Hey guys,

I found you guys through the Beta testing forums, and figured I'll sign up and start getting to know some people (I really should have done this earlier lol).

Anyway, MMO wise, I have been a long time FFXI player, I played for many years on the Pandemonium server and then Asura after a server merge. I also played XIV 1.0 since alpha, then quit a few months after release like so many others did due to being dissapointed in the quality of the game. I was lucky enough to participate in the 2.0 alpha and beta testing, and lets just say, I like what I saw, so I am definitely going to be playing 2.0 as much as possible :P

I live in Auckland, I am 28 years old and I am a Graphics Designer. I have far too many hobbies, but some of my main ones are gaming (thanks Captain Obvious!), Flying (pilot in training), playing drums (I am in a band called Escape), Tropical Fish Keeping (currently have a 500 litre tank in the living room), motorsport, snowboarding and travelling.

Due to work and day to day life, I won't be spending huge amounts of time in game, but when I do, I love playing with other people and doing quests etc. I also occasionally just enjoy chatting while exploring.

So yeah, nice to meet you all! Hope to see you guys in game… now to pick a server…

|| д°)ノ Greetings! It's always good to see more Kiwis on MMOs. Few and far in between I find. (All thanks, to our awesome internet eh? :P)

If you find yourself heading Tonberry way, then see you around in game!

|| д°)ノ Greetings! It's always good to see more Kiwis on MMOs. Few and far in between I find. (All thanks, to our awesome internet eh? :P)

If you find yourself heading Tonberry way, then see you around in game!hidenshi

Haha, yeah seeing Kiwi's in these games is a bit of a rarity, isn't it?

So Tonberry seems to be the most popular server with Oceania players. Question though, how come it says it's a JP server? doesn't that mean that most of the players will be Japanese? I just ask since I don't particularly want to find myself in a situation where there are no English speaking players online, and having to awkardly try and find help from people I can only barely understand.

I have been trying to learn Japanese, but I won't say I can read or write it well enough to actually converse with someone in game, very much still a beginner here :P

The servers listed as JP are geographically located in Japan.
The servers listed as NA or EU are geographically located in Montreal (Canada).

The main reasons which tilted the balance were;
1. Latency is better to the JP datacenter.
2. Timezones match so peak times will be shared across the board with Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, etc (opposed to empty NA/EU servers where their population is sleeping or at work)

It is a trade off really.
A smaller total number of players to communicate with for a better game experience.
(Now that we also know that world transfers will be possible for a fee, if it doesn't work out down the track it isn't too much of an issue either.)

That being said, I would speculate at least a few thousand English speakers would be on the server? (and even more eventually if the game really takes off)

For your reference, during the Beta 3, approximately 25% of the active characters on Tonberry server could speak English = had English checked as a proficient language in their profile. (Definition of active is; characters that had progressed far enough to join a Grand Company. so like level 20+. This removes the bias from random character creation but didn't actually play on the server.)

Also, having followed the 2channel boards, they are well aware that Tonberry has been specified as an unofficial oceanic server. As such, the JP players that don't want to play with foreigners will not roll there. The ones that do, can likely speak a fair amount of English and have experience playing other western MMOs.

I did find a linkshell on Behemoth, which is drawing me to the server a bit more, but I see what you mean about Tonberry, makes sense that the JP community would be a bit more open to English speaking players on that server. Tough decision haha.

Guess I'll try both and see what works?