How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

[Eue]

I (finally) got FFXI installed and everything seems fine... was trying to get onto Unicorn by canceling/recreating my character, but POL kept sending me to Diabolos - finally I figured it would be better to just go there instead of trying to get to Unicorn. When checking the threads, there is often a discussion about how expensive things are on each server, different prices for different items, how heavily certain spots are camped, etc. One thing I wondered, is if the phenomenon of an "expensive" vs. "cheap" server has something to do with how long it has been up and running ?

In other words, is Diabolos a "young" server that has not been running as long as, say, Fenrir ? Is Unicorn older than Carbuncle ? Or is the naming scheme/priciness of the server totally not dependant on how long the server has been running ?

Of course, at my level (RDM 4 in 1.5 hours of play) this would not matter too much, I'm just curious, but as always any input/thoughts are appreciated.

[Jei]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

every server are quite equally match in terms of age. The thing is that, when S-E openned up new servers, they always let players from the old world to migrate to them. So in sense the only time you have a *fresh* new server, is when the japanese PS2 version of the game first came out.

Check the server status page. The newer the server, the lower in the list they are.
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/server/index.html

[Eue]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

Cool ! I did not think the total lack of alphabetizing on that page was significant..... my server Diabolos is middle-aged, Unicorn is younger, and there are a dozen added after those two..... Thanks ! That answers my questions !

[Kagerou]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

Yeah, I was in Diabolos when I was playing. Debating whether or not I should start there again though. Kinda like the ppl here (and most of the ppl here is from Midgarsomr). I might start again in Diabolos if my old friends are still there.

Good luck to u Eue, where ever u decide to start out from.

[kuu]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

While people do world shift,

Generally speaking, the older it is, the more establish people have become, and depends on the product, will be more expensive.

There is a good deal of circumstantial, buts, and exceptions, still, it is more a rule of thumb then others.

Very few established people world shift, sometimes there are big guns moving their hnmls, and stuff, but rarely, as all the powerful people tend to like being powerful, and not leave. Not to mention leaving friends and "family".

[Feenicks]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

From what I've gathered, the newer servers tend to have more unpredictable and pricy economies than the younger ones. When the world shift occured, many high level, rich, HNM LS-type people sought to escape the drama of their servers by shifting to the new ones, thus a lot of people on the new servers brought tons of gil with them, and prices were set high by default. Ironically, the people seeking to escape drama were the same people creating it, and like minded individuals all did the world shift and moved all the drama to the newer servers. I thank them for doing that, some of the biggest knobheads were disposed of when the world shift occured.

At the end of the day, any server is fine, but I recommend that you avoid Midgard, Ragnarok, Fairy and Remora. I have nothing against those servers personally but in my experience on reading forums, they seem to have the most problems (or the most people who like to complain), but take my opinion with a grain of salt since I never have actually played on those servers.

[Minimee]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

im on midgardsormr. i think alot of the reason you see more about it on these forums, is the fact that 70% of the north american beta community ended up there. this website is a bit more english than japanese, and is more well known in the north american community. its always the first place i send noobs for info. i believe when this server was created, the japanese that worldshfted were several very competetive and well established linkshells. now that the north american community has caught up, there is alot of competition. this is not necessarilly a bad thing, just most are adamant about it.

as far as prices are concerned, i dont think server matters much. reason is this; prices rise from top to bottom. usually if prices of items for crafting rise, the prices of the items crafted rise, not vice-versa.
i really believe the community as a whole on midgard is really quite good overall.

[AgentBrownEye]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

i'm on midgard as well. every server has their problems, midgard people are just more vocal about it. some servers may seem like they have less drama, but thats crap. every server has a crap load of drama. no matter which one you go to. i'm happy with midgard i would never leave. the community is great. the people are great. sure theres a few asshats. but tell me where your gonna avoid them?

[Icemage]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

Midgardsormr is somewhat unique, as end-game balance of power is tilted slightly towards the North American community. As mentioned, many of us from the NA beta landed on Midgardsormr (intentionally, as we didn't want to be split up). I think the extra experience we collectively brought with us to that server really helped to improve the overall skill level of the NA players who ended up there after retail started, which let us close the power gap between JP and NA linkshells much sooner than on other servers.

This does not mean that it's any easier for new players to get established into the "pecking order"; it's still just hard to break into the established linkshells no matter what server you are on, and we have our share of problems about NA players being somewhat less civilized than our JP counterparts as a whole.

Not to mention Midgardsormr has one of the more inflated economies; expect to pay a premium in gil for any given item, compared to most other servers (newer servers all seem to have this problem, mostly due to a weaker crafting base).


Icemage

[silentsteel]

Re: How does one tell how "old" a server is ?

I've been on midy the whole time. . . I may only be lvl 46, but I've seen a steady increase(ok, sometimes more jumpy that others) of the prices of items. . . Erase used to be so much cheaper than it is now. . . 700k as opposed to the 200k when I first found out I needed it at lvl 12. I am still lacking it even now lol =/. Anyways, I dont think that there's as much drama on midy as on a few other servers, I've seen some of the drama there and well, I'm kinda glad I'm not lvl 75 yet ;P (not enough to keep lvling though. . . Must have more story line! must get past rnk 5!)