Server LocationsFollow

I want to see people no mater when I log into the game. A little lag is not a problem for me. They should be working to fix and control lag, no mater where the server is located. If I jump on at 1pm EST I want to see people, even if they are Jp. Same for my normal play time. The biggest turn off would be me logging in and seeing no one there.

I tend to play in the mid day a lot which is EU night time. I would hate to pick an EU server to play mid day but miss out on the USA night playing time. Same goes for picking a US server for night but having it dead at mid day because everyone is working. I think Region "Segregation" is a form of MMORPG/Gamer Racism and I don't like it.

Isn't the goal to have people from all over the world playing together to build a community? I like having a chance to play next to someone from Japan. It makes me feel like a true adventurer. Anyway that'
s how I feel about it.

Agree with this but modern MMOs just can't work the way FFXI did. Players are incredibly unforgiving these days and lag will kill population numbers.

FFXIV needs to be perfect when it launches and lag will be a serious problem, they are doing what they need to do.

^
MMO players were incredibly unforgiving even when FFXI came out. Many MMO players who were not FFXI players hated the notion of Japan-based servers. Some wanted servers in each region for lag issues (the whole JP button idea FFXI players had back then. Basically the issue of fairness), some just wanted to play with their own kind (yeah, for some reason, MMO players were anti-Japanese games on the whole far before it became cool to hate Japan in the Seventh Gen of console gaming, a time when being anti-Japan was unthinkable due to Nintendo, Sega, Sony, not to mention video game/non-console developers there. Anyone know why? I just attribute it to primary PC gamers who were exposed to fewer Japanese games because PC gaming in NA is overwhelmingly NA & EU with few coming from other parts of the world as opposed to console gamers. In doing some research, I did find chatter in the '90s from that Atari generation that was quite anti-Japan whereas anyone who came of gaming age in the Third-Fifth Gens was strongly pro-Japanese because Western companies were far behind). With the expansion of the MMO market, I'm not sure how much it's changed, though a lot of Korean MMOs seem to do fine. FFXI attracted an audience, but it targetted some different demos for MMOs (being console-based or dual-platform, being Japanese) and alienated some of the main MMO audience and it had a lower population threshold necessary for success. FFXIV's is far higher as it was made assuming it would attract a larger audience.

Region servers is one concession they need to try and get some eyes on the game. It may, or the game's bigger issues may override it (the failure of 1.0). It may lead to Balkanized servers, but that's an issue I guess they would find preferrable to dealing with than a failed game with a sub-profitable population size.