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+--- Thread: [Discussion] The State of Balmung's Lockdown (/showthread.php?tid=20964)
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - JudicialHunter - 11-20-2017
(11-20-2017, 12:27 PM)Unnamed Mercenary Wrote: snipWell, as far as I'm aware, the servers are only a handful of them anyway. Wyrmrest Accord and Moon Guard, the two big RP servers, are linked together, as well as smaller RP servers, since WoW has servers dedicated specifically to RP/PvP/PvE.
The thing about WoW is that it also doesn't have super different NPCs most of the time, so it's less of an issue than one would probably think. At least in more recent quests, I've found. Plus, the WoW quests aren't exactly -mandatory-. They don't gate content behind most things, except raid attunements, for example, so it's less of a problem. If you're partied up, it'll just pull you together in the phase 9 times out of 10, as well.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - ExAtomos - 11-20-2017
(11-20-2017, 12:15 PM)Zhavi Wrote: I have noticed some attitudes towards Balmung from people who left (of the good riddance it's locked and hopefully it'll stay locked forever variety) that worry me a little bit; Balmung has always had something of a reputation -- for good or ill -- but the lock kinda...I dunno, it feels like it crystallizes it, in some ways. Â Having a hard time putting words to it, but basically I just never want to see server vs server animosity. Â I like that different servers have different feels to them! Â Multiple server rp communities are great to me. Â Barring the sour grapes who always exist, I just want the overall community to stay supportive of each other, no matter who goes where.
Same here. I didn't lose all that many from my friends list or LS, but the ones that did leave were all unhappy with Balmung for one reason or another. In other words, I don't know anyone that chose to leave that was HAPPY being on Balmung. So, some bitterness and gossip mongering is to be expected.
I am personally okay with only encountering brand new players in the DF, but this is because I got burnt out on supporting new players (specifically the type who expected everything be handed to them and were vocally outraged when their 'needs' weren't met) and transferred to Balmung in part for the RP and in part because the only ones who could even get into Balmung were those that were willing to put forth effort to do so.
I don't see a server split happening. Balmung's population may slough off a few here and there from now on, but I don't see any great reduction happening again. SE's servers can apparently hold up with the numbers we have, so why complicate things by forcing a split? (I agree too that the infrastructure we have with housing makes it impossible anyways.)
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Parth Makeo - 11-20-2017
(11-20-2017, 12:27 PM)Unnamed Mercenary Wrote: Off topic:to clarify from active wow player:
One of the major issues with WoW's "phase" system is that you have no control over which servers are melded in or which zone you'll end up being displayed on. AFAIK, this gets more complicated when parties of people with at different parts of WoW's MSQ group together as their maps are instanced, but instead of having the NPCs generated client-side like FFXIV does, all NPCs in WoW are server-side and a cross-realm group will only get one map, some of which will not be correctly up to date for the players.
the Cross server issue as of this expansion was "MOSTLY" fixed with phasing different versions of a quest. Some people just can't see things like the dead whelps but you can still see your friend doing that quest. But FF14's MSQ is a giant 'attunement quest' compared to most MMO's.Â
 But yes for 90% of the Phasing, wow's CRZ issue is more problematic with RP communities and even the PVP-RP servers (who you also can get PVP players from other servers)
A system like what wow did for ff14 is not going to work and will effectively kill ALL community in the coming years. While yes Battle.net lets you cross faction chat, invite people to their server (yes that's a thing for RPers who advertise in group finder) for the general audience? It's just hell and out of your control less you are with a friend who invited you to join them on Moonguard in a group...even then CRZ does not work for Major capitals on RP servers last i check purely because of RP reasons.
anyways back on topic again. Just wanted to clarify the CRZ thing-
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RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - ArmachiA - 11-21-2017
(11-20-2017, 12:43 PM)ExAtomos Wrote: I don't see a server split happening. Balmung's population may slough off a few here and there from now on, but I don't see any great reduction happening again. SE's servers can apparently hold up with the numbers we have, so why complicate things by forcing a split? (I agree too that the infrastructure we have with housing makes it impossible anyways.)
I wouldn't say it -can-, I would say it is because it has too. There wouldn't be a lock in the first place if it could do it comfortably.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Kieron Lohengrin - 11-21-2017
Gilgamesh just got turned back into a standard world so Blemnegg is the only congested world left on Aether
Time for the great Gilgy exodus 2.0 \o/
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Valence - 11-21-2017
https://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/news/detail/f346081af5012ceaca64e56345cd969f7365827e
They might be indeed re opening some servers.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - ArmachiA - 11-21-2017
Balmung, the last vestige of no one wanting to leave.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - ExAtomos - 11-21-2017
(11-21-2017, 04:35 AM)ArmachiA Wrote:(11-20-2017, 12:43 PM)ExAtomos Wrote: I don't see a server split happening. Balmung's population may slough off a few here and there from now on, but I don't see any great reduction happening again. SE's servers can apparently hold up with the numbers we have, so why complicate things by forcing a split? (I agree too that the infrastructure we have with housing makes it impossible anyways.)
I wouldn't say it -can-, I would say it is because it has too. There wouldn't be a lock in the first place if it could do it comfortably.
We aren't having any mass server crashes or even the "can't enter congested area" error messages like we were during SB. Those were signs the ship was too full and ready to tip over.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Nako Vesh - 11-27-2017
(11-20-2017, 05:19 AM)ArmachiA Wrote: I CANNOT for the life of me remember which game it was, it's been to long, but FCs actually got to be made early and FCs got to pick which server they'd be placed on before launch (I think it was TOR? Gonna say TOR), if SE could do something like that, where people who care choose which server to go on ahead of time and people who don't care just get thrown on whatever server it would be pretty feasible
That system was an unmitigated disaster though and ended up being one of the contributing factors (among many) to SWOTR's state today. I'm like one of 5 people who still enjoy that game and even I think it's a dumpster fire from top to bottom.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Skae - 11-27-2017
(11-21-2017, 08:54 AM)ExAtomos Wrote: We aren't having any mass server crashes or even the "can't enter congested area" error messages like we were during SB. Those were signs the ship was too full and ready to tip over.
We do not have the massive amount of people playing at the start of SB either - on any server.
The first few weeks there were probably twice as many active players as there normally is - and that did indeed cause a lot of problems.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Erah'sae - 11-27-2017
Here's my take on the lock.
Yes, it sucks that we can't have new friends join the server.
However, Balmung is still large enough to where you can't possibly know everyone. There's always new groups to explore, no people to meet, even without new players coming into the server.
Sometimes it just means taking a plunge into a new group to find new connections, or hitting an event you wouldn't otherwise have gone to. Bring friends, make new ones, there's still a ton of people out there you haven't met yet. (10,000 active character is insane.)
There are 35 recurring events each week on the calendar. It is literally impossible to hit all of them every week. Â
If new blood is needed, one can just do something different. Maybe even fantasia / rename an alt and go for the all new clean experience?
On other bits that have come up:
I don't see there being a server split on FFXIV. I can't see them doing it without an unmitigated disaster happening. I don't really see the need either. The only times we have server issues is on expansion release date. The only split I see is maybe a datacenter split for Aether since even smaller servers hit the same issues we did on the expansion launch. (read: balance cluster population between two smaller clusters)
My one comment on the automatic CRZ function of WoW. It was single highhandedly the worst thing Blizzard could have done for open world RP that ever happened to that game. I think it was even worse then the whole zone phasing they started doing before then.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Gegenji - 11-27-2017
(11-27-2017, 11:51 AM)Erahsae Wrote: However, Balmung is still large enough to where you can't possibly know everyone. There's always new groups to explore, no people to meet, even without new players coming into the server.
Sometimes it just means taking a plunge into a new group to find new connections, or hitting an event you wouldn't otherwise have gone to. Bring friends, make new ones, there's still a ton of people out there you haven't met yet. (10,000 active character is insane.)
Just by hanging out in the Quicksand yesterday, I met four characters I've never interacted with before! Three Xaela and a Roegadyn. It was good fun, and all it took was seeing them talking and plopping my little dude next to them to join in. And I made a friend at the Grindstone the day before who wants to RP more so I offered hanging out with my little goofball.
I will admit, though, that it's not always easy to just... throw yourself out there. Sometimes you'll not find anything, sometimes you'll make plans that never really come to fruition (I've had a bunch of folks where we've been like WE SHOULD HANG OUT and it never actually happened...
), and sometimes you'll just find out your characters don't click with theirs. But yeah... the number of RPers on Balmung is sizeable enough that I don't think you'll run out of folks to interact with as long as you're willing to move out of your comfort zone some.Though, that doesn't deal with the problem about wanting to bring already existing friends into the game and to play with you. The only real choice there is to either move off Balmung or start from scratch (or at the start of SB if you're willing to drop the extra money on it) on another server, both options kind of disconnecting you from whatever friends and RP-mates you've made on Balmung...
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - maoilmhin - 11-27-2017
(11-27-2017, 12:14 PM)Gegenji Wrote: Though, that doesn't deal with the problem about wanting to bring already existing friends into the game and to play with you. The only real choice there is to either move off Balmung or start from scratch (or at the start of SB if you're willing to drop the extra money on it) on another server, both options kind of disconnecting you from whatever friends and RP-mates you've made on Balmung...
^This is the largest issue for me in the prolonged Balmung server lock.  I ended up transferring a character to go play with friends who are new to the game, and help them get off the ground.  Every time I log in I have to chose which friends are getting ignored  (Friends new to the game vs Friends on Balmung).  Although, cross server chat helps mitigate it somewhat, it is not the same as being on the server with them.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Kieron Lohengrin - 11-27-2017
how are the market board prices on mateus these days?
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - shinobikaikyo - 11-28-2017
The lock can suck but the only real solution I see is increased server capabilities on SE's part. The fact of the matter is that RP communities only really work and prosper when they're on one dedicated server, or we see what happened with the mateus/balmung. There is no way to get people to leave Balmung, and that isn't a bad thing--It's important for the RP community to be away from PvP/PvE majority servers otherwise they'll be bullied and harassed (which is already an occurrence on balmung sometimes.)
SE simply has to improve server capabilities as their game grows more popular and more played. Because you aren't going to get people to leave their communities and friends, you aren't going to get them to leave their house plots, and no new RP community will rival what Balmung has already.