaserver emulation" but without the option to select which zone server you'd get placed into. From a server architecture view, SE could keep adding extra zone instances like a megaserver, but they gotta make that implementation better.

 

You could select the zone by going to a zone line and selecting the zone. You just had to hope that said instance had space for you to enter. I remember this clearly. It was horrible and since this is all about RP... It would make "Open-world" RP even worse. This is from my experience with megaservers. It's an experience I'd hate to repeat with FFXIV.

 

I only mentioned it as forgotten as that was part of their HW launch stuff, along with what you had listed.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Not to continue beating a dead horse, didn't they do this at the start of HW as well?  I know I had to wait to transfer in once I started.  It wasn't possible then, it isn't possible now.  It got better.

 

Not really. They implemented login queues and added the afk timer again, but most people could still pay to transfer in. (There were a couple small moments when transfers to Balmung were suspended, but nothing that had an official Lodestone post specifically about transfers.)

 

You forgot the instanced zones which people hated.

 

No no, that was "megaserver emulation" but without the option to select which zone server you'd get placed into. From a server architecture view, SE could keep adding extra zone instances like a megaserver, but they gotta make that implementation better.

 

You could select the zone by going to a zone line and selecting the zone. You just had to hope that said instance had space for you to enter. I remember this clearly. It was horrible and since this is all about RP... It would make "Open-world" RP even worse. This is from my experience with megaservers. It's an experience I'd hate to repeat with FFXIV.

 

I only mentioned it as forgotten as that was part of their HW launch stuff, along with what you had listed.

 

That was something they added after the fact. The first couple times they did multi-instances, you were stuck. Then people complained and they gave us the bare-minimum amount of support to switch.

[Flynn Bladebreaker]

 

Not really. They implemented login queues and added the afk timer again, but most people could still pay to transfer in. (There were a couple small moments when transfers to Balmung were suspended, but nothing that had an official Lodestone post specifically about transfers.)

 

You forgot the instanced zones which people hated.

 

No no, that was "megaserver emulation" but without the option to select which zone server you'd get placed into. From a server architecture view, SE could keep adding extra zone instances like a megaserver, but they gotta make that implementation better.

 

You could select the zone by going to a zone line and selecting the zone. You just had to hope that said instance had space for you to enter. I remember this clearly. It was horrible and since this is all about RP... It would make "Open-world" RP even worse. This is from my experience with megaservers. It's an experience I'd hate to repeat with FFXIV.

 

I only mentioned it as forgotten as that was part of their HW launch stuff, along with what you had listed.

 

That was something they added after the fact. The first couple times they did multi-instances, you were stuck. Then people complained and they gave us the bare-minimum amount of support to switch.

Wasn't all this for a week or two? I can't see it becoming a permanent thing. Like ESO it would make finding the players you want to be with incredibly hard unless you are lucky enough to be in their zone. In ESO's case, you gotta at least know of the player first before you can warp to their zone. This becomes a problem with finding RP as well, especially when you don't know anyone. I was always walking into what I heard was an RP hub and it was empty each time. Through word of mouth I was able to warp to the zone with players thanks to a player, and that wasn't until many many months later.

[ShoggMommy]

Wasn't all this for a week or two? I can't see it becoming a permanent thing. Like ESO it would make finding the players you want to be with incredibly hard unless you are lucky enough to be in their zone. In ESO's case, you gotta at least know of the player first before you can warp to their zone. This becomes a problem with finding RP as well, especially when you don't know anyone. I was always walking into what I heard was an RP hub and it was empty each time. Through word of mouth I was able to warp to the zone with players thanks to a player, and that wasn't until many many months later.

 

Unfortunately it can become a permanent thing. WoW itself has done perma-instancing across the servers aside from the two main cities. It caused a lot of problems for RP; still does. It depends how XIV decides to do the instancing if they do it again. But that's wow and this is xiv but there are instances of it happening with other games so they could borrow the idea.

[Erah'sae]

 

You forgot the instanced zones which people hated.

 

No no, that was "megaserver emulation" but without the option to select which zone server you'd get placed into. From a server architecture view, SE could keep adding extra zone instances like a megaserver, but they gotta make that implementation better.

 

You could select the zone by going to a zone line and selecting the zone. You just had to hope that said instance had space for you to enter. I remember this clearly. It was horrible and since this is all about RP... It would make "Open-world" RP even worse. This is from my experience with megaservers. It's an experience I'd hate to repeat with FFXIV.

 

I only mentioned it as forgotten as that was part of their HW launch stuff, along with what you had listed.

 

That was something they added after the fact. The first couple times they did multi-instances, you were stuck. Then people complained and they gave us the bare-minimum amount of support to switch.

Wasn't all this for a week or two? I can't see it becoming a permanent thing. Like ESO it would make finding the players you want to be with incredibly hard unless you are lucky enough to be in their zone. In ESO's case, you gotta at least know of the player first before you can warp to their zone. This becomes a problem with finding RP as well, especially when you don't know anyone. I was always walking into what I heard was an RP hub and it was empty each time. Through word of mouth I was able to warp to the zone with players thanks to a player, and that wasn't until many many months later.

 

I hated that ESO did that for town zones as well as in the field.  It more or less made random in the field RP a nightmare.  WoW did this as well for a while on high pop servers.

 

City of heroes had a much better implementation where you got a list of non-full copies of the zone.  Star Trek Online implemented something similar but you could cheat the system by grouping and re-zoning.

 

I really hate the 'megaserver' concept as it further destroys the feel of an open world, but I'm one of those old fellows who spent many a month in beardy discussion of the virtual world concept.

[Flynn Bladebreaker]

By the way, when will the voting end? And judging by the winning score, wouldn't we need another vote since they'll be adding 2 new EU servers? Gotta decide on one of them after SB.

[Anehki]

I should hope we don't delay the choice further by choosing one between the two through polls, we should probably just have a Mod choose one and post it on here and on the discords and w/e to get us there ASAP. Haha but that might be me wanting to get with my fellow RPers as quickly as I can.

[Flynn Bladebreaker]

we should probably just have a Mod choose one and post it on here and on the discords and w/e to get us there ASAP.

Seems like the best option, really, unless SE responds to it before then (unlikely).

[Nebbs]

we should probably just have a Mod choose one and post it on here and on the discords and w/e to get us there ASAP.

Seems like the best option, really, unless SE responds to it before then (unlikely).

 

 

Really? I'd rather someone who has some skin in the game, like a whole FC that is moving picks. Honestly I don't think this has anything to do with forum admin, and I'd rather not cause anyone a conflict of interest.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Speaking as a staff member, none of us should be making this decision for users in my opinion. Whether or not a server can maintain its population shouldn't be based on incoming new people who may or may not stick around. It comes from people being established and active on that server.

 

While the RPC's goal is to provide an accommodating space for every server, it's not in our best interest to send all incoming people to a ghost town if the server people voted for here doesn't take.

[Anehki]

 

Really? I'd rather someone who has some skin in the game, like a whole FC that is moving picks. Honestly I don't think this has anything to do with forum admin, and I'd rather not cause anyone a conflict of interest.

 

Well, as far as I'm aware there are a few FC's moving and as one of the leaders representing them, I don't really personally care which new one we go for, so long as we go with the Majority choice. The last thing we want to be picky about is the name of a server.

 

While the RPC's goal is to provide an accommodating space for every server, it's not in our best interest to send all incoming people to a ghost town if the server people voted for here doesn't take.

 

 

From what I'm seeing in the interest of the discords and what has been voted it's not going to be so, we need everyones co-operation to make this work. Hesitation will only make things worse. The best you can do is go for the choice that has been voted for, and that is all that is asked I would have thought if it were such a case. As this is a big opportunity. perhaps I'm missing the point of what you are saying though.

[Nebbs]

Well, as far as I'm aware there are a few FC's moving and as one of the leaders representing them, I don't really personally care which new one we go for, so long as we go with the Majority choice. The last thing we want to be picky about is the name of a server.

 

There will be two new EU servers? I don't know their names.

 

We can have a vote when we do know the names perhaps or pick server number 2?

 

I suppose the question at the moment is how many would go, just from this survey there are potentially 59 people who want an EU server, and might transfer. So we may be looking at an RP population less than 30, which is not going to be enough to make it viable.

 

I expect we could pick up more with the expansion and hope for maybe 100?

[Anehki]

I suppose the question at the moment is how many would go, just from this survey there are potentially 59 people who want an EU server, and might transfer. So we may be looking at an RP population less than 30, which is not going to be enough to make it viable.

 

The numbers on here aren't the actual numbers of who is interested, I myself know a number of people who are wanting to go but havn't taken part in the forums poll same with some others in here and there friends. That and there is the potential of new players, like you host public events, people get curious, good and bad attention = good attention in the end anyways.

 

 

I'm personally going to be running events, sorry to repeat myself or be annoying, we just want EU players to know they have a server close to them they can go to and find RP likeminded players, and we aren't going to get this FREE TRANSFER to make this new server Accessible to all.

 

With 59 or so people, we could easily start a community and raise awareness as we encourage new players to come to the server, or brand new players to the game who like RP to come here first, and there will be room and no character restrictions. it's like ++++++, so many positives. ahmahgosh. :cactuar: