Server Merge

[Vandark]

Hey everyone, this is actually my first time here on the XI forums although my character has been around since 2001 lol.

I hate to see how my servers population has decreased on a massive scale, it would be really nice to see the world flooding with action again.

I'm not happy about the direction Final Fantasy 14 has taken and I've made my return to 11, I think a server merge could really save this game in ways, how do the rest of you feel about this?

Just some added views on the situation I feel like it's a shame the game hasn't ever taken the free to play model, I think if possible XI as a free to play game could really revive it.

[Sfchakan]

I think the populations are fine, but I do think the playerbase has gotten a little bit lazier when it comes to networking. It makes a world with hundreds of active people currently online seem that much more small and quiet.

If you returned and started actively trying to network to do things, you'd get enough people who are too lazy to proactively do the same.

[Vandark]

Well my server only really caps out at about 1.2k players max when before ARR was released it was capping out at about 3k +

[Sfchakan]

Well, more people on less worlds means more congestion. Sure, it sounds great for some things, but it really stinks for others. Imagine trying to farm Colorless Souls or do AA fights on a world where 2-3 times as many people are wanting to do the same?

[RalphTheGalka]

Then fix those events. There's no reason why the game should continue to suffer because of congestion in some old content.

[Sfchakan]

Again, the issue isn't the population, but the playerbase. You can make this magical assumption that things will be perfect with 2-3 times as many people online. They won't if you continue to sit back and complain instead of proactively playing the game.

[Alhanelem]

Also I'm curious what this "direction" FFXIV has taken you're not liking. A lot of people complain about the lockouts and such but XI has had once a day / once per 3 days / once a week lockouts for its entire existence. (I currently have active subs to both games)

Also agreed with post above. It's bad in some ways but the thinner population has also promoted greater camaraderie amongst the community. I've actually had an easier time getting help more recently than a year ago, oddly enough.

[Sfchakan]

I, for one, enjoy being part of a server community and not a mass of anonymous players. This is something that not as many MMOs can provide these days...

[Vandark]

Also I'm curious what this "direction" FFXIV has taken you're not liking. A lot of people complain about the lockouts and such but XI has had once a day / once per 3 days / once a week lockouts for its entire existence. (I currently have active subs to both games)

Also agreed with post above. It's bad in some ways but the thinner population has also promoted greater camaraderie amongst the community. I've actually had an easier time getting help more recently than a year ago, oddly enough.

14 went from being a game closer to XI than it is currently to a game that has become basicly a WoW clone, to me it's like Sfchakan said ARR is a whole bunch of anonymous players all standing around playing the game solo queing in for dungeons. I'm not into that, I'm more into group play and working as a team like XI had, XI used to be better...

Anyways, the world sure could use another merge IMO because right now there just isn't enough going on.

[Alhanelem]

14 went from being a game closer to XI than it is currently to a game that has become basicly a WoW clone,IMO, XIV is largely its own thing, not like either XI or WoW. You say "wow clone" in a derogatory context, but the fact is, while there are some things many people don't like about it, there are things it did do well, and those things are why it was so successful.


Sfchakan said ARR is a whole bunch of anonymous players all standing around playing the game solo queing in for dungeons.This really isn't true at all. While it is an option, I pre-form all my parties, I rarely ever use the duty finder. Too many people around here just take people at their word and form opinions without even trying it. The hardest endgame content also doesn't use the duty finder at all (and the rest of the endgame content that does, people don't use the duty finder unless they like losing).


Anyways, the world sure could use another merge IMO because right now there just isn't enough going on. I guess I wouldn't fight a server merge, but I'm not particularly discontented with the current situation. I think it has led to people being more helpful than in the past.

[Elphy]

14 went from being a game closer to XI than it is currently to a game that has become basicly a WoW clone

So many ppl want to say ffxi is its own incarnation and fight that to the point where they don't seem to realize ffxi is an EQ clone.

Having just canceled my sub to ffxi in favor of ffxiv (I cannot justify paying $16 a month after mules x2 accounts for a game that is basically a single player these days when I can pay $7.99 a month for xiv with its booming population and a good bit of content since 2.1) I must say that xiv is not even close to a wow clone. Sure they share a couple minor similarities but its not a true clone.

I also like the fact that I log in and am greeted by a fc of about 60-something players who are active, want to do endgame, want to lvl, want to gear, want to play together. I was logging into xi for months since v1 of ffxiv went offline and barely said 2 words to anyone else. LS I would join would go belly up within a couple weeks, ppl would look at you and say ilvl117? gtfo and honestly I don't see a point in busting my behind of a r/e/m anymore. Even if they are best of the best in some cases since the boost they got the work you need to put into them is way to much for this game anymore. And all the work I put into obtaining gear was pointless as they sit on my mannequin.

A server merge may be a good thing but I think at this point its like a Band-Aid on a stab wound.

[Vandark]

I must say that xiv is not even close to a wow clone. Sure they share a couple minor similarities but its not a true clone.

FF14 in a nut shell

- Crafting took a huge hit and is basically useless now for end game, so why bother crafting, what a waste of time and content
- Gathering is useless now coz all it dose is fund pointless crafting
- Gil has close to no purpose apart from an insanely over priced housing cost implemented and repairs. It has no real use because there is no point in funding crafting or gathering, you won't get the return you want, you can earn all the equipment you will ever need threw questing and dungeons and all the gil you'll ever need is earned in dungeons also so why bother making gil.
- Previous point eliminates the use in farming, so anyone who enjoys farming too bad because you won't make good money doing it and there isn't much point in it now anyway.
- Leveling, the entire system for leveling is smashing monsters that spawn randomly all over the place in an outside group this means you don't interact with other players and it's basically just a spam fest of huge numbers smashing at the same mobs without any form of difficulty or strategy. It feels more grindy because it's so repetitive and boring, it's the same experience for every time you level a new job and the old party system in FFXIV 1.23 was more engaging and was actually faster exp.
- The game is mostly solo, all you do is play solo in this game for the most part, the entire story apart from more dungeons is solo'ed..... Even gearing up in end game is mostly solo play just with others around you.
- The zones have no sense of danger
- The zones are 1/3rd of the size they used to be
- The zones have no exploration because there all a set path layed out for you with no alternative directions to take and with no caves to enter or underground areas to explore.
- Everyone is pimp in this game has there relics for all there lvl 50 jobs and the best end game gear, everyone looks the same because the game is incredibly easy and everything is handed to you without providing much effort and basically no skill.

What about it is like a wow clone?
All these games befor FFXIV – ARR were basically wow clones
.Guild Wars 2
.Rift Online
.Tera
.SWTOR
What do these have in common?
- Questing to lvl
- Questing to do the main story
- Lots of the same type of quests, running from A to B constantly back and forth all the time, kill these mobs, run to A, kill these mobs, run to B, do this emote, pick up these items. That about sums it up for all the quests in the game.
- End game is only dungeons, raids and PvP and have nothing else to offer.
- They all were forced to take on the free to play model because they seriously lacked content
- Instances where monsters spawn in large groups, Guild wars 2 and Rift online and now Fates in FF14.

What is a WoW clone, a game thats like WoW right?

Not exactly, a WoW clone from what I can see consists of taking small parts from WoW and trying to make it new.

What is bad about this?
Everything!
-They always take the same parts from WoW that people see in every game now and it's seriously getting old.
-They try to revolve there entire game around these small parts that they have taken from WoW creating a very basic world that feels and plays like child play with very little to offer players.
"Theme park MMO"

What dose FF14 have that’s different?
Housing that no one can afford?
Limit breaks that for the most part only dragoon and monk get to use and only in a team?
Crafting and gathering that is no longer cool like it was in 1.23 or has a purpose?
Story which ends then the game is basically over?
Is this supposed to be a console game or an MMO because right now it doesn’t feel like an MMO to me. In FFXIV I have nothing left to do except a few dungeons and pvp, that’s about it, I’ve already finished the entire game and I’m over it and it only took me a month to do everything.

[Elphy]

FF14 in a nut shell

- Crafting took a huge hit and is basically useless now for end game, so why bother crafting, what a waste of time and content
- Gathering is useless now coz all it dose is fund pointless crafting
- Gil has close to no purpose apart from an insanely over priced housing cost implemented and repairs. It has no real use because there is no point in funding crafting or gathering, you won't get the return you want, you can earn all the equipment you will ever need threw questing and dungeons and all the gil you'll ever need is earned in dungeons also so why bother making gil.
- Previous point eliminates the use in farming, so anyone who enjoys farming too bad because you won't make good money doing it and there isn't much point in it now anyway.
- Leveling, the entire system for leveling is smashing monsters that spawn randomly all over the place in an outside group this means you don't interact with other players and it's basically just a spam fest of huge numbers smashing at the same mobs without any form of difficulty or strategy. It feels more grindy because it's so repetitive and boring, it's the same experience for every time you level a new job and the old party system in FFXIV 1.23 was more engaging and was actually faster exp.
- The game is mostly solo, all you do is play solo in this game for the most part, the entire story apart from more dungeons is solo'ed..... Even gearing up in end game is mostly solo play just with others around you.
- The zones have no sense of danger
- The zones are 1/3rd of the size they used to be
- The zones have no exploration because there all a set path layed out for you with no alternative directions to take and with no caves to enter or underground areas to explore.
- Everyone is pimp in this game has there relics for all there lvl 50 jobs and the best end game gear, everyone looks the same because the game is incredibly easy and everything is handed to you without providing much effort and basically no skill.

The funniest part about this is that it basically describes xi too LOL

And I am not saying ffxi is bad. Heck I played it for 7 yrs and in its prime it was astounding. What I am saying is that it doesn't have much to offer anymore, and that has as much to do with the community as it does anything else. But haters gonna hate, white knights will always blindly defend I guess. /shrug

[Vandark]

snip

It described the new XI but not the old XI or the old FF14, the new FF14 is a joke

[Alhanelem]

It described the new XI but not the old XI or the old FF14, the new FF14 is a joke
a joke in terms of how hilariously superior it is to the original.

[Castanica]

The populations are fine, they are very average to what they have always been outside of the peaks.

Go back 4-5 years and they were around the same as they are now, I can post a link where people have been posting population numbers for 5-6 years that show this. They peaked at certain points but the average was always around the 1-1.5 mark at JP prime.

The problem isn't population, the problem is that the developers have ruined FFXI and taken it away from what made it great and more inline with modern solo experiences.

Also honestly I wanted this to go f2p for a while but the truth is there is no way FFXI would work as f2p, just impossible for them to make money from it. They can't setup a cash shop, they can't add cosmetics due to ps2 ram limiations etc.

Also if you 3 want to discuss FFXIV maybe goto the XIV forum and not disrespect the XI forum with your chatting about another game? Just a suggestion, one I'm sure you won't bother to take any notice of of course since XIV players never did seem to have any respect for XI players.

[Feary]

The populations are fine, they are very average to what they have always been outside of the peaks.

Go back 4-5 years and they were around the same as they are now, I can post a link where people have been posting population numbers for 5-6 years that show this. They peaked at certain points but the average was always around the 1-1.5 mark at JP prime.

The problem isn't population, the problem is that the developers have ruined FFXI and taken it away from what made it great and more inline with modern solo experiences.

Also honestly I wanted this to go f2p for a while but the truth is there is no way FFXI would work as f2p, just impossible for them to make money from it. They can't setup a cash shop, they can't add cosmetics due to ps2 ram limiations etc.

Also if you 3 want to discuss FFXIV maybe goto the XIV forum and not disrespect the XI forum with your chatting about another game? Just a suggestion, one I'm sure you won't bother to take any notice of of course since XIV players never did seem to have any respect for XI players.

do you even play still? remember you are still posting in the NA section of the forums so what na wants the busiest time of their server to be 3am-7am est.

our server, 5 years ago the player base was 3 times what it is now. at server merge we averaged 2500-3000 players. before after wotg release we had 5k+. it then went down to 1500-2000 after abyssea. now its 500-1000. on a good day after an update 1500.

200 of the 600 ppl on right now are in beaucidine fishing, 100 afk in adoulin 150 afk in PJ.

[oliveira]

Weekdays, Fenrir has 550-680 people at the lowest population time, 1100-1300ish during Japanese playtime hours.

On weekends during Japanese playtime hours it's around 2000+ people. Hopefully no merger happens anytime soon... -_-;

[Cnile]

I can see both overall points made here. If you are able to be part of a community that is great. You probably have more time to invest in the relationship building that ffxi has done a great job enabling us to do. However, others that do not have the time to invest in relationships, i.e. "community" rely on the ability to just log in for an hour or 2 and be able to be a part of something that is fulfilling and rewarding. I don't know how your servers are looking but, if you were on a server like Leviathan (a dead zone) and tried to shout for members or join a pick up group for delve you will be quick to realize that it might be a 2-5 hour investment. Anyways both points are valid.

[Dragoy]

You say "wow clone" in a derogatory context, but the fact is, while there are some things many people don't like about it, there are things it did do well, and those things are why it was so successful.

I tend to think these things like this, or something like this: in a way, alcohol, tobacco, and the likes, are successful.

Does it make them a good thing?

Things done well, sure, when one looks at them in a certain way. While World of Warcraft may have its 'good things', it's probably addictive, too, which I guess makes it a good game at least in some way. This is no doubt one of the reasons many 'clones' exist, and why Yoshida, too, stated that they copied WoW on certain things. Billions of dung beetles can't be wrong, right? Or so one might say... Opinions, and all that.

While that might not be the bestest of comparisons, as those things are probably more useful (no offence intended), it seemed fit in describing a population with a similar want. As with most things, they can't please each and every one of us; I personally haven't been interested in a modern game for ages it feels, and possibly never will be! This goes for X|V just as well. I was probably more interested in it during it's very first αlpha phase, even though it was as broken as it was.

While I do sort of doubt it to be as similar as a clone, I have not personally played WoW, and am not planning to do so, and for that reason I can't really say much about that. I do feel like describing FFX|V as its clone is a bit much, but I do also think that I understand the meaning of it when people call it one.

Point probably being that, while a thing may be successful and the majority may think it's good, there will be some that don't fancy that thing, and instead, go from flower to flower...


As for the server merging, I don't think it would necessarily be a good thing now, although I may have thought differently some time before. I don't think I have much say in it, however, as I'm not one of the majority(?) who does things that require lots of fellow players around. :S

Who knows. Perhaps they'll create servers targeting specific regions where people can move for free (once), instead of forcing them together, having the more populated time-range become suffocated (probably not quite that bad, but eh). It's not a new thought here, I think, but it is an unlikely one to become reality.

Probably.

What was I talking about again? Nothing!

[Renaissance2K]

I don't expect to be able to get any more done after a server merge. There will be twice as many "5/6 PLD COR BRD or GEO" /shouts, though.

[Afania]

The funniest part about this is that it basically describes xi too LOL

And I am not saying ffxi is bad. Heck I played it for 7 yrs and in its prime it was astounding. What I am saying is that it doesn't have much to offer anymore, and that has as much to do with the community as it does anything else. But haters gonna hate, white knights will always blindly defend I guess. /shrug

If FFXIV isn't wow clone, then no other MMO is wow clone.....FFXI is more like an EQ clone but not WoW clone. Heck it even release before WoW how'd it copy WoW? EQ was the first MMO that heads toward themepark direction, so FFXI the EQ clone has some gameplay element WoW had, but FFXIV is still much closer to what WoW is than FFXI.

One of the noticeable WoW element in XIV is the UI and battle system. There's tank/DD/healer when you queue like WoW, there's "optimal rotation" and hot bar for skills near the bottom. There's various skills with indiviual cooldown and global cool down. I'd consider games with tab targetting/rotation based battle system wow clone.

I don't consider GW2 a wow clone, it's a theme park MMO that has questing/instance dungeons just like wow, but the battle system is completely different and it doesn't follow tank/DD/healer holy trinity, it managed to try something new. I also don't consider TERA WoW clone, again, the battle system is completely different. FFXI is also not wow clone because it's a TP/WS at 100TP battle system. Tera/SWTOR/FFXI is just theme-park.

But SWTOR and FFXIV ARR is damn close to WoW is. They're using exactly the same battle system and holy trinity as WoW. A game you quest to lv is just a thempark MMO, but FFXIV ARR is 100% WoW clone. If they keep 1.23's battle system I wouldn't call it WoW clone at all.

[Afania]

IMO, XIV is largely its own thing, not like either XI or WoW. You say "wow clone" in a derogatory context, but the fact is, while there are some things many people don't like about it, there are things it did do well, and those things are why it was so successful.


IMO, ARR doesn't try anything different, and that's the main reason why I don't like it. You can keep what makes the game successful AND still try to be different. GW2 tried to be different with the battle system/class system, while keeping the accessability from WoW, and in the end I enjoyed it. SWTOR is mostly WoW clone, but it tried very hard when it comes to story telling aspect, in the end I enjoyed the story at least. Warhammer seems like a WoW clone, but fundamentally it's a PVP focused MMO. Those MMO I've played in the past have WoW element but still has it's own thing.


But FFXIV just shamlessly copy everything from WoW, from holy trinity to battle system. And it doesn't even copy swimming/exploration/talent tree from WoW. I try to find something unique in FFXIV, and I just couldn't find it. Everytime when I see ppl said "FFXIV ins't wow clone", they often fail to tell me exactly what makes FFXIV unique....besides job change and FF element. Considering job change has smaller impact than games like FFT or FFXI, I don't really consider job change a selling point in XIV either.



So many ppl want to say ffxi is its own incarnation and fight that to the point where they don't seem to realize ffxi is an EQ clone.


1. FFXI is still less of an EQ clone, FFXIV is closer to what WoW is.

2. The point is there aren't many EQ clone on the market that I'm tired of playing more, there are countless WoW clones on the market. At this point of time I've played so damn many MMO that follows quest based lving, skill rotations and holy trinity. I don't mind playing an EQ clone or "insert your none wow title" clone, because it's different. But I don't want to play another WoW clone anymore unless it has something very unique.

It's just how entertainment goes, you want something different when you play games/read books/watch movies, not something exactly the same as previous titles.

[Demonjustin]

If FFXIV isn't wow clone, then no other MMO is wow clone.....FFXI is more like an EQ clone but not WoW clone. Heck it even release before WoW how'd it copy WoW?Just to say, it being a WoW clone or having WoW like features has nothing to do with its release date, yes, the game came out before WoW, but if it has adopted similar content and systems to that of WoW, you can still say it copied from WoW no different than any other game might. That being said I have no experience with WoW nor do I want to, and I have had no ability to play FFXIV either, so what I am saying is not about those games, only about the idea that since FFXI came out before WoW that it somehow can not be a WoW clone or have WoW copied features, which is simply not true.


At this point of time I've played so damn many MMO that follows quest based lving, skill rotations and holy trinity.Looking at FFXI, we don't have a lot of Quests that give XP, I'll give you that, but, with RoE, the changes to map quests(which now give XP), and the Waypoint quest that awarded XP for each new Waypoint unlocked, I can say that in recent times FFXI has moved in that sort of direction.

So far as Skill Rotations, I have the understanding that you mean using the same skills over and over in a rotating fashion which sounds similar to most jobs in this game, where WHMs spam Cure/agas, BLMs spam Stone, DDs spam the same WSs, BRDs spam Marches and/or Ballads, and so on.

So far as the Holy Trinity, we are moving in that direction as well, our Healing/Supports being our WHMs/BRDs/CORs/GEOs, our DDs being our RNGs/MNKs/DRKs/DRGs/BLMs, and our Tanks being PLDs, which is the Holy Trinity from what I understand.

So to me, seems like were getting there from what I understand.