Cerberus Continues To Suffer From Low Population

[Kylos]

Hello everyone. The last time I made a post like this was over a year and a half ago. I'd like to say I got lucky, I put myself out there (aggressively) and managed to not only find players on my own server to join the endgame LS, but I also enticed players from other servers to jump and join us. Only doing one event most weeks (life gets in the way of doing more), we managed to build an Aeonic and destroy every Omen boss many times over. In our spare time we'd do events like Ambuscade, Delve or Vagary during a campaign.

It was a monumental effort. In fact, I think finding people to join the group was harder than the content itself. We had some hiccups on T4s and we really, really wanted to beat 'em all without SMN burns, but we didn't have the right jobs geared with the players available (and it would've taken ages to gear up BRDs with REMAs etc). So with much reluctance we caved in and had no choice but to SMN burn the last few NMs for our Aeonic. I was the Corsair, so the fights were dull for me.

September hit our group very hard, as a few of our best players had to stop running due to life commitments/other reasons. Since then I've tried almost daily to reach out for new players, but it's pointless. Not only that, I've heard other groups are finding it difficult to keep up their numbers as well.

With the introduction of Wave 3 in Dyna-D, I feel this is an impossible task for most groups. The only clears I've seen have been almost (or are) full alliances. It doesn't help when Dyna-D has a 60-hour wait, as those who would come help are unable to as they ran with another group a day or two before. So unless you're in a group with a ton of multi-boxers or on a congested server, getting wave 3 clears feels like climbing a mountain with no safety precautions.

I'm not here to whine and complain. I'm here to update SE on our current situation. They should probably be aware already. My group doesn't want to leave the server, and neither do I, as my Dad runs his own social LS and I'd never expect him to abandon the good folks who reside in it. Moving to Asura or another big server is not an option for us. I do regular /yells asking for members. I advertize on ffxiah.com to the point it likely annoys most people who visit.

What else can I do? Disband my LS and stick to soloing relics/mythics? What's the point in us doing events if we can't find the people to do the content with? How can SE expect a server like Cerberus (and other similar populated servers) to set up something like a wave 3 kill? I'm struggling to find 8 people to run with a week .. nevermind 18.

So I'm lost, and a little fed up. I'd like to continue running events with my 2-year old LS who've done so much with so little choice. I'll keep soldiering on, but .. I'd just like clarification. Are the servers meant to have populations this low? Check out the Cerb Auction House compared to Asura, and you'll see the difference. I struggle to find synth materials for +3 upgrades. I'm always hearing of people jumping to Asura to buy things for their weapons/gears as they can't find enough of the items here.

So it's me again .. asking questions to a brick wall. Thanks SE for continuing to support the game. I just wish some of us had it easier is all. Cheers.

[Isola]

I wish this wasn't such a nightmare for you guys. I'd love to play on a smaller(er) server. but the negatives overwhelm the positives. I hate being on asura, but there's no middle ground, it's either asura or have 100 active players. That's not really a choice.

[VoiceMemo]

Why not find groups with similar members, ie about 8 and team up. Yeah you might need to sacrifice a dynamis run to get on the same ki timers, but it would make your 2 groups stronger. That's what I did on asura, another group joined with mine and we are able to do dynamis D wave 3 no problem, killed dynamis bastok D boss with 11 min to spare.

[Kylos]

Not as easy as that. And it's not only about wave 3s, it's to do with getting enough for other events like Geas Fete, Omen, as well as the state of the auction house. Come play on a small server for a couple of weeks and you'll see what I mean.

[VoiceMemo]

Geas fete, omen and all the rest can be low manned with 8. The only thing i can see needing more is Dynamis D. Geas fete especially, less is more since it scales hp.

[Kylos]

Logged in tonight to set up some Sinister Reign. Got one LS member interested from my 2 LS. Yelled for an hour straight, and not one single reply. Painful. At this point all I could do is solo SR on SCH .. which I already did the new way 2 weeks ago. I beat all of it and what did I get? Nothing. I lie, I got some stars next to their names. Thanks for the "update" to Sinister Reign SE.

So like I said .. it's not just Dynamis-D, it's literally everything. I struggle to find members for things on a regular basis .. even content for a party of six. Honestly can't be doing anymore than I am already. After failing to set up something easy like SR, I logged out for the night. Not the first time either. No ones cares about server quality it seems. If I didn't have an event ls running I would unsub til somethings done. Also running out of inventory space .. and refuse to pay extra for a service which should've been a quality of life update. It's a scam, and so is allowing servers to decline so badly compared to others; as it encourages players to cough up more to fix a problem they've created.

[VoiceMemo]

How long have you played for? I've played for 12+ years and hang out with people that have the same playtime that I've met over the years.

Do you not know/met anyone that plays at the same time you play at in all the time you've played?

[Kylos]

Very much so. You're on Asura so you got zero clue how it is here. Your population is an average of 1.4-2k players at any given time (I know people there who used to run with me). Cerb is 200-400 most days. I've had my own linkshell for years, and I'm ALWAYS recruiting, whether it be /yell, ffxiah.com, asking around with the people I know, asking my dads social LS if anyone can do our times. Please don't assume I have not gone above and beyond. I've gone so far I've got players to jump from Asura and other servers to join us. It really has been that bad for a very long time. But no one on Asura (unless you came from a server like Cerb) has any idea what it's like to form parties here. It's ridiculous. And so is the AH.

There is nothing more I can do .. other than paying to fix a problem SE has created by allowing so many to jump servers and leave some like Cerb (and others, not just here) like a barren wasteland. Like I said earlier, we can't do that as it means abandoning everyone who relies on our linkshells. Without our linkshells the server would be even more dead. So many players I met over the years jumped server ages ago. In fact .. one of my former linkshells had to disband for that reason alone.

We make do with who we have here, which are mostly casual players who cause no drama whatsoever. I love running with the people we have. They do help me sometimes if I ask them nicely, but I don't expect them to. It's not just Sinister Reign or Dyna-D, it's all content and the economy. Luckily my group has already destroyed Omen many times over and got us one Aeonic .. but was it easy? Hell no.

It took us many, many months to figure them out with what we have. Over a year to make an Aeonic. We almost finished our second. With a populated server we'd likely have more done. My LS has not had a dedicated BRD for well over six months despite always asking around for one. I've had to gear up jobs I didn't want to gear just so we had the options, as have some of my LS members. It's made us a tighter unit, but man .. the waiting around.

[Sirmarki]

It took us many, many months to figure them out with what we have. Over a year to make an Aeonic. We almost finished our second. With a populated server we'd likely have more done.

People just pay the many mercs on Asura to do all that. There are around 5 merc yells within a half hour period.

[Kylos]

I only know one, maybe two merc groups on Cerb and they very, very rarely /yell. They mostly yell to find a Nirvana SMN or two for their group, instead of looking for buyers. Still, it's rare to see any /yells at all. I'm the one who probably does the most when I'm (Looking For Members).

I kinda miss the days when people used to talk crap in yells, but Cerb's not been like that for a few years now. So people on this server who want something merc'd have very little choice. I've never seen anyone who yells for Ambuscade ask for an Idris Geo, or a "REMA" job. We can't afford to be picky.

[Sirmarki]

I kinda miss the days when people used to talk crap in yells, but Cerb's not been like that for a few years now. So people on this server who want something merc'd have very little choice. I've never seen anyone who yells for Ambuscade ask for an Idris Geo, or a "REMA" job. We can't afford to be picky.

Then you need to get yourself and your crew over to Asura because those kinds of yells that you mentioned happen at least 20 times every half an hour.

I know what you're saying about having to pay SE for something that you see as their problem, but you have got to deal with the here and now, and bite the bullet because it is what it is.

[VoiceMemo]

Then you need to get yourself and your crew over to Asura because those kinds of yells that you mentioned happen at least 20 times every half an hour.

I know what you're saying about having to pay SE for something that you see as their problem, but you have got to deal with the here and now, and bite the bullet because it is what it is.

This is probably the quickest solution to your problem, for you all to transfer to a server with higher population. If you wait on SE to change things, it may take years or never at all.

Aside from Dynamis D full clear, I can't think of any other content that can't be done with a solid party of 6. Can you not even get 5 other people that play at the same hours you do?

[Kylos]

I would be bad to assume the players on our linkshells would pay extra to jump with us. It's even worse for others away from our server to assume we would leave it. This problem is not our own to fix, it's SE's. It's up to SE to give us a MMORPG experience on the server we reside on. It should not be up to us to fix a problem they've made by reaching into our pocket. It's already a scam to sell us extra inventory, nevermind forcing us to jump server and leave some behind.

I tried setting up Sinister Reign the other day and gave up after 2 hours. Often enough we try to do ambuscade and get stuck at 5/6. I could reel off dozens of other examples but what's the point, you guys seem adamant that we absolutely must pay to fix this problem. I don't want to move, but I also want more choice. It's playing in to SE's scam to pay them to fix this issue, and I won't fall for it. I'd rather tell my players to go jump to another server without me so I can unsub completely. After 14 years of playing this game, I have never once jumped server. The only time we moved server was when Hades merged in to Cerberus .. which was sad as I loved Hades, but getting to play with a bigger population again was very welcome.

[Isola]

I would be bad to assume the players on our linkshells would pay extra to jump with us. It's even worse for others away from our server to assume we would leave it. This problem is not our own to fix, it's SE's. It's up to SE to give us a MMORPG experience on the server we reside on. It should not be up to us to fix a problem they've made by reaching into our pocket. It's already a scam to sell us extra inventory, nevermind forcing us to jump server and leave some behind.


This, is absolute fact. I don't know why you all put up with it.

It's disgustingly shameful how this is being handled. As long as they keep getting your money, they don't care in the slightest about the state of play.

I paid to jump, a little disgusted by it, but they don't exactly give you a choice.

[VoiceMemo]

In an IDEAL solution, yes SE should fix the problem. But looking at a business standpoint it only makes sense that they would want you to server transfer instead of merging servers. Sure they'll lose some people that just quit, but the ones that do transfer are likely the players that will stick around since they paid to go to another server.

That is why the only thing that you can control is the server you're on. Yeah it sucks to have to move, but I really don't see SE merging servers, nor can I think of any other solution that would alleviate the low server population problem on some servers.

[Kylos]

Got this today:

"Dear Kyle,

Thank you for contacting the Square Enix Support Centre.

We are sorry to hear that you have an issue with FINAL FANTASY XI. We have acknowledged your comment and will pass this onto the team in charge for consideration.

Unfortunately, we will be unable to provide with an individual response. We can only advise that you keep an eye on our official website and social media channels for any update on this matter.

Kind regards,

The Square Enix Support Centre team"

[Kylos]

My event linkshell is on death's door, so we're recruiting as much as we have for months.
Was unable to do T4 geas fete today due to lack of members. We did Omen instead, but
we're close to Aeonic and want that. It's a real shame I cannot deliver these events for my
group due to a sheer lack of players available at the time and day we run.

[VoiceMemo]

Do your members have the easy setup?

Most reisenjima T4 helm can be won with run, idris geo, cor, 3x smn, whm, a party of 7.

[Isola]

They do not have summoners, nor the wish to dis-include the extra bodies that cannot fit into the smn strat.

its easy to find 100 nirvanas on asura, not so much anywhere else. Even finding 13,000 HPbayld somewhere that isn't asura is a struggle. There are only THREE tracked (ffxiah) nirvana(99) on Cerberus. And no, you can't really pull it off with 3 jse/was until you've had some practice doing it. There are only 19 Idris on cerberus, and half of them have left/quit probably.

[Kylos]

Please don't be patronizing .. if we had the setup to do it we would've done it. We had 1 SMN available and no real tank (my RUN is brand new as of this week, and the other persons RUN had never tanked anything big before)
We have two Nirvana SMNs (three Idris GEOs ..) in the LS but one of them was on holiday. The other non-mythic SMN we got lately no showed. Another guy who could've tanked or gone COR was not there for a second week in a row (no show). So we had six of us .. no real tank, one smn.
Shouted around .. asked my social LS, got ZERO response. How the hell do we work with that?

Like I said .. if we could've done it we would've because Sandworm is easy as shit. It was the only T4 in our first Aeonic which we beat 1/1 .. and did not use a SMN burn to beat it either.
All we really needed was a decent tank to keep hate off the DD, but couldn't even find that. It's ridiculous, and I keep yelling for new members every single day. I make adverts on FFXIAH.com almost daily.

It sucks and I wish people would not assume we don't know how to take these things down because we do .. WE JUST DONT HAVE THE PEOPLE TO DO IT! If we did we would kill the sandworm as many times as it takes to get everyone the kill so we can move on to another.

[VoiceMemo]

It is not being patronizing, if you notice in my question I don't say you NEED nirvana smns, because you don't. 1 weapon does not make a smn great, you need all the other gear to complement it. I've done fine as a NON nirvana smn and beaten some nirvana smns in parse.

Also it seems you do have sufficient people with the correct jobs in your linkshell, but either coordination of attendance is lacking or loyalty to shell or to you is not there. Get other means of communication besides the game. Get their phone numbers so you can text, their email, setup a discord, etc.

And as a leader, sometimes it does fall on you to level a job for the group. I leveled, mastered and geared SCH, SMN and BLM because my group needed it at the time.

I run a core group of 8-17 people, most I would say are more loyal to me than the group itself, because if I'm not there, events don't happen. As with majority of linkshells, the linkshell does not really function well without the shell holder being online. I also don't even use a linkshell to run it, I run it all though discord.

If you guys don't want to change servers, the only other REAL option you can do is help each other level and gear the jobs that would help you get clears. You can post, complain to SE all you want, but SE is slow at change. As I said previously, I can't think of a solution other than a forced server merge.

Since you can change to any job in the game, do what you can do, don't wait for SE.

[Kylos]

Again assuming things .. we have discord and had it for a long time. I leveled, mastered, and geared many jobs for the group. I won't go into all that because you have zero clue what I've done and assume I'm not doing the absolute most I can do on this quiet server. The group is always trying to get more flexible .. what other choice do we have?? You think we just stick on 1-2 jobs and wonder why we can't beat anything?? What do you take us for?? You're fine, you're on Asura with your 8-17 people and able to easily get more with one or two yells.

That's not the case here. We're not moving because of those who stay loyal to the event ls, and our social ls is the only one around who even puts pearls on the concierge. We can't ditch all those players so we have been making do with what we have for ages. Not months, but well over a year and a half. I've got quite a few to jump server to join us in that time. People come and go though, and finding new people to replace those who go on holiday, or form their own groups, or vanish altogether is exceptionally hard. We have 200-400 players online on average at any given time, and half of those are afk/muling. Half of the rest of those are casual players who ain't finished Rhapsodies yet.

It's not just a lack of players, it's a lack of quality players who are event ready. It's also to do with timing .. which really, we should be way more EU time friendly then we are, but because there's not enough on at that time we run later to accommodate the NA's coming home from work. This is tough on our German players who have to stay up very late and get tired. It's really hard to manage at times. We'd do weekend events but family gets in the way of me running those regularly. And I've been leading endgame linkshells since the old dynamis days .. my old dyna ls wrecked everything including DL & Tavnazia. I'm very aware of what to do. I been leading linkshells since 2005.

[Sirmarki]

Again assuming things .. we have discord and had it for a long time. I leveled, mastered, and geared many jobs for the group. I won't go into all that because you have zero clue what I've done and assume I'm not doing the absolute most I can do on this quiet server. The group is always trying to get more flexible .. what other choice do we have?? You think we just stick on 1-2 jobs and wonder why we can't beat anything?? What do you take us for?? You're fine, you're on Asura with your 8-17 people and able to easily get more with one or two yells.

That's not the case here. We're not moving because of those who stay loyal to the event ls, and our social ls is the only one around who even puts pearls on the concierge. We can't ditch all those players so we have been making do with what we have for ages. Not months, but well over a year and a half. I've got quite a few to jump server to join us in that time. People come and go though, and finding new people to replace those who go on holiday, or form their own groups, or vanish altogether is exceptionally hard. We have 200-400 players online on average at any given time, and half of those are afk/muling. Half of the rest of those are casual players who ain't finished Rhapsodies yet.

It's not just a lack of players, it's a lack of quality players who are event ready. It's also to do with timing .. which really, we should be way more EU time friendly then we are, but because there's not enough on at that time we run later to accommodate the NA's coming home from work. This is tough on our German players who have to stay up very late and get tired. It's really hard to manage at times. We'd do weekend events but family gets in the way of me running those regularly. And I've been leading endgame linkshells since the old dynamis days .. my old dyna ls wrecked everything including DL & Tavnazia. I'm very aware of what to do. I been leading linkshells since 2005.

Discount event is coming up. Get everyone you know to move over. Deal with the problem here and now, rather than relying on the unknown (i.e. if mergers are happening or not).

[Isola]

That's exactly the wrong answer.

[VoiceMemo]

Then what is the solution you propose SE to do? A forced server merge? Pay people to move to cerberus? SE is a for profit business, neither of these 2 options is in their best interest. Those that will keep paying will either tough it out or move to another server. These are the players SE is targeting and want to keep, because they keep paying their service fees.

[Isola]

Proper answer is open servers. No fees, unlimited jumps. They're stealing money from you, if you pay them to transfer. Whatever triggered the previous merges, I assure you we are well beyond those conditions. The only reason they're not happening is money. That is unacceptable.

Dyanmis is disgusting. Omen drop rates are -obscene-. Every single part of crafting shields is utterly ridiculous. Not even a hint of balance adjustments that were promised. The REMA upgrades are a complete and total copy and paste failure (except for ranged weapons and very few melee weapons) What exactly are they doing to justify your monthly fee, let alone more money to server transfer.

[Sirmarki]

Proper answer is open servers. No fees, unlimited jumps. They're stealing money from you, if you pay them to transfer. Whatever triggered the previous merges, I assure you we are well beyond those conditions. The only reason they're not happening is money. That is unacceptable.

That doesn't really make business sense. The majority of people have paid to transfer, therefore at this time, they don't really have a reason to stop charging a fee. It's a catch 22 situation. No business is going to cut down on it's income source when essentially what it is doing works, because people are paying it. It's ridiculously cheap to transfer during the campaign, and to be honest, the odd's are, you're not going to be paying it again anyway.

[Kylos]

Expecting any of my group to move with me is very wrong. I would never expect anyone to jump to another server just because I say so. And as I've said over .. and over .. we have a social LS called LagunasWarriors which is always going to be on Cerberus as my dad (Quilly) is going nowhere. He's said to me many times he'll stay on Cerb with Lagunas til he's the only one left on the server. And he doesn't mind, he'll just solo things and help casual players with no worries. He's getting on a bit and has no interest in starting over again with Lagunas.

I'm not saying there absolutely should be a merger .. although the last time we did (I was on Hades when it was merged in to Cerb) it was very well received. Some people lost their names .. I lost my social LS name (I was pissed off for a while), but to play with an active community and economy again without having to pay was refreshing. At this point it's all about milking this old cow as far as SE is concerned. Let's break down the reasons how their services are ripping us off:


1) Wardrobe 3 & 4 - For a long time players have been upset over the lack of inventory. Even more so after RMT plagued the game and SE made literally every drop Rare/EX so they couldn't sell them. They introduced new augmented gear, which was Ok at first .. sweet, we can pick a path for what we want. But then .. Reisenjima equipment came out. Anyone who wanted to have the best possible sets for any given situation found themselves playing the "gambling" game in Norg. A cruel game actually. I've played this game many times and wasted so many stones to get that good augment; only to leave empty handed.

So let's face it .. SE bloated up our inventories with augmented gear that CANNOT be stored or sent. How bloody annoying. Now you can just say "don't augment too much gear", but seriously .. who is NOT going to try and make their character better when we can? That's like expecting a dog not to grab the bone you dangle in front of it. We got /equipsets, meaning we could make full gear changes .. encouraging us to make more sets for different situations. More space taken up, therefore .. more inventory required. So instead of doing the right thing and give us wardrobe 3 & 4 like 1 & 2 (a "quality of life" update) what do they do? Charge us extra a month for this amazing "feature". Charge us extra for inventory space in a really old game? Really? I've still refused to pay it and have to be extra careful sorting my inventory out. I've had to take extra measures to ensure I don't max out. I have to regularly sell any junk I pick up along the way .. 95% of the time NPCing stuff in my home nation because the AH is really hard to sell on. I can afford to pay for this "feature" .. but why the hell should I? I don't pay it out of principle.

Not only that! I almost forgot about JSE capes! Most players in endgame want at least three or four of these babies per job to cover the basics. I know some players have 6-8 per job. Not only that! The new JSE necks. They keep introducing new equipment .. hell, I can't even afford lockstyle equipment. I lie actually .. I have two pieces of lockstyle gear for my DRK and that's all I can afford. Basically those players who don't "pay to win" have their inventories clogged up. Even more so if you want to be FLEXIBLE on a small server because you have no other choice but to level, gear, and master many jobs. Without wardrobe 3 & 4, you're going to have a hard time playing the expansion I like to call: "FFXI - Inventory Management".

And some could argue .. well, they only charge us so RMT don't benefit. Seriously .. RMT are minimalist. They will use the very minimum amount of equipment needed to achieve anything, and wardrobe 3 & 4 is not going to help them. They might just be able to fill out wardrobe 1? I guess? I'd be shocked if they managed to fill both wardrobes with equipment. So who does it affect most? The real players. Honestly, if they want to keep 3 & 4 as a paid service, then they should at least give players 5 & 6 for free. Encourage us to gear up more jobs by giving us this "quality of life" update. But they won't ... because they care more about milking as much out of the remaining playerbase as possible, and people fall for it because it's much easier to cough it up than deal with it. They don't need extra money from this game .. they were getting plenty from it already (most profitable FF). While they're at it, we need another 200 equipsets as I'm already maxed out. No player should have to resort to other means to make their equipsets. I know one player who has six jobs and all their equipsets used up .. and they want to level up another job. How do they do that outside of a 3rd party? They can't. It's impossible.


2) Server Transfer - A long time ago it made sense to charge for this service because there wasn't much reason to do so, outside of perhaps starting fresh .. or to get away from certain people on the server you were on. However, over the past few years, Asura has been the poster child for casual, returning players to set up shop. The super experienced players who literally have nothing left to do but charge these players for their merc services all migrated (and why not? easier to sell to a big population than a small one). I'm fully aware of what goes on there as I have former accomplices who jumped ages ago who keep me informed, as well as some of those who I managed to persuade to leave it to join our group. Those who jumped to join us were astonished with how quiet it is, along with how scarce the AH was. It's night and day difference. And it's not just Cerberus, I've had messages from players on other servers who feel the same about their economies. There's a serious lack of crafters, so even if you want an item (without jumping server) you have to wait for it to become available at an inflated price. If you don't believe me, go on FFXIAH.com and compare Asura's AH to other AH's.

And the fact of the matter is, big population servers need not be touched. If anyone on these bigger servers are getting worried that a smaller server may get merged into it .. shouldn't be. I'd be against that idea anyways. It would make way more sense to merge small servers together to be somewhat close in population. Guaranteed, even if you merged Cerb and Slyph together it still wouldn't be as big as Asura. That's what I'm getting at here, some of these servers are not even half the size.

But I'm fully aware of all the money SE makes from this service. Not only are people transferring to get away from small servers, you have "buyers" who only transfer to gather up huge collections of materials and other things. You get people jumping to buy Alexandrites, or HP Baylds, or literally anything they need at a far lower price than on their own server. By allowing one or two servers to become huge, SE encourages the practice of players paying them real money so they can buy up materials for cheap elsewhere. Some may buy up materials from the big server and sell 'em for more on a small server. And that's what it's come down too .. players do this kind of thing because they feel they must if they want to get anywhere. They give SE extra because they don't want to wait for their own servers to supply what they need. And that's wrong .. I mean, every server should have a healthy enough economy to sustain the needs of any player.

So yes it would make no business sense. Their discount campaign only makes this situation worse as those who maybe didn't want to move are further enticed to do so .. making small servers smaller, and big servers bigger. This is a catch 22 situation, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. SE wants to make as much money as possible, but their own model is causing issues for those who would like to remain on their server with the people they know. No one can expect entire groups to agree to move over all at once .. not unless these people actually know and meet each other outside of the game. We make connections on our server, and going elsewhere is like hitting the reset button. It's unfair for SE to encourage this.

But what can be done? Well, I understand it's not easy. Firstly it would be amazing, simply awe inspiring if SE came out and addressed the issue. Instead of just giving me an automated robotic response, have someone come on the forum and admit they're aware. I'm not expecting that because SE will only respond to players if they absolutely have too .. their customer service has always been one of the worst I've ever seen from any company. There's teenagers in fast food restaurants with better service. I called a GM earlier this year asking what I can do to get in touch with SE .. but they just pointed me here. It was a SGM actually, and even they admitted there were issues (very reluctant to do so initially) with some servers but there wasn't anything they could do. They "forward it on to the team", and that's all you get. No further reply to let you know what they thought. No statement anywhere about it. Nothing. In other words .. give us your money and like it!

If there absolutely can never be a server merge .. then the only other possibility is to stop server transfers and new characters being made on the biggest servers. Let those big servers deal with who they have, while returning players get placed on the smaller ones to boost them up. There should be a limit, but there clearly isn't. But again .. stopping transfers means less money for SE, so the only other thing left is to stop new character creation on the big servers. That would be something at least.


3) Other Games Fees - It's not just about FFXI. FFXV was very questionable this year for charging players extra for content which really should've come with the game. While some found the price to be justified, many others probably didn't buy into it on principle of "they should release full games, not half a game and charge extra to get the rest". Dissidia NT is probably the biggest, most annoying cash grab I've seen in any SE game. You get a decent roster of fighters, but then they introduced new characters for £5 each! That much just for a character? It soon adds up when you need to buy Locke, Rinoa, Kamlanaut, Vayne, and others. You pretty much end up paying the same price of the game again .. for a few more fighters who should've been put in the game for free. It's these kinds of practices which absolutely stink .. and so long as "some" players fall for it, SE is happy to continue with it. I've got no idea about other games, but I wouldn't be surprised if you have to pay extra for things which really should've been free. After clearing the storyline I don't play Dissidia NT anymore .. probably going to wait a couple of years til they release all characters and have their prices reduced severely. They'll probably stick them in a bundle for £5, the same price as one character is now.

I've ranted enough here .. but I'm glad because I needed to get a lot of this off my chest. Love FF. Love FF players. As far as SE goes, they care more about the money than appeasing their loyal customers. So after I get my second Aeonic with my group, I'm strongly considering unsubbing. It would only be the third time I done so since 2005, but I feel it's the best thing to do. My dad will be around for the social, but running the event LS has become too frustrating and stressful for me. Managing inventories and forming parties for content should not be harder than the content itself.

[Sirmarki]

No one can expect entire groups to agree to move over all at once .. not unless these people actually know and meet each other outside of the game.

I was on Fenrir, a few years ago, and my playtime (GMT) generally consisted of 290~300 people online. I said to the guys in my Linkshell that I'm going to transfer (at the time were mainly US, I'm from the UK), because nothing much happens during my playtime. I thought mergers would happen after XBOX360/PS2 came to a halt, but that didn't happen, and with no merger in the foreseeable future, that was my decision.

So, I made the move, it was a pretty lonely experience at first, however I kept in contact via POL with people who were in my Linkshell, who remained on Fenrir.

Eventually, everybody I knew crossed over to Asura because I said to them that it's more than ten fold active and GMT/EST time friendly. They didn't all come at once because Fenrir was their home, and that's what they knew, but eventually they all made the move. Not one of them has any regrets about making that move, and they come from all corners of the globe (we have never met outside of FFXI).

[Kylos]

Managed to get some T4s done last night thanks to a guy who jumped from another server with his several characters which nicely covers what we don't have. Still not happy about the state of the game, but at least my group is actively able to progress with what we want. The AH is still absolutely terrible. And as much as some believe jumping server would entice others to join us .. I don't believe so. Some of our members would never, ever go to Asura as it's overcrowded and loud. If we were ever to move server it would not be there. But we shouldn't have too anyways .. SE should be taking the necessary steps to ensure every server has a healthy population with an economy which works.

[Sirmarki]

Some of our members would never, ever go to Asura as it's overcrowded and loud.

At the moment it's been peaking at 3000 online. Which is pretty much what it was years back. Isn't that what a MMORPG is about though?

With established streamers promoting FFXI lately, there has been an increased interest too.

The problem is not the numbers of players but the fact that, as most content is in a limited amount of areas now - There needs to be more instances added for battlefields, and more Apex monsters on Asura.

[Isola]

You confuse nintard with free login event

[chiefhunglo]

Your lucky man I need a dead server too much competition for what i'm trying to achieve.