EU players, how do you cope?

[Clover]

Hello! I hope this is the right place for this kind of topic. If not, I apologize.

 

As I've mentioned before, being an EU player, I've sacrificed endgame for the sake of joining the unofficial RP server. Granted, I don't RP much ingame because I'm not a fan of casual tavern RP, but I love attending events. However, most events I see lately, even the ones advertised in the tumblr RP community, are organized with NA timezones in mind.

 

In the end, I'm feeling a bit frustrated because I can't do endgame anywhere and I can't attend most RP events either. I've read that many EU players left Balmung for an EU server, and that there are many RP groups in said servers.

 

EU players, does anyone know anything about this? Has any EU player from the RPC ended up leaving Balmung/Gilgamesh and found RP elsewhere? I merely want to know if there's any active EU RP community, organizing events for European timezones. Even if there's not, which is the recommended EU server?

 

Thank you for your time.

[Aduu Avagnar]

I know of one person who has left for Excalibur (I don't know if that is EU or NA) for the Endgame there.

 

personally I am not too bothered by the timezones for endgame, but at the same time, if I want to run it, it tends to be in the early hours of the morning. Then again, I also tend to get by with a smaller ammount of sleep than some.

 

As for EU groups organising stuff for EU players, afaik Kin is your best bet, they are mainly European to my knowledge, and there is also the Europa Linkshell to find EU-centric RP.

[Adventurer]

I'm also an EU player and this has crossed my mind a few times! I have a 'standard' schedule (as in I can usually only play evenings in the week and weekends, due to a 9 till 5 working situation) and that usually means I'm around too early before any juicy RP begins to happen!

 

I think EU RPers in Final Fantasy XIV are quite a rare breed, or at least in my experience we appear to be! There isn't much choice of Free Company either, unless we're happy to join an NA group and hope we can snatch up some stuff at odd times. I guess that adds to the stress a bit, too.

 

It's a bit of a struggle, I'll admit! I've heard there are quite a few EU players on Moogle, and I know a bunch of RPers headed that way at launch but I have no idea if they're still playing and/or active.  I imagine that'd be best bet if you wanted to start focusing on end-game instead, but on the flip-side the RP community that did head there at launch could very well be over now that we're one year on.

 

For what it's worth, I'd be happy to RP with you! :blush: I'm always hunting down more EU players to hang out with. It gets a bit lonely when the majority of people you associate with are NA based!

[Dravus]

I'm lucky enough to have a rather flexible schedule despite living in the EU but I can totally understand where you're coming from. It's disheartening to hear that there's EU players who have abandoned Balmung but I can't disagree with their reasoning.

 

I'm the sort of player who enjoys indulging in every aspect of the game since role-play alone isn't enough for me. The duty finder allows me to tackle a fair bit of content but I'd love to be able to find some like-minded EU players to complete some of the more difficult content with.

 

So if anyone is interested in teaming up with me then I'm willing to help them out - I just won't be able to actually be a raid leader.

[Raz]

It isn't too bad for me. I don't get much sleep, and so I get by with less than most. My work also keeps me awake pretty late, so my schedule coincides pretty nicely with NA players.

 

The only EU group I can think of from the top of my head is Europa, but I'm sure there are plenty others scattered around the EU servers.

[Clover]

Nako> Thank you for your reply! ^^

 

I'm in the EU LS, but sadly they don't do endgame. And as far as I know, they don't organize events either. Or at least I haven't heard about it (I assume that if someone organizes an actual event, they'd advertise it here).

 

Oh well, perhaps the solution really is for me to transfer. I must think carefully about it.

 

 

 

EDIT: Waaa, more replies @@ I didn't read them when I posted. *Does so now*.

 

EDIT2: Thank you for leaving your comments, everyone! Are you all in the Europa Linkshell? If so, and if you're interested in endgame, perhaps we could try to make a party and raid together? So far, the people at the EU LS don't seem interested in endgame raids, or this was what I was told when I asked them a while ago. It's a pity; I want to enjoy the game to the max as well (High Allagan tunic *coughs), and I feel I'm missing many things.

[Dravus]

I wouldn't be opposed to an invite to the Europa LS if there's still room! Or perhaps a new LS could be created primarily for EU raiding? I'd love to be able to tackle Turn 5 and the various high end primal fights. Relying solely upon the duty finder is...inefficient, unfortunately. So long as everybody does their best I don't mind if we wipe.

[Aduu Avagnar]

I wouldn't be opposed to an invite to the Europa LS if there's still room! Or perhaps a new LS could be created primarily for EU raiding? I'd love to be able to tackle Turn 5 and the various high end primal fights. Relying solely upon the duty finder is...inefficient, unfortunately. So long as everybody does their best I don't mind if we wipe.

Theres still room, I can send you an invite, and if there are enough people interested, I have a spot for another LS so can put one together easily enough

[Nebbs]

I'm an EU player in a tiny EU FC, and I find you have to live with the time difference which does have some ups as well as downs. Also as we RP it also makes fitting in PvE a compromise in the end.

 

Some suggestions that may help some

 

PvE for RPers LS "Balmung's Finest" - this is active and people are on around the clock LINK

 

Friday 8pm UK time we (my FC) run a PvE session, it's just a few hours but we have space for four LINK. Maybe other FC could do similar and we can have a LS for small FC PvE help?

 

Plug: RP wise most LS are dead. I have started one after saying that we should and it is still small, but all are welcome. LINK

[Ridegmuve]

To add my two cents to this, as an EU player, I have considered moving to Balmung, because of the EU links hell, a couple of other older FC members done it, however I decided against it, I have made way too many friends to leave them behind. I'm lucky that my work schedule coincides with North American peak times, so it works out to my advantage and my FC does both RP and progression, so there is that as well!

[Clover]

As always, I want to thank everyone for sharing their experiences ^^

 

Nebbs: Waaaaa, Balmung Finest sounds good, but what sounds really great is your FC's Friday event! So they organize learning parties... that's really wonderful.

 

- Leviathan XM.

- Moogle XM.

- Coil T5.

 

Those are the ones I'd love to learn right now! Do you think it'd be okay if I could participate the next Friday? I might fail a lot at first, but I think I'm decent once I learn.

 

Also, I'd love to join Balmung Finest just in case they decide to raid when I'm online. Aaand let's see if we can get any party from the EU LS, though I'm not really counting on that due to a general lack of interest in endgame content.

[Crisiet]

The magic of caffeine. And having absolutely no set schedule to work around.

[Aduu Avagnar]

thanks to the kindness of some people on the FFXIV FB thread, I managed to clear t5, so I now know the fight all the way through, and not just up to twisters as I have done before, so I would be willing to help with any t5 stuff. As for the ex's i cant help beyond being an extra body to learn for all but gary.

[Nebbs]

...snip...

 

Those are the ones I'd love to learn right now! Do you think it'd be okay if I could participate the next Friday? I might fail a lot at first, but I think I'm decent once I learn.

 

Also, I'd love to join Balmung Finest just in case they decide to raid when I'm online. Aaand let's see if we can get any party from the EU LS, though I'm not really counting on that due to a general lack of interest in endgame content.

 

Sure I will let Ilwe'ran know.. better still reply to that post with what you want. We cleared Levi and Thornmarch and are looking at T5.

 

Balmung's Finest I would describe as a general PvE LS, there is no set raids as such but people do ask/share and group for things like Roulette, ST, Frontlines and also T5- learning.

[Maril]

It's news to me that EU players are leaving Balmung as per se, I've actually experienced an increase in people that contact me and ask about the conditions on Balmung because they're considering moving their main over. And the EU LS currently consists of some 80-or-so active people, which I consider a healthy size considering that EU RP'ers will always be of a smaller scale regardless of where they go. I think WoW might still be the only place where the EU RP community isn't exactly small, though I haven't played that for 3~years.

The EU LS doesn't have people that specificly plan events because it's intended as a LF-RP linkshell, but we do see events advertised now and then - My FC is for example having two barnights/week currently and we host larger events whenever we get the right ideas, always in the EU primetime. To that extend if you have an idea for an event and were to ask for help with it in the EU LS I'm sure people would toss you at least some feedback (provided that you do it at the right time, mind)

 

I think it is as it always is with RP - You need to make the right connections, and sometimes you have to be a little more pro-active with the approach, I guess. I greatly enjoy the fact that there seems to be 24/7 RP on Balmung, and in the weekends I tend to try and get a few energydrinks down to see the light and the RP events of the early mornings.

As for PvE, I wouldn't be of much help since I do not raid - my FC is building a secondary coil team (nothing too serious) for the weekend-morning hours, like 9AM ish BST, though im not sure what they need. Lynna Greene is the one you should talk to if you want to know more.

[Clover]

Ah, I don't actually know. That many EU players left to another server is what this person told me http://kiiwichan.tumblr.com/post/94244085432/clovermemories-sometimes-im-tempted-to-leave

Perhaps it only happened many months ago?

 

I was just wondering if other EU players had felt a bit left out sometimes. I don't know how many times I've had to write "I'd love to attend this event, but sadly my timezone is bad", *laughs*.

 

In any case, having a static group willing to do endgame content, from T5 to Second Coil of Bahamut, would be really awesome for me. I'll try to contact Lynna and ask her about the team they're building. Thank you for letting me know!

[Blue]

My case is kind of special, because even though I am on Balmung, I don't really do tavern RP, and attend like 1% of the RP events that are scheduled on the calendar.

 

I RP on a main basis in RP sessions with my linkshell, meaning we schedule specific slots of times and days in the week to meet and RP whatever we want to RP, be it in /l or in /s, we always stick together.

 

Thankfully enough, even though there's only two EU players in my LS including myself, we're a close enough group, so we care for each other's time restrictions, and our scheduled RP sessions are almost always during hours that meet both NA and EU's ideal hours, not too late for the EU, and not too early for the NA RPers.

 

For example our standard RP time is in the noon EST, which coincides with 6:00 PM my time.

 

Unfortunately though, this is something that can be easily arranged only in a small group with few different timezones. A whole server is much more different to make ends meet, as there are timezones from all over the world involved.

[Maril]

Ah, I don't actually know. That many EU players left to another server is what this person told me http://kiiwichan.tumblr.com/post/94244085432/clovermemories-sometimes-im-tempted-to-leave

Perhaps it only happened many months ago?

 

I was just wondering if other EU players had felt a bit left out sometimes. I don't know how many times I've had to write "I'd love to attend this event, but sadly my timezone is bad", *laughs*.

 

In any case, having a static group willing to do endgame content, from T5 to Second Coil of Bahamut, would be really awesome for me. I'll try to contact Lynna and ask her about the team they're building. Thank you for letting me know!

 

It could also just be a person who never managed to get in contact with any EU fc's and such, I neither advertise for the EU LS or my FC in the general chats anymore because the EU LS fills up with people that come to this site and my FC is big enough (and still receives applications now an again). So I guess being a new player and finding the information, especially if one doesn't use the RPC here, can be a challenge that then causes some people to move away again.

Unfortunately it's a bit of a tough one to fix, even if we were to actively talk about it in shout and such I think we'd miss people still.

[Ilwe'ran]

Maybe what I'll say will help you a bit, Clover. I'm coming from Odin as both Odin and Moogle were tagged as possible RP and as many 4chan were heading to Moogle and I wanted to avoid the trolls, I picked Odin.

What I can tell you is that there were no.event.at.all. I managed to meet my first other RPer after like.. 1 month ? So I chose to move to Balmung when there were the 3 days free and I have no regrets.

I admit that there really few events EU friendly and maybe people should begin earlier their events (such as balls etc.) to allow to EU to join to the dance as well.

I admit that for end game, we have to move our butt ourselves to make it working as many people are playing NA.

But there are other advantages that NA players don't have such as : Spiritbound, hunts, easy farm on Fleece / Apkallu eggs, etc. As they are sleeping when we are doing those things, it's pretty comfortable.

There are less EU players than NA so we can meet the same people often. Which of course have 2 sides as you can like them or dislike them.

 

As said Nebbs before me, he began a LS related to RP to help people to keep in touch and have new RP contact. It would be nice if people would try to pick people there when they will run some plots. On my case and I'm sure for Nebbs as well, we'll try to run things EU friendly because YES people in Balmung aren't all NA.

We are also running the Poke in the eye night because.. Because it's not because we are EU that we cannot poke things in the eye after all, we should help each others more as we are less and, I'm sure, some are as hopeless and as sad as you are Clover and there is no reason at all : We are as capable as NA, we just lack of organisation.

Like you, I dislike Tavern RP but while I was trying to get more people on the plots related to Ilwe I found that most of people just want to follow the flow and not imply themselves. As I'm preparing the 3rd chapter I'll make another attempt to get a few people in. I say few as my plots are long (Both chapter 1 and chapter 2 lasted 4 months.. Each.. With RP everyday) and the more you are, the more chances you have to have people who cannot come etc. I'm thinking about how I can make this work atm especialy as there are so many things that happened in 8 months.. But I'll find a way, I'm sure . (Of course it will be EU friendly hours !)

 

I can't say much more, just keep courage, we'll all find a way to make it work, there are a lot of EU RPer on Balmung, just lack of organisation I might say ♥ !

[HonZoMon]

Even in the off-peak times there's always someone to RP with. It mostly sucks because I can't really rp with the regulars here on HRC, since the majority is US. On weekdays anyway. Which means I have to make sure I have time set aside on the weekends or I end up not seeing people for weeks at a time.

 

Still 

 

I'm having a great time non the less. Plus I get to meet all the rpers that aren't on during peak hours. So it works out in the end. :thumbsup:

[Aris]

I moved to Balmung from Cerberus for roleplaying, but sadly any events are usually around 3am GMT so I've missed them.  But I do still see roleplaying in certain areas generally all throughout the day, so I think I just need to put myself out there a little more and meet the right people. And maybe stay up a little later on occasion. 

 

 If there is space and you'll have me, I'd love an invite to any EU progression/RPing related linkshells. It'd be lovely to make friends in a similar timezone! And if anyone is interested in creating a specific endgame progression one, I'd love to help out. I really want to focus on progression, but haven't tried anything yet.

[Ogriv]

I'm a new player to the game and have been interested in the idea or RP'ing but really know nothing about it. 

 

I'm also in the UK and find that at "prime" times (weekday evenings) it can be a little quiet to find people to socialise with.

[K'hylia]

Hey everyone!

 

I've just moved to Balmung to try and find some RP also. If anyone is willing just to give me a chat in game about linkshells and RP in general for EU folks I'd really appreciate it. Or even RP with me!

 

K'hylia Fhey is the IG name.

[Nebbs]

Hey everyone!

 

I've just moved to Balmung to try and find some RP also. If anyone is willing just to give me a chat in game about linkshells and RP in general for EU folks I'd really appreciate it. Or even RP with me!

 

K'hylia Fhey is the IG name.

 

In answer I made a topic

 

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=7995

[Brynhilde]

Hey, all.

 

It's really encouraging to see other Europeans about on Balmung and keen to find RP, but it's also saddening to hear that some are moving away out of frustration. I was previously unaware that this was happening, too.

 

Because we Europeans are a small proportion of the population of Balmung, I think when linkshells and FCs advertise themselves as both North American and European, it's kind of assumed that the Europeans are a minority of that group and will consequently lose out to the North Americans when it comes to event scheduling. I don't know about other NA/EU FCs, but in my own we try to schedule events that are convenient in both time zones. As it turns out, we've ended up with a membership who are mostly active during EU times anyway, which is nice.

 

But anyway, there seems to be a general sense here that:

• It's difficult to meet fellow Europeans for RP,
  
• Events made by and open to Balmung's general community are sometimes exclusionary to Europeans due to being created and hosted by those in non-European timezones,
  
• There aren't many European RP LS/FC options out there,
  
• There is perhaps a lack of communication and organisation between European players and RP groups.

If these points are the broad sentiment going on here, then I definitely agree. I've felt the occasional loneliness of the European player on Balmung before, too. I imagine a lot of us have, at some point.

 

The question is; what can we do about that?

 

In my opinion, I think that if we pull together and put a little effort in, we can really improve the lot of Europeans on our server.

 

There are of course resources already in place that we can use, such as those listed in Nebb's list. But perhaps there's more we can do.

 

Do we feel that a European-specific sub forum here on the RPC would help us be visible to each other? Or perhaps even our own Enjin site, if people would prefer that. Should European-inclusive FCs and Linkshells form some sort of co-operative alliance? Perhaps an option to filter the linkshells page by timezone / region would be helpful.

 

In short, there's loads of options open to us if we want to make Balmung a better home for EU RPers. I'd love to work with you all to make this happen, if the desire and will is there!