Are multi-box players delaying server merges?

[Nyarlko]

Right, that's been my point all along - the choice to play multiple characters instead of having people fill those roles often comes down to greed, the fact that we can collect more gear/items for only slightly more effort is very appealing and if more people could do it they most likely would, too. It's unfortunate and another reason I look back to the early days with fondness, despite how unforgiving the game was back then.

Greed was admittedly a major reason for why I started dualboxing. I should note that if I was not dualboxing now, then I would be soloing the same content anyway, so no harm done to anyone. At this point though, I keep doing it because it's actually fun in addition to being profitable. Also, you shouldn't think of it as "replacing a player" so much as "replacing a trust". In group situations where using both my accounts would exclude another player, I will happily leave one idling in Mog House. (Usually my main these days as well since she has majority of content cleared already.) If it's solo/lowman content, it harms no one for me to bring both if that means that success is more likely for the group as a whole.

Out of curiosity, if given the choice, would you consider sticking to one account if you could fill its role in your parties with a new/existing LS member at all times or are the benefits too great to give up the second account?

Nope. My second account is already geared better than a lot of BLM/GEO players and knowing that I'll never miss a SC+MB timing window alone is more than enough to make it worthwhile to play both for stuff like Gaes Fete, farming crafting mats, etc. The benefits of dualboxing are too great to give up without a good reason to do so, especially since the vast majority of the time, dualboxing isn't going to mean that someone else gets benched. The only time I am going to be reluctant to replace my dbox w/ another player would be if that player would actually be dead weight due to gear, lack of JP which causes a lack of key spells/abilities, or fight mechanics being anti-melee and they refuse to level any other jobs in order to be useful to groups AND it's something that the group can't carry someone else thru easily.

I'll jump at the chance to help someone who has put in effort already and found that they need help to complete something. I'm not quite altruistic enough to happily enable someone else just being lazy and/or a non-contributor towards group success. ^^;;