RP Servers: A Discussion (mods please read before locking..)

[Gerik]

Quite a few RPers have no intention on joining a forum. I know I'll be taking about 6 other people wherever I go. I've discussed it with them, and none of them want to be on a legacy server. There is already an unrelated free company that doesn't want to be on a legacy server. There are several others here who don't.

 

If we're snagging 30ish people, we'll end up making our own RP community, and the RP communities really will be completely separate if that ends up happening. This also isn't accounting for a bunch of new players that'll be coming in closer to release, and who knows where they'll go. Some might enjoy the option of going to a place with an established community, but I'm imagining quite a few want to help establish one. And people tend to really enjoy new servers.

 

Will it be as large? No, it probably won't be. I'm actually positive it won't be, but the whole legacy server only attitude with several people not even entertaining the idea of a new server for new people who would want to join it is pretty weird, don't you think?

 

Good luck on your endeavors!

[Varus]

Lilszee is right: ultimately, it will be up to the new players to decide where they want to go and why.

 

What should be asked is: 

 

If some new players do decide to strike it on their own, should they expect any form of support from the RPC to keep them from breaking apart like the other communities Kylin highlighted earlier? And if so, what should they expect?

 

By extension, is the RPC targeted only at Balmung players or FFXIV RPers in general?

 

There is no wrong answer to these questions, but a clear stance should be taken to avoid any further issues.

[Zosimo]

New players want an alternative RP server so we don't have to deal with all the issues legacy servers have.

 

Some new players want an alternative RP server. It's not even a universal desire among us newbies.

 

I don't see how you're qualified to make that assumption really. 

 

I am not a legacy status player and I have zero interest in joining a legacy server. 

 

Especially after having gone through the past several months of being in a guild I thought I would be starting ARR with, only to find out today that I was expected to join their legacy server at launch with no questions asked. So I left the guild. 

 

I have never seen an overtly-friendly MMO community where the vets outnumber the newbies is one other reason I wont be on a legacy server as well. 

 

I would be more interested to see a discussion on which server will be voted on as a non-legacy new player RP server as opposed to some trying to convince more to join a pre-existing community.

[Eva]

I can't speak for others in the community, but I can speak for me, and I've been around here for a while.

 

I have never, in my entire life, discriminated or been reluctant to roleplay with someone due to their level.  Nor can I say that I've ever witnessed someone else in Final Fantasy XIV think less of another player due to their level, relative experience, or anything else.  Several members of the RPC welcomed myself and my wife with open arms when we started playing Final Fantasy XI as miserably low-level characters post-Wings of the Goddess, with people going out of their way to help us get up to speed.  People will generally raise an eyebrow if you're a level 1 mage claiming to be a master caster, but that is the absolute extent of it.

 

While I can understand concerns about everything being set in stone by launch, the fact of the matter is that doesn't seem to be the case.  Communities will be somewhat established, but a lot of the game's dynamics will be in flux because the game itself is in flux.  Between level sync, new mechanics, and a completely different content flow, I don't think new players will be walking into a clubhouse with complete strangers.

 

Designating a "new" server for people who don't want to play on Balmung honestly seems like the sort of thing more likely to cause issues than avoid them.  It'll help people who are worried about the existing server community, but it'll make everything else more complicated, especially with establishing linkshells and setting up community events.  It's splitting the community, and considering how hard the community has fought to stay together, it's a bad idea.

 

Ultimately, I think the best approach is to stay the course.  If something needs to change, we'll address it as it happens as a group.

I agree with everything that Rhio has stated, and do not think I could have put it better myself.  There has always been a subset of RPers that do not associate with the RPC, whether on Balmung or another server.  I don't feel that it should be the RPC's responsibility to chase after RPers across other servers when the stated goals - at least as I remember them from before the launch of 1.0 - was to unify RPers in one place.  I think it's fine and well if people want to RP on another server, but I also don't feel it should be the RPC's responsibility to promote their linkshells or advertise their activities.  That is my opinion and I'm sorry if it offends some.

[Gerik]

New players want an alternative RP server so we don't have to deal with all the issues legacy servers have.

 

Some new players want an alternative RP server. It's not even a universal desire among us newbies.

 

I don't see how you're qualified to make that assumption really. 

 

I am not a legacy status player and I have zero interest in joining a legacy server. 

 

Especially after having gone through the past several months of being in a guild I thought I would be starting ARR with, only to find out today that I was expected to join their legacy server at launch with no questions asked. So I left the guild. 

 

I have never seen an overtly-friendly MMO community where the vets outnumber the newbies is one other reason I wont be on a legacy server as well. 

 

I would be more interested to see a discussion on which server will be voted on as a non-legacy new player RP server as opposed to some trying to convince more to join a pre-existing community.

 

1) Some new players want to join a new RP server

2) Some new players do not want to join a new RP server.

3) Therefore joining or not joining a RP server is not a universally held attitude in new players.

4) New players having the desire to join or not join a new/legacy server is an assumption.

5) Anyone from the general populace may formulate an assumption.

6) Therefore allgivenover is qualified to make an assumption.

[Zosimo]

@Gerik: 

 

Actually, no because Allgivenover was making a general assumption that most newbies do not want an alternative RP server. "universal desire among us newbies" is a general assumption based on unfounded evidence. 

 

Since I myself am new to FFXIV, and based on the rules of the English language, Allgivenover cannot use the term "us" since I do not agree with him. 

 

I am hoping this site is not biased towards non-legacy players. If it is, then I guess this whole thread is moot if the OP's honest approach is going to be continuously trolled.

[Gerik]

@Gerik: 

 

Actually, no because Allgivenover was making a general assumption that most newbies do not want an alternative RP server. "universal desire among us newbies" is a general assumption based on unfounded evidence. 

 

Since I myself am new to FFXIV, and based on the rules of the English language, Allgivenover cannot use the term "us" since I do not agree with him. 

 

I am hoping this site is not biased towards non-legacy players. If it is, then I guess this whole thread is moot if the OP's honest approach is going to be continuously trolled.

 

Some new players want an alternative RP server. It's not even a universal desire among us newbies.

 

1) The use of the quantitatively descriptive term 'Some' denotates a portion that is not the whole.

2) Some of the new players want an alternative RP server.

3) Therefore it is not a universal assumption among new players.

[Zosimo]

Gerik, you're not even referring to the same sentence I am, so how about trying to stay on topic at least, eh? Thanks!

 

Back on topic though, I vote for Behemoth as a non-legacy unofficial RP server.

[Kylin]

Please refrain from spamming the report button just on the premise that someone disagrees with you. Once is sufficient. Thanks.

 

If a subset of people want to go to a non-legacy RP server, then fine. Nobody is stopping you. The responses are merely warning you of the possible long term impact of doing so and stating that they're not going anywhere. In addition, SE has yet to formally name the RP server and people are very much jumping to conclusions before they even get a chance to. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Believe it or not, there are a lot of old and wise RPers here who know what they're talking about 8-)

 

Also, we're not doing polls right now when things are as heated as they are. So please refrain from trying to further confuse the population. One such poll is already being considered, as the RPC prides itself on trying to provide an environment that benefits the RP community as a whole above all else. If a subset wants to setup a poll for a secondary server, we'll see to it that you get what you ask for

 

But right now, people need to chill.

 

PS: Some of the recent posts came across as being "threats." Really need to consider what you say and how you say it. Nobody responds well to threats.

[LandStander]

I don't know why newcomers are so scared that they will be left out. I am a Legacy player and I will be starting a new character and I am sure lots of people will be doing the same. Plus not everyone was level 50 everything and then when summoner and arcanist coming out even the max level people will still go back and level up the new job. Heck, in a few months no one would be even to tell there was ever a difference. I didn't RP with my last character so I also will have no connections, but that is what the forums, guild, and random RP is for . No reason to splinter the community. A strong RP community depends on staying together and asking someone to sacrifice months (possibly years) of their character time so we can all start on the same even footing is asking for a bit too much. Everything will be fine and I am sure that even the higher levels will help out the lower. You have no idea how many times my old LS in XI ran CoP for myself and other newer people. We were still running it up until the Wings of the Goddess campaign (and I started playing around US PS2 release).

[Zenge]

I'm sure if the new roleplayers migrate into a new server is that they can co-exist with Balmung. There's no reason to refuse their existence as another community. 

 

Look at Guild Wars 2 Roleplayer community: http://www.guildwars2roleplayers.com/

 

The community is split into two servers, North America server (Tarnished Coast) and Europe server (Piken Square) and they managed to get along each other. I'm sure we can do the same, so everyone can be happy.

[Yssen]

Alright. Lets take all take a step back here, please. There seems to be more arguing than discussion going on here, and I do not believe that is keeping true to the spirit of why this issue was brought up. 

 

This is no right or wrong to this issue, at all. While I personally would like to see the community all agree to go to one server, I hardly think there is anyway to see 100% of the community go to the same server. We shall simply have to settle for a majority of the community going to one server or another. There is no right or wrong in any individual's personal decision to choose what type of server they wish to play one. Whether they choose to go with the majority or not is their decision, and that decision must be respected. 

 

Any poll, discussion, or declaration regarding the choice of a server should be understood to simply be something that puts forth the will of the majority. No one is going to make you pick a server, that is not what this site is about. That said, I believe that we as a community should strive to have a large presence on a single server.

 

These questions that we should be asking ourselves;

1. If no official RP server is declared, which sever should become the new unofficial RP server?

 

2. If one is declared, and it is not the server we plan on staying on, are we willing to move to that official RP server?

 

3. What should the community represented by this site do in the case of multiple official or unofficial RP servers being named?

 

In plain truth, I do not think we have been given enough information to make any sort of permanent decision on server choice. We have only rough ideas and speculation to go off of at this point. In light of this I believe that everyone here needs to be flexible and able to bend to the eventualities that loom in the future. I want to stress again that there is no right or wrong to the proposed question of this thread, or to any of the questions I am proposing in this post. Going after each other when we do not know what will happen or be announced in the future serves no purpose, other than to divide us due to our own rigidity. 

 

Let us all bend like the reed, and not snap like the twig. Also, we should remember that we are all here to have fun, and that is many different things to many different people. None of us has the right to tell anyone they are wrong. We only have the right to disagree or agree with one another. Thank you in advance for considering what I have said here.

 

- Yssen

[Tabrett]

Honestly, I don't think we have enough information yet to make some of these decisions. At least, I don't. Until SE reaches/announces their decision about naming a server for official/non-official RP, I kind of feel like we're just beating a dead horse here. That's not to say that anyone's concerns aren't valid or understandable.  I just don't think we can say yet which way the majority of us are going to go. Something could happen before launch to completely change our views about this. 

 

That said, as a new player to FFXIV, I have never experienced being unwelcome by this community in any way. Yes, many of these people have been RPing together for years and have formed close bonds. That doesn't always mean they won't welcome us into their lives too. I know that some people can be selective in who they choose to RP with (I admit, I can sometimes be one of them), but as a whole the RPC is very, very welcoming.

 

I too have concerns about not being able to catch up, about not being able to make enough gil to sustain my character, about not being needed as a crafter or as a job because we already have people who are more experienced, etc. But I think all we can do is try. Perhaps you are right; perhaps the Balamung server isn't the right fit for you. Maybe a new server would suit you better, or you'd be more comfortable. And there is nothing wrong with that. 

 

But I hope that perhaps you will try to join everyone during open Beta and maybe give everyone a chance. If it's still not working out, then I'm sure everyone will wish you all the best.

[Moonfire]

As a new player I have many of the same concerns that have been voiced. I have also experienced some of the same feelings that some other new players have addressed. For example in the art area (happens in other sections too.) you tend to notice cliques, not of artists but of people that have been interacting on the forums for a while together. This is kinda normal but slightly intimidating for new members. I don't think it is intentional just a product of knowing each other longer. I disagree that we are ignored entirely or not listened to though.

 

I am normally a slow leveler and have always pre-ordered games and gotten an early start to counteract my slow leveling. I am also interested in end game and fear that by the time that I am ready to do raids that the majority of players will not want to do them any more. I have never stayed with an MMO that I happened upon after later because I have either felt out of place or no one was completing the content that I was late for. 

 

But... I have decided to start with the RP community. I know that I am at a disadvantage so I am starting on the forums early, looking for a guild that will help me catch up and raid with me, and learning all that I can.

 

The way I see it you can choose to fight to catch up/nudge your way in or fight to find a community. There are no right or wrong answers so stop pretending that there are. It is really the comfort levels of the individual.

 

I don't see the problem with the community having two supported servers and stating which "new" server will be the unofficial RP server. I have seen it in a bunch of different RP communities. All it really takes is a little forum organization, putting server tags on posts that involve a certain server, and announcing it.

 

Pros of having a "back up" unofficial RP server.

-stay in contact with both new and legacy servers and get opinions and ideas from both sides.

- If one server is down you have a back up (depending on how maintenance works)

-If the first server is full you have a second option. (Not sure if that plays a role in FFXIV or not but it has in past games)

-New players aren't forced to choose between leaving the RPC and playing in a way that they are comfortable with. Legacy players don't loose all their hard work by having to move but still get to interact and mingle with the new players.

 

Cons:

- some confusion as to which server events are on and guild etc. Easily solved adding a tag to the post [balmung].

 

I disagree that two servers cause more separation. Especially in a game where you can play on multiple servers.

[Ronberku]

(Holy crap, this ended up longer than I thought it would...)

 

tl;dr We simply want and are excited to roleplay with everyone lol. New and old alike.

 

I honestly didn't want to add anything to this topic. Because it's like seeing(reading) a debate between two individuals that are shouting against each other while covering their ears with their hands. From what I see, the RPC is simply trying to ease people's worries and extend a warm welcoming hand. Which is rudely slapped away from the other party.

 

I'm reading a lot of understandeable concerns from the new players. While the two main ones that pop out are related to the fear of not being able to fit in/join the previous community. Or not liking the thought of being a low level on a server with people that have classes/jobs to 50.

 

Both those issues honestly make me scratch my head. None of those issues ever really striked me as major issues when playing a mmorpg. Much less when roleplaying. But then again, I've always joined mmorpg's much later in their game cycle. I joined FFXI when Chains of Promathia was released. Which was about 2 years if not more into the game. I joined GW2, 6 months after its release. In short, I always joined a gaming community when it was well established. Yet I made friends with low and high level people. I roleplayed with them both and joined/interacted with plenty of people and long established groups.

 

Why would this be any different then? You have a community that WANTS you people to join. Not because we demand it or out of this "elitism" but because we want to see new faces to interact with. I want to see new faces to interact with! My character has been in the game since release, but I barely roleplayed in it. I have 0 connections with anyone here. Except for having seen them around or talked to them on very rare occasions. Does this stop me from walking and talking to them? No. It didn't stop me in GW2 or FFXI and it won't stop me here. Heck, most people I've began to learn by talking to them on this forum.

 

Which bring me to another point. Something I read a long time ago on the GW2 rp forum. I'll mention short what it talked about. It mentioned that it is a roleplayers fault if he's not getting any roleplay or is being interacted with. The topic was there to encourage people to not stay in some corner and remain silent but try to be the one initiating a conversation. Obviously if you play a shy, nervous, silent type then you basically put yourself in a tough spot from the get-go.

 

Concerns about economy also seem over exagerated. Low level weapons and gear were always in demand in the previous version of FFXIV. This is one of the aspects where a FF online title outshines most mmorpgs. The fact that you can play multiple classes serves for this almost never ending cycle of the need of lower level weapons and armor.

 

Finally, people will mostly create additional characters. This is especially the case for the legacy players. Because we get the additional free slots. I know that I'll be creating a female roegadyn because I want to experience the game as well from the perspective of a new player. On another note. I'm not that rich either. I got plenty of crafts and classes that needs to be leveled. My fisher is even untouched...Well my signature speaks for itself.

 

However, I'll leave with these words. Everyone is free to do what they want. And I encourage it. Last thing I think anyone wants, is to ruin the game experience for the other. But the RPC is simply trying to ease everyone's worries while being excited to welcome the new influx of people. I'm surely not the only one that was happy to see the new faces pop up around here.

 

ps: There are way more roleplayers out there that haven't created a profile on here. I know plenty of names that I've never seen around here. Just fyi.

[Anehki]

My communities main concern is the fact that roleing on a Legacy will effect our experience overall, not nescessarily RP. RP isn't really bothered much by in-game progress, but I would very much like to not have to server swap, JUST to RP.

 

I'm personally planning on speaking on the new Lodestone's forums, for discussing new players and old alike interested in creating an RP community on one of the new servers (Currently we have votes for Moogle so far.).

 

PvP, Economy, and many other means of progress will be carried over from what is seen as a seperate game, it might work fine, it might not work out at all. The problem is not everyone from Balmung will be on this forum, and others Playing on the now Japanese servers, may want to move to their region.

 

It is completley impossible to predict what is going to happen next, the best we can do is work together and achieve something we can all agree on. Personally, I will probably be using the new lodestone when it's launched, it's features sound perfect.

 

I think it would be fantastic if we could all work together to make FF XIV one of the best MMORPG RP communities the internet has ever seen.

[ArmachiA]

I'm not Legacy and I'll be pretty much starting in the RP community fresh. I cant argue economy or the distribution of wealth on a Legacy server (I'd have to see it to make an informed argument) I can say I'm not THAT worried about being on Balmung despite the fact all these Legacy RPers are used to each other. Mostly, this is because I'm banking on what SE is banking on - a ton of new people.

A bunch of new people coming to the Balmung server as the unofficial RP server will pretty much drown out any Legacy "elitism" that may occur. There will be more NEW players than there will be Legacy players, and they are the ones who are going to have to adjust to the influx of new RPers. It's not just going to be 30 or 40 new people either. If SE has their way, it's going to be thousands (Though Realistically it'll probably be in the high 100's). Legacy RPers are the ones who are going to have to adapt, not the new RPers. If they're "elitist" and "insular" than the new RP groups that form will leave them in the dust, though I doubt 95% of Legacy RPers are either of those things.

 

That's my take on it anyway.

[Aysun]

I think it would be fantastic if we could all work together to make FF XIV one of the best MMORPG RP communities the internet has ever seen.

 

Splitting the RP community on two servers is counterproductive to making XIV one of the best RP communities, IMO.

 

Balmung is home to many non-RPers (we were VASTLY out numbered in 1.0) and I can assure you that you will still be able to progress in the game being on Balmung. Hell, many of the RPers here (me included) loooove endgame and are very involved with it. So yea..

 

This whole thread is depressing.

[Ronberku]

As much as I'd like the new players to join Balmung, we can't also force them to do so. I've seen some other people share the same opinion on the beta forum. Some new players are fine with joining a legacy server while others aren't. At this point, I tend to think that we are with little choice but to have those people pick a secondary server. As much as it pains me to see something like that happening. Then again, this might actually occur if the servers happen to be full and closed.

 

Balmung is honestly one of the best communities I've been around with. We were even one of the few(if not only?) servers to occasionally do server wide events. From crafting fairs, to dungeon runs and running all over eorzea on our goobbue/chocobo from one aetheryte to the other.

[Kylin]

I think most people's opinion on this matter is pretty well known at this point. So let's go in at a different angle now.

 

To the minority that wants a non-legacy RP server: What exactly do you want from the RPC? Is it 'official recognition?' A subforum for events? What specifically do you want from us? We know you want a secondary server. We know you want us to listen to you, and we are. But what do you want us to do?

 

I have no problem setting up an 'official unofficial' poll. I think it's very safe to say that Balmung will win by a landslide though. However, the second place winner can be named the unofficial "non-legacy RP server" if that makes you happy. However, Square Enix can easily undo everything once they come to their final decision on how to handle the official Rp server.

 

I will state my opinion and prediction on this matter though. Even if you do get what you want, think for a moment why people are very much against the idea for the most part. What happens when/if the secondary RP server flops in activity once the population stabilizes several months after launch? There are going to be several RPers who are then stuck on a server where RP has become non-existent. Some will transfer/recreate a character on Balmung. But others will have made OOC friends by that point and will stay on the server, essentially giving up on RP. That means that the RP community loses more RPers than it already is going to post-stabilized population. So surely you can understand why people aren't very thrilled over all this? They're thinking about the long-term consequences, not the short-term ones. History moves in circles. This isn't the first time this has happened. Back at the start of the original game launch, a couple of RP shells broke away and tried to make a RP community on the Kachua server. It didn't make it. Not even close. There were also small pockets of RPers on Lindblum at first, and again, the RP community overall there became phased out entirely. Balmung remained the only server with public RP events, publicly known RP linkshells, and lots of constant RP and storylines. And we'll never know how many RPers were lost to the community forever because of a couple of people dragging their members to a different server.

 

Contrary to what anyone may believe, XIV is going to have a nice population. It will not have millions of players, especially not in an age where MMOs are so abundant. Out of the already niche population (defined by the subscription pay model and a previously failed version of the game), the RP population is going to be small. Dividing it is a scary thought for people. So hopefully you can understand this side of the argument and understand that some of us have seen this happen already and know what's going to happen again. One can't compare XIV to GW2 (or other MMOs), where the population is vastly different.

 

That said though, please tell us exactly what you want.

[Mtoto Wamoto]

For the most part, I've been trying to take a step back from engaging in this thread since my initial post as I wanted to look over the various viewpoints presented first. I feel that too often do people come in with the intent to intent to reply before they have an intent to understand.

 

After reading everything, I don't believe anyone here is trying to force anyone into having to pick what server they want to go. The people who want to start on a new server aren't saying that Legacy players have to leave Balmung, nor are Legacy players saying the new RPers and returning RPers have to roll on Balmung and just deal with it. It all boils down to personal preference and as several people have stated, there is no right or wrong choice in it. There's only the choice that makes the players happy in the end, and I believe that's what the most important thing to consider here is.

 

Can there be a secondary RP server for new RPers and even people who want to get a taste of new community? Of course. 

 

Can Balmung continue to act as an unofficial RP server among a sea of others? Yes. 

 

I think something to keep in mind is that even though Balmung is considered the unnofficial RP server, it wasn't the only server back in 1.0 that had RP present. Hyperion, Masamune, Cornelia, are just a few servers I'm aware of that had some solid RP and tight knit communities. Even within Balmung itself, there was an entire community that splintered off from the RPC community due to them wanting to be on their own among other reasons. 

 

Bottom line is, communities can coexist across servers, we've seen this happen in the past. Is it detrimental to the growth of each individual community? I don't think so. Again, people will gravitate towards where they want to be, whether it be linkshells, free companies, or servers. In an ideal setting, I would love to be able to have every RPer on one single server, but having options and choices between what server people want to be on isn't hurting anyone.

 

As a Legacy player, I feel that the most important thing that newer players need to understand is that we want to RP with you guys yet at the same time we also don't want to leave what has become our home over the past 2-3 years. I'm sure many of you understand that. Legacy elitism is something I feel is nearly non existent within this community. Personally speaking, I don't care if someone is Legacy or not, if they're nice and RP, that's good enough for me.

 

Several points have been made regarding the RPC and if it should act in the same vein for communities outside of Balmung as it does for the community within Balmung. I'm of the personal opinion of "Why not?" If the site is made to facilitate RP, why not add features to facilitate RP across all servers? Of course, this is something the mod and Kylin should decide, but I'm for the idea that the RPC shouldn't be exclusive to Balmung alone. Perhaps even a sister RPC can be created so the two can coexist yet cater towards different audiences. With the ability to create multiple characters across different servers, maybe we can come to an understanding compromise so that healthy interaction betweenthe our two communities can still occur. I would just hate to see us being cut off completely from a whole group of equally wonderful and creative players. 

 

We're not going to be able to make everyone happy by just one cut and dry choice. While it may seem a bit early to start making decisions, it isn't too early to make plans for alternatives should things go awry. A ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure after all. 

 

Perhaps what we really ought to do is really push for an official RP server(s). SE has said they are considering it, but why not show them just how many people would actually be interested in it? That is an endeavor that I feel both parties can work towards rather than throw heated words across a forum all day.

 

Let's put aside silly titles and undue stress and worry. Let us instead focus on seeing eye to eye and working in a manner that can please both sides as well as create common goals that we can both work towards.

[Ronberku]

Just a minor thing I want to add. At this point, I don't think that S-E appointing an official server will solve anything. Instead the same current debate will still exist. Unless S-E appoints one legacy and one non-legacy server.

[Mtoto Wamoto]

Just a minor thing I want to add. At this point, I don't think that S-E appointing an official server will solve anything. Instead the same current debate will still exist. Unless S-E appoints one legacy and one non-legacy server.

 

It all depends on how they handle it. There are a lot of different ways they can implement RP servers. I think if we're more vocal on the official forums with what we as RPers are seeking, they'll take it into consideration if there is enough feedback on the matter. We've seen them do it before on several occasions after all.

 

Even if there is one server for Legacy players and non Legacy players, we should still think how we can have them coexist and work alongside one another. I would have no issue creating a character to RP on the other server from time to time when RP on my main one is slow for whatever reason.

[Magellan]

Sadly, I don't think this is a server issue, its a people issue. The grass may appear greener on the other side, but I am relatively certain it is not.

 

75% of people can break into new situations with ease; whether it be associating with legacy members, a new guild they've joined, or even forming friendships with their fellow new gamers.

 

25% of us ( which I am a part of) struggle because we like to be 'shown the ropes'. Just as the 75% struggle to understand why we can't just 'dive right in', we find it hard to see why people aren't more cordial and welcoming. In PvE, I have found a few very noob- friendly guilds. I have never found this with RP.

 

You join a guild. You get a tepid to warm chorus of welcomes. Everything is great OOCly, but ICly, no one has taken the time to welcome you to the fold, to introduce you to the guild's story, to give you some material to work with, for your character to find their groove. The onus is completely on you to do so, or you are told to read the forums. Well, forums work great OOCly, but still no one has taken the time to make you feel included ICly. Since we are in the minority, the majority see no problem.

 

So what's the solution? Well, either get lucky and find a very friendly RPmate to help bring you along, or form your own guild specifically designed to help and include the 25%. But you DO NOT

need a new server to do that. Eventually, that server will fall into all the old patterns and

problems. It is quite fine to seek an alternative server, but it certainly will not fix the perceived

problem. People simply form cliques. You have to work to feel included, and even then, its not

guaranteed to pay off.

 

This is why I usually start my own guild; to try and formulate an atmosphere where all will feel included, where all will feel at home. But to expect to spread that across an entire server is a little unreasonable, imo.

 

Frustrating? Yes. But you do what you can to stay the course, and carve out your own little realm of happiness.

 

Those who seek another server should be responsible for representing themselves on the RPC, since the RPC's purpose is to represent the majority of the RP community, not its entirety. Or, the alternate server could set up a sister site linked to the RPC. Just my two cents.

[Ellie]

I don't want to trivialize concerns that a few here have voiced about joining a server with players who already have a head start, but thinking about it in the long term, the idea of a separate RP server for the express purpose of having a place where new players can go and be on a level playing field with everyone else is utterly unsustainable.

 

The non-legacy servers for new players will not stay new. The players on that server will catch up to everyone else in the content, and then suddenly the only reason anyone ever had for going to a separate RP server will be gone. Future newcomers will not have the luxury of starting on a brand new server unless SE opens more servers.

 

And if that happens, what if new players who are just coming on to the scene want to start on yet another new server? Will we try to support a third RP server? What about a fourth server after the third server is no longer new? When will it end?

 

Not to mention the confusion that will crop up for new players when they're told that there's more than one RP server. Most newcomers looking primarily for RP gravitate to where the most RPers are, and for good reason. More people means more opportunities for roleplay.

 

It's for that reason that I want to prevent splitting the community as much as possible. It will be better for everyone in the long run.