What is the point of Overworld in the game?

[DPZ2]

I am more concerned with the apparent "boom and bust" cycle that appears to be the mainstay of this game. I can't see how frantic activity for a month or two (causing servers to implode) followed by servers turning into ghost towns, is a good thing for this game. I would like to see more activities being introduced into the game (such as housing that EVERYONE can get into) to promote a more stable population. However, this might not be a fix to this situation. I think maybe we need to find out WHAT it really is that most of the players that come and go, are really looking for. I know that games like GW2 have world events all over the place and at regular times and that helps promote the continued presence of players who are normally the adventuring types. They also have puzzles and other things to keep people busy. Last I checked, GW2 didn't have nearly the kind of "boom and bust" cycle that FFXIV has.

The "boom and bust" cycle is pretty much working as intended, if one believes the numerous statements made to that effect by its Producer.

The population has been pretty stable, although you might not notice it if you don't pay attention to DPS queue times throughout any given day on North American servers.

Housing might seem like a wonderful way to encourage players to visit more. Housing in other games has always been more of a "it's available, I tried it out, I have many that I haven't visited since <MMO> lost popularity" for almost every MMO I've played that has housing. I have apartments and FC rooms in this game, and don't make a point of actually going to them even on a monthly basis. It's not the draw you think it might be.

I haven't found the Overworld in most MMOs to be all that exciting. At max level in WoW, you tend to visit only those places necessary for doing your dailies. In Rift, you only visit those places where Adventures lead you.

In GW2 you visit a few well-timed events. Those events are, essentially, the equivalent of FATEs, complete with a scheduled start and end time. They occur even if there are no people in the zone.

Puzzles are great as one-shots, and then you never do them again unless the game gives you something for completing them again. It's something to do, along with Vistas. There are jumping puzzles and sightseeing logs in FFXIV as well, just not rewards for doing them more than once.

GW2 has a problem with population. It seems stable because there are dedicated players who really enjoy the game, plus a smattering of come-and-go players who enter and leave without much fuss or bother. The people who still play it actively every day are familiar. The people (like me) who visit it once every two or three months make hardly a blip in the numbers logging in. This is why smaller population MMOs that have been around for a while don't seem to have that "boom or bust" cycle. There is no longer a reason for a "boom". Just a population that enjoys the game the way it is.

[Eraden]

The "boom and bust" cycle is pretty much working as intended, if one believes the numerous statements made to that effect by its Producer.

The population has been pretty stable, although you might not notice it if you don't pay attention to DPS queue times throughout any given day on North American servers.

Housing might seem like a wonderful way to encourage players to visit more. Housing in other games has always been more of a "it's available, I tried it out, I have many that I haven't visited since <MMO> lost popularity" for almost every MMO I've played that has housing. I have apartments and FC rooms in this game, and don't make a point of actually going to them even on a monthly basis. It's not the draw you think it might be.

GW2 has a problem with population. It seems stable because there are dedicated players who really enjoy the game, plus a smattering of come-and-go players who enter and leave without much fuss or bother. The people who still play it actively every day are familiar. The people (like me) who visit it once every two or three months make hardly a blip in the numbers logging in. This is why smaller population MMOs that have been around for a while don't seem to have that "boom or bust" cycle. There is no longer a reason for a "boom". Just a population that enjoys the game the way it is.

I think you skipped the part where I said that we need to find out what actually interests the people who come and go as part of the "boom and bust" cycle. The idea of housing was just an example of one thing that might keep players involved over a longer period of time but honestly I don't know if that is a thing that the transients are even interested in. We need to find out what they want. As for the population, no it has NOT been stable. At the beginning of Endwalker there were ques as high as 5000 and people were constantly getting kicked while waiting in que. Even if they managed to get in to the game, it was HOURS of wait time. On occasion the login servers would crash. Now you can get in easily with almost no ques at all as activity has shrunk to a fraction of what it was at the start of Endwalker. This is NOT healthy for this game and it causes people to get very upset and in some cases, abandon the game altogether. I personally know several people who gave up at the start of Endwalker and have never come back to the game. Contrast that with GW2's End of Dragons. I play GW2 as well and I have had no problems at all getting into the game at launch. As for GW2's population, even prior to the launch of End of Dragons, on the server that I play on there was always a healthy amount of people in Lion's Arch and in a lot of adventuring zones as well.