Are server merges ever going to happen?

[Runespider]

I really doubt that. Also, updating graphics != changing one game's graphics to be another's. I'mproving the graphics engine doesn't mean changing the look of the game, it means polishing it. Better shawdows, better texture resolution, better effects, etc. Also, the games you mentioned have at a minimum updated their engine internals to ensure their game runs properly on newer hardware. SE hasn't even done that. They could update the game to fully use DX9 or later without changing one pixel of the graphics and they haven't even done that.


Also, D&D Online updated its graphics, added DirectX 10 support, and without any other game to be allegedly afraid of (saying WoW was afraid of wildstar is absurd, especially when you look at it today)

This is the FFXI board, everyone here looks for any opportunity to bash FFXIV because they resent its existence as the reason XI is in its current state.

Finally, graphics were just one example of improvements. You ignored the other facets, like improving the UI, improving internal system stuff for better compatibility, and enabling them to implement new mechanics that the systems currently prevent them from doing.

The other reason FFXI is where it is is because of poor marketing. You see advertisements for WoW and other MMOs all over the place. They've run lots of promotions and incentives over the years. SE hasn't. Short of emailing its existing customers, when it runs promotions it doesn't even tell anybody. How is that supposed to promote anything? Even XIV's marketing could be a lot better than it is. Marketing is the biggest driver behind WoW's success.

I'll explain why FFXI is where it is now:

FFXIV took most of the developers leaving a skeleton crew and a lot of the budget that was supposed to be for FFXI during it's creation, this was way back when they started working on ffxiv 4-5 years ago. FFXIV was basically a parasite feeding off of FFXI players money during development.
FFXIV is a sequel no matter how you want to play it, offering a sequel would be like blizzard making wow 2 and it would hurt wow just as much as xiv hurt xi. It splits the playerbase that would never usually move to another game.
The creation of FFXIV made 2 groups of players that hated each other and wanted the other game to die, the most vocal haters of each game play the other. If you're a regular on FFXIAH you will know of many XIV players there that fit this category and took extreme joy at the last SE announcment.
Square care more about ffxiv looking to be a success to the world than making a profit or running 2 mmo titles, this is why xiv has a blank cheque policy and ffxi is not worth the cost.

Having said all of that, again I like how XI looks I don't want extra shadows or whatever you think we all want. I've played all of the "pretty" mmo titles like Tera, FFXIV, B&S, Black desert etc and I still prefer the look of ffxi and would hate to see the characters "updated". To think all XI players want to see any updated engine is like thinking all star wars fans wanted CGI to replace all the old effects.