Despite its flaws, i like this game a lot

[Renshi]

Why so I can prove to you what everyone else here can already see with their own eyes?

Exactly! Nobody has the vision of a researcher, you know.

Actually here, I changed my mind, its even worse than I thought. As of September 18th 2010 FFXIV had 200,312 pre-orders according to VGChartz (so give or take). FFXIV currently has 18 servers, lets assume for a second that the only copies the game sold are its pre-orders, this would make each server's population equal to about 11,110 players. That in itself is below FFXI's numbers by about 10K players a server, right there is enough proof that the game didn't start out that great either and it only went downhill. If you think there's anywhere near 11K players a server today then you're only lying to yourself.

Link to VGChartz: http://www.vgchartz.com/preorders.php?date=40440 (as per your request)

This is the only time I'll even bother.

Actually, there ARE players in the servers, who knows if they play =) (and by the way, isn't 10'000 < 11'110 ?)

My point is: At the end, it's pure speculation.
You can say who bought the game, but you can't say who is actually playing the game, so you can't obtain a source about that information, so it's pure speculation.