servers way more empty now? Still doing the linear gear climb?

[Elvyn]

The main reason for server population dip at the moment is the upcoming Update (November). With SE's recent disturbing WOW-esque gear dropping means no gear is safe from being made obsolete in the coming update. All gear released with SoA has been replaced almost immediately i.e Bayld -> Skirmish -> Delve NQ ->Skirmish II -> Delve HQ and where as a few years ago this progression would have happened over years, this occurred in a matter of months. No on wants to spend time getting something that's going to be worthless in a months time.

After the update expect to see a population increase. But it wont last if the updated gear is either ridiculously hard or easy to get. Balance is the main point of this MMO and before you could offset time/effort needed to obtain something with the fun/social side of the game that's no longer there. The balance will have to be reworked.

However if I'm honest. XI has almost reached its limits from a technical stand point and with XIV SE's new baby I don't think SE will try very hard to keep XI alive much longer. With the community LS site down forever, updates promised years ago and never arrived. XI is like a village market when a superstore has opened next it to (XIV) people are drawn by the flashy look and promise of increased content and so the shops in the market start to board up there windows one by one. Bad analogy I know, but with the current times it was the only one I could think of lol.