Why won't SE merge the servers due to few people playing the game?

[viion]

crowd the limited NMs.

Wut? lol NMs are barely claimed. The most camped is probably Dodore but more camped new due to how stupidly easy it is as it can be duo/trioed, but even then it can still pop and no one around to claim.

Anyone that knows even a little bit about game development (or any development) already knew that the first quests implemented (that are called "side"quests for a reason), were going to be the easiest/fastest to implement. Obviously they didn't hold those back in order to implement other kinds of content that obviously needs longer to be coded/directed/implemented.

I find that the people that find the patches "disappointing" (especially considering that this game is showing the fastest rate of evolution in every MMO I ever played since launch, which means the vast majority of the P2P market, and a large percentage of the F2P one), simply had irrealistic expectations.

And as Peregrine says, there's a very solid possibility that many will come back, as some are already doing. Merging the servers too early would just risk of making them explode is such a possibility was to realize.

Again, merging before you shot all your arrows is a very, very bad commercial and development decision.

Just to burst your bubble, take a new gen game: TERA, Was released 2 months early as it was in such good condition and had no server issues with mass players. Had a massive 500mb patch after 1st week which included 2 new dungeon maps and new items, it has another 1gb patch coming in April to involve new endgame content, and has an expansion coming in summer. Its been in development less time than XIV and has about 50 times more content and systems.

XIV copy/paste the quest system then supply 20 identical quests. (some little different but still lacking)

Not about "knowing game development", its just that SE are not very good at this sort of stuff and run into a lot of issues due to bad development from the start.

Hell anyone who learns UDK or Cryengine can impliment the same quest system as XIV has after a few tutorials lol. Takes a bout a week to learn and about 30 minutes to setup. Thats because those engines are built better.

[Neptune]

You have all brought up very valid points, and therefore I forfeit the debate and admit defeat!

Elaguila was defeated!
The party gains 100 EXP!
The party gains 5 SP!

lol. well played sir.

[Spuffin]

If SE decided to merge they would create MORE lag. The game is server side and by creating additional servers they alleviate lag which is their only fix.

Once again, if they merged, this game would literally be unplayable .

[Abriael]

Just to burst your bubble, take a new gen game: TERA, Was released 2 months early as it was in such good condition and had no server issues with mass players. Had a massive 500mb patch after 1st week which included 2 new dungeon maps and new items, it has another 1gb patch coming in April to involve new endgame content, and has an expansion coming in summer. Its been in development less time than XIV and has about 50 times more content and systems.

You do know that Tera hasn't launched yet? Unless you refer to the rather lackluster korean launch, that's been quite criticized by the korean public for lacking content (and that's exactly why it doesn't have a release date in NA and Europe yet).

This not to mention the fact that that kind of content patches made so early after the release of a game simply include content that had been in development since way before the release, and simply wasn't included in it because it wasn't finalyzed. You have no idea of how much work on that was done even before a game was launched.

On the other hand, SE pretty much revolutioned and streamlined the gameplay basics and the UI of FFXIV in just a few months post launch, which is something pretty much unprecedented in the market.

I do find it funny, though, that you call Tera "new gen", considering that it's based on a quite antiquated engine, and it shows.

Not about "knowing game development", its just that SE are not very good at this sort of stuff and run into a lot of issues due to bad development from the start.

And you obviously know better than them right?

Hell anyone who learns UDK or Cryengine can impliment the same quest system as XIV has after a few tutorials lol. Takes a bout a week to learn and about 30 minutes to setup. Thats because those engines are built better.

If you think that implementing even one quest in any engine takes 30 minutes, I think there's no real reason to further a discussion on this matter.

By the way

You have all brought up very valid points, and therefore I forfeit the debate and admit defeat!

I have to commend your ability to admit being wrong. I see a lot of people utterly unable to do so, and continue to argue over and over on flawed points that the OP already conceded

[Peregrine]

Wut? lol NMs are barely claimed. The most camped is probably Dodore but more camped new due to how stupidly easy it is as it can be duo/trioed, but even then it can still pop and no one around to claim.

Maybe yours are. We have 3 large NA endgame shells on Wutai who are pretty much done with uraeus, and a 4th one that is trying to start up. Usually two shells are operating on a given night. One shell will camp HPBB and the other buffalo during the day, then there's either dodore competition at night or they stay at their respective camps to ensure 2 HPBB or buffalo kills the next day.

Our server's perfect the way it is, with the limited content available now.

[weeble]

this is the biggest problem with the game i'm having at moment. saronia is empty. i didn't chose a empty server i followed a very full ls, that all left high and dry. i'm in very active ls but the server itself is just empty and is ruining the game completely for me. by now i'd have enjoyed a few classes in packed zones with hundreds of people from dunes to kazam. ffxi didn't have issues with grouping for something as simple as grinding (the thing u do the most) for many many years. and even then it took 30-90mins to make a party that usually still lasted all day.

they need to merge the 1chocobo servers like yesterday, and maybe b4 ps3 launch just open the full servers to go to empty ones again, they did that in ffxi, opened new servers (thought it was cause they needed more i believe, big diff lol)

they is just trying to save face, it will look bad when all the sites start talking bout there merges and empty servers for people that thinking of buying the game. but at same time i think half the players that left would of been entertained enough with a normal server population that they might of stayed. (just my opinion, cause everything they fix won't be enough i'd leave if they expect me to pay to play on an empty server) the idea that they made it free, after i bought the game and 120bucks in crysta don't make it ok to keep us in empty servers for God knows how long. we already waisted 6months. how much longer b4 they say ok we need to merge?

this feels like warhammer server i was on, it was absolutely empty. and they didn't merge for whatever reason, our ls leader took an hour video of us on high pop times threw the entire game, showing it was absolutely empty (pvp have u) and threatened to send it to a paper lol. we merged a week or so after lol. maybe that is what is needed to be done.

[Vix]

Is there a list that shows server populations?

I only saw a chart once, but that was a while back. I have since been unable to find any data. And SE has removed the search function so we cant even speculate how many folks are on at a given time. However, if you look on XIV pro, it had 170k+ registered characters in December(havent checked since) But that also takes into account mules and alt's.

SE is probably embarrassed and doesn't want to be spreading the truth around till they have something more favorable to show.

[Rinsui]

SE is probably embarrassed and doesn't want to be spreading the truth around till they have something more favorable to show.

...which, ironically, is even more embarrassing.

[Abriael]

I only saw a chart once, but that was a while back. I have since been unable to find any data. And SE has removed the search function so we cant even speculate how many folks are on at a given time. However, if you look on XIV pro, it had 170k+ registered characters in December(havent checked since) But that also takes into account mules and alt's.

or maybe you shouldn't base speculation on completely empyrical data, brought up with methods of little statistical value. And that's why SE (like pretty much everyone in the industry) removed the search function.

170k "registered" characters is, for instance, quite a laughable figure, considering that the game officially sold more than 600k copies.

SE is probably embarrassed and doesn't want to be spreading the truth around till they have something more favorable to show.

Or much more probably they are confident that they have the resources and chances to turn the game around (and they do), and they simply don't feel the need to apply knee-jerk reactions before such resources and chances are spent.

Which is, by the way, the logical thing to do.

[Rinsui]

@Abriael
Now, if you really believe that the population of players logging
in more than once a week is higher then 50k, then... oh boy.

I possibly want this game to be good as much as you - although
I tend to be on the cynical side. But it's not enough to completely
warp my sense of reality.

The last time SE allowed empirical ("hard") data to be seen by the
public (before they pulled the plug and hid server population) it was
already declining. That was some 1 1/2 months after launch. And
back then, there were still people in Gridania and Limsa. If you
really believe that player numbers have increased since then...
well, if it makes you happy!

And just to add some sugar-coating: At the moment, this game even
is free-to-play. What do you think will happen to the number of
registered accounts once the monthly fee is intruduced? Will it

a) rise or
b) drop?

...bingo! ^.^/