Crystal DC meme

Is there a reason for the duty finder and party finder to be almost always dead? Even on content lull this is just pathetic. Not even Eureka is packed at high peak times. Not to mention the quality of players on Crystal seem to be overall..... bad...

Give it time, there will be a huge influx of new players when the expansion launches and they will all be directed to smaller Crystals severs if they are in NA when they go to make new characters.

There has definitely been a decline in the amount of party finder activity. Queues seem to be longer for many activities as well. Honestly if it wasn't for friends, I'd likely take my leave and transfer for Aether. I may still do that, if things prove to be frustrating as of Shadowbringers on Crystal.

It depends on where you are looking in Eureka more so. The Crystal BA Discord has been going through Hydatos daily so we have a group of people there and multiple people are in areas like Pagos/Pyros/Hydatos going through with the new nerf to Pagos/grinding light for rolls/crystals for hydatos weapon.

A lot of it probably has to do with being separated from Gilgamesh, which used to contain the core of old Aether's high-end content community. I've also heard rumours that a lot of the raiders from Balmung took advantage of free transfers and left. Which seems to be somewhat substantiated by the fact that Balmung hasn't been all-time congested for some time now. I even managed to transfer there with none of the usual trouble.

That said, I think things will normalise in the long run. Free transfers ended yesterday and hopefully everyone who was planning on leaving has already done so. The population that's left will probably reorganise once the new expansion gives us something new to do.

i agree, been constantly queuing for over an hour for alliance roulette.... before split it was almost instant every time

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Originally Posted by ExlSaber

Is there a reason for the duty finder and party finder to be almost always dead? Even on content lull this is just pathetic. Not even Eureka is packed at high peak times. Not to mention the quality of players on Crystal seem to be overall..... bad...

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Well if we want to do eureka before SHB (the new players that they're forcing us to sire will most likely not want to do old content like usual) we should probably just move. SE could've fixed this by making it more solo friendly or just waiting until closer to shb to do the move so people can get things done. Splitting an already small player-base from content lull was a bad idea and someone was going to be left out, unfortunately it was us.

Self fulfilling prophecy.
Crystal is dead because everyone transferred out of Crystal because they expected it to be dead...

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

Self fulfilling prophecy.
Crystal is dead because everyone transferred out of Crystal because they expected it to be dead...

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Yup. Hadn't really effected me any yet tho, queues are still fast.

But really, lots of people are taking breaks. You may say it's the datacenter split that made everything quiet, but the last story patch just finished. Lots of people break after that.

Was wondering about that. The lack of smooth runs is even more noticeable, and hits HARD in alliance raids. Haven't wiped on Bone Dragon in years.

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Originally Posted by griffinborn

Was wondering about that. The lack of smooth runs is even more noticeable, and hits HARD in alliance raids. Haven't wiped on Bone Dragon in years.

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Likely less of a crystal is bad thing, and more of a all those twitch prime newbies are getting to alliance raids thing.

Give it some time, we have tons of sprouts running around and the new expansion will have loads of more new players/returning ones.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Likely less of a crystal is bad thing, and more of a all those twitch prime newbies are getting to alliance raids thing.

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This. I haven't seen experienced non-sprouts playing too poorly, but every time I've had a nightmare run was when it was with sprouts, bought 60s, or people with 1 class leveled, insisting that they can play this game like they've played their other games with no idea of adapting to the strict role expectations that this game has.

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Originally Posted by Roda

This. I haven't seen experienced non-sprouts playing too poorly, but every time I've had a nightmare run was when it was with sprouts, bought 60s, or people with 1 class leveled, insisting that they can play this game like they've played their other games with no idea of adapting to the strict role expectations that this game has.

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So much this. I ended up in a Dun Scaith with nearly two groups full of sprouts it was utter hell to say the least, even with my pocket healer explaining every fight before each pull. Don't get me started on those tanks either... the worst was a boosted DRK who claimed grit was bad and he didn't need it to MT. Diabolos taught him better when he got pretty much one shot by not even using a cool down for the tank buster.

you trying to say all the roleplayers got placed on crystal while the raiders stayed on aether? xD

Activity will increase when the live letter drops and when more job info comes in from the media tour. If they confirm what gear dancer will be using people might jump into Orbonne to get the set or the tome gear. The XV event takes like an hour to do so it didn't hold people that long. People usually come back to get ready for the expansion though.

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

Give it time, there will be a huge influx of new players when the expansion launches and they will all be directed to smaller Crystals severs if they are in NA when they go to make new characters.

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Unless they select Crystal as their DC most won't see any of its prefered worlds once ShB launches and with all the negative press Crystal gets (deserved or otherwise) anyone doing some research to find where to go isn't likely to make a new character there unless they're doing so for RP purposes.

I've noticed a drop in party quality myself. I joined a clear party for Seiryu EX the other night both to help out and because PF was dead. My cohealer barely dpsed and we actually wiped to enrage two times despite having little to no deaths. Orbonne has been a joke as well, I used to go as a healer but now I go on RDM because I'm hoping to speed it up enough to not see a third Cleansing Strike.

It's certainly too early to say what Crystal will actually feel like come 5.0 but it's getting harder and harder to be optimistic.

I have been getting on alt through stormblood on Aether. I only used the party finder once and other than that, I have seen no difference in duty finder times or player quality between the two. I have seen a lot of new people on both DCs as well. Many people are taking breaks before the expansion and the free login campaign is also going on. Things will eventually normalize.

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Originally Posted by Veis_Alveare

Unless they select Crystal as their DC most won't see any of its prefered worlds once ShB launches and with all the negative press Crystal gets (deserved or otherwise) anyone doing some research to find where to go isn't likely to make a new character there unless they're doing so for RP purposes.

I've noticed a drop in party quality myself. I joined a clear party for Seiryu EX the other night both to help out and because PF was dead. My cohealer barely dpsed and we actually wiped to enrage two times despite having little to no deaths. Orbonne has been a joke as well, I used to go as a healer but now I go on RDM because I'm hoping to speed it up enough to not see a third Cleansing Strike.

It's certainly too early to say what Crystal will actually feel like come 5.0 but it's getting harder and harder to be optimistic.

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The smaller servers will become preferred worlds thus when they make a character with an NA account they will be on Crystal he default unless they change

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

The smaller servers will become preferred worlds thus when they make a character with an NA account they will be on Crystal he default unless they change

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Crystal was projected to be the most populated DC before the change went live. Prefered worlds are determined by active population not people doing actual content.

I'd be curious to see census numbers now but it's defintely not guaranteed that Crystal is the smaller DC considering Balmung exists on it.

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Originally Posted by Veis_Alveare

Crystal was projected to be the most populated DC before the change went live. Prefered worlds are determined by active population not people doing actual content.

I'd be curious to see census numbers now but it's defintely not guaranteed that Crystal is the smaller DC considering Balmung exists on it.

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And all the servers except for Balmung and Mateus that came over from Aether were consistently preferred worlds.

I too have noticed the decline of player quality, especially in harder content. When I make a pf to farm stuff it takes ages to fill, and when it does it’s usually a wipe fest. Then people leave and I have to wait another hour for it to fill again.

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Originally Posted by Hugowulf

I too have noticed the decline of player quality, especially in harder content. When I make a pf to farm stuff it takes ages to fill, and when it does it’s usually a wipe fest. Then people leave and I have to wait another hour for it to fill again.

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Most of that is due to the timing. It's been like this at the end of every cycle. Was like this for the end of 2.0, end of 3.0. It's not any different for the end of 4.0.

I dunno guys my roommate is on Aether and he has dps ques just as long as mine. And the pf parites aren't that hopping when I just looked. It may just be end of expansion lull like many have said. We had this issue at the very end of HW as well.

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Originally Posted by Anselmet

I dunno guys my roommate is on Aether and he has dps ques just as long as mine. And the pf parites aren't that hopping when I just looked. It may just be end of expansion lull like many have said. We had this issue at the very end of HW as well.

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Yeah my FC has been pretty slow and quite as well people have been doing other things.

A lot of people are taking a break right now, and those who aren't are possibly leveling alts, playing catch up or new players trying to catch up themselves. It's slow right now and that is to be expected. I don't think the server reshuffling is responsible.

Crystal is only for ERPing.

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Originally Posted by MPK

Crystal is only for ERPing.

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With more and more stuff like this popping up, I'm starting to believe it.
https://puu.sh/Dq4HZ/1fb2803515.jpg

That sort of thing isn't limited to Balmung or Mateus, though. You see that sort of weird depravity on regular servers too.

We had a bunch of naked Lalas trying to pull this -- both genders -- on Diabolos at one point.

you know full well the reason why

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Originally Posted by grinkdaboy

you know full well the reason why

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Ahh shit, u right lmao

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Originally Posted by Veis_Alveare

Unless they select Crystal as their DC most won't see any of its prefered worlds once ShB launches and with all the negative press Crystal gets (deserved or otherwise) anyone doing some research to find where to go isn't likely to make a new character there unless they're doing so for RP purposes.

I've noticed a drop in party quality myself. I joined a clear party for Seiryu EX the other night both to help out and because PF was dead. My cohealer barely dpsed and we actually wiped to enrage two times despite having little to no deaths. Orbonne has been a joke as well, I used to go as a healer but now I go on RDM because I'm hoping to speed it up enough to not see a third Cleansing Strike.

It's certainly too early to say what Crystal will actually feel like come 5.0 but it's getting harder and harder to be optimistic.

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I certainly can relate to this. If it weren't for the fact i have good friends in Zalera i would've already moved out.

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Originally Posted by DevonEllwood

I have been getting on alt through stormblood on Aether. I only used the party finder once and other than that, I have seen no difference in duty finder times or player quality between the two. I have seen a lot of new people on both DCs as well. Many people are taking breaks before the expansion and the free login campaign is also going on. Things will eventually normalize.

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This is similar to my experience. My main and a few alts is on Crystal but one of my higher leveled alts landed on Aether. Just for fun, I tried the first couple of Alexander fights and the warring triad between two RDM alts, one of Aether and one on Crystal. The fights were on the same day, one right after the other. Que time was similar for both. Aether had the longest que by about 5 minutes, but on average it was about the same. Quality of groups was a bit over the map. Truthfully, it felt pretty even as I had smooth runs on both, as well as some not so smooth runs. The Aether one was the only time I remember losing the fight with the giant goblin where you have to use medicine/chemicals to turn into a gorilla and a bird for mechanics.

The reason I checked both was because waiting on ques on Crystal seemed to be taking longer than normal. I was curious as to what the Aether experience was like after the split. From what I have experienced so far, not much difference. I have also done a few roulettes, albeit not one right after the other between the two data centers, and for when I qued, it has been about the same time to get into a party, and roughly the same quality of players. If I was going in completely blind, I wouldn't be able to tell the two apart.

I know the popular thing to do right now is to crap all over Balmung but that sure doesn't seem to stop all these curious wanderers coming to visit. Y'all stay classy though. :)

At night dps queues have definitely increased. 15 minutes used to be average. now it sseems like nothing pops for at least a half hour to an hour. So, yeah, I'm guessing there is more erping than playing going on. Also, people seem more likely to bail after a single wipe than actually trying to finish duties. I have to say that I've noticed the Zalera players seem more likely to actually want to play, so kudos to them.

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Originally Posted by Katra

This is similar to my experience. My main and a few alts is on Crystal but one of my higher leveled alts landed on Aether. Just for fun, I tried the first couple of Alexander fights and the warring triad between two RDM alts, one of Aether and one on Crystal. The fights were on the same day, one right after the other. Que time was similar for both. Aether had the longest que by about 5 minutes, but on average it was about the same. Quality of groups was a bit over the map. Truthfully, it felt pretty even as I had smooth runs on both, as well as some not so smooth runs. The Aether one was the only time I remember losing the fight with the giant goblin where you have to use medicine/chemicals to turn into a gorilla and a bird for mechanics.

The reason I checked both was because waiting on ques on Crystal seemed to be taking longer than normal. I was curious as to what the Aether experience was like after the split. From what I have experienced so far, not much difference. I have also done a few roulettes, albeit not one right after the other between the two data centers, and for when I qued, it has been about the same time to get into a party, and roughly the same quality of players. If I was going in completely blind, I wouldn't be able to tell the two apart.

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Why the f are you comparing clears for old content? Try things people actually know/remember next time.

A lot of good points have been made so far that I think are definitely contributing factors. Here's another thing that I think is having an effect...

Duty Finder pulls from all over your data center. There's, what, 18 servers total? This means your Duty Finder is now pulling players from six servers instead of nine. The player base available for each data center's DF has basically been reduced by about a third.

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Originally Posted by AxlStream

Why the f are you comparing clears for old content? Try things people actually know/remember next time.

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I still remember all the mechanics :P

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Originally Posted by BiffWellington

A lot of good points have been made so far that I think are definitely contributing factors. Here's another thing that I think is having an effect...

Duty Finder pulls from all over your data center. There's, what, 18 servers total? This means your Duty Finder is now pulling players from six servers instead of nine. The player base available for each data center's DF has basically been reduced by about a third.

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It's possible, but before there were cross server duty finders the queues were still about 15 minutes on Mal and that was before the large population gains of the last 2 expansions.