pls Server merge!!

[DeadlySwordz]

Wutai is pretty populated. i just joined that server last week when i started playing. most servers seems to have almost 2 birds, theres only like 3 that has full 3 birds when i checked making my character. like others have said, i don't think there will be any server merges unless the ps3 version fails also. Age of Conan didn't merge servers till more than a yr after release or maybe even longer (i can't remember)

[Delsus]

They will not merge before the ps3 release because they are expecting that to bring in a lot of players (if the game is up to standard).

If they did they would have to take servers offline, then decommission them just to possibly have to buy more if too many players join at the ps3 release, the cost of keeping all the servers running is less than decommission costs and buying new servers.

[zoekwon]

maybe after ps3 they might do server merge

[Wynn]

Maybe after ps3 they won't need to. Hugely optimistic, but just saying

[genma]

would be silly to merge servers now, what if the battle patch and other patches bring a lot of people back, then instead of crying for a server merge your going to be crying about worlds being over populated. Better to wait until battle system is implemented and the game stops becoming FTP AND for ps3 version to come out to start thinking about server merge.

[Xatsh]

IF ps3 fails you will see server merges. Honestly I think they will can the project before server merges.

Doing it now would segregate the PS3 population and put the game in even a worse light media wise.

[Punxsutawney]

You do realize that merging servers has a huge negative stigma attached to it¿ Nothing says "hey this game blows" as well as a server merge does. And really it would be counter productive, this game will get better and the populace will increase. No need to bail ship for a tiny leek.

[SuzakuCMX]

They added new servers after beta ended and release began because more people bought the game. However they didn't merge servers after everybody left so now a lot of the servers feel destitute. Even worse is that the economies on the low population servers are basically non-functioning which makes grinding a craft even worse since it's terribly hard to buy anything for a good price.

Furthermore it's hard to find a good leveparty outside of your own Linkshell even on Selbina, which is one of the most populated servers in the game. Even in Ul'dah there's only about 100 people or so around at any time and only 20-30 at Camp Horizon.

These numbers are incredibly low compared to what they SHOULD be. A low population like this is spread across how many servers? We don't even have a confirmed date for the PS3 release, so it's not even worth worrying about what it will do when that happens. Maybe if the PS3 release was during Summer, but it's probably 4+ months away if not in Q1 2012.

The fact is that the population is sparse in the first place and then spread even thinner across 18 servers.

As for the bad media coverage, I doubt anybody in the media has high regard for this game anymore, and even if they would, just by word of mouth you can tell that there is a relatively small population still playing the game.

That said, I'd still wait until the end of Summer since the string of updates that is supposed to drastically change the game is coming and may bring back a large amount of players with it.

To sum it up: there is good reason right now to seriously consider merging servers. However the best plan of action would be to keep it in mind until AFTER the next 2 or 3 patches and then see how the population is distributed.

[Yazoo]

I'm on Lindblum. I have another problem. I can't get behest at Thanalan. Lindblum isn't low populated server at all.

[Rentahamster]

You do realize that merging servers has a huge negative stigma attached to it¿ Nothing says "hey this game blows" as well as a server merge does. And really it would be counter productive, this game will get better and the populace will increase. No need to bail ship for a tiny leek.

The sub-50% reviews and the horrible word of mouth has a pretty big stigma attached to it as well. There might be a bit of bad press due to it, but compared to the rest, it would hardly be noticeable (that is, if anyone in the press even cares about it to begin with).

Server merges will let more players play together, which would better the gameplay experience for all involved. That would at least count for something.

Before they do that, however, they need to balance the leves so that not everyone congregates in Uldah.