playerbase down 25% in 4 months?

[Murugan]

Population is extremely low no matter which way you look at it. I can't believe some are actually debating this.

Much more useful would be to ponder what SE can do to win old players back. Like area re-design, AH, large scale battles and so forth. Nobody's going to re-install the game to see AA or new skill icons. They might improve gameplay but are next to useless as marketing tools.

It might sound superficial but SE needs a "shiny" game feature that's easy to understand just by looking at a screen shot that makes new and old players want to pick up XIV on their play-list again.

I reinstalled the game for 1.18. At least 15 other people on my friend's list told me they reinstalled specifically for 1.18, probably many more people did the same. Also many people bought the game because of 1.18.

Is the game still underpopulated yes, but I think you need to rephrase your whole "nobody" is going to play the game for the changes they are bringing/have brought.