Are we getting a server merge soon?

[detlef]

Wow you're really mad about this.

[Jin_Uzuki]

Wow you're really mad about this.

I'm more mad at people defending something so broken that it's killing the enjoyment of the game for many since the game is barely playable in its current status.

I thought FFXI players were the kind that love having people running around and were against the "instance everything" mentality that we got in recent years, but apparently I was wrong.

[Shadowlina]

First of all, "high population Asura" probably doesn't even have 1/3 of the player it used to have in 2007 or so, so much for high population.

Second, there were 600 player during Sylph peak time yesterday. 600 PLAYERS DURING PEAK TIME IN A MMORPG. Half of them were AFK in Adoulin and port Jeuno.

Even looking at the shouts today, there has been 1 shout for relevant content from in 5 hours.

I'm sorry, but if you cannot stand it, the problem it's on your end.

I'm pretty sure you have missed the joy of being on a low population server here.
Yes it's an MMO, but MMO's are also community driven. You will find that those on other forums as well as here, are on lower population servers.

I'd argue theres maybe 50 people max on our server who i know little to nothing about. I'm clearing End-game content, 18 man events etc etc. Not because i "Have linkshell". But simply because i'm in the position where, i'm not just mingling with one set of the community. I play with Europeans (Like myself.), Americans and Japanese players, around the clock.

The Smaller servers, like ours. Is Community Driven. Not Yell driven like Asura, where you can yell and get a full party in minutes and go.
Plus with content how it is, you need people who you know and communicate. (Do you're research on the Aeonic NMs in Reisen, and you will see how communication driven they are, and this is coming from someone who has an Aeonic.)

There is a huge difference in gameplay from Sylph from a high population server like Asura. And i'm very sure SE is fully aware of this, and this is what is causing the Issue.
Do they merge, and shatter the community that servers like Sylph have.
Or do they leave it, until those small communities. (Or in sylphs case where the community is freakin' Huge, yet somehow people manage to avoid)

Take it how you will. But Sylph is Community driven, not Population/yell driven like something i know you want. (Yes i have seen your yells.)

[detlef]

I'm more mad at people defending something so broken that it's killing the enjoyment of the game for many since the game is barely playable in its current status.

I thought FFXI players were the kind that love having people running around and were against the "instance everything" mentality that we got in recent years, but apparently I was wrong.

You can make good arguments without attacking people. That kind of thing will get the thread locked and then nobody wins.

Some people like a slower paced game without competition and congestion. And not just solo content but things like BCs, Escha spawn points, Apex camps, domain invasion. Isn't that also okay? I'm not against server merges, I just think that it's fine to maintain some lower population servers to balance a handful of high population ones. I also recognize that with Asura's popularity, maybe that situation is already a reality. I'm just wondering if the cost is the only barrier stopping people from hopping to a more populous server.

[Diavolo]

No, I'm not being sarcastic. In many ways, you and I are vastly different people. You seem to enjoy shouts and pick-up groups, but that's not a point of emphasis for everybody.

When you mention not being able to find help with older content, I'm going to assume you're talking about older Adoulin content like Skirmish, Delve, and SR. I'm with you there, it sucks not being able to fill a group for those. I just think the solution is to transfer to a more populous server, not to merge all servers.

I believe there have been times when the transfer fee was cut in half so if SE permanently lowered the fee and designated a few high population servers, then maybe everybody would be happy.

I asked if you were being sarcastic because Asura players, at least here on the official forums and at least one other, have been complaining about crowded XP camps and NM pop locations with the population reaching 1,600 at peak hours, yet you hear it's lovely just the same, so either the complainers were exaggerating or they've found ways to make it work.

I actually loathe shouts and pick up groups, but this isn't about me, it's about the health of the game. Larger, more diverse servers offer more options to both the players and the development team moving forward. It will undoubtedly annoy those of us who enjoy having the freedom to solo/lowman whatever we want, whenever we want, but let's not forget this is an MMORPG. We'll still be able to solo/lowman content, maybe just not as often or during the same hours, and if things do get to the point where areas are overcrowded I'm sure the development team would address those issues.

Yes, the transfer rate gets cut in half every so often, but is that really the solution, forcing the player base to spend money so they can join a server with a healthier population? Merging the servers is a win/win for both the players and SE and it's a fix they have implemented twice before, so I don't see why not now where it's in need more than ever. I imagine the players preferring the lower server populations to be in the vast minority here, but they seem to be a vocal majority on a forum such as this just because of the nature of it all (casual players often don't spend time posting on forums).

[detlef]

I asked if you were being sarcastic because Asura players, at least here on the official forums and at least one other, have been complaining about crowded XP camps and NM pop locations with the population reaching 1,600 at peak hours, yet you hear it's lovely just the same, so either the complainers were exaggerating or they've found ways to make it work.

I was not aware of that. Almost everything I've read about the server's conditions has been positive.

I actually loathe shouts and pick up groups, but this isn't about me, it's about the health of the game. Larger, more diverse servers offer more options to both the players and the development team moving forward. It will undoubtedly annoy those of us who enjoy having the freedom to solo/lowman whatever we want, whenever we want, but let's not forget this is an MMORPG. We'll still be able to solo/lowman content, maybe just not as often or during the same hours, and if things do get to the point where areas are overcrowded I'm sure the development team would address those issues.

Yeah, there's nothing much sadder than seeing somebody shout for something and not get any response. Is it really easier to adjust for overcrowding than undercrowding though? SE has definitely been pretty hit or miss on adjusting content for smaller groups but overcrowding seems like it would present issues that the dev team would be unable to address at all.

Yes, the transfer rate gets cut in half every so often, but is that really the solution, forcing the player base to spend money so they can join a server with a healthier population? Merging the servers is a win/win for both the players and SE and it's a fix they have implemented twice before, so I don't see why not now where it's in need more than ever. I imagine the players preferring the lower server populations to be in the vast minority here, but they seem to be a vocal majority on a forum such as this just because of the nature of it all (casual players often don't spend time posting on forums).

Yeah I don't have a perfect solution there. Maybe if SE stated, okay Asura, Odin, and say... Bahamut are going to be our "high population" servers, here's a free one-time transfer. Would that solve things?

As for your other point, I agree that casual players probably don't post very much here if at all. But at the same time, people clamoring for server merges are among the most vocal of all. In general, I think people who are satisfied with the status quo would not be vocal unless prompted.

[Jin_Uzuki]

I'm pretty sure you have missed the joy of being on a low population server here.

The joy of being the only person in the zone...
The joy of silent town because no one is playing...
The joy of no currencies because no one is doing Salvage/Dyna...
The joy of no pop items for Escha because no one is doing the content required for it...
The joy of not being able to farm pop items for Escha because no one is doing that either :<
The joy of new players unable to stuff

Yes it's an MMO, but MMO's are also community driven. You will find that those on other forums as well as here, are on lower population servers.

I'd argue theres maybe 50 people max on our server who i know little to nothing about. I'm clearing End-game content, 18 man events etc etc. Not because i "Have linkshell". But simply because i'm in the position where, i'm not just mingling with one set of the community. I play with Europeans (Like myself.), Americans and Japanese players, around the clock.

You claim to know almost everyone on Sylph (which it's not hard, there are very few active players), and yet I know a lot of people who are frustrated on the situation and the ability to do anything.

Furthermore, I can assure you, have a lot of player ("a lot" lol, this game is not exactly overpopulated) is not going to destroy any community. I originally played on Ragnarok, which was a fairly popular server, and we had a lot of communities.

The Smaller servers, like ours. Is Community Driven. Not Yell driven like Asura, where you can yell and get a full party in minutes and go.

Yes, I'm sure Asura is full of jerks and there isn't a community

/s

Plus with content how it is, you need people who you know and communicate. (Do you're research on the Aeonic NMs in Reisen, and you will see how communication driven they are, and this is coming from someone who has an Aeonic.)

Pretty much all content but the harder T2-3 in Reisenjima can be done in Yell these days. I know, I've done a lot of Escha Zi'tah/Sky and some T1 in Reisen. Furthermore, there is more content than just Escha. Hard Mode fights for example, Unity fights, or even simply CP parties.

Take it how you will. But Sylph is Community driven, not Population/yell driven like something i know you want. (Yes i have seen your yells.)

You know, did you even wonder if the reason you see so little shouts it's because there are barely any players online and not because "it's Community Driven" (lol, what does it mean. Communities will form regardless of the server size)

It sounds like to me, you have a LS that does stuff regularly. Which it's good! But I assure you, the LS is not going to explode and disintegrate as soon you get more players.

You can make good arguments without attacking people. That kind of thing will get the thread locked and then nobody wins.

Some people like a slower paced game without competition and congestion. And not just solo content but things like BCs, Escha spawn points, Apex camps, domain invasion. Isn't that also okay? I'm not against server merges, I just think that it's fine to maintain some lower population servers to balance a handful of high population ones. I also recognize that with Asura's popularity, maybe that situation is already a reality. I'm just wondering if the cost is the only barrier stopping people from hopping to a more populous server.

Sylph population is not low. Sylph population is abyssal. 600 players online in a MMORPG is a joke, especially when you count how many of them are AFK.

"High" and "low" population at this point of the game mean little. Even an "high" population server has a rather low population compared to years ago.

[Shadowlina]

I don't have a LS. I run with 3 different groups, who are all mish mash people from different linkshells, time zones, and even people who don't speak English.
The fact of the mater is, is sylph is a server where everyone knows everyone.
I'm not in the biggest Linkshells on the server, yet I'm so frequently asked for the bases of which they do their content on.

Linkshells sadly DO explode on server merges. I was on Sylph on the Sylph fairy merge. All the Fairy Linkshells got destroyed on the merge, sylph at the time, was a small server, largely consisting of solo players, with the few end-game players. Yet even then most people knew eachother, and this was back when server populations where standing at 1k plus.

Also did you know sylph has a large korean/Arabic community? Yeah, thats a thing. Server merge would destroy that. And very little safety they find on our server. (Because they do go around as a group)
I don't think you understand the true genuine scale of everyone knows everyone. Even 2 years ago, back when shouts where more prominent, there was a atmostphere of "Do you know this guy? Is he any good", this was back when AA HTBs where the hardest content in the game.

Server merging small servers like sylph 100% will destroy the stability many players like me have, i know so SO many people who would be forced to get into linkshells to start doing content again, simply because of a server merge.

[Jin_Uzuki]

I don't have a LS. I run with 3 different groups, who are all mish mash people from different linkshells, time zones, and even people who don't speak English.
The fact of the mater is, is sylph is a server where everyone knows everyone.
I'm not in the biggest Linkshells on the server, yet I'm so frequently asked for the bases of which they do their content on.

You know, "a group of people that does thing together and know each" it's basically what a LS is, uh.

Linkshells sadly DO explode on server merges. I was on Sylph on the Sylph fairy merge. All the Fairy Linkshells got destroyed on the merge, sylph at the time, was a small server, largely consisting of solo players, with the few end-game players. Yet even then most people knew eachother, and this was back when server populations where standing at 1k plus.

Well, I take it back. Though I'm not sure why adding some 1000 players to the game would make all the LS suddenly die.

Also did you know sylph has a large korean/Arabic community? Yeah, thats a thing. Server merge would destroy that. And very little safety they find on our server. (Because they do go around as a group)

... why would adding, say, 1000 players to a server destroy anything?

Also, using "large" on a server with 600 ppl online during peak hour... hum.

I don't think you understand the true genuine scale of everyone knows everyone. Even 2 years ago, back when shouts where more prominent, there was a atmostphere of "Do you know this guy? Is he any good", this was back when AA HTBs where the hardest content in the game.

Heck, now that I think about it, during RoV "Return Campaign" Sylph managed to over 1,200 players during peak hours. Basically double of what we have now.

Uhuh...

Server merging small servers like sylph 100% will destroy the stability many players like me have, i know so SO many people who would be forced to get into linkshells to start doing content again, simply because of a server merge.

... and that's a problem why? You can even have 2 LS now. Aren't you doing it already? Banding with the same 3 groups over and over to do content?

Are you sure you wouldn't rather just play on a private server or something?

[Shadowlina]

I totally think your miss understanding the idea that i could take of all of my linkshells, throw them on the floor. And i'd still be farming my second Aeonic weapon.
Linkshells have no party of this.

I don't think your understanding that these communities of Arabic and Korean players are here because other servers have basically banished them here.

You've totally missed the point of what i'm saying.