How am I meant to level with a friend now?

[Warp]

FFXI had about 200k subscriptions in 2003
WoW released 2004
FFXI had 200k-300k subscriptions in 2006
FFXI had 500k subscriptions in 2008
Abyssea came out in 2010
FFXI had 250k subscriptions in mid 2010

Sure does look like they lost players left and right after WoW.

Stop pulling numbers out of thin air. You can check the number of ACTIVE characters, not accounts on FFXIAH... and it's well under 500k.

[SuzakuCMX]

Stop pulling numbers out of thin air. You can check the number of ACTIVE characters, not accounts on FFXIAH... and it's well under 500k.

Subscriptions =/= number of accounts.

I agree, 250k is well under 500k. They had 500k in 2008, 4 years after WoW came out, the most subscriptions they ever had. SE said this themselves.

And they aren't out of thin air, a quick checking of Wikipedia citations and google gives you those numbers.

[Dubont]

Stop pulling numbers out of thin air. You can check the number of ACTIVE characters, not accounts on FFXIAH... and it's well under 500k.

lol FFXIAH only marks people as active if they have made a transaction in the past 30 days and it only records transactions if you have signed up on the site because it has to link the site information with your character information via buying a crystal from the AH server, which the site records. What does this mean? This means that it doesn't record those that are not registered with the site. Also, there is no way to view EVERY active member in the game by using FFXIAH because it will only display 100 results at a time. The only way would be to continuously click next until it wouldn't go any further...that's a lot of clicks.

[Warp]

lol FFXIAH only marks people as active if they have made a transaction in the past 30 days and it only records transactions if you have signed up on the site because it has to link the site information with your character information via buying a crystal from the AH server, which the site records. What does this mean? This means that it doesn't record those that are not registered with the site. Also, there is no way to view EVERY active member in the game by using FFXIAH because it will only display 100 results at a time. The only way would be to continuously click next until it wouldn't go any further...that's a lot of clicks.

You have no idea how FFXIAH collects it's data. You don't have to sign up at all. It reads the auction house records for EVERYTHING and keeps track of it.

[Dubont]

You have no idea how FFXIAH collects it's data. You don't have to sign up at all. It reads the auction house records for EVERYTHING and keeps track of it.

then it has changed since the last time I used it. At any rate, with all of your brilliance, how many active players does FFXI have?

[Warp]

then it has changed since the last time I used it. At any rate, with all of your brilliance, how many active players does FFXI have?

It's always been this way. You have the option of linking your account, but even if you don't... your auction history will still be tracked.

Anyways, there are currently ~330,443 active characters... which would includes mules too. I'm sure you're going to try to make a point how there are thousands of active accounts that have never used the auction house... but save your breath.

[Dubont]

It's always been this way. You have the option of linking your account, but even if you don't... your auction history will still be tracked.

Anyways, there are currently ~330,443 active characters... which would includes mules too. I'm sure you're going to try to make a point how there are thousands of active accounts that have never used the auction house... but save your breath.

330,443 active accounts, now let's say that 1/3rd of those characters have mules. That's still around 220k active characters, which isn't far off of what was recently recorded. My point is that FFXI has lost players since the release of Abyssea and the numbers prove that. The majority of the FF population doesn't want everything handed to them. The numbers prove that. If FFXIV turns into another Abyssea scenario, it WILL sink. FFXI pre-abysssea: 500k? After abyssea: 220k. The same will happen to 14.

[LuxLex]

The numbers prove that. If FFXIV turns into another Abyssea scenario, it WILL sink. FFXI pre-abysssea: 500k? After abyssea: 220k. The same will happen to 14.

You're pulling numbers out of your butt. Sorry man, but my LS gets returning players every week. People are coming back for abyssea.

[SuzakuCMX]

330,443 active accounts, now let's say that 1/3rd of those characters have mules. That's still around 220k active characters, which isn't far off of what was recently recorded. My point is that FFXI has lost players since the release of Abyssea and the numbers prove that. The majority of the FF population doesn't want everything handed to them. The numbers prove that. If FFXIV turns into another Abyssea scenario, it WILL sink. FFXI pre-abysssea: 500k? After abyssea: 220k. The same will happen to 14.

Our numbers aren't from a source that agrees with their claim, therefore it's invalid.