(11-28-2017, 03:58 AM)shinobikaikyo Wrote: 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.

(11-28-2017, 04:30 AM)Valence Wrote: What happened with the Mateus/Balmung? Did I miss something?

(11-27-2017, 11:30 PM)Kieron Lohengrin Wrote: how are the market board prices on mateus these days?

(11-28-2017, 06:25 AM)Kieron Lohengrin Wrote:

(11-28-2017, 03:58 AM)shinobikaikyo Wrote: 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.

squeenix already made server and ping improvements with the west coast move. their software isn't magically going to raise its population limits just by adding more processor cores or ram, they'll simply open up new shards and keep incentivizing transfers.

besides which, it's pretty myopic and dismissive to claim "no one else can rival what balmung has." people are active with whatever rp environment they move to, ingame or otherwise. pve is a non-issue thanks to df. everyone and their mum is an omnicrafter on balmung so market board prices are delightful. if balmung stays locked forever while other rp server economies similarly mature, then that'd definitely be another good reason to move

(11-29-2017, 03:41 AM)shinobikaikyo Wrote:

(11-28-2017, 06:25 AM)Kieron Lohengrin Wrote:

(11-28-2017, 03:58 AM)shinobikaikyo Wrote: 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.

squeenix already made server and ping improvements with the west coast move. their software isn't magically going to raise its population limits just by adding more processor cores or ram, they'll simply open up new shards and keep incentivizing transfers.

besides which, it's pretty myopic and dismissive to claim "no one else can rival what balmung has." people are active with whatever rp environment they move to, ingame or otherwise. pve is a non-issue thanks to df. everyone and their mum is an omnicrafter on balmung so market board prices are delightful. if balmung stays locked forever while other rp server economies similarly mature, then that'd definitely be another good reason to move

Mateus had the best chance of rivaling Balmung in population with the huge move and sudden influx of RP'ers, but yet still ended up having many of the people regret their decision. If Mateus couldnt' do it then, with that much radical intervention by Square; it most certainly won't just happen randomly.

Balmung is what it is, and always will be; the sooner Square makes decisions with Balmung staying as a concentrated community, the more progress will be made, because it doesn't seem people are satisfied with the exodus that occurred.

(11-28-2017, 03:58 AM)shinobikaikyo Wrote: Mateus had the best chance of rivaling Balmung in population with the huge move and sudden influx of RP'ers, but yet still ended up having many of the people regret their decision. If Mateus couldnt' do it then, with that much radical intervention by Square; it most certainly won't just happen randomly.

Balmung is what it is, and always will be; the sooner Square makes decisions with Balmung staying as a concentrated community, the more progress will be made, because it doesn't seem people are satisfied with the exodus that occurred.

(11-29-2017, 05:55 AM)Kylin Wrote: Mateus DOES rival Balmung in RP population. Also, a few people regretting their decision does not equate to "many."

Based on my own independent study between RP activity on both servers, Balmung as a whole still has a slightly larger active RP population than Mateus, but not by much. Based on daily glances at all players utilizing the RP tag, along with activity in hot spots like the Quicksand, RP on Mateus is almost equal (and some days greater than) Balmung. Their biggest problem in showcasing that is not utilizing the RPC to show the myriad of events (or really for anything else either if we're being honest) they constantly have on a weekly basis, opting to use solely their own community discord.

The passive-aggressive attitude of one server being "superior" to the other is the exact root cause to server conflict and partly to blame for why past attempts like Gilgamesh failed as a secondary main RP hub. It needs to stop. Now. Off-hand comments like the one quoted above literally equate to psychological warfare meant to stray people away from the 'competition' or make them regret being part of it. Such comments are partly the reason so few of them even come to the RPC, because seeing/battling that type of response (even if it is from a tiny vocal minority) gets exhausting after awhile.

(11-29-2017, 05:55 AM)Kylin Wrote:

(11-28-2017, 03:58 AM)shinobikaikyo Wrote: Mateus had the best chance of rivaling Balmung in population with the huge move and sudden influx of RP'ers, but yet still ended up having many of the people regret their decision. If Mateus couldnt' do it then, with that much radical intervention by Square; it most certainly won't just happen randomly.

Balmung is what it is, and always will be; the sooner Square makes decisions with Balmung staying as a concentrated community, the more progress will be made, because it doesn't seem people are satisfied with the exodus that occurred.

Mateus DOES rival Balmung in RP population. Also, a few people regretting their decision does not equate to "many."

Based on my own independent study between RP activity on both servers, Balmung as a whole still has a slightly larger active RP population than Mateus, but not by much. Based on daily glances at all players utilizing the RP tag, along with activity in hot spots like the Quicksand, RP on Mateus is almost equal (and some days greater than) Balmung. Their biggest problem in showcasing that is not utilizing the RPC to show the myriad of events (or really for anything else either if we're being honest) they constantly have on a weekly basis, opting to use solely their own community discord.

The passive-aggressive attitude of one server being "superior" to the other is the exact root cause to server conflict and partly to blame for why past attempts like Gilgamesh failed as a secondary main RP hub. It needs to stop. Now. Off-hand comments like the one quoted above literally equate to psychological warfare meant to stray people away from the 'competition' or make them regret being part of it. Such comments are partly the reason so few of them even come to the RPC, because seeing/battling that type of response (even if it is from a tiny vocal minority) gets exhausting after awhile.

(11-29-2017, 04:07 PM)Zhavi Wrote: higher focus on slice of life stuff, more daily living, less drama, with occasional bouts of good vs evil.  Like a little slower paced but greater depth than the slice of life I've experienced on Balmung, less of the slice-of-life "fronts" you see a lot of FCs doing on Balmung.  Maybe it seems (and I'm stressing that word on purpose) a little more inclusive as opposed to more strictly themed/run/focused fcs on Balmung.

(11-30-2017, 03:00 PM)ExAtomos Wrote: I think this is sign of the difference between a mature RP community and one newly established.

I had a similar thing happen on Atomos. At the time, nearly all of the EN speakers on the server were in one FC. The only commonality we had was our language and this kept us together as a relatively functional group because there were no other viable options on the server. If you left that one FC, you were in essence left out in the cold.

On servers outside Balmung, the commonality is just that folks like RP. There aren't enough people (and I know this will change over time) to have self-sufficient groups that can cater to a specific type of RP. Obviously, the RP population on Mateus is growing and developing to where they can start offering specializations, be it lore-strict RP, plot driven RP, performance RP, mature RP, crime... etc.

On Atomos, there were two RPers and a few others casually interested in it. I was one of the two. The other person's RP style did not mesh well with mine, but each other was all we had available, so we found ways to make it work.

I'm not saying one is better than the other, just merely pointing out a potential reason why casual RP is more readily available on other servers.

(11-30-2017, 03:47 PM)Unnamed Mercenary Wrote: If we look at Balmung's history too though, there was a LOT more open-world stuff happening in the 2014-2015 mark, it feels like. The server had just launched Summer 2013 and people were still feeling out the server and getting to know each other. Probably it felt like there was a lot more public stuff going on. FCs and Linkshells hadn't quite been made for everything and there was a lot of shuffling around. ...and at least personally for me, I had more time and the general peak hours of gameplay/RP.

But as people kinda found their usual spots and FCs/LSes/groups of people they liked to hang out with, I had noticed a shift where more plots went FC-driven than say, clustered events/plots on the RPC that were open to anyone. And I feel like that's pretty normal. If a FC has similar-minded people, it's much easier to DM an extended story than to try to get a bunch of people who may or may not know each other. But then it starts to crystallize and may not be as flexible as before, which then leads into difficulty in expanding perspectives or meshing with new people or new people getting involved.

It's possible that because Mateus is still actively growing, their server hasn't been affected by that type of RPer grouping trend yet. It took Balmung a few years, and the lock certainly isn't going to help in that regard. Perhaps it won't happen if the server continues to stay open. Or perhaps it will if Mateus grows to Balmung's size and becomes locked one day. ...at which another RP server will likely be designated as the go-to place and so on.