Server Merge

[tumz]

I just took a couple month break and came back to Phoenix and noticed a considerable drop in the amount of american time zone players. (I.E. searches in Port Jueno are below 200 and Adoulin looks considerably less populated.) I've been doing a pickup shout here and there but that has slowed way down as well. I'm not saying that FFXI is dead, but the playerbase is dwindling and Phoenix could use a boost in numbers.

If merges are going to happen the issue below needs to be addressed

-Fix instance caps on AA mission fights. (Don't know if this is still an issue, but I remember issues a couple months back with it and with an influx of players could cause some grief.)


I realize that the fan boys will rush to say join an active linkshell that does events, but come on guys you have to be noticing what i'm saying here. I'm in an active linkshell and we are seeing membership numbers dropping. The population poses a serious problem and you need a way to boost it and support the increase in population numbers. Without that, the numbers will fall at an increased rate as the population goes lower.

I'm sure there are several other factors that need to be considered, and if another server beside Phoenix has a healthy american time zone population let me know. I don't mind transferring to it. I mainly play between 9 PM CST and Midnight CST.

Thank you,
Tumz

[YosemiteYogorockBlondelle]

I agree with you tumz but if they do server mergers again, I believe that is a lot of technical work they would have to do again and They are debating what to do with the test server but I'd like to see that they some how see the test server merged into the rest of the servers with your current characters and have it be a closed off area that is accessed by speaking to the moogle since i really cant afford another character at this point to play on the test server.

Also I know that if I click on the icon play on test server, it will say sorry test server software not installed on.... {forgot what it says from after on}.

[predatory]

SE posted sever losses for last year, playstation dumped all it's SE stock, and they're basically bleeding cash, I wouldn't count on them doing much of anything in the way of server mergers if it cost money to do. They put out FFXIV and claim 2 million players on the front page of their lodestone, but if that was the case they wouldn't be so hard up right now. I don't know what they're thinking, but they could have kept alot of people by doing a merge when they saw populations declining, that would have kept some of the players here, because let's face it, quite a few have left because there is a lack of people to do things with, and it gets quite frustrating at times.

Somehow I get the feeling that they want us to spend the money to transfer to other worlds, but that probably isnt going to happen, if they allowed free transfer service to select worlds the problem could be solved without them spending alot of cash to fix it

[detlef]

Didn't SE have a really good 2013 after a terrible 2012?

[Demonjustin]

Rather than merges, we really should just be allowed a 1 time free change of server.

[Ravenmore]

Didn't SE have a really good 2013 after a terrible 2012?

After the mess with 14 they did have it rough but no where near as rough as when Spirits With In tanked. They also cashed in on some easy money with the HD remakes of a few games that needed little investment and turned good sells numbers so SE isn't in dire straights. They are no where near where they should be thanks to 14 but not close to going belly up either.

With the server merges it's tricky if you are doing it to try and keep people and more people quit because of the merge then you just wasted everyone's time. Losing your name could be the trigger that finally pushes many people over the edge and they move on. So a catch 22 situation for SE merge and hope enough people are happy or merge and more people are pissed off that they lost their name. It'll happen at some point but it will not happen because of NA numbers.

[Zarchery]

What do you need a server merge for? Most stuff you can do solo or with small groups. This issue keeps coming up. Someone says "server populations are dwindling", like this is an inherent problem.

Have you ever tried to do a Dynamis farming run at the same time? More than like 10 people and every camp is over farmed.

Salvage gets overcrowded and people need to wait an hour or more to get in. Same with Limbus and Ark Angel fights. You do a server merge and this gets worse.

[tumz]

I suppose it is a catch 22, FFXI can't support more players, and less shouts / parties means more folks jump ship. I enjoy the 18 man runs and getting good groups together to run the skirmish 3. With lack of players, this become harder and harder to do. Waiting to do salvage, AA fights, and Dynamis overcrowding isn't a big deal. Everyone is sick of running them, and when I'm forced to either party or go do DC mobs is very welcome in comparison. Soloing Dynamis for 160 days, and/or Salvage is my idea of a very slow painful death... I'm going to go play some Diablo 3 because this conversation just depressed me lol.

[Lithera]

They also have DQX selling like hot cakes over in japan. People get to the point where you can use the casino and then just stop doing anything except playing the casino games lol.

[Afania]

I suppose it is a catch 22, FFXI can't support more players, and less shouts / parties means more folks jump ship. I enjoy the 18 man runs and getting good groups together to run the skirmish 3. With lack of players, this become harder and harder to do. Waiting to do salvage, AA fights, and Dynamis overcrowding isn't a big deal. Everyone is sick of running them, and when I'm forced to either party or go do DC mobs is very welcome in comparison. Soloing Dynamis for 160 days, and/or Salvage is my idea of a very slow painful death... I'm going to go play some Diablo 3 because this conversation just depressed me lol.


"No /shout" really isn't player population issue, it's more like the lack of trust in PUG or the lack of specific jobs.

If you go out and make a delve 6 man pt /shout, I can promise you you can get your 3x DD in a few min. Then you may spend 1hr looking for a SCH and BRD.

Even if the player population increased by 100% after merge, you'd just see 2 party /shouting for BRD and SCH. When BRD SCH finally pop only 1 party can 6/6.

FFXIV had more player than FFXI at launch, but back then if I try to queue on a DPS job, I can wait for hours but tank job was instant queue. Because there were more tanks than DPS. It doesn't matter if the server was full with 7000 players, there are just more DPS than tanks.

FFXI had same issue, everyone and their mother wants to play DD, nobody want to play BRD SCH.

Another reason is because most of the good players doesn't trust /shout, so they only do stuff with ls/friends.

I think the main reason why SE wouldn't do server merge is probably because of AA/salvage instance issue. Once I made an AA pt on JP prime time and there were 77 people in zone and nearly 1hr wait time, with server merge it'd be over 140 people and what, 2hr wait time?

You may not think it's a big deal to wait for that long, I think it is. Personally I can't tolerate it.

[tumz]

"No /shout" really isn't player population issue, it's more like the lack of trust in PUG or the lack of specific jobs.

If you go out and make a delve 6 man pt /shout, I can promise you you can get your 3x DD in a few min. Then you may spend 1hr looking for a SCH and BRD.

Even if the player population increased by 100% after merge, you'd just see 2 party /shouting for BRD and SCH. When BRD SCH finally pop only 1 party can 6/6.

FFXIV had more player than FFXI at launch, but back then if I try to queue on a DPS job, I can wait for hours but tank job was instant queue. Because there were more tanks than DPS. It doesn't matter if the server was full with 7000 players, there are just more DPS than tanks.

FFXI had same issue, everyone and their mother wants to play DD, nobody want to play BRD SCH.

Another reason is because most of the good players doesn't trust /shout, so they only do stuff with ls/friends.

I think the main reason why SE wouldn't do server merge is probably because of AA/salvage instance issue. Once I made an AA pt on JP prime time and there were 77 people in zone and nearly 1hr wait time, with server merge it'd be over 140 people and what, 2hr wait time?

You may not think it's a big deal to wait for that long, I think it is. Personally I can't tolerate it.

Meh, I have a geared WHM, BRD, and SCH. I'm looking for shouts for new delve zones/skirmish 3 and don't see them at all most nights. Get your head out of the sand and look around, a couple months ago I was constantly in a run with another one lined up after that one ended. A lot of my friends have moved on and NA linkshells are dying off in my Time Zone. I love this game, but I hate soloing.

[detlef]

Meh, I have a geared WHM, BRD, and SCH. I'm looking for shouts for new delve zones/skirmish 3 and don't see them at all most nights. Get your head out of the sand and look around, a couple months ago I was constantly in a run with another one lined up after that one ended. A lot of my friends have moved on and NA linkshells are dying off in my Time Zone. I love this game, but I hate soloing.You don't seem to be able to handle it when someone disagrees with you. Unless SE makes dedicated NA/EU/JP servers, they won't merge servers because JP times will become hellish. Straight up combining 2 servers would make Dynamis, Ark Angels, and Salvage intolerable. And JPs would probably riot, as they would be the most negatively affected.

[Zarchery]

Meh, I have a geared WHM, BRD, and SCH. I'm looking for shouts for new delve zones/skirmish 3 and don't see them at all most nights. Get your head out of the sand and look around, a couple months ago I was constantly in a run with another one lined up after that one ended. A lot of my friends have moved on and NA linkshells are dying off in my Time Zone. I love this game, but I hate soloing.

What is this "I'm looking for shouts" thing I'm constantly hearing? Did Square Enix release some sort of discounted version of the game with the /shout and /yell features disabled? I've had it up to here with people who don't want to go through the hard work of forming their own events, then complain that nobody else will invite them to theirs.

[predatory]

What is this "I'm looking for shouts" thing I'm constantly hearing? Did Square Enix release some sort of discounted version of the game with the /shout and /yell features disabled? I've had it up to here with people who don't want to go through the hard work of forming their own events, then complain that nobody else will invite them to theirs.


It does get tiring after awhile doesn't it?

[Sapphire]

Just want to point out that congestion - like what is happening on more populated servers for Salvage - doesn't just cause people to have to wait. It has been causing actual server issues:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/41175-NA-Recovery-from-Odin-World-Technical-Difficulties-%28Apr.-6%29

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/41191-NA-Recovery-from-Several-Worlds-Technical-Difficulties-%28Apr.-5%29

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/41311-NA-Recovery-from-Bahamut-World-Technical-Difficulties-%28Apr.-11%29http://

And then no one can do Salvage.

I'm not saying merges won't happen. But only SE knows the actual server populations, and they won't merge until it'll solve more problems than it will cause.

[tumz]

What is this "I'm looking for shouts" thing I'm constantly hearing? Did Square Enix release some sort of discounted version of the game with the /shout and /yell features disabled? I've had it up to here with people who don't want to go through the hard work of forming their own events, then complain that nobody else will invite them to theirs.

Lol I said I'm not seeing the Shouts at all... which means population issues, not that I can't jump in one. Yes, I know I can spend an hour or so forming and running the event that I want, but I was just giving an example of low population issues. My gear is good, my jobs are good, and my friend's list is vast... running the event isn't the issue, its the shrinking player base. Reading some of the other comments about salvage instances crashing the servers really concerns me. I'm done commenting on this thread, to sum it up. There is population issues, realize it, or don't, I love this game, but realize it might be time to move on. Either way, any more comments by me will just be trolling the fanboys that hear what they want from this thread.

[predatory]

I just took a couple month break and came back to Phoenix and noticed a considerable drop in the amount of american time zone players. (I.E. searches in Port Jueno are below 200 and Adoulin looks considerably less populated.) I've been doing a pickup shout here and there but that has slowed way down as well. I'm not saying that FFXI is dead, but the playerbase is dwindling and Phoenix could use a boost in numbers.

If merges are going to happen the issue below needs to be addressed


I realize that the fan boys will rush to say join an active linkshell that does events, but come on guys you have to be noticing what i'm saying here. I'm in an active linkshell and we are seeing membership numbers dropping. The population poses a serious problem and you need a way to boost it and support the increase in population numbers. Without that, the numbers will fall at an increased rate as the population goes lower.

I'm sure there are several other factors that need to be considered, and if another server beside Phoenix has a healthy american time zone population let me know. I don't mind transferring to it. I mainly play between 9 PM CST and Midnight CST.

Thank you,
Tumz

Usually between 900 and 1200 players on bahamut, and I have a friend on asura and he tells me they have a few more there, (we send messages occasionally asking the other person to do a /sea all), not what it used to be, but it's still playable. I'm not a fanboy (you seem to toss that word around alot), but like you said, find an active shell, or start one would be even better, shout to fill it with the kind of events you want to do, and you will find people of like mind, or you can QQ about needing more people and getting nothing done.

Oh and btw you can believe I'm not a fanboy, the community reps removed one of my posts that told matsui just what I think of him and his direction for this game, just because someone tells you to find a shell or start a shout or whatever doesn't make them a fanboy it makes them a realist. It's like real life, if you want to get something done you have to make it happen, and yes I'm one of those shouters, and yes I started a linkshell that got a lot of people stuff they wanted to do done, so you may call people like me fanboy, but we call people like you welfare queens, keep that in mind when you're handing out derogatory names

[Zarchery]

There is population issues, realize it, or don't, I love this game, but realize it might be time to move on. Either way, any more comments by me will just be trolling the fanboys that hear what they want from this thread.

I'm so tired of this too. Someone has an opinion, and they expects nothing but applause and agreement. Those who take up contradictory views are called trolls and fanboys.

You know, back in the olden days of high server populations, you didn't get shouts for pickup groups either. You either had a linkshell to do this stuff at scheduled times or you didn't do it at all. Server merge talk is bunkum. I see 500-1000 people online whenever I search. May be a low number, but it only takes 6 of those people to do group content, and only 1 to do most stuff.

[Damane]

Usually between 900 and 1200 players on bahamut, and I have a friend on asura and he tells me they have a few more there, (we send messages occasionally asking the other person to do a /sea all), not what it used to be, but it's still playable. I'm not a fanboy (you seem to toss that word around alot), but like you said, find an active shell, or start one would be even better, shout to fill it with the kind of events you want to do, and you will find people of like mind, or you can QQ about needing more people and getting nothing done.

Oh and btw you can believe I'm not a fanboy, the community reps removed one of my posts that told matsui just what I think of him and his direction for this game, just because someone tells you to find a shell or start a shout or whatever doesn't make them a fanboy it makes them a realist. It's like real life, if you want to get something done you have to make it happen, and yes I'm one of those shouters, and yes I started a linkshell that got a lot of people stuff they wanted to do done, so you may call people like me fanboy, but we call people like you welfare queens, keep that in mind when you're handing out derogatory names

you are a hypocrite, you just moaned about population issues on the nyzul isle topic, because of lamp floors... well guess what start shouting for nyzul isle then if you think the population is so healthy for you and lamps are an issue for you, since you are giving the same advice to tumz!

[predatory]

you are a hypocrite, you just moaned about population issues on the nyzul isle topic, because of lamp floors... well guess what start shouting for nyzul isle then if you think the population is so healthy for you and lamps are an issue for you, since you are giving the same advice to tumz!

Actually I started that thread so the assclown that started this thread (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/41709-Dear-SE-insert-Obscene-expression-over-Fucken-Failed-Troll-content.) might get a dev response. I could give a shit less about Nyzule Isle but apparently the guy that wrote the thread I linked to thought it was important so I told him I'd start a thread for him and I did, but here let me refresh your memory


And, well, yup, you'll probably get the same amount of attention from the devs that you would if you walked into any business and spouted off like that, here let me start a thread for you and maybe we can get a dev response

[Afania]

Meh, I have a geared WHM, BRD, and SCH. I'm looking for shouts for new delve zones/skirmish 3 and don't see them at all most nights. Get your head out of the sand and look around, a couple months ago I was constantly in a run with another one lined up after that one ended. A lot of my friends have moved on and NA linkshells are dying off in my Time Zone. I love this game, but I hate soloing.

Or maybe you should get your head out of the sand. I see Skirmish 3 /shout almost everyday. There are more skirmish3 /shout than anything else.

As for delve2, it's more of the event/community issue than population issue. 90% of the player I know, either just buy win or bead delve2 zone and get clear, then farm plasm in delve1 zones and buy delve2 items with plasm. I know maybe less than 5 groups of ppl in NA community that has the ability to do 6 NM run in delve2 zones, and they don't /shout for people.

Personally, I avoid /shouting if I'm going to do a delve2 6 NM run(in fact I avoid /shouting for delve1 most of the time too). Unless I'm really, really desperate. And most of the time desperation give me bad result. The experience, skill, gear required for delve2 run is quite exclusive. Unless I know someone with experience, I wouldn't want to waste my time with random. Not just because there'a risk that I can get bad player, but also because I need to spend 30 min to explain everything before a run if that person is new to delve2. So most of the time, I just go with ppl I know.

If you want to do delve2, get your head out of the sand and look around for other players/close friends to do it with, don't rely on /shout. Even if there's /shout you'd have much better result doing delve2 without /shout pt. Skirmish 3 is there everyday, don't filter /shout and /yell.

[tumz]

Or maybe you should get your head out of the sand. I see Skirmish 3 /shout almost everyday. There are more skirmish3 /shout than anything else.

As for delve2, it's more of the event/community issue than population issue. 90% of the player I know, either just buy win or bead delve2 zone and get clear, then farm plasm in delve1 zones and buy delve2 items with plasm. I know maybe less than 5 groups of ppl in NA community that has the ability to do 6 NM run in delve2 zones, and they don't /shout for people.

Personally, I avoid /shouting if I'm going to do a delve2 6 NM run(in fact I avoid /shouting for delve1 most of the time too). Unless I'm really, really desperate. And most of the time desperation give me bad result. The experience, skill, gear required for delve2 run is quite exclusive. Unless I know someone with experience, I wouldn't want to waste my time with random. Not just because there'a risk that I can get bad player, but also because I need to spend 30 min to explain everything before a run if that person is new to delve2. So most of the time, I just go with ppl I know.

If you want to do delve2, get your head out of the sand and look around for other players/close friends to do it with, don't rely on /shout. Even if there's /shout you'd have much better result doing delve2 without /shout pt. Skirmish 3 is there everyday, don't filter /shout and /yell.

Last Skirmish 3 shout was 3 days ago at 4 AM my time. As far as Delve 2, that makes sense, but still surprised I don't see a BRD / WHM shout on Delve 2. So on Pheonix, there isn't Skirmish 3 shouts everyday... maybe its different on your server.

[04:27:37] Phoenix.Rhett[Port Jeuno] : «Outer Ra'Kaznar» «Skirmish» 111 @4/6 «White Mage» «Can I have it?» «Thank you.»
*Information provided by Shout Search in Guildwork Premium

Edit: I forgot to call you a fanboy!
Edit 2: Tumz's trolling skill rises 0.2 points.

[detlef]

Edit 2: Tumz's trolling skill rises 0.2 points.To be fair you only get 0.2's when your skill is really low.

The reason you don't see shouts for Delve 2 is that your dead weight really hurts you. A few months ago before they Fracture HP adjustment, there was no reason not to fill your ally. But now you're penalized for bringing more people. Basically you won't see people shouting much for these zones because they're too hard for pickup groups. This may change in the coming months because the next Login has Yggzi beads. Ra'kazner Skirmish is a flawed event so it doesn't surprise me that interest has been fading. People just get sick of it.

Honestly it just sounds like your server sucks for various reasons. The good players have banded together and retreated from the public eye. Or perhaps they've quit or server hopped. Regardless, certain aspects of the game already are on the cusp of serious congestion and a server merge would only exacerbate that. You're probably better off server hopping to a more populated NA server (SE has made this cheaper and easier to do lately).

[Castanica]

SE posted sever losses for last year, playstation dumped all it's SE stock, and they're basically bleeding cash, I wouldn't count on them doing much of anything in the way of server mergers if it cost money to do. They put out FFXIV and claim 2 million players on the front page of their lodestone, but if that was the case they wouldn't be so hard up right now. I don't know what they're thinking, but they could have kept alot of people by doing a merge when they saw populations declining, that would have kept some of the players here, because let's face it, quite a few have left because there is a lack of people to do things with, and it gets quite frustrating at times.

Somehow I get the feeling that they want us to spend the money to transfer to other worlds, but that probably isnt going to happen, if they allowed free transfer service to select worlds the problem could be solved without them spending alot of cash to fix it

FFXIV has 2 million registered players, that's not subscribers. Many of the servers on FFXIV are just as bad as they are on FFXI, they don't want to do merges because it's embarassing.

FFXI probably has 10+ million registered players by now, registered players means all players that ever registered for a SE account even if it's long since inactive. Registered players covers beta players, players that played for a week and never came back, rmt etc. It's a worthless number used for PR.

[tumz]

To be fair you only get 0.2's when your skill is really low.

The reason you don't see shouts for Delve 2 is that your dead weight really hurts you. A few months ago before they Fracture HP adjustment, there was no reason not to fill your ally. But now you're penalized for bringing more people. Basically you won't see people shouting much for these zones because they're too hard for pickup groups. This may change in the coming months because the next Login has Yggzi beads. Ra'kazner Skirmish is a flawed event so it doesn't surprise me that interest has been fading. People just get sick of it.

Honestly it just sounds like your server sucks for various reasons. The good players have banded together and retreated from the public eye. Or perhaps they've quit or server hopped. Regardless, certain aspects of the game already are on the cusp of serious congestion and a server merge would only exacerbate that. You're probably better off server hopping to a more populated NA server (SE has made this cheaper and easier to do lately).

Haha, so true. After this conversation I've pretty much given up on the idea of a server merge, which brings me to my next question. What is the highest populated NA Server?

[Vold]

FFXIV has 2 million registered players, that's not subscribers. Many of the servers on FFXIV are just as bad as they are on FFXI, they don't want to do merges because it's embarassing.

FFXI probably has 10+ million registered players by now, registered players means all players that ever registered for a SE account even if it's long since inactive. Registered players covers beta players, players that played for a week and never came back, rmt etc. It's a worthless number used for PR.
Dare I say the server pops over there are even less than FFXI. I don't know if I'm doing it wrong or they severely limit search abilities, but searching each region one at a time and counting it up, I've counted as little as 500 server pop in between major updates. It's kind of sad because the people on the forums for 14 are just either completely oblivious to the truth or they choose to overlook it and quote the 2 mil figure in defense of a game that is failing because SE traded trademark SE gameplay for mainstream easy mode to maximize subscribers. Only problem is they didn't correctly predict that their target audience played that style of game to death over at WoW. Now they got a MMORPG that can't hold the attention of mainstream gamers for long AND it's worthless to the core fans. Ouch?

I see nothing but emptiness in 14 these days, with Mor being by far the most populated with around 80-180 people there. Shrug. I feel bad for whoever at SE that looks at the figures and scratches their head all dumbfounded "....um....how is it FFXI is doing better than FFXIV... uhhhh... <blank stare for hours>"

[tumz]

Played 14 for about a week, really wanted to like it, but it reminded me of a WoW/Rift baby clone with a FF skin. I'd rather deal with low pop numbers in FFXI to be honest.

[predatory]

Dare I say the server pops over there are even less than FFXI. I don't know if I'm doing it wrong or they severely limit search abilities, but searching each region one at a time and counting it up, I've counted as little as 500 server pop in between major updates. It's kind of sad because the people on the forums for 14 are just either completely oblivious to the truth or they choose to overlook it and quote the 2 mil figure in defense of a game that is failing because SE traded trademark SE gameplay for mainstream easy mode to maximize subscribers. Only problem is they didn't correctly predict that their target audience played that style of game to death over at WoW. Now they got a MMORPG that can't hold the attention of mainstream gamers for long AND it's worthless to the core fans. Ouch?

I see nothing but emptiness in 14 these days, with Mor being by far the most populated with around 80-180 people there. Shrug. I feel bad for whoever at SE that looks at the figures and scratches their head all dumbfounded "....um....how is it FFXI is doing better than FFXIV... uhhhh... <blank stare for hours>"
What they did was try to push people over there by making this one like that one, and what happened was it blew up in their faces, what they should have done, (and anybody with even a modicum of intelligence would have done), was other than an expansion they should have left ffxi alone, but being the rocket scientists that they aren't, they decided to reinvent the wheel, and like anyone else in history thats done that they fucking failed. SE i have an idea for you morons, if its not broken, dont fix it

[predatory]

切腹

it's for the best, and your honor demands it

[Afania]

Last Skirmish 3 shout was 3 days ago at 4 AM my time. As far as Delve 2, that makes sense, but still surprised I don't see a BRD / WHM shout on Delve 2. So on Pheonix, there isn't Skirmish 3 shouts everyday... maybe its different on your server.

[04:27:37] Phoenix.Rhett[Port Jeuno] : «Outer Ra'Kaznar» «Skirmish» 111 @4/6 «White Mage» «Can I have it?» «Thank you.»
*Information provided by Shout Search in Guildwork Premium

Edit: I forgot to call you a fanboy!
Edit 2: Tumz's trolling skill rises 0.2 points.

The moment I saw this, I log on to FFXI immediately to see how active /shout is.

I logged on on 7:45 PM my time, after 8 min @7:53 PM I see 5 different /shout pt going on.


http://i57.tinypic.com/2nbw1zn.png

Molion: Celestial Nexus pt full, sorry if you can't join.-----> 1
Hatashy: AA TT Tarutaru Do you need it? @5 need DD or RNG----->2
Samsone: Celestial Nexus Very difficult, need 1 PLD. Seacom 1 item.----->3
Ameliie: VW Voidwrought x12, check seacom.------>4
Renimu: Outer Ra'Kaznar skirmish 111 x3, check seacom.------->5


So yeah, there were 2 Celestial Nexus pt, 1 AA TT, 1 VW and 1 skirmish3 pt going on, in just 8 min.

I guess your trolling skill isn't very high to begin with :)

Inb4: 1. You don't have time stamp, this can't be happening in 8 min.
2. Shopped.
3. JP /shout doesn't count, <automatically filter out English /shout in SS>
4. All the above /shouter are your mules right?

But yeah, the above SS is legit and real. The time was legit and real too. There are, just that many /shout going on.

[Afania]

Dare I say the server pops over there are even less than FFXI. I don't know if I'm doing it wrong or they severely limit search abilities, but searching each region one at a time and counting it up, I've counted as little as 500 server pop in between major updates.


14's search function isn't accurate. AFAIK you can't search players in instance.

ARR is kinda instance based MMORPG, 95%(or more) of event happen in instances, most players spend their time in instances. Using search function won't give you accurate number unless they change it recently.

You won't be able to know the exact active player in ARR, SE wouldn't release it. They only ever give a vague and misleading number like "2 million registered account".

[Demonjustin]

3. JP /shout doesn't count, <automatically filter out English /shout in SS>You regularly join shouts you can't read and join groups in general in which you can't communicate well with the people in it? If you don't speak JP and the shout'er isn't using Auto-trans it can be assumed they don't want you.

[Afania]

You regularly join shouts you can't read and join groups in general in which you can't communicate well with the people in it? If you don't speak JP and the shout'er isn't using Auto-trans it can be assumed they don't want you.

1. But there were 1 English /shout in SS(although it's not skirmish 3), and 1 JP VW /shout that's apparently accepting English player. In fact I just checked FFXI AH /shout channel 1 min ago and I saw 3 English /shout going on: 1 AA GK normal, 1 Foret 1~4, and 1 Einherjar T3. This isn't even NA prime time.So your argument is not legit.

I honestly don't know HOW there wouldn't be 1 single English /shout for days.

2. It is possible to join JP /shout on BRD and SCH, true story. I have tons of friends got into JP /shout on BRD SCH because they're desperate. If you use windower just google translate copy/paste stuff. Tumz complained he had issue with the number of /shout, and apparently JP /shout more often than NA, may as well just join JP /shout.

3. I just translated every JP /shout in SS, apparently "You regularly join shouts you can't read" isn't true. I can read it, and if I have BRD I'd regularly join them already. Even without BRD I joined some of their /shout back when my job were wanted in 18 man version delve. If I use windower/JP client they probably can't tell I'm not a JP thanks to google.....that's how I join tons of JP /shout back when I play ARR before JP onry mentality become a norm. If the lack of /shout is really that much of a big deal, may as well try to solve the issue with google translate, instead of complaining on OF.

[Lithera]

Lol JP onry has almost been the norm before XIV v1 came out. Unless they were desperate and felt your gear wasn't luz they would allow you to join. Windower and copy/paste is fine if you're on a PC, but some of us run this game via Xbox. So doing that is not an option most of the time. That and you can't read them or you wouldn't need to use a translator in the first place. Saying that the one English shout = an abundant of shouts for something doesn't equal shouts going on all the time.

[Demonjustin]

1. But there were 1 English /shout in SS(although it's not skirmish 3), and 1 JP VW /shout that's apparently accepting English player. In fact I just checked FFXI AH /shout channel 1 min ago and I saw 3 English /shout going on: 1 AA GK normal, 1 Foret 1~4, and 1 Einherjar T3. This isn't even NA prime time.So your argument is not legit.

I honestly don't know HOW there wouldn't be 1 single English /shout for days.I wouldn't go so far as to say none for days, but I myself have had a mule sitting in Adoulin for the last 3 days watching for the events I need right now which amounts to Tenzen, Ouryu, Stellar Fulcrum, and Delve. In the last 3 days I've seen 2 shouts for 1 of the 4 things I listed that I was able to join and that's with me watching between the hours of noon to 4Am EST, which I think fits NA Primetime in there somewhere. In either case, your server may not be as bad as Phoenix on population, but over here, it's quite bad.


2. It is possible to join JP /shout on BRD and SCH, true story. I have tons of friends got into JP /shout on BRD SCH because they're desperate. If you use windower just google translate copy/paste stuff. Tumz complained he had issue with the number of /shout, and apparently JP /shout more often than NA, may as well just join JP /shout.This is a 1 way street. I can translate their shout because it's on FFXIAH, I can translate what I say via the method you mentioned, but once in party there's no way for me to translate what they're saying to me so that I may reply. The only thing I'll know that they say is things they shout that FFXIAH can pick up, and from then on I'll be able to translate what I say to them but any reply to me will be nothing more than scribbles I can't understand.


3. I just translated every JP /shout in SS, apparently "You regularly join shouts you can't read" isn't true. I can read it, and if I have BRD I'd regularly join them already. Even without BRD I joined some of their /shout back when my job were wanted in 18 man version delve. If I use windower/JP client they probably can't tell I'm not a JP thanks to google.....that's how I join tons of JP /shout back when I play ARR before JP onry mentality become a norm. If the lack of /shout is really that much of a big deal, may as well try to solve the issue with google translate, instead of complaining on OF.The point of the forums is feedback, how can you say that the better solution is to go use Google to translate things and try to join parties that way rather than coming here to say something about the server population being an issue for joining groups? If the only thing we ever did to solve the issue in this game was to try things outside of the forums the forums would have no point in being here in the first place. That being said, yes, there are some workarounds you can try as you're saying, but it's not a substitute for a real solution implemented in some way by SE.

You're also assuming that it's easy jobs like BRD that'd be played, or that people have those jobs. Yes some support jobs are easy enough, BRD can have the songs needed auto-trans'd if need be, as can COR, WHM is easy enough as well, but there are times when communication matters and in those moments it can become an issue to have to auto-trans everything or simply not possible to do so. In the end though, while it's possible to join groups this way in the end it's still not the best solution, and coming here to ask for a better one isn't a bad thing.

[Afania]

Lol JP onry has almost been the norm before XIV v1 came out. Unless they were desperate and felt your gear wasn't luz they would allow you to join. Windower and copy/paste is fine if you're on a PC, but some of us run this game via Xbox. So doing that is not an option most of the time. That and you can't read them or you wouldn't need to use a translator in the first place. Saying that the one English shout = an abundant of shouts for something doesn't equal shouts going on all the time.

No, what I mean was. JP onry has been the norm in FFXI, but not FFXIV ARR when it was out. Since ARR allows player to type JP without using windower/JP client, then plenty of FFXIV player just copy/paste JP from google translate and join JP pt, without letting the pt leader know. In the end even in ARR JP onry became the norm.




I wouldn't go so far as to say none for days, but I myself have had a mule sitting in Adoulin for the last 3 days watching for the events I need right now which amounts to Tenzen, Ouryu, Stellar Fulcrum, and Delve. In the last 3 days I've seen 2 shouts for 1 of the 4 things I listed that I was able to join and that's with me watching between the hours of noon to 4Am EST, which I think fits NA Primetime in there somewhere. In either case, your server may not be as bad as Phoenix on population, but over here, it's quite bad.


The point is that Tumz insisted that there are no English /shout is entirely server population's fault, which I disagree with. Server pop is only half of the reason, NA culture toward /shout is different from JP is another half.

NA players tend to rely on connections for event, most of my friends, LS mate and myself hate /shout with a passion. Most of the ppl I know, when they do event they simply just go with LS/friend. You'd never see them /shout at all. Especially delve2 or merc runs. If you try delve2 or even delve1 runs with PUG, 95% of the time they suck. Any player smart enough wouldn't spend 1hr to make a shout pt just to fail.

There are a lot more JP /shout going on than English /shout, which I agree. But that's not just because there are more JP population, but because JP tend to have more reliable /shout group.

In fact, even for easier stuff such as rem's tale farm, my ls and friends just go with mules/another close friend and do easier mode, instead of dealing with /shout.

That's at least half of the reason why there aren't many /shout: Nobody want to play with random.

However, when I brought up the difference between NA culture and JP when it comes to /shout, I'm being labelled as fanboy. Even though I see no direct connection between low server pop and the lack of /shout.

Further more, now that there are many different events in this game, you do need some luck if you only want to see specific event you want to do. You may be camping SKCNM legs run /shout for days, but the /shout popped for past 5 days are SKCNM head runs, delve1 Tojil, Skirmish3, Einherjar and so on.

So the result is, although there are English /shouts all the time, you automatically filter it out because thats not the event you want to do. That doesn't make your argument legit. I can argue that I wanna do VW Hahava, but there were like zero hahava /shout in past 10 days, then I go on to argue that English /shout doesn't exist because any English /shout for event I don't want to do doesn't count.

However, if you look at the amount of English /shout as a whole, without filtering out events you don't want to do, it's not THAT bad. Slightly lower than JP, but not as bad as Tumz described.




The point of the forums is feedback, how can you say that the better solution is to go use Google to translate things and try to join parties that way rather than coming here to say something about the server population being an issue for joining groups? If the only thing we ever did to solve the issue in this game was to try things outside of the forums the forums would have no point in being here in the first place. That being said, yes, there are some workarounds you can try as you're saying, but it's not a substitute for a real solution implemented in some way by SE.


The only solution Tumz presented is server merge, and apparently SE can't solve the instance issue. So I presented an alternate method to solve his problem, what's wrong with that? What else do you expect? Tell him to sit in Adoulin continue to camp /shout? Or yell at SE for server merge and deal with 140 people in AA battle BC? If you want to be successful at something, you try to solve the problem when other ppl can't solve the problem for you.

[tumz]

I have only one thing I can do after reading these posts... /facepalm

**Did that guy really just suggest I translate JP on a skirmish 3? Does he not know that if they are shouting for Skirmish 3 its going to probably be for a WHM? and lastly... playing a WHM in skirmish 3 demands constant communication for sacrifices, heals, etc...

If I was a mindless DD I'd have not problem joining a JP shout, but as a BRD or WHM... your crazy man, crazy!

[Lithera]

No, what I mean was. JP onry has been the norm in FFXI, but not FFXIV ARR when it was out. Since ARR allows player to type JP without using windower/JP client, then plenty of FFXIV player just copy/paste JP from google translate and join JP pt, without letting the pt leader know. In the end even in ARR JP onry became the norm
Maybe on the JP servers this is true, but XI doesn't have separate servers like XIV does.

[Afania]

I have only one thing I can do after reading these posts... /facepalm

**Did that guy really just suggest I translate JP on a skirmish 3? Does he not know that if they are shouting for Skirmish 3 its going to probably be for a WHM? and lastly... playing a WHM in skirmish 3 demands constant communication for sacrifices, heals, etc...

If I was a mindless DD I'd have not problem joining a JP shout, but as a BRD or WHM... your crazy man, crazy!

What'd I just read?

DD1: Cure plz.

DD2: Cure plz.

DD3: I need haste.

DD1: I need erase.

DD2: Cureeee I'm dying!

DD3: You still haven't haste me!

The fact that you used the term "constant communication" on WHM shows that something is wrong....just wrong. Maybe the fact that WHM in /shout pt needs "constant communication" for heals, is the main reason why majority of the player would rather not make /shout pt for anything.

Oh and btw, even if for some reason you do need DDs to yell at you for -na/haste/cures, it's entirely doable with auto-translate. Further more, if you can understand the meaning of JP /shout, fat chances are you can understand basic term such as haste/-na/sacrifice in JP.

Ideally, you don't want DDs to use /p chat to talk to WHM at all. Sorry to be blunt and mean, but I can kinda tell why you have hard time joining /shout, while good WHMs(that doesn't need "constant" communication for heals) got spammed with delve /tell when ppl are making delve pt.

All I see is, tons of excuses for the lack of pt and more excuses after another. While other players, such as WHM that doesn't require "constant communication" for heals get pt invite by playing better, or other ppl just spend some time learning basic JP and at least try to get into JP pt. I'm not saying you'd always be successful when you try to get into JP pt, but at least it's worth trying before worrying about JP player can't tell you how to cure in English.

Edit: Btw, if you're going to continue making excuses, I'd rather not to reply anymore. I'm not saying I can play WHM perfect, but at least I wouldn't make a shit tons of excuses for no invite. If DDs needs constant communication for heals when I'm on WHM, the first thing I'd worry about is to play WHM better, not the amount of /shout on the server.

[Zarchery]

The moment I saw this, I log on to FFXI immediately to see how active /shout is.

I logged on on 7:45 PM my time, after 8 min @7:53 PM I see 5 different /shout pt going on.


http://i57.tinypic.com/2nbw1zn.png

Molion: Celestial Nexus pt full, sorry if you can't join.-----> 1
Hatashy: AA TT Tarutaru Do you need it? @5 need DD or RNG----->2
Samsone: Celestial Nexus Very difficult, need 1 PLD. Seacom 1 item.----->3
Ameliie: VW Voidwrought x12, check seacom.------>4
Renimu: Outer Ra'Kaznar skirmish 111 x3, check seacom.------->5


So yeah, there were 2 Celestial Nexus pt, 1 AA TT, 1 VW and 1 skirmish3 pt going on, in just 8 min.

I guess your trolling skill isn't very high to begin with :)

Inb4: 1. You don't have time stamp, this can't be happening in 8 min.
2. Shopped.
3. JP /shout doesn't count, <automatically filter out English /shout in SS>
4. All the above /shouter are your mules right?

But yeah, the above SS is legit and real. The time was legit and real too. There are, just that many /shout going on.

How did youget those translations? Every time I try copy and paste into Google Translate I get gibberish. The Japanese characters paste, but the English translation is nonsensical.

[tumz]

DD's don't ask for heals... erase on occasion, but those boss fights there needs to be good communication and quick. Translate isn't sufficient, and if you need further explaining... play a whm in a Skirmish 3 and you'll see what i'm talking about. Positioning is very important, when to use sacrifice are the main things that don't translate for crap.

Edit: What program are you using to translate that JP? If I could understand half the crap that JPs don't auto-translate it might be a viable option.

[Zarchery]

DD's don't ask for heals... erase on occasion, but those boss fights there needs to be good communication and quick. Translate isn't sufficient, and if you need further explaining... play a whm in a Skirmish 3 and you'll see what i'm talking about. Positioning is very important, when to use sacrifice are the main things that don't translate for crap.

Words like "Tumz is Paralyzed" come up on my chat log in English no matter what the nationality of players I'm with. Enfeebles you often tell from animations. HP totals are displayed in numbers and color coded based on percentage of max. Most of the time, I know exactly what I need to do to the players because it's obvious. If I miss something, they're never shy about asking. Simple phrases like "Stona", "Petrified", "Haste", "Paralyzed" etc., get the point across easily. If a player doesn't feel like communicating that, it's their loss, but they're usually not. There's nothing you need to explain about simple concepts like "cast this spell on my now please".

[tumz]

So how many folks play in JP parties? Do the JPs mind or get pissed off? I do enjoy the occasional banter, but hell if JPs actually auto-translate this stuff all the time, its a viable option.

[Afania]

How did youget those translations? Every time I try copy and paste into Google Translate I get gibberish. The Japanese characters paste, but the English translation is nonsensical.

I didn't use anything to translate. I can understand the basic FFXI terms in JP. Such as the lotting rule, the mission BC, skrimish, and jobs. I can read Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji. I don't know much about grammar, but I can read the terms so I just put the terms together.



DD's don't ask for heals... erase on occasion, but those boss fights there needs to be good communication and quick. Translate isn't sufficient, and if you need further explaining... play a whm in a Skirmish 3 and you'll see what i'm talking about. Positioning is very important, when to use sacrifice are the main things that don't translate for crap.


Positioning and when to use sacrifice shouldn't require explanation, ever. It's called wiki, FFXI common sense and understand mob TP move additional effect. If I play WHM, I'd be pissed if DD ever ask for anything in /p chat. Because that means I'm too slow for -na/erase/sacrifice, and that's fail on MY part. Most of the time, DDs needs sacrifice because certain move made DDs need sacrifice. Just use it right after the move after it appear in the chat log. Same deal for every erase and -na. Always use erase/-na/sacrifice after certain TP move(which you can read in chat log), not when DDs ask in /p chat. By the time DD finish typing something in /p chat, it's already considered too slow if you remove anything after they type.

Positioning is the same too, WHM should* know where to stand. Exactly which mob/NM that requires further explanation?

[tumz]

I guess I'm just slow with my WHM and need to get better at reading chat log. I'm just surprised that the JPs don't get mad that you don't speak JP when there shout was in JP.

[Feary]

i wish S.E would just make a comment and put all this wishful thinking/speculation to rest.

[Afania]

I guess I'm just slow with my WHM and need to get better at reading chat log. I'm just surprised that the JPs don't get mad that you don't speak JP when there shout was in JP.

They don't "get mad", they either ignore your /tell if they don't want you, or suck it up and invite a none JP BRD because they can't find one. If you can show that you have basic JP understanding, your chance of getting in is higher. If you don't, then you have to rely on playing a hard to find job such as BRD SCH. I have some friends got JP invite because they have the job that's hard to find, such as 4 song BRD/relic RNG/SCH etc.

[Damane]

The moment I saw this, I log on to FFXI immediately to see how active /shout is.

I logged on on 7:45 PM my time, after 8 min @7:53 PM I see 5 different /shout pt going on.


http://i57.tinypic.com/2nbw1zn.png

Molion: Celestial Nexus pt full, sorry if you can't join.-----> 1
Hatashy: AA TT Tarutaru Do you need it? @5 need DD or RNG----->2
Samsone: Celestial Nexus Very difficult, need 1 PLD. Seacom 1 item.----->3
Ameliie: VW Voidwrought x12, check seacom.------>4
Renimu: Outer Ra'Kaznar skirmish 111 x3, check seacom.------->5


So yeah, there were 2 Celestial Nexus pt, 1 AA TT, 1 VW and 1 skirmish3 pt going on, in just 8 min.

I guess your trolling skill isn't very high to begin with :)

Inb4: 1. You don't have time stamp, this can't be happening in 8 min.
2. Shopped.
3. JP /shout doesn't count, <automatically filter out English /shout in SS>
4. All the above /shouter are your mules right?

But yeah, the above SS is legit and real. The time was legit and real too. There are, just that many /shout going on.

I am sorry but I have to /facepalm at translating JP to even attend stuff. Learnign english as a non nativ english speaker, was ok, because english and (in my case german) are very similar in terms of letters etc. you seriously cant expect people to learn JP to play this game, pls dont tell me you expect that because the /facepalm would be even bigger and I just lost all respect for you i had ._.

[AppropriateName5786]

I guess I'm just slow with my WHM and need to get better at reading chat log. I'm just surprised that the JPs don't get mad that you don't speak JP when there shout was in JP.

You have the right idea, so don't listen to the crazy people. There are many things that cannot be overcome in terms of the language barrier and they put you at a major disadvantage, not least because any mistake can be blamed on "the stupid NA player." As an example, my party in Ra'ka Skirmish once ran into the chapuli NM because someone used a non-tier 1 body or head, and you can bet we needed to communicate LOTS. Also, how do you communicate "let's wait for respawns" in auto-translate? You can try, but the JP will be scratching their heads at the mess you typed. Furthermore, it is not always possible to keep an eye on everything as a WHM, especially if you don't enjoy it or don't play it often. Having to play jobs you hate just to get stuff done is bad enough, so don't turn it into more of a chore by forcing yourself to learn a new language/script that only 2% of the world speaks.

As is the case with all stereotypes, the one that JPs don't play with NAs is somewhat rooted in truth. You have to keep in mind that people like Afania have said crazy things in other threads like "this MMO is my life/life simulator." Don't take advice from these people if you want to stay sane.

[tumz]

Thanks for the advice, I might still keep guildwork up and use it to translate JP stuff for crap that just requires attendance VW, skirm 1 and 2, etc... but will probably stay away from JP shouts on Delve 2 and Skirmish 3. The last Skirmish 3 I was in as WHM we did it in Skype, and there is no doubt we would of been in major trouble with me WHMing and not having that direct line of communication. I don't play WHM often anymore, and am still very good with heals, but as far as timely erases, sacrifices, cursna, etc... I tend to miss some even with battlemod filters.

[Afania]

I am sorry but I have to /facepalm at translating JP to even attend stuff. Learnign english as a non nativ english speaker, was ok, because english and (in my case german) are very similar in terms of letters etc. you seriously cant expect people to learn JP to play this game, pls dont tell me you expect that because the /facepalm would be even bigger and I just lost all respect for you i had ._.


It is an option for more pt invite, if you want to try it then just try it, or just don't and accept the fact that there are less pt invite option. I'm not a native JP speaker(in fact I'm not even a native English speaker, but that's another story), but I play on JP timezone most of the time, in both FFXI and FFXIV ARR. How else do you expect me to get a party? Bitch on the forum? Sit in town and camp for English /shout? I just make a list of frequently used JP dialogue and try to solve the problem.

Back in June/July 2013 when people do delve as a LS before skill update because delve was real hard, I was in JPLS clearing delve1 with JP. When I play ARR in Sept 2013, I also did endgame event such as Coil with my JPLS. Those events are 10x harder than skirmish, requires even higher lv of communication. I also occasionally join JP /shout in both XI and XIV. I don't really understand what's so /facepalm about it.

Anyways, my point is. If the lack of /shout is an issue, there are other ways to solve it. Further more, there WERE English /shout in that SS and apparently that VW /shout is accepting English players, or else he/she wouldn't /shout the NM name in English. You guys all completely freak out about the idea of joining JP pt and ignored the fact that there are also quite a lot of English /shout still exist, just not as many as JP /shout. Tumz complained about the lack of skirmish 3 English /shout, I saw one yesterday around 2am pacific.

If the idea of "You can try to join JP pt if there are no English /shout" is /facepalm, "English /shout doesn't exist" is certainly a bigger /facepalm. It's not even the fact.

[Lithera]

That void watch shout could have been a few things.

1) an English speaker who knows Japanese using the Japanese client.
2) a JP accepting NA/EU players and writing the VW bit in romaji. Not sure if you can auto-translate VW names or if JP shout for that like that normally or not.

I had a third one but forgot what it was.

[Afania]

That void watch shout could have been a few things.

1) an English speaker who knows Japanese using the Japanese client.
2) a JP accepting NA/EU players and writing the VW bit in romaji. Not sure if you can auto-translate VW names or if JP shout for that like that normally or not.


3) JP can't find ppl for that NM, so he has to accept English players. It is not a mainstream content like delve/skirmish 3 after all.

From what I've seen in JP culture, every NM or event has a JP name or JP nickname that only ppl understand JP culture can understand why that NM has such nickname. If that person /shout the name in English, there's pretty high chance that he can accept players using other languages.

[YosemiteYogorockBlondelle]

Well The bantering back and forth over language barriers is getting old fast on the server merger topic. well I'm done reading here, I think, unless it changes to something better discussed for this topic finally.:rolleyes: