Looking For More Players On Cerberus.

[Afania]

Pretty sure you can't get done much of the harder content on less populated servers unless you are in an active ls or have friends (or have mules/alts).

Since this is MMO, the point of playing is to join LS and make friends. If you don't have ls/friends already, just make it happen. So this argument of "can't get anything done unless you have ls/friends" isn't quite fair, IMO.

Also when it comes to harder content, LS/groups/friends are far, far, farrrrr more efficient than PUG. Moving to bigger server just to do harder content with PUG is efficiency decrease, not increase.

Smaller servers generally have a tight knit community in ls/friend circles, with pretty strong social connection because everyone (has to) do everything together, and they're very willing to help others. There is a reason why someone in this thread can't get into groups/pug on Asura but totally capable of doing so on Carbuncle in his connections. He's basically competing with 1700 people every time a DD slot is opened in yell, and it's not exactly easy to get in.

I mean, if you like bigger servers and play with strangers all day, while competing with a pt slot against REMA BLUs, by all means go for it. Why do you all have to bash others for preferring smaller servers?

[Aysha]

Since this is MMO, the point of playing is to join LS and make friends. If you don't have ls/friends already, just make it happen. So this argument of "can't get anything done unless you have ls/friends" isn't quite fair, IMO.

Yeah, like you can just snap your fingers and conjure leveled, skilled, and reasonably geared FFXI players out of thin air like magic.

Right.

Do you have human players confused for trust NPCs or something?

[Kylos]

In the next version update SE are changing Ambuscade so the fights last longer and the rewards more plentiful. This will lower the amount of groups entering Ambuscade at any given time. Therefore, we can pretty much put the issue of congestion to bed as Ambuscade was literally the only thing people had to wait around for.

So I'd like to thank SE for noticing this issue and putting a fix in place. However, I still feel some servers could do with being shut down and merged with other similar servers so we can get a good mix of players across all time zones. On Cerberus the EU community is pretty non-existent (which is why my group runs late at night our time, so we can pick up friends from across the Atlantic), and the NA community isn't much more populated than that. It's only when the Japanese start logging in does the server jump from having under 200 players online, to having 4-500. The fact is 4-500 players is still a small average compared to other servers, so I believe some of the JP players on our server wouldn't mind having more people to take along for events.

With the changes to Ambuscade I understand that SE will want some time to evaluate congestion for this event. I understand that doing a merge would bring serious congestion if these changes do not work as intended. They wouldn't want too many JP players on the same server if Ambuscade turns out to be just as bad as it was before the update.

I'm also wondering about the moderators on this forum and why they choose not to respond to posts like this. I feel like if they acknowledged the issue then it gives us an expectation that they will do something. So in other words .. they just ignore us and announce things when they want, not when we ask for it. It's so frustrating that we can't talk to a proper representative who isn't a powerless SGM. I don't want to fight with these guys .. I want to provide feedback, I want to ask questions and hopefully get answers. We love this game, and I believe at this point SE should be doing more to reassure their loyal players. After all, without their loyal players there is no FFXI. That's the whole point of this game which they've told us many times .. FFXI is us. So I hope SE notices this and takes steps to make it easier for us to communicate with them. Again .. not expecting anything, I'm merely making suggestions and hoping that someone can talk to us like human beings .. and not just ignore us because they can't handle answering the hard-hitting questions.

[Nyarlko]

In the next version update SE are changing Ambuscade so the fights last longer and the rewards more plentiful. This will lower the amount of groups entering Ambuscade at any given time. Therefore, we can pretty much put the issue of congestion to bed as Ambuscade was literally the only thing people had to wait around for.

So I'd like to thank SE for noticing this issue and putting a fix in place. However, I still feel some servers could do with being shut down and merged with other similar servers so we can get a good mix of players across all time zones. On Cerberus the EU community is pretty non-existent (which is why my group runs late at night our time, so we can pick up friends from across the Atlantic), and the NA community isn't much more populated than that. It's only when the Japanese start logging in does the server jump from having under 200 players online, to having 4-500. The fact is 4-500 players is still a small average compared to other servers, so I believe some of the JP players on our server wouldn't mind having more people to take along for events.

With the changes to Ambuscade I understand that SE will want some time to evaluate congestion for this event. I understand that doing a merge would bring serious congestion if these changes do not work as intended. They wouldn't want too many JP players on the same server if Ambuscade turns out to be just as bad as it was before the update.

I'm also wondering about the moderators on this forum and why they choose not to respond to posts like this. I feel like if they acknowledged the issue then it gives us an expectation that they will do something. So in other words .. they just ignore us and announce things when they want, not when we ask for it. It's so frustrating that we can't talk to a proper representative who isn't a powerless SGM. I don't want to fight with these guys .. I want to provide feedback, I want to ask questions and hopefully get answers. We love this game, and I believe at this point SE should be doing more to reassure their loyal players. After all, without their loyal players there is no FFXI. That's the whole point of this game which they've told us many times .. FFXI is us. So I hope SE notices this and takes steps to make it easier for us to communicate with them. Again .. not expecting anything, I'm merely making suggestions and hoping that someone can talk to us like human beings .. and not just ignore us because they can't handle answering the hard-hitting questions.

The increased HP/rewards are only affecting VD (and maybe D, not 100% on the translation,) so I honestly don't see this affecting congestion much at all unless it's during a month where V1VD is spammable. It has no impact on those running V2 or lower tier V1. It's also still unknown how much the reward increase is, and if it's not enough to compensate for the extra kill time, people will just start avoiding it.

We basically don't have any mods at this time on the English forums... If you want to have a shot at actually getting something done, you'd have to post on the JPside where even the devs themselves can read/respond to posts.

[Afania]

Yeah, like you can just snap your fingers and conjure leveled, skilled, and reasonably geared FFXI players out of thin air like magic.

Right.

Do you have human players confused for trust NPCs or something?

You are missing the point. My point was specifically directed toward some people's comment on these forums whenever server population are being discussed.

Many of these people proceed to claim "small server suck" because "no shout happening, you can't get things done without LS or friends". I personally find such comment biased. On small servers, many of the LS or friend groups are more than willing to invite anyone that can contribute. Since the servers are small, every applicants are competing with less competitions for a spot in event LS or party. Therefore, if someone play on a small server without LS, the only logical explanation is that he never bother applying to any of them.

In other words, the argument of "can't get things done without friends/ls" isn't valid because you can't just refuse joining an LS, then make an argument about small server suck for those without LS.

On the other hand, on a bigger server every LS/groups/Party applicants are competing with more people for a slot, it's not necessary easier to get stuff done. Same can be said for people only wanting to play with PUG then proceed to bash NotAsura servers. I'm having very hard time imagining if PUG provides reasonable progression efficiency to justify all the negative comment towards NotAsura servers.

That being said, if people prefer Asura, just go ahead. It's by no means a bad thing to play with 1700 people and enjoy lower price items and a more active market. But for those who prefer other servers, it's nice to have alternatives and different options to choose from, instead of listening to people bashing NotAsura servers 24/7.

I upvoted Kylos's posts about his LS progression on every forum. He is working hard to prove that Asura isn't by all end all the only choice for people wanting to make progression. Many of the LS/players on smaller servers are totally capable of getting everything done, from CP to T4 to master trials, with efficiency one tier above PUG. Not many LS advertise themselves as hard as Kylos, which is unfortunate because other people wouldn't know about other alternative options as much. If I don't already love my current LS very much and play on different timezone, I'd totally hop server to help him succeed.

[Sirmarki]

He is working hard to prove that Asura isn't by all end all the only choice for people wanting to make progression.

Might hit a giant wall with that one.

Last month (campaign), 20+ people I KNOW of (then add on the ones I don't) crossed over from Fenrir to Asura. From what I hear, that's almost 10% of the overall European/NA time population number on that server (200-300 people online).

[DarkValefor]

All that people moving to Asura are making it so profitable to SE that I don't think they will even consider a world merge.

[detlef]

If you want to keep your backwater server going, help every stranger who shouts for help. If you aren't helping with pickup groups then you're doing your part to push them off the server or out of the game entirely. Even if you don't need what they're shouting for.
Not addressing OP directly, just saying in general it's the healthiest thing you can do.

[DarkValefor]

If you want to keep your backwater server going, help every stranger who shouts for help. If you aren't helping with pickup groups then you're doing your part to push them off the server or out of the game entirely. Even if you don't need what they're shouting for.
Not addressing OP directly, just saying in general it's the healthiest thing you can do.

Except there aren't any shouts at all. Not sure about Cerberus hbu Carbuncle is quite dead at EU times. At NA times it gets better and shouts happen, and of course I help them, I help anyone if I'm not busy and we have been.recruiting many people we've randomly helped but I still think SE should consider a world merge while I don't think they'll do it. I think Asura is not allways the best option.

We've been also recruited people that like me, came back from Asura. They weren't happy about not being able to play the jobs they liked, about most shouts asking for REMA weapons on easy NMs or even Ambuscade and that in Asupeople want to charge you for almost everything. NMs I can kill for them in 10 seconds people charging 5 millions for a drop.

And yes, I have joined good linkshells in Asura too and played with very helpful people but that used to be at EU nights and on weekdays around that time I was sleeping. I just think Asura can be a good idea for some people, but It's not for everyone.

Some of us don't want to play the 3-4 most common jobs, don't want to have to read a guide before we just attempt a battle, we don't care to have a learning experience and wipe to a battle or two and have some fun and in Asura it felt like you weren't allowed to play to enjoy.

This is pure opinion and based on my experiences which of course don't match everyone else's but should be enough to understand some of us want a merge badly.

[Afania]

Might hit a giant wall with that one.

Last month (campaign), 20+ people I KNOW of (then add on the ones I don't) crossed over from Fenrir to Asura. From what I hear, that's almost 10% of the overall European/NA time population number on that server (200-300 people online).

I don't mind people prefer it at all. Some people just like bigger servers.

I only disagree with people pop on the forum claiming Asura is by all end all the best server for everyone on the planet. Pretty much every server discussion thread would have at least one person like this.

And it's nice to see others providing a linkshell option for those who prefer other servers.