Server Merge

[Authority]

In any MMO, this is a hot topic. Some people are for it, and some people are against it. However, with FFXI being such a social MMO, and after a bunch of people left for FFXIV, I think it's about time to have another merge.

Have there been any announcements regarding upcoming server merges? I would be completely for it, because starting fresh with barren auction houses and nobody in old zones kind of sucks... XIV didn't really hold out for me, and I want to come back and enjoy this.

What do you think?

[Demon6324236]

We need it, but we don't need it. Admittedly we do have congestion in WKs, we need them to die down before we start getting merges, otherwise we are only walking into issues we asked for.

[MarkovChain]

server merges would be a nice thing.

[predatory]

server merges would be a nice thing.
Actually not a nice thing, a very needed thing, the game is in its death throes now, and a server merge might stave it off long enough for SE to fix the problems they created with SoA, but the longer they wait on a server merge, the more people will leave simply because of low populations, and staring at a screen hoping for something to pop up. I've always been a take charge and shout to get shit going kind of guy, but there are a lot of people who don't shout and they kind of wait, the longer the wait the less likely they are to keep playing, and right now with populations so low, there isn't many shouts for stuff going on.

[Authority]

Actually not a nice thing, a very needed thing, the game is in its death throes now, and a server merge might stave it off long enough for SE to fix the problems they created with SoA, but the longer they wait on a server merge, the more people will leave simply because of low populations, and staring at a screen hoping for something to pop up. I've always been a take charge and shout to get shit going kind of guy, but there are a lot of people who don't shout and they kind of wait, the longer the wait the less likely they are to keep playing, and right now with populations so low, there isn't many shouts for stuff going on.

Agreed. A bunch of people I've spoken with in-game would love a server merge too. Hopefully SE has some news regarding this soon.

[Anjou]

They love the idea of a merge...until they find out it's -their- server merging and they lose their name to someone's inactive mule.

[Sapphire]

They love the idea of a merge...until they find out it's -their- server merging and they lose their name to someone's inactive mule.

There's this.

And there is the fact that just because a server has a low population during the hours people in NA play doesn't mean it's as low at say, Japanese prime hours. Sylph is a small server, (has been for a while), and the population has taken a hit during the hours I play. However more than once I have stayed up WAY later than I should, and did a /sea all, to find nearly twice as many people on.

I'm not saying server merges aren't likely in the future. I think in 2014 there will be some. But the folks who actually have access to hard data on how many people log in from where and what time likely have to crunch those numbers a lot to determine when and what servers will go. Simply halving the servers is likely to cause a mess during the hours of the day where for years now the most people have been logged in. And that won't help any either.

And before someone comes in a says "well just make JP only servers and NA only servers etc etc." that may "solve" YOUR issue, but would needlessly move people who are perfectly ok on global servers and maybe (I know, crazy) play with people from all over the world.

(Personally my fear is that since Sylph is tiny, it will be a source server and not a target one, and I may lose any of my character's names, as they were all carefully chose. /sigh)

[illusionist]

I'm in Quetz and it's not so big server.I can see my online friends is much lesser.(JP peak time)
Also,when we merged with Mids,Quetz was target one.so,
if we'll merge next time,I fear Quetz will not be target one.Even I think it's fair for all servers which became
source servers until now,Every server has its atmosphere,I felt it I visited friend in Odin,and Siren for user event.
I'm so nervous whether I can fit other atmosphere or not.(After 11years on Quetz)

Also I have same fear with Sapphire.But as a JP player who want to play with worldwide players.
Time zone makes it difficult,but I met many J/E JP players here,get along with NA&EU players.
I'm not sure,maybe there's other servers which is much better.
But as Sapphire says,I'm here and don't want to lose atmosphere we managed to keep in This server.

(You can call me hopeless romantic)

[lllen]

I'm in NA, most of the time there are 500 or so people on server, it may hit 1k during JP time, but when its at 500 and there are 200 in WKR, and another WKR is starting every able bodied player is in WKR. A merge would be a good thing, I hated giving up Hades but it was so nice seeing 2k people on, you could get a party (back in the days when you partied). I would vote for a merge, I think the time is now.

[Teraniku]

There's this.

And there is the fact that just because a server has a low population during the hours people in NA play doesn't mean it's as low at say, Japanese prime hours. Sylph is a small server, (has been for a while), and the population has taken a hit during the hours I play. However more than once I have stayed up WAY later than I should, and did a /sea all, to find nearly twice as many people on.

I'm not saying server merges aren't likely in the future. I think in 2014 there will be some. But the folks who actually have access to hard data on how many people log in from where and what time likely have to crunch those numbers a lot to determine when and what servers will go. Simply halving the servers is likely to cause a mess during the hours of the day where for years now the most people have been logged in. And that won't help any either.

And before someone comes in a says "well just make JP only servers and NA only servers etc etc." that may "solve" YOUR issue, but would needlessly move people who are perfectly ok on global servers and maybe (I know, crazy) play with people from all over the world.

(Personally my fear is that since Sylph is tiny, it will be a source server and not a target one, and I may lose any of my character's names, as they were all carefully chose. /sigh)

I work nights so my play hours are non standard. I like Global Servers at least that way I don't hit a dead zone where me and only about 200 other people are on...

[Byrth]

I work nights so my play hours are non standard. I like Global Servers at least that way I don't hit a dead zone where me and only about 200 other people are on...

<_______________________________________________<

You just described NA and EU primetimes on Lakshmi.

[Afania]

We need it, but we don't need it. Admittedly we do have congestion in WKs, we need them to die down before we start getting merges, otherwise we are only walking into issues we asked for.

We need it for sure, but atm there's such a huge gap between JP prime time and NA/EU prime time. On my server there's 1.5k player every JP night on weekdays, weekend can hit 1.8k. But NA/EU time is like 600~700.

We need a merge because NA/EU population is too small, on the same time it's going to be 3k+ player per server on JP time if we merge ><

[Umichi]

I propose we create a universal translator so we don't have to worry about the language gap... that would go ways further than a server merge to inducing more gameplay

[Byrth]

It looks like the RME update didn't exactly draw people back in droves. Lakshmi still needs (at the least) to be combined with one other server.

[Dragoy]

Whatever/whenever (it) happens, it has been cordially decided that Asura bee merged to Fenrir.

Yes.

Fenrir has been the same as many, ranging from 400 to 1600, latter being some few hours before midnight in Japan (afternoon for me). Although right now, which is about 12 hours after, there are over 1000 characters around which is more than usual, I maybe guess.

[Afania]

It looks like the RME update didn't exactly draw people back in droves. Lakshmi still needs (at the least) to be combined with one other server.

Only JPs are back to be exact, sometimes it can go over 1.7k on weekend JP night, @2am JPT population drop back to 700.

[Byrth]

That's also how it is on Lakshmi, although our highs aren't that high. We're more like 1300/600.

[Vold]

Seeing tops 10-15 bazaars in the chosen bazaar zone these days is quite depressing. I don't care when prime time and off time is. People afk to bazaar and 15 bazaars or less is a clear sign of needing to merge. Badly.

[Twille]

Server merges are needed badly. If we don't see one in a month or two it'll probably be time for me to leave this game behind.

[Demon6324236]

We need it for sure, but atm there's such a huge gap between JP prime time and NA/EU prime time. On my server there's 1.5k player every JP night on weekdays, weekend can hit 1.8k. But NA/EU time is like 600~700.

We need a merge because NA/EU population is too small, on the same time it's going to be 3k+ player per server on JP time if we merge ><That's my point, some things will be better with a merge, some things will be worse, which do you really choose? No merge which means less people to do things with, or merge and have massive server clutter of people and congestion? There is a good and bad to it no matter how you look at it.

[Byrth]

Of current events, "server clutter" is an issue for:
* Limbus
* BCNMs
* Dynamis

"Layer zone" events like Salvage, Assault, Delve, etc. already run on a pan-world server, so lag in those events is unaffected by whether or not there's a merge. Of the above three events, I have only had to wait on a Limbus zone once in the last two weeks of daily runs. I've shared a BCNM zone with another party once. I haven't been in Dynamis in months, but I'm sure it can stand a doubling of volume as well.

Given what is currently popular, the only thing that might not be able to handle a tripling of players/server would be the Adoulin moghouse zone lines.

[Demon6324236]

I have no idea how Skirmish is but I figured it might still have people doing it, there is also the congestion issue with Delve NMs being killed, where I hear many are being camped nearly 24 hours a day.

[Angarato]

if they merge servers and use the old servers to fix congestion in BCNM style events it would be a win-win

[Mkilbride]

I did a 24 hour server watch and Bahamut, one of the top 3 most populated servers At no time did the population go above 1200, and rountinely averaged 400-600 people during most of the day. This is SAD. Just last freaking MARCH, before SoA came out, the server, mine at least, had 3200+ peak and a little under 1900 at non-peak hours. An expansion has come out, there is a free two week thing for old and new players alike, and new content updates - and the game is more dead than ever.

We need server merges - badly, though I realize how people feel about it.

[Secondplanet]

I did a 24 hour server watch and Bahamut, one of the top 3 most populated servers At no time did the population go above 1200, and rountinely averaged 400-600 people during most of the day. This is SAD. Just last freaking MARCH, before SoA came out, the server, mine at least, had 3200+ peak and a little under 1900 at non-peak hours. An expansion has come out, there is a free two week thing for old and new players alike, and new content updates - and the game is more dead than ever.

We need server merges - badly, though I realize how people feel about it.

Its almost dead on Asura right now, The average population is around 700-800 people and most are afk in town or bots fishing. Shouts and yells are only done by few and there is no shouts for anything other then events where you need the gear from the events to do the events...... But they need to either make the game free or do a merger like you said.

[Manque]

I was curious to see what the JP thought of the dwindling numbers of NA players so I made a post on their forums asking if they noticed the decrease and whether or not they think a merge is wanted or not.

Players responded by saying that they definitely noticed a decrease in NA players, but also in JP.

Most players seem to worry about issues with names if a server change happens. For that reason, they don't really want one apparently.

I'm still interested in a merge even if my name changes however.

[Sapphires]

I'm not sure what people expect a merge to do besides maybe congest the server in unwanted ways.
Try playing on jp time with 1400+ and try find a place to farm sparks/xp/time limited records of eminence challenges. Even with 600 people on and fast travel everywhere, its hard to find a place to yourself and I feel like im having a dynamis style monster claiming competition with all these soloists and their entourage of npcs.

Even with low pop server time,
*wildkeeper runs either die super fast or most are capped on gear and rme item value crashing so that (possible drop) no longer a reason to go.
*people already lowman pug friendly stuff like voidwatch with 6 people

[Windwhistler]

I like the idea of a server merge too! ^_^
I hope SE pursue this during the new year.

[Anjou]

For the love of the Baby Jesus, merge the damn servers already, I need people to play wiht and so does everyone else...

[Castanica]

If they aren't doing it then it's probably because they are contemplating somethihng that would bring in a lot of new/old players.

They just did a f2p trial afterall, wait and see what's coming.

Also I think you all need a reality check, read the thread below. Check from 2009 onwards.

Server numbers aren't really much worse than they were a few years ago, just the content is terrible.

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/50106-Server-Populations/page5

[detlef]

Check your server population during peak JP time. Which do you think would concern SE more? A thousand JPs complaining about overcrowding or a few hundred NAs complaining about the low population?

[Renaissance2K]

I think the issue is less that the server population is low and more that the most active portion of the community burns through new content immediately and then never touches it again.

If 95% of Server A has their Delve drops and 95% of Server B has their Delve drops, you're still not going to find anyone willing to Delve with you once the two servers merge.

[Anjou]

If they aren't doing it then it's probably because they are contemplating somethihng that would bring in a lot of new/old players.

They just did a f2p trial afterall, wait and see what's coming.

Also I think you all need a reality check, read the thread below. Check from 2009 onwards.

Server numbers aren't really much worse than they were a few years ago, just the content is terrible.

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/50106-Server-Populations/page5

Quit saying that they are going to be going to F2P, they aren't.

[Alhanelem]

It honestly seems like NA players have lost interest a LOT more than JP players. If I log on early in the morning the player numbers don't seem to have dropped as much as they have during NA time.

[scaevola]

I'm sympathetic to the forced-name-change issue but I'll just change my name to "scaevolol", so

[Edyth]

I don't know why, but the past three days I've seen 900-1000+ players on Quetzalcoatl during both NA and JP primetimes. This is more people than during the F2P returners periods. It was 400-600+ during that trial. What's the deal? Did everyone realize FFXIV can never be FFXI?

[Alhanelem]

Did everyone realize FFXIV can never be FFXI?
or vice versa. I have active subs on both (but fark se for no discount). Both games have their strong points.

[Demonjustin]

SE does not want them to be the same, so why would that even be a surprise in the first place unless people literally did 0 research on it and didn't care what SE said about it, just throwing money at it like fools anyways.

[Vivivivi]

I don't know why, but the past three days I've seen 900-1000+ players on Quetzalcoatl during both NA and JP primetimes. This is more people than during the F2P returners periods. It was 400-600+ during that trial. What's the deal? Did everyone realize FFXIV can never be FFXI?

Well I obviously can't speak for everyone, but personally, now that I've reached end game in 14, I sort of play that Monday-Wednesday or so at which point I have just about capped out my weekly limit for mythology tomes, Coil progression and my one crystal tower drop for the week. So unless I feel like levelling a new class, there isn't much for me to do in 14 until the following week. That's usually when I head back over to 11 now, where there is just so much content still left for me to pursue– especially with new empyrean weaponskill unlocks, reforged armor, etc. I find myself enjoying things like walk of echoes again, and going back and getting some AF1 I might have skipped over.

So for me it's a matter of consuming 14 content as fast as it's released combined with the recent updates to 11 giving me more to do.