Merge the darn servers already!

Merge the servers already! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Why even ask them to, it should be very clear by now that they don't care enough to do it for the good of the players.

Server numbers are incredibly low now, at almost laughable levels but it's still not happening.

1) Keep the servers as they are.
2) People get frustrated and pay to transfer to a larger server like Asura, Bahamut and Odin.
3) ???
4) Profit.

250 people on now... FFXI has officially changed from MMO to just MO.

I thought they stated they wouldn't be considering merges until after november in the announcement months ago? To see how servers are affected to make the move done only once rather then twice in 6 months and half the game has to change their name.

Be patient, because complaining about something they've already decided on is likely not going to do much. Servers still have enough people for functional purposes of events these days. Not like we're still tied to 30-50 players for a single event anymore.

p.s. bazookatooth, since most multiplayer games support a max of 64 players, I'd say 250+ still counts as massively since that's like, almost 4x the best most non-mmo's can do.

what we really need is to merge all JP players together as they are the majority that play the game and stick everyone else like NA and EU together, at least then you wont get the "JPONRY" players stopping everyone else from joining events like i got the other day.

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Originally Posted by Bluestar2kx

I thought they stated they wouldn't be considering merges until after november in the announcement months ago? To see how servers are affected to make the move done only once rather then twice in 6 months and half the game has to change their name.

Be patient, because complaining about something they've already decided on is likely not going to do much. Servers still have enough people for functional purposes of events these days. Not like we're still tied to 30-50 players for a single event anymore.

p.s. bazookatooth, since most multiplayer games support a max of 64 players, I'd say 250+ still counts as massively since that's like, almost 4x the best most non-mmo's can do.

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I'd say that at least 150 of those people were AFK and / or bazaar mules. If forcing people to create more characters and leave them logged in, in lieu of a proper auction house system is the only thing keeping this above standard multi-player game levels, then it isn't an MMO in my book.

There are literally 3 LS doing vagary on my server. One is JP only, one is a mercenary shell that won't bring outsiders without them paying and the other can't seem to beat anything.

No thanks. I like things the way they are right now.

PS > Instead I'd really like it if SE gave a free world transfer so people could move to the crowded servers if they want.

16 servers is way too much, think about that. Do we really need 16 servers at this point?

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Originally Posted by Clou777

what we really need is to merge all JP players together as they are the majority that play the game and stick everyone else like NA and EU together, at least then you wont get the "JPONRY" players stopping everyone else from joining events like i got the other day.

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As an NA player who's been in a JP linkshell for a number of years, I'd be very upset if they did this and I'd probably stop playing altogether. Yes, there's racism. However, I've found that if you're polite, take the time to learn some basic kana and a few common vocab words, you can build a cultural bridge and get past the racism. If an idiot like me can do it, anyone can. My Japanese vocab level is still that of a toddler's, but with auto-translate, google translate, a JP/NA dictionary at my desk... it's not such an issue. Just takes a little effort and the rewards have been very fulfilling.

Recently, during JP prime time on Phoenix there have been twice as many folks online as during NA prime time. 350-400 to 700-800.

If they are reducing the timer for Meebles, and people still want their glowy gaxe etc. you are going to see lines of people waiting to enter the battlefields. If you then merge servers, those lines will double in length. Similar problems with your favourite Dynamis farming spot.

Any server merge at this stage would have to be accompanied by alternative methods for acquiring items from instanced or very popular events that are discouraging players because of overcrowding. For instance, being able to buy Meebles or VW glowy items, using large amounts of credits that can be obtained by farming other less overcrowded MB/VW zones. Or changing repop/drop rates in Dyna, so that lots of people can farm the same areas at the same time.

Its not that server merges are wrong, it is only that they would need to happen alongside appropriate changes to some of the current battlefields.

There is something wrong with meebles besides overcrowding. I get frequent congestion errors trying to enter, even when I'm the only player on my entire server trying to do the event.

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Originally Posted by Stompa

If they are reducing the timer for Meebles, and people still want their glowy gaxe etc. you are going to see lines of people waiting to enter the battlefields. If you then merge servers, those lines will double in length. Similar problems with your favourite Dynamis farming spot.

Any server merge at this stage would have to be accompanied by alternative methods for acquiring items from instanced or very popular events that are discouraging players because of overcrowding. For instance, being able to buy Meebles or VW glowy items, using large amounts of credits that can be obtained by farming other less overcrowded MB/VW zones. Or changing repop/drop rates in Dyna, so that lots of people can farm the same areas at the same time.

Its not that server merges are wrong, it is only that they would need to happen alongside appropriate changes to some of the current battlefields.

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I don't think you understand. There are servers with 3 times the population of other servers. Dynamis etc. still functions on those servers. During NA prime time, I'll see 250-350 people on my server while other servers are hovering at 1,000-1,200. There's no reason that some of the less populated servers cant be merged.

And for what it's worth, I don't think that the minor convenience of getting into meebles easier or not having to /sea a dynamis zone before I head there is worth the inconvenience of never being able to get a group together that can clear Vagary, or Escha NMs or UC NMs etc. Right now, Dynamis, meebles and Salvage are almost always empty on my server, so I don't think too many people would notice anyways.

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Originally Posted by bazookatooth

I'd say that at least 150 of those people were AFK and / or bazaar mules. If forcing people to create more characters and leave them logged in, in lieu of a proper auction house system is the only thing keeping this above standard multi-player game levels, then it isn't an MMO in my book.

There are literally 3 LS doing vagary on my server. One is JP only, one is a mercenary shell that won't bring outsiders without them paying and the other can't seem to beat anything.

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I highly doubt there's 150 bazaarers out of 250 people.
I've noticed people everywhere seem to drastically overestimate the number of people bazaaring goods because it makes their argument seem better and be more favored.

There's an average of 600 people active at any given time on shiva, if we took the 70% number everyone seems to love, then god, I'd never see people stop shouting for help for multiple events every 30mins in town and zones would be empty because that would be stretching 180 people (averaged) across 3 dozen zones, and another 2 dozen event instances, wouldn't be enough people to do much with.

And in your case, there would hardly be anyone doing anything but vagary on your server, because those 3 shells doing it would consume 55% of everyone left (assuming vagary is capped at 18 people).

I think 30% is a much more effective number of bazaarers in a given server. Maybe a bit more on really populated ones but nothing approaching 70%.

SE said they would look into transfers after november, I'm sure we can live a few more months after making it this long.

p.s. most people bazaar for one of two reasons: to avoid ah taxes, esp on expensive items that can rack up quickly, and/or because the item they're trying to sell can't be put on the ah, which accounts for 2/3rds of everything worth selling these days. Nothing wrong with the bazaarers.

Vagary can be low manned, you don't need an LS for that so I highly doubt you know all the groups doing it.

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Originally Posted by Bluestar2kx

I highly doubt there's 150 bazaarers out of 250 people.
I've noticed people everywhere seem to drastically overestimate the number of people bazaaring goods because it makes their argument seem better and be more favored.

There's an average of 600 people active at any given time on shiva, if we took the 70% number everyone seems to love, then god, I'd never see people stop shouting for help for multiple events every 30mins in town and zones would be empty because that would be stretching 180 people (averaged) across 3 dozen zones, and another 2 dozen event instances, wouldn't be enough people to do much with.

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Your server has twice as many people. If they are equally as active (per capita) as the people on mine, that clearly supports my theory that merging is needed to support an active community. Unless of course you think you have to many people on your server. Is 600 too many? 250 isn't a difficult number to keep track of. I walk through jeuno / adoulin a hundred times a day. I can see which characters haven't moved all day. It's not like I'm guessing how many active cabs there are in new york at rush hour while looking out the window of an airplane.

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Originally Posted by Bluestar2kx

And in your case, there would hardly be anyone doing anything but vagary on your server, because those 3 shells doing it would consume 55% of everyone left (assuming vagary is capped at 18 people).

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The 3 shells don't run at the same time. And yes, they do constitute a large portion of the active community. Right now, I have three active linkshells and between the three of them, they have 89 of the 370 people total on the server. About 2/3 of them are AFK.

Looking at my chat log since I went to dinner / drinks tonight, there has been 1 akvan shout that looks like they gave up and went with 3 people, 1 Cirdas skirmish run and a handful of people trying to buy UC upgrade items in the last 4 hours. This is american prime time and no one has shouted for content from this year in the last 6 hours. Possibly longer. There are currently 12 people in escha right now. 8 of them are in my linkshell and 3 of them have been afk at the entrance since yesterday.

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Originally Posted by Bluestar2kx

I think 30% is a much more effective number of bazaarers in a given server. Maybe a bit more on really populated ones but nothing approaching 70%.

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I think marshmallows are delicious.

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Originally Posted by Bluestar2kx

SE said they would look into transfers after november, I'm sure we can live a few more months after making it this long.

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That doesn't mean things couldn't be better.

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Originally Posted by Bluestar2kx

p.s. most people bazaar for one of two reasons: to avoid ah taxes, esp on expensive items that can rack up quickly, and/or because the item they're trying to sell can't be put on the ah, which accounts for 2/3rds of everything worth selling these days. Nothing wrong with the bazaarers.

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Like I said "in lieu of a proper auction house system..."

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Originally Posted by Draylo-

Vagary can be low manned, you don't need an LS for that so I highly doubt you know all the groups doing it.

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I know it can be low manned, I'm the person you have been arguing with about how low manning things isn't right and that jobs that can low man things need to be nerfed.

Its not about low-manning or over crowded...its about finding other people that like to play the damn game other than just leveling crap in abyssea. Its about team building and just losing yourself in the fantasy with others. It sucks that PuGs are really non-existent on Phoenix (at least NA shouts). It sucks that LS's are being built and not really doing a wide variety of things. Its like one thing or another and you're just sitting there. Plus, my schedule sucks. By the time I get on all the EN players are in bed and EU/JP players are getting their days started. But its just me wanting something. I know I can't be the only one working crappy hours and playing during crappy hours, but it just feels that way on the server...

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Originally Posted by bazookatooth

I think marshmallows are delicious.

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I like pie (´・ω・`)ノ

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Originally Posted by Belmonts

I like pie (´・ω・`)ノ

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I like trains.

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Originally Posted by Numquam

Its not about low-manning or over crowded...its about finding other people that like to play the damn game other than just leveling crap in abyssea. Its about team building and just losing yourself in the fantasy with others. It sucks that PuGs are really non-existent on Phoenix (at least NA shouts). It sucks that LS's are being built and not really doing a wide variety of things. Its like one thing or another and you're just sitting there. Plus, my schedule sucks. By the time I get on all the EN players are in bed and EU/JP players are getting their days started. But its just me wanting something. I know I can't be the only one working crappy hours and playing during crappy hours, but it just feels that way on the server...

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Move to another server i guess might be your best bet.

I agree that NA/EU/JP should have their own designated servers. If the occasional player would rather go to a different server outside their region then they should be free to do so. I don't mind the low population as much since most things can be done solo with trust and no competition on monsters. What newer MMOs seem to be doing is allowing more than one pty/person attack the same monsters for exp and other rewards from that monster. But FFXI's system is so old, I doubt they can manage that other than the CFH monsters or open event monsters like in WKR, campaign battles, etc.

What would designated servers achieve? Then you'd just have them be dead when it's not their active time. At least shared servers have people in other countries you can play with during their peak hours if you aren't on the same schedule as the rest of your country. Sharing them means that there are multiple peak times during the day.

Multi-region servers and the auto-translate function are an important part of what makes this game special. My work schedule has fluctuated wildly over the years (some of it thanks to re-arranging it specifically to make LS events!) and it's been great that I've been able to be in NA/EU/JP LS's and make friends with folks all over the world. Why anyone would want to restrict and isolate is beyond me.

Obviously they'll merge the servers someday. If you can't wait that long and/or the content you CAN solo isn't doing it for you (and let's be honest, there's a ton of solo content) then you have the option of jumping servers or deactivating until the merge is done. There are many, many other valid things to be complaining about that don't have work-arounds.

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Originally Posted by bungiefanNA

What would designated servers achieve? Then you'd just have them be dead when it's not their active time. At least shared servers have people in other countries you can play with during their peak hours if you aren't on the same schedule as the rest of your country. Sharing them means that there are multiple peak times during the day.

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^ This. That's one of the many things I love about XI compared to many other mmos. Any other mmo, if I wanted to do stuff at any time passed 11pm, I can't, because the game is void of people until around 6am.

I do kind of wish they'd merge sooner, rather than later though :/ I came back from a few month break back in April, obviously being way behind on all the new content and it just seems like theres either not enough people on doing things (saw maybe like 2-3 shouts in a whole day) or no one's interested in doing/redoing things anymore. Even shouting gets nothing when theres about ~600 people online and probably over half are afk or mules. I guess until they merge or give people a reason to redo older delve / vagary, both of those are out of my reach then. Merging later is going to hurt it even more than it is now.

Play on a server where it's dead during the day and no one will play with you off hours because you don't speak JP, or play on a server where it's very busy during the day and less busy during the off hours.

I honestly feel the single best addition to this game would be a 'out of character' chat, game wide chat channel that is easily turned on or off. It would greatly increase the success of people looking for others to do stuff. Also it wouldn't hurt us if we removed the stick from most of our asses and used Unity chat, at least on my server.

I guess I'm just wanting to cling to my lowbie server because the pop will undoubtedly multiply x4 with a merge.

Square don't believe in server merges, on this game or on FFXIV.

Both games need them, both games won't get them.

Not true considering they have done mergers on this game already lol. They must be waiting for something or trying to cash in on people server swapping.

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Originally Posted by Draylo-

Not true considering they have done mergers on this game already lol. They must be waiting for something or trying to cash in on people server swapping.

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I think that the final chapter of RoV and the possible new final content could possibly be so filled to the brim with epicalness, that SE are waiting to see if hordes of ex-players return to the game this Winter. If those hordes of players did return, and servers had already been merged, there would be congestion overload. So I think they are waiting to see how many people are in the "finished" final version of the game, this Winter, and then make server merges based on that final total.

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Originally Posted by Stompa

I think that the final chapter of RoV and the possible new final content could possibly be so filled to the brim with epicalness, that SE are waiting to see if hordes of ex-players return to the game this Winter. If those hordes of players did return, and servers had already been merged, there would be congestion overload. So I think they are waiting to see how many people are in the "finished" final version of the game, this Winter, and then make server merges based on that final total.

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My server has like maybe 800 at peak. Usually closer to 350. A few years ago there used to be 2500 at any given time. I highly doubt that server overload is a thing.

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Originally Posted by bazookatooth

My server has like maybe 800 at peak. Usually closer to 350. A few years ago there used to be 2500 at any given time. I highly doubt that server overload is a thing.

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Yes. But back in the 2500 players per server days, those 2500 players did not have trusts or ilvl gear. The old 75-era content was manpower-intensive, you needed a lot of people for most events and also xp/merit parties. Even in the early Aby years you needed alliance for serious farming.

Today a player with 119 gear set, and five trusts in their solo party, can solo most things in the game. Even areas where trust is not allowed, a 119 player can solo and clear whole zones of mobs without problems.

I define congestion overload not in population numbers, but in player-power vs. events. Currently I never need to form parties for Meebles, I just go and solo it, and the same with other events. Most people seem to do the same. This is different to when Meebles required 6/6 people just to win. That means that you got 6 players through the instanced zone at the same time. Now it is six times longer, because there are six solo players. The same at Jobpoints camps etc. If you see a few Soulpyres on the way to the camp, that means somebody else is soloing there and will want to keep soloing with their five glowy trusts, so you have to find another camp. In the past, 6 players could use the same xp camp, now each of those players is heading to six different camps with their trusts.

And the situation today works. But if you look at this last RoV chapter updates, with the new battlefields which are extremely popular, and project forward, let's say that the final content this year is some major popular event with a lot of pulling power, it is possible that the many ex-players who were undecided about returning, will return at the end of this year. And if we have merged servers before then, and people soloing with 5 trusts each, plus returning players, would mean that a lot of camps and instanced battles became heavily congested. So I think SE are waiting to see what the server populations are like, after they release the grand-finale content. If this final firework show does not draw crowds, I imagine server merges would follow. I know about fifty serious ffxi players who are undecided on returning to the game, some real dynamite content would bring most of those players back, and then multiply this across all servers.

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Originally Posted by Stompa

Yes. But back in the 2500 players per server days, those 2500 players did not have trusts or ilvl gear. The old 75-era content was manpower-intensive, you needed a lot of people for most events and also xp/merit parties. Even in the early Aby years you needed alliance for serious farming.

Today a player with 119 gear set, and five trusts in their solo party, can solo most things in the game. Even areas where trust is not allowed, a 119 player can solo and clear whole zones of mobs without problems.

I define congestion overload not in population numbers, but in player-power vs. events. Currently I never need to form parties for Meebles, I just go and solo it, and the same with other events. Most people seem to do the same. This is different to when Meebles required 6/6 people just to win. That means that you got 6 players through the instanced zone at the same time. Now it is six times longer, because there are six solo players. The same at Jobpoints camps etc. If you see a few Soulpyres on the way to the camp, that means somebody else is soloing there and will want to keep soloing with their five glowy trusts, so you have to find another camp. In the past, 6 players could use the same xp camp, now each of those players is heading to six different camps with their trusts.

And the situation today works. But if you look at this last RoV chapter updates, with the new battlefields which are extremely popular, and project forward, let's say that the final content this year is some major popular event with a lot of pulling power, it is possible that the many ex-players who were undecided about returning, will return at the end of this year. And if we have merged servers before then, and people soloing with 5 trusts each, plus returning players, would mean that a lot of camps and instanced battles became heavily congested. So I think SE are waiting to see what the server populations are like, after they release the grand-finale content. If this final firework show does not draw crowds, I imagine server merges would follow. I know about fifty serious ffxi players who are undecided on returning to the game, some real dynamite content would bring most of those players back, and then multiply this across all servers.

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crowding in events and camps is a matter of poor planning on SE's part. They could make more instances of new events. They could make more viable exp camps. 90% of adoulin areas go completely unused because the mobs there suck / are too low level to be worth while. The same goes for Escha. Most of it is just space that people run through once and never visit again unless the ??? at another spot is being used. All this stuff could be fixed by adjusting some mob levels and / or how many pops there are. Personally, I much preferred having a ??? claim war in abyssea to standing around shouting for people for UC, Vagary, Etc. because nobody cares. People solo Exp because of SEs decision to force people to be on the job that they are earning the JP for. A party of 6 paladins sucks, so people are forced to solo. Again. bad planning on SE's part that could easily be fixed by making JP like merits without leaving all the servers dead.


Let's be honest. We're at 2/3 of the last major updates and have seen no major uptick in server populations. Many servers have less people. That giant rush at the end isn't going to happen and everyone knows it. And whatever servers get shutdown in a merge can be repurposed for instances, so that solves that anyways.

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Originally Posted by Stompa

Yes we are at 2/3 and only a few people have re-subbed for this, so far. We might see more people re-subbing in the next few weeks, because of the very popular Sinister Reign which has been described as "best new content in many years" by numerous veterans. When that kind of feedback reaches the ears of people who are considering re-subbing, we might see people coming back very soon.

On the 3/3 RoV, it is the grand finale, and so has the potential to blow all earlier updates out of the water. SE promised to make the last content "worthy of FFXI history" and they wanted to make it the best content ever. Also they will probably be wanting to add some serious challenging and rewarding long-term content, to keep people busy after the updates stop. If this content is awesome, we may well see a major avalanche of account re-subbing this Winter.

We both agree that the instanced/overcrowding is a longterm issue and could have been changed earlier. I call it the "Oversized Sock Factor." I went 0/100 on oversized sock sub-boss pop, on Thief. This is unusual, but it shows that random fails in sub-pops can result in a single player clearing the whole area of mobs over and over, just for a sub-boss trigger. If another player wants to farm it, they are out of luck.

The system was designed for parties in level 80~ gear killing those mobs slowly, automatically allowing mob repop and farming opportunities for other parties. But now with 119 set, one player can kill all the mobs, combined with the random Sock Factor, may be killing those mobs for a long time. This system is unsustainable unless there is only one person wanting the Sock, or the drop rate goes to 1/1, or the random 0/100 Sock Factor is cancelled entirely.

And that applies to other similar zones which were built for the 75-99 level parties, and are now being scorched by 119 solo players. It would take a huge amount of effort to rebalance everything. And if you server merge, you will get double the amount of people wanting to farm areas XYZ.

I have never really said I am against server merges, infact I agree with you that server merges are inevitable, and that a distant future FFXI would have to be mono-server.

I just said that merging the post-ilvl worlds would require tweaking of some areas and content. And that SE are probably waiting until the grand-finale content has been released and reviewed by FFXI fans, both current players and potentially returning players.

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Sinister Reign is great, but just it's not going to bring substantial numbers of players back (if any). It's only one BCNM and I bet you that it will die off almost completely before the next update comes out. The truth of the matter is that they are probably putting this off because they are working on the final updates and could care less about server populations. I'd bet that they feel the same way as me about the chances of a mass return player population. They just can't be arsed to spend time on a merge until they are finished making content. Which sucks because we need one.

As for your sock thing. SE could (and probably did) predict that. They don't care. There's very little of any consequence in the game like that for a reason. SE stopped making people compete over pops and spawns for the most part to solve that. There are still some areas that could use a little work, but it doesn't significantly impact game play these days. The only glaring problem ATM is Exp/CP/Silt camp crowding and / or the lack of viable camps. Which like I said, could easily be resolved by changing the level/repop time/number of mobs in various already existing and otherwise uncrowded zones and should have been done before the CP system was ever introduced. 3 or 4 bsts or blus or blms or w/e AOE job can basically dominate all the CP camps in zitah and then they come out with Ru'Aun which isn't much better. If there's 20 people in either of the escha zones (which are huge), they are overcrowded ATM due to poor mob placement. That's bad planning and should be fixed immediately seeing as it is the bulk of relevant content at this point regardless of whether they merge servers.

They could also remove the job specification from JP so that people could farm JP on any job and spend them on another. I know and understand why some people like that feature, but it also forces people to solo most of the time because you can't form a functioning party if all the bards, cors, whms etc. have already capped JP. It was completely predictable and should have never happened.

There could be 10 people on any server and that would still be too many people doing silt farming at once. They could also remedy this by lowering the silt requirements for pops to like 100 and remove those ridiculous 50K vorseals so that people don't feel obligated to do all their CP farming in escha zones. Or just allow people to gain silt outside of escha in other CP camp areas like woh and doh.


TLDR; there's a million easy ways to compensate for whatever overcrowding that might (but isn't actually) going to happen.