Can we have a server merger after fee take place ?

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Originally Posted by AmyRae

If you don't like negative hype, you should have been more vocal against SE bringing up subscription fees at a time when the game isn't 100% (but instead you seemed to enjoy bullying people into leaving because they didn't want to pay full price), because really, that's going to be what the media is going to use to kill this game. Anything that happens after that really doesn't matter anymore. The damage is already done. It already looks bad. Is it really going to surprise anyone that servers may merge? Is anyone even going to keep beating the horse they've freshly killed?

So, all that's left is pleasing the die-hard players who are staying, because they're really all that's left. The only cavalry-over-the-hill FFXIV has in waiting is 2.0. So you may as well make 1.0 as comfortable as possible, bring the remaining players together, and not worry anymore about an already spoiled reputation in the media.

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Agreed. IMO even the relaunch of 2.0 might not recover the game...it already has a history plenty of failures that will be brought back every time the specialized media talk about it. and at current situation it's possible that a server merge actually having a positive impact to the game since more players together = better chance of a good experience regarding party-based contents that were/will be added, preventing the frustration not having enough people to do stuff can cause.

Server merge must happen. Some might see this as bad publicity for the game; I see it as SE taking care of their remaining customers and making sure they can enjoy the game so they can bring in more customers in the future.

Even on a low population server, it seems like there is always competition for farming mats/NMs/coffer camping/non-instanced content. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of people to play with/linkshells to join...etc. Unless the majority of "active" players quit when billing starts, I really do not see the need to merge servers yet. If servers were merged now, I think there would be too much competition over the limited content that this game currently has available.

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Originally Posted by MiyukiYuketsu

Even on a low population server, it seems like there is always competition for farming mats/NMs/coffer camping/non-instanced content. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of people to play with/linkshells to join...etc. Unless the majority of "active" players quit when billing starts, I really do not see the need to merge servers yet. If servers were merged now, I think there would be too much competition over the limited content that this game currently has available.

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there doesn't seem to be any shortage on some servers, but other servers it is absolutely obvious there is a shortage. there is surely a shortage for players when you have issues even having enough active people online to get a party together to go to a stronghold or other content even when that one group would be the only one in the area.

i can literally take a group to a stronghold and coffer camp all day long and may see 1-2 groups other than the one i am in show up there. when even the bigger ls's in your server are having to combine together to have a big enough group to even go to do ifrit or a coffer party then there is a severe shortage of people.

i am not saying that all servers are that way, but when there are servers that are that way then combining those tiny servers would be good for the people, that they expect to pay for the game, to be able to play with other people.

I don't see how this could be a bad thing. Negative publicity isn't a problem. The MMO community's opinion of this game is already as bad as it can possibly get. The only people who care about this game are the people playing it. There's almost no interest amongst the larger MMO community.

The only issue I see is that the current servers are so horrible according to Yoshi that they may run into serious problems trying to do something like this.

So... how about that rep response? maybe we should leave cookies to lure them out

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Originally Posted by TnelisPotencia

So... how about that rep response? maybe we should leave cookies to lure them out

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I don't think you're going to get an answer any time soon, unless there's absolutely no way they'd ever merge the servers. Otherwise, it's all going to depend on what the situation is like after billing starts. If the population holds up fine, then there's no reason to do anything.

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Originally Posted by TnelisPotencia

So... how about that rep response? maybe we should leave cookies to lure them out

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I would think its pretty clear by now that whenever an issue is brought up by players that they have no intention of addressing, they just stay silent. Even when its an issue like this that is clearly a big deal to the players,if its not on their radar, it never will be. I think a lot of their efforts to "communicate" with players is just a dog and pony show. They don't even have to merge any servers to fix this issue, all they would have to do is let us switch worlds on our own. They would then be free to leave the worlds everyone moved out of up and running until 2.0. All we really want is the chance to get together until then. Much like the linkshell issue though, this is one of those issues that seems like an easy fix and something the players want, but sits under the "we will look into it" catagory of response by SE. One of the things that has really begun to sour me on this company in the past year is their desire to try and fix things for players that haven't even shelled out any money for this game yet (ie potential consumers) while leaving those of us that have bought the game and will be paying sub fees in the dark. I think they have demonstrated by now that they don't give a damn bout the current player base.

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Originally Posted by Biggs

I would think its pretty clear by now that whenever an issue is brought up by players that they have no intention of addressing, they just stay silent. Even when its an issue like this that is clearly a big deal to the players,if its not on their radar, it never will be. I think a lot of their efforts to "communicate" with players is just a dog and pony show. They don't even have to merge any servers to fix this issue, all they would have to do is let us switch worlds on our own. They would then be free to leave the worlds everyone moved out of up and running until 2.0. All we really want is the chance to get together until then. Much like the linkshell issue though, this is one of those issues that seems like an easy fix and something the players want, but sits under the "we will look into it" catagory of response by SE. One of the things that has really begun to sour me on this company in the past year is their desire to try and fix things for players that haven't even shelled out any money for this game yet (ie potential consumers) while leaving those of us that have bought the game and will be paying sub fees in the dark. I think they have demonstrated by now that they don't give a damn bout the current player base.

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it's ..it's like your in my mind man. get out of there and post your own thoughts :)

Wait, did people stop playing this lately ? Really i ddnt watch population, I barely log on. But if so, thats too bad. Mabye server merge could help a bit till at least 2.0 is out.

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Originally Posted by Fensfield

Exactly. Server mergers are something MMOs do to maintain a viable playerbase when they go into decline. Were Final Fantasy XIV operating as a normal MMO, then yes, at this point a server merge would probably be very wise. But right at the moment, even setting aside the negative media effect, merging the server databases and possibly beefing up the individual servers appropriately would be a waste of manpower could be better deployed elsewhere, and even then doesn't take into account the issues that still surround the servers themselves that might have to be resolved first at a further waste.

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I don't think a server merge would require as much resources as you think it does. Also, the issue with your train of thought saying it wastes manpower to do the merge is that right now resources and manpower are being wasted to maintain servers that have very small populations. Square decided to go the subscription route to get some money; it makes absolutely no sense why they wouldn't do a server merge now to consolidate their resources and save money, which ultimately results in MORE money for Square to do what they need to do to get 2.0 out the door.

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The player count, right now, barely matters; we're effectively in beta testing and screwing around with the servers in the face of the upcoming v2.0 isn't so much a waste as it is counter-productive, as it would just be one more thing had to be undone - if only in undoing the 'Oh they went through a server merge' media effect, assuming there would't be issues around unpicking the tangled databases when the new server architecture comes in.

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Square already has bad media - there is nowhere to go but up with this game. Them switching back to the sub model and charging a fee that isn't worth the price of the game (in the view of the media, not defenders of Square in this thread) didn't help their image at all. At this point it only helps Square if they consolidate their IT resources and reduce operating overhead and costs.

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I don't like to make so iffy an argument, but to me, demanding a server merge is.. a little bit selfish. At least in the 'I don't want to go through the inconvenience of making a new character somewhere else and choosing between the friends and achievements I have on my server, and the fact that I want a different/larger playerbase. Therefore the developers should waste resources performing a server merger they'll either have to undo and play down in the media, or will simply be a waste in the face of the v2.0 server reconfigurations and media push anyway.' sense.

So.. yes, so far as my own vote goes? Please, don't merge the servers. If it's so terrible a bother being on a quiet server, right now is a time that you can make a character on a new server without too tremendously great a deal of inconvenience. And if that really is so terrible, why not push for them to enable a world transfer service, instead?

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I think you're making the server merge out to be a bigger deal in terms of resources than you make it out to be. There will be some manpower involved, yes, but the overall effect it has on the community is best for Square because it will get more people interacting with each other and give them a reason to stay. Your statement to tell people to recreate a character on another server is extremely unreasonable considering how much time it takes to make a character on another server catch up to the same status as the current character. They will be forced to repeat content again just so that they can have a character that is the same as the character that was on the server they left.

Leaving things as is will only cause MORE people to leave because on those smaller servers, nobody is playing, and that will cut into what little money they are already making by switching to a sub model. So yes, a server merge is necessary, and it will be incredibly shortsighted of Square to leave things as is if they used your train of thought.

And yeah, if we can't get them to merge the servers, I'd like an option for a world transfer service so I'll do the damn move myself, so we can protect the players and the "media view" of this game.

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Originally Posted by Bahn

Leaving things as is will only cause MORE people to leave because on those smaller servers, nobody is playing, and that will cut into what little money they are already making by switching to a sub model. So yes, a server merge is necessary, and it will be incredibly shortsighted of Square to leave things as is if they used your train of thought.

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here's even another way to add to the top of a good reason to merge servers. my linkshell is likely to disband after the merge because they are all discussing taking a 6 month break after we defeat moogle. they are discussing it because the server we play on is completely dead. they are hoping in 6 months the population will build back up some with the new content being introduced.

the good reason to merge is because those 30 people that are active daily would not be considering leaving the game if we had a population to play with. it's not just one shell that will be leaving as we have spoken to most shells in our server because it is small and most are leaving. even if half of the people that were talking about leaving stayed if the server had a merge that is half that is saved and more money coming into their subs.

they also want to know what kinds of support they have from the community. if only half leave the dead severs because of nobody playing the game that tells se incorrectly they do not like the game enough to play. that is not the case. alot of us like the game and would be glad to pay, but it's no fun to play a multi player game on a dead server without other people.

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Originally Posted by darkstarpoet1

a lot of us like the game and would be glad to pay, but it's no fun to play a multi player game on a dead server without other people.

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Indeed.

Most of the people who are playing now quite like the game despite its flaws.

The introduction of payments will inevitably give some of those people a reason to quit.

The subsequent drop in population without any server merge or world transfer options will then just give the remaining players yet another reason to quit.

The causation path seems pretty clear here.

Can the reps please forward to the devs the wishes of clear majority please?

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Originally Posted by Seif

Can the reps please forward to the devs the wishes of clear majority please?

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Sure they COULD, just as soon as they start caring about us. (the devs not the reps) The reps actually seem to work for a living.

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Originally Posted by Seif

Can the reps please forward to the devs the wishes of clear majority please?

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They might not respond until they decide for a merge or not...Bay keep saying they won't reply to a topic for the sake of "Yeah...we saw the topic.".

Just assume no reply = nothing decided regarding the matter. Also, we can't blame them...when they tried replying everything people complained about the "we will look into it" kind of answer... ^^:

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Originally Posted by Lienn

They might not respond until they decide for a merge or not...Bay keep saying they won't reply to a topic for the sake of "Yeah...we saw the topic.".

Just assume no reply = nothing decided regarding the matter. Also, we can't blame them...when they tried replying everything people complained about the "we will look into it" kind of answer... ^^:

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Yeah, I can understand why Bay would not say "Yeah, we saw the topic", because that would give us the fleeting hope that that means our request was forwarded to the devs. I'm assuming the rep crew is waiting for more traffic from this thread *or* a reply from the devs saying "yeah, we're aware of it" or "that's not our priority right now".

If Bay posts, I'm pretty sure he'll come flying in with a giant "NO GUARANTEES" banner to make sure we don't jump the gun. :P

They stopped making the "thanks for the feedback we'll send it a long to the devs" posts back in April because they know (as the rest of you should) that such a statement is implicitly implied for every thread on here and that repeating the same statement over and over again is a waste of time.

They say, time and time again, that they read everything and send the pertinent things along. Yet no one ever listens.

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

They stopped making the "thanks for the feedback we'll send it a long to the devs" posts back in April because they know (as the rest of you should) that such a statement is implicitly implied for every thread on here and that repeating the same statement over and over again is a waste of time.

They say, time and time again, that they read everything and send the pertinent things along. Yet no one ever listens.

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The problem is - with their whole promise for communication - silently passing by the pertinent things along makes us all wonder whether or not they're actually listening. Just not saying anything leaves us confused. Which ones are they passing along? Are they passing along the complaint thread of an average Joe Shmoe who thinks these Chocobos look like big bird or are they properly passing along the 10+ page thread about the issues with the game's UI and position latency? I know I'm using silly examples here, but that's why a simple "we heard you guys, and are passing this along" post goes a long way to helping the community cool its jets and get some patience on the subject at hand.

I think this is a very valid topic to be discussing, but are we wasting time discussing it or is there someone at least letting the devs know that there is a good number of users who wish for the merge?

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Originally Posted by Bahn

Just not saying anything leaves us confused. Which ones are they passing along? ... I know I'm using silly examples here, but that's why a simple "we heard you guys, and are passing this along" post goes a long way to helping the community cool its jets and get some patience on the subject at hand.

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By that criteria, they'd be posting in nearly every thread the same "thanks for the input, we'll send this along to the devs", and our "Dev Tracker" feed will be full of useless crap.

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Originally Posted by Bahn

Are they passing along the complaint thread of an average Joe Shmoe who thinks these Chocobos look like big bird or are they properly passing along the 10+ page thread about the issues with the game's UI and position latency?

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I'd like to think they're smart enough and have good enough discretion to be able to weed out the relevant subjects from the stupid ones. Especially if enough users say the same thing. Have a little more confidence in their ability to work.

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Originally Posted by Bahn

is there someone at least letting the devs know that there is a good number of users who wish for the merge?

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Yes there is.

Well, the reps seem serious enough to me regarding their job so i do believe on them when they say they pass to devs every single feedback we post here, even if there were no official answer regarding the matter.

The Dev have aware of this thread, I know and sure about this because the GM on the forum do their job nicely and well done, so I believe they have read and follow this thread closely more or less, the reason they dont reply in here is because there is no official answer from the dev and...15 pages, w/o off side topic & no flame, I am surprise.

I make this thread to gather player vote. There will be no official answer until they decide what to do, also I ask for merger after fee take place so I dont expect to see the reply before feb.

just created a new char and looking at the populations only 3 servers have low pop (one Choco) Is the low server population real, or perception?

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Originally Posted by Tempestmoon

just created a new char and looking at the populations only 3 servers have low pop (one Choco) Is the low server population real, or perception?

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Well, i'd say that right now ALL characters are active still. After jan 6th, when inactive options are cancelled, you might have a better perception of population...i guess >_<

Some other ppl say that the number of chocobos are related to the number of ppl currenty online...but that's all guesses since no real comment were said regarding this.

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Originally Posted by Tempestmoon

just created a new char and looking at the populations only 3 servers have low pop (one Choco) Is the low server population real, or perception?

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go play on one of the high pop servers and then come to a server, such as karnak, and you tell me if there's not a severe difference in population.

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Originally Posted by Tempestmoon

just created a new char and looking at the populations only 3 servers have low pop (one Choco) Is the low server population real, or perception?

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the chocobo only show the acc on it not about the player are currently online, just do like what darkstarpoet1 told you to if you re not convince

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

By that criteria, they'd be posting in nearly every thread the same "thanks for the input, we'll send this along to the devs", and our "Dev Tracker" feed will be full of useless crap.

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I disagree - obviously they're not going to do it with *every* thread, but rather the threads that actually have the most legitimate amount of concerns, such as this one. Like I said, right now NO response means that we're not sure which threads are being looked at and which aren't. Too much response would as you point out "cheapen" the "We're looking into it and passed it along to the devs" statement. There should be a balance.

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I'd like to think they're smart enough and have good enough discretion to be able to weed out the relevant subjects from the stupid ones. Especially if enough users say the same thing. Have a little more confidence in their ability to work.

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Like I said, I used an over the top example, but there are lots of posts that fall in the middle where the community is split 50/50 on and/or doesn't get enough attention to get a ton of views/replies yet is still a very valid concern. One such post with the 50/50 example was the sub fee reduction request, which generated a LOT of white knighting for Square. I'm too lazy to search through the thread, but I THINK I remember someone stepping in and saying "We're looking into it" and that turned the discussion from the back and forth arguing about whether or not we should get a sub reduction to how much the sub price should be. In threads like those, I'd definitely like the community reps to step in and say something since it'll put an end (or at least reduce the noise level of) the back and forth arguing and would have a chance of positively changing the discussion to something more productive.

So much for the idea of a Pre-2.0 Server Merger:

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/i...quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/i...post-right.png
...However, during today’s load investigation, we discovered unstable behavior on the server when the server is heavily loaded, so we will be performing server investigations separately from the release of the patch. It seems that the unstable behavior only occurs when the system is heavily loaded or when many users are accessing the server, so we continue to investigate this issue further....

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Sorry for the delayed response to this topic, but things have been a bit busy as the team worked to complete patch 1.20. I confirmed with Yoshida that we'll continue to monitor the in-game populations and situation, and if we run into issues where players are unable to match up with each other for parties and other content, then of course the possibility of mergers taking place is there.

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Originally Posted by Bayohne

Sorry for the delayed response to this topic, but things have been a bit busy as the team worked to complete patch 1.20. I confirmed with Yoshida that we'll continue to monitor the in-game populations and situation, and if we run into issues where players are unable to match up with each other for parties and other content, then of course the possibility of mergers taking place is there.

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wow a response, a loose one, but a response at last, omg

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Originally Posted by Bayohne

Sorry for the delayed response to this topic, but things have been a bit busy as the team worked to complete patch 1.20. I confirmed with Yoshida that we'll continue to monitor the in-game populations and situation, and if we run into issues where players are unable to match up with each other for parties and other content, then of course the possibility of mergers taking place is there.

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Don't merge servers, offer world transfers please. Instead of worrying about a bunch of dead account data allow active players to choose where they would like to go. This gives them the benefit of choosing a server they may have friends on, I know a lot of people got split up at launch.

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Originally Posted by Belial

Don't merge servers, offer world transfers please. Instead of worrying about a bunch of dead account data allow active players to choose where they would like to go. This gives them the benefit of choosing a server they may have friends on, I know a lot of people got split up at launch.

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im positive letting that happen would be less of a pain then merging servers...that and people can like you said pick the server they want. Then they can just shut down the extra servers and not waste money on them.

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Originally Posted by Zanfire

im positive letting that happen would be less of a pain then merging servers...that and people can like you said pick the server they want. Then they can just shut down the extra servers and not waste money on them.

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Yep. And I mean, just for example sake, I know not everyone was checking out forums before launch of the game, Besaid was dubbed the unofffical RP server & has a good RP base from what I've been told, and I'm sure there are people out there on low-pop servers who would enjoy RPing, and I'm sure a lot of 'em would like to hit up Besaid for that purpose. Just an example, but that's the picture I'm trying to paint. Not to mention friends made on various forums, websites, etc.

I think they're doing everything they can to avoid a server merge before 2.0 comes out, because they don't want to send a negative message to non-players. That being said, you can expect some kind of pop decrease after the commencement of payment.

Yeah I would like to play with UK players in my timezone and cannot on my server, even though the pop is fairly good, I would still like a move option right now before I start paying.

For me this is one of the crucial decisive factors in deciding whether or not to go p2p, and yes, I am still 50/50. I'm sure this is the same fore many other players.

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Originally Posted by Bayohne

Sorry for the delayed response to this topic, but things have been a bit busy as the team worked to complete patch 1.20. I confirmed with Yoshida that we'll continue to monitor the in-game populations and situation, and if we run into issues where players are unable to match up with each other for parties and other content, then of course the possibility of mergers taking place is there.

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Thanks, Bay! ^^

And, well, it was expected this kind of answer before billing...they can't really predict how billing will affect the population.

A server merge or a one-time server transfer would be ideal. But, in this case seeing that the reputation of FFXIV is just starting to get a little bit better (the game got good press attention with the 2.0 announcement an all), a server transfer would be the best thing.

Even if it's logical and "the best thing" that can be done, a server merge would spark rumors and impending doom theories.

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Originally Posted by Kaizlu

A server merge or a one-time server transfer would be ideal. But, in this case seeing that the reputation of FFXIV is just starting to get a little bit better (the game got good press attention with the 2.0 announcement an all), a server transfer would be the best thing.

Even if it's logical and "the best thing" that can be done, a server merge would spark rumors and impending doom theories.

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sadly the "charging beginning in January" hit a bunch of news sites and just got torn apart in their comments. They already got so much bad press already, anything before 2.0 just isnt doing much of anything now. People aren't suddenly liking the game more.

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Originally Posted by Belial

Don't merge servers, offer world transfers please. Instead of worrying about a bunch of dead account data allow active players to choose where they would like to go. This gives them the benefit of choosing a server they may have friends on, I know a lot of people got split up at launch.

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The reason this doesn't work is because you can't get everyone to log in at once to choose their next server. Some people might not even have an active account (which is likely why the server is being merged in the first place). Server transfers should be handled as a separate feature.

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Originally Posted by Bayohne

Sorry for the delayed response to this topic, but things have been a bit busy as the team worked to complete patch 1.20. I confirmed with Yoshida that we'll continue to monitor the in-game populations and situation, and if we run into issues where players are unable to match up with each other for parties and other content, then of course the possibility of mergers taking place is there.

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Please make a world shift possible so that players can choose to migrate to a different server. I have friends on barren servers that would love to come to Lindblum.