Yea of course. The idea of merges is "Our server supports X people and if we fill them we can save money on shutting down servers A, B, C.". What server merges is not about is how the game will function with that many people.

I could get more things done if there were more free hands out and about.
That is the problem. People aren't free, they are all busy working on their own Abyssea drops. 5000 needing drops from 6 zones is a tad bit crowded. (I'm still amazed the queues were so short with 2500 people)