To all you asking for server merges: READ THIS

At this stage, I hope that SE is going to be single-minded about getting to 2.0 while doing everything possible to make the current player base happy in the meantime and make the transition to 2.0 easy on them. People like options so I hope that players on affected servers will be given a few choices over where they end up.

The original OP made some good points about potential problems, but ultimately, stranding people on dead servers for the next year is not really a valid option. Addressing that is going to cause some chaos socially but that's a necessary evil at this point, and as long as people end up somewhere that makes them happy (with more opportunities for groups, more LSs, a more vibrant economy, etc.), I think most people will adapt.

I was not aware this game had a economy to begin with.

what always gets me about these post is people saying "OMG DO NOT MERGE SERVERS PEOPLE WILL THINK THIS GAME HAS PROBLEMS ARE IS FAILING"

HAHAHAHAHHA have you talked to or seen any outlet or any person outside of this forum? thats already happening bra.......

Make it so i can find a party when i want it. merge those servers. ff14 has and still is going through its worst time so make the players who are playing have a fun time and merge the servers. Lets not see a dead server now that we are paying.

I had to skim through, but from what I gathered the main thrust of the OP's argument is that a server merge would look bad.

Now I know this is going to make some peoples' heads spin.... but I don't think it matters one little bit what the game looks like.

What Matters... is that the game is good. If the game is actually good, then it might look good, and then it might attract new players AND they might stay. This formula for success relies on one single aspect though... delivering a good game.

So, in that context, when asking whether a server merge is a good or bad idea.... I think is debateable.

I don't think there's any reason to server merge, as most content is based on groups of 4-8. The only serious consequences are economic... and those always work themselves out. So... imo I think a server merge is more hassle than anything for the devs, although it may cut costs down, but I'm not an expert in that regard.

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Originally Posted by Sephrick

SE already said they're going to.

I don't think they can justify have servers with 100-200 players on at any given time.

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So true. Currently the biggest reason why I'm not paying. These merges need to happen while 1.0 players still care.

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As someone already mentioned Guilds, or Linkshells in this case, WILL be affected. You can expect several Linkshells to be broken apart from a merger process. This is counterproductive since the reason for the merger in the first place is to create more population traffic and expand group play. The worst case scenario here would be having to repearl all over again and lose several LS members who are now on other servers.

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Uh ? if two server merge then everybody who in the same server will still be in the same server anyway, no?

You are worried about the game failing? What is this, August 2010?

It's difficult to make any sort of judgement about LSs right now. Since the launch of XIV there has been chaos with LSs. Either no admin tools or fail of launch then no content then no people as more left. Then there's always holidays 2010 & 2011 saw large fluxes in people leaving with new games out and just being away from the game, some think to themselves, "Why do I want to go back right now? I'll just wait till the new patch." They either return or disappear.

Our LS purposefully is waiting for the merge to repearl. With no admin tools we have 70 people "in" our LS we haven't seen in months as well as subs taking place; we just felt it better to wait before repearling and then possibly having to have to do it again.

Otherwise, I think the rest of the OP is a matter or terminology rather than it's right or wrong. Yes the words merge and transfer ARE technically different but I'm pretty sure 99.9% of us who incorrectly say merge mean transfer. Basically, we need to get smaller pop server players to move to larger server worlds in order to bring more of the community together while also shutting down defunct servers and saving a few bucks. <----That sound better than "merge"? ;)

Which gives worse publicity I wonder...

Merging your servers to give the playerbase a better population...

or...

Leaving your players to play on servers with a rough 300 person population?

Merge give it to me !!