Ive been back on FFXI for two weeks now on Bismarck, JP peak prime time we have maybe 1,100 total people logged in *account for mules, bazaars and the like, the there is maybe 600-700 actually playing?
I came back in March for the SoA launch and left for FFXIV beta and just those few months ago Jeuno was a shout city for exp parties voidwatch and etc peaking at NA and JP times at like 1,800 to 2,000 on a really busy day. There was allways a GoV pt in Gusgen, one that never seemed to die in bostesomething...oblotherthing, and more often then not one in CN, and aby all ways had a party in at least one.
Now it just feels barren except for the random person and their alter egos doing GoV....no shouts...no parties...The other day I stumbled apon Cassie and Malborger within an hour of each other just hanging out..which was awesome but also sad in a way. I know that we will never go back to 2004-2006 when Dunes had the entry way lined with lowbies LFG and each zone had groups doing something at all times. We all know the sun is slowly setting on Vana'diel, even with all the amazing content the devs are giving us the player base will slowly whittle away but why still have 16ish servers if the population is getting so low?
TLDR: Wouldnt it be nice to have full servers again? new people to meet?