Newcomer unsure on server choice

[Baglen]

Hey everybody. I'm Baglen, I only just splurged on the complete edition of FFXIV and I'm completely green to the game and the community. I'm a long-time roleplayer, having close to a decade of experience across various MMOs and other platforms, and I'm excited to involve myself in the community here and sink my teeth into the roleplay. Keeping this short and to-the-point though as less of an introduction and more of an inquiry into the roleplay community, I'm trying to make a decision on which server would be more suited - Balmung or Mateus? I don't want to end up making the wrong choice, so I was hoping you guys would be willing to give me a run-down of the differences between the servers, their roleplay and how the atmosphere differs between as well as any tips and advice in general for someone coming into the roleplay scene on here blind. Thanks in advance!

[Malachar]

They're in the same data center, so you can pick one and still go to the other whenever you want, but what you really want is Mateus. 

[Baglen]

5 minutes ago, Darshendros the Eternal said:

They're in the same data center, so you can pick one and still go to the other whenever you want, but what you really want is Mateus. 

Is there any significant difference between the type of roleplay or attitude on Mateus and Balmung? Or is it just sameish?

[Malachar]

1 hour ago, Baglen said:

Is there any significant difference between the type of roleplay or attitude on Mateus and Balmung? Or is it just sameish?

I've only RP'ed on Mateus, so I'll leave that for someone else to answer. 

[Skae]

Main difference between Mateus and Balmung in terms of RP is that many (not all) of the groups and people on Balmung have been established there for years, building up shared history and relationships.  Mateus is a lot newer as an RP community so you will find far more up-and-coming FCs and more new people in general.

Which is preferable is very much a matter of taste.

 

In type of RP there is no significant difference.  Many of the RPers on Mateus came from Balmung in the first place, so it is only natural that they would be similar in how people play.

 

 

[Baglen]

13 hours ago, Skae said:

Main difference between Mateus and Balmung in terms of RP is that many (not all) of the groups and people on Balmung have been established there for years, building up shared history and relationships.  Mateus is a lot newer as an RP community so you will find far more up-and-coming FCs and more new people in general.

Which is preferable is very much a matter of taste.

 

In type of RP there is no significant difference.  Many of the RPers on Mateus came from Balmung in the first place, so it is only natural that they would be similar in how people play.

 

 

Would you say Balmung is more difficult to get into because of that? Or are the groups there fairly welcoming to new blood coming into the scene?

[Sohki]

Balmung still runs open events on the calendar, and unless you're looking to set up something more structured (which is probably beyond someone whose actually fresh at first anyway) that's a good enough place to start. Plus those events can be accessed by anyone on the Datacenter thanks to World Visit.

 

Really server choice these days comes down to what RP-FC you want to join and where they're based. Well that and how long Balmung can manage to stay unlocked. 

[Maril]

The Roleplay Calendar (You may encounter it in bot-form in various Discords, too) includes events from all of Crystal. But because Balmung has been the primary "unofficial" RP server for many years, a lot of the events that happen are on Balmung.

 

The RP community in FFXIV is massive. You can't accurately pin down a feel or attitude for neither Balmung nor Mateus because they are so big; there's too many FC's and too many people to have any semblance of a unified overarching truth. You will find that people can tell you both good and bad stories of both servers. There are inclusive groups and events on both servers.
A lot of the people who currently play on Mateus also used to play on Balmung, but simply opted to switch once the momentum was there pre-world visit.
 

Functionally speaking, the main thing that is dependent on your choice of server is which FC you want to belong to. You may want to browse the RP Index for themes and tendencies or potential points of applications before you decide. Some themes are stronger and more abundant on one server and less so on another; for example, tribal guilds (more predominant on Mateus). Though I expect/suspect that in the future, Free Companies will be lifted from being bound to a specific server; Square Enix is definitely working towards uniting all of us as much as possible.

 

Because of World Visit and the Cross World Linkshells, this is an excellent time to join FFXIV and it's RPing community. I hope you end up being happy with your choice regardless!

 

[Baglen]

Thank you all. I ended up choosing Mateus in the end because of a friend who I was unaware that played until yesterday. I decided to go with a Xaela Au Ra and the general game experience has thus far been very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to getting into roleplay down the line but at the moment the level grind is my domain.