World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

[Mhurron]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

Finally, the development team is continuing their work on World selection by making preparations for a new service that will allow players to move their characters to different Worlds. Please keep a close watch on the Topics page for further updates on this exciting feature.

Ok, who wants me? I want to complete Zilart, CoP and ToAU missions, get rank 10 in each city (currently Rank 8 Windurst) and get my Joyeuse. I'm also Cutaru.

BTW, is it really so hard to have a conversation around here that doesn't degrade into whining about RMT?

[Jonastb]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

Ok, calm down. Gil can NOT be moved accross servers. This is NOT a server migration. This is allowing NEW characters to be created. As it is now, if you create a new character on another world, you can not transfer gil/equipment to them. There is NO WHERE in the article that states this will change.

[Visper]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

lFinally, the development team is continuing their work on World selection by making preparations for a new service that will allow players to move their characters to different Worlds. Please keep a close watch on the Topics page for further updates on this exciting feature.

Actually, yes it does state that.

[Malevolent]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

Ok, calm down. Gil can NOT be moved accross servers. This is NOT a server migration. This is allowing NEW characters to be created. As it is now, if you create a new character on another world, you can not transfer gil/equipment to them. There is NO WHERE in the article that states this will change.

visper points out the obvious...you phail to read...

[Eohmer]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

Wow... it was so obvious too.

Anyway, I was hoping it was just that rare "server migration" thing they have every now and then, but then I saw the "a new service"... so now I don't know what to think. :-\

[Celeal]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

Finally, the development team is continuing their work on World selection by making preparations for a new service that will allow players to move their characters to different Worlds. Please keep a close watch on the Topics page for further updates on this exciting feature.

I think this passage is vague. Let say there is a character's name is "Xyz" in Server-A, and there is also another character's name is "Xyz" in Server-B. How can "Xyz" move from Server-A to Server-B without character's name conflict? (Assuming character's name is unique within a single server only, not all FFXI servers combined)

And also, definition of "character" is vague in this passage. What defines a character? Rank? Gil? Completed missions and quests? Character's name?

Or a character is defined by Content-ID only?

[Hyrist]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

I believe this is a very GOOD update, especially if they release the free-will server migration.

Before the update, server migration was a major sacrifice. If one chose migration, you would have to choose to leave your friends perminantly and/or start completely over.

This sort of major change kept certain interest groups (Such as PvP fans and Roleplayers) in a minority spread across every server.

If they allow free migration (even at a certain cost.) people can collect or even "visit" at certain community-chosen servers that can be designated for such activities.

The players themselves will be able to host their own "Ballista Royal" with any given rule set the group chooses.


Yes there will be issues with RMT, However, RMT activity will be easier to identify as RMT if the gillsellers, seeing an oppertunity to save money, will begin to condence the amount of accounts they use (saving money on all the bannings.) and simply gather an RMT "'team' that can transfer money across servers and hunt multiple HNMs in rotation.

Besides, with this reticent update for Assault, RMT may loose a LOT of ground on the player base.

This server may in-fact, Unite the community of the game as a whole as now we get to interact with other players from other servers.

Finally I'll be able to take "Hyrist" over to Fenrir for some training with Dirge of Ballista.

[eticket109]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

I like the idea. I guess I can understand how RMT could abuse it but so what? RMT is a problem in FFXI. It's also arguably the most overblown problem in FFXI.

SE finally does something to address one of the biggest gripes people have had with the game, and people can't help but bitch about it and cry about RMT.

[Kaickul]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

However, with the continued declining of server population due to players quitting and recent technical advances in server technology, it has been determined that allowing players to create new characters on Worlds of their choice would not greatly affect the current population balance.

Fixed.

Just my cynical 2 cents...

[Auron517]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

I really never had a problem with not being able to choose a specific server, but I suppose it's fine to implement now.

But as far as players being able to migrate server to server? Er...not so much.

[Hyrist]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

I suppose it will have to wait till all of the Paranoid/cynical/troll-like people to settle down AFTER the update for much good to come of it.

It seems that every time there is an update, people have to criticize it both before and INSTANTLY after it is implemented.

Give it a few month's later though, and everyone refuses to care any longer and life in Vana'Diel resumes its normal course.

Honestly, we don't have a choice on the issue, it's being done. Let's give it the benefit of the doubt before jumping down SE's throat.

Their updates of late have been really good since ToAU.

[Ziero]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

I think this passage is vague. Let say there is a character's name is "Xyz" in Server-A, and there is also another character's name is "Xyz" in Server-B. How can "Xyz" move from Server-A to Server-B without character's name conflict? (Assuming character's name is unique within a single server only, not all FFXI servers combined)
And also, definition of "character" is vague in this passage. What defines a character? Rank? Gil? Completed missions and quests? Character's name?
Or a character is defined by Content-ID only?

This is a rather simple answer. If one person wants to move to a new server where someone else already has the same name, the person moving will be forced to change. That person is requesting the move and if need be will have to give something up to accomplish that.

Also, in this case the definition of "character" seems to be specifically talking about the actual character, i.e. the one you make at the character selection screen. None of the "character's" in game information will affect who the "character" is as we are each given a unique name on each server. So to keep the balance, names may have to be changed during a move. Sadly this just reinforces the negative effects of free will migration as 'bad players' might get this option during a move and thus hide themselves even more completely on a new server while pinning their bad rep on the one who came before.

[raidenn]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

This is good news. Some people will be able to choose servers with a population who who are all from their timezone.
Also there are some people who migrated before and wanted to come back.

[Vyuru]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

I figure there has to be some kind of control so that you can't just hop over to server X to buy things cheaper and hop over to server Y to sell things for more money.

It seems that every time there is an update, people have to criticize it both before and INSTANTLY after it is implemented.

It is a legitamate concern since there was no mention of how SE would handle this. People will do whatever they can to get things cheaper.

Take Costco for instance. Used to be their return policy on flatscreen TVs was if at anypoint you weren't happy with it (broken, whatever) you could return it for a full refund. People would buy flatscreen TVs when they just came out, then say 6 months later when the prices came down, would return their flatscreen TV for the full refund and then buy a new, cheaper one.

If there is no control you can darn well bet that there will be server switching just to buy/sell goods.

[Omniblast]

Re: World Selection Made Easier! (03/02/2007)

I think you may have misunderstood.

Here's an example: I picked a random server, Asura, and compared to Ifrit, where I'm from. According to IGE, 50 million Gil is currently $1925 on Asura, but only $1715 on Ifrit.

What if IGE moves one billion gil from Ifrit (where it's cheap) to Asura (where it's expensive)? That would be $38,500 vs. $34,300, or an additional revenue of $4200 for 10 min of work and maybe 100,000 gil, depending on what S-E charges for moving server per character (if S-E charges anything).

As a manager at IGE, would you order your RMT troop to move that 1 billion Gil? Nah, no way--you'd move 100 billion, instead. Why just make $4200 more, when you can make $420,000 more?

What do you think will happen to economy on Asura when all that 100 billion Gil is pumped into the economy? (Other than Asura'ns will be whining a lot?) What happens if EVERY RMT company out there start to do the same to Asura at the same time, for the same reason?

Then the price of gil will go down. When there is an over inflated amount of gil in the economy, the price cost of gil will go down. Thus make it less profitable for them to move there, and thusly make them want to move out.

Your analysis does not address supply vs. demand.

I'm sure the gil sellers wouldn't move that much gil around. It gets suspicous when you see a large amount on a level 1 mule move from 1 server to server, and it would cause a red flag to go up. If I were working for SE, I'd make sure I'll have people look into people that were transfering large amounts of gil, or different # of mules from the same Content-ID changing servers. (16 mules with 500k each, level 1? Sorta suspicious no?) This is where STFU comes in and checks transfers out. Another way to weed out the good from the bad.

If server depopulation is the problem they are trying to solve, a better solution is to merge smaller worlds, not to encourage community destroying, random migrations. Transplant the entire community as a whole, instead of tearing it apart one person at a time.

I do however think that a server merge would be benefitial. But would it really help a game that is dying for the past several years that much? If there is nothing to stop the death of FFXI, then it's time to move on. And another thing, how would you specify that you want to be merged with another server, when 99% of the population would not want to go to that exact server that you wanted to go with? More ethical questions, more and more...