Really starting to worry...

[miqokini]

I'm wondering what SE has in mind to get people interested in this game again. Sure, chocobos and air ships might seem awesome to us, but that's not gonna sell it to an outsider. I'm wondering if there is any hope...

At this rate, it's hard for me to continue playing the game. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy it very much, but I'm beginning to notice a major issue. There simply aren't enough players to make this a worthwhile MMO. And no, I don't want to play solo. If I did, I wouldn't be playing an MMO.

I have 3 crafts above r30, and most others are hovering around r20, yet it is near impossible for me to make any gil. Sometimes I have things sitting in the retainer's bazaars for days, if not weeks. And I'm selling useful gear and items. I also constantly make sure my items are listed cheapest.

This tells me that the population must be extremely low. And those who are still around most likely have been for a while now and don't need the stuff I am trying to sell.

And population wise, it doesn't seem to be getting any better. I am constantly seeing friends I've made in-game just disappearing, never to be heard from again. I have been in many very successful Linkshells, only to watch them slowly die.

SE, I hope you have something great up your sleeve, besides just simple updates every couple months. That's just not going to cut it...

[Akira_Tenshi]

Have you not seen the Ifrit video!? 1.19 is only days away. I don't know what your complaining about. It's the biggest patch yet, why not just wait and see how people feel about the game then. There is plenty of people on my sever. The players will come when the patch hits.

[AsterBarnivere]

Have you not seen the Ifrit video!? 1.19 is only days away. I don't know what your complaining about. It's the biggest patch yet, why not just wait and see how people feel about the game then.

Okay, so one primal battle... how long will it take for players to finish that and then leave? (Not long) It'll pretty much be the equivalent of the NMs that everyone was able to beat in less than a week, and after that, what will there be left to do?

[Arcell]

The population isn't going to see a significant rise until PS3 launch. If the game is fixed by then, which it's looking good IMO, then we will get new people. Hopefully the reviewers can get their heads out of their asses and try to objectively review the game instead of holding onto their old bias.

Until PS3 launch, no one outside of the community will really bother even looking into what's been fixed. Once that happens all we can do is hope that it'll go well.

[Konachibi]

A good way to make gil is to make sheepskin harnesses, they vend to NPCs for 6000 gil, so it's a good way to amass a fair bit of cash. Once you get to rank 30 leves though the gil really starts flowing.

The gear your selling may not sell because of what it's usefull for. If you sell archer or crafting clothes you'll probably find they sell real quick, where as Pugilist and Marauder gear won't sell as well.

Plus a lot of the population issues people are experiencing all depends on their server. I'm on the Gysahl server and it's absolutely packed full of people, my screen easily hits the 50 player loading limit the moment I step into Ul'dah, and Gridania's adventurers guild is totally crazy sometimes, it can take up to 5 minutes for a leve NPC to spawn in there.

Also with a little more time and patience, when SE decide the game is ready for re-launching and it comes out on the PS3 you'll probably see a huge boom in population across all servers. It's just going to take time to get there.

[Arcell]

Okay, so one primal battle... how long will it take for players to finish that and then leave? (Not long) It'll pretty much be the equivalent of the NMs that everyone was able to beat in less than a week, and after that, what will there be left to do?

That's looking at it from a long-time player's point of view. Of course the people who have multiple 50's are going to burn through any and all new content, that's just how it is. However every additional piece of content just adds to the pile of things new players have to look forward to.

[Seif]

edit whoops wrong thread =D

[Nero]

I'm wondering what SE has in mind to get people interested in this game again. Sure, chocobos and air ships might seem awesome to us, but that's not gonna sell it to an outsider. I'm wondering if there is any hope...

There is always hope.

At this rate, it's hard for me to continue playing the game. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy it very much, but I'm beginning to notice a major issue. There simply aren't enough players to make this a worthwhile MMO. And no, I don't want to play solo. If I did, I wouldn't be playing an MMO.

How would you know the amount of Players? ffxivpro.com is showing more than 50.000 active Players, looks they dont show Mules or Inactive Players anymore, but even so it would be way more than 50.000. FFXI peaked at 100.000, so its actually a good amount of Players. We have to wait for the official Years-Anniversary Tally to know it exactly.

I have 3 crafts above r30, and most others are hovering around r20, yet it is near impossible for me to make any gil. Sometimes I have things sitting in the retainer's bazaars for days, if not weeks. And I'm selling useful gear and items. I also constantly make sure my items are listed cheapest.

What do you mean? Its still simple to make money due crafting. Most crafts you can get Ingredients due Wards/NPC and the Result you can NPC for more than you spent, which means Profit. Most of the Crafts are not really a Gil-sink. If you wait to have them sold "only" due wards, that is prolly your Problem. I personally sell everything due NPC. It would be a lost if i compare it to the Ward-Price, but since i either farm the Ingredients myself or spent less Gil then i got due NPC'ing it, its still Profit and since its way faster and i dont have to wait, i sell masses of Things.

This tells me that the population must be extremely low. And those who are still around most likely have been for a while now and don't need the stuff I am trying to sell.

No, they are doing it a different way, like i do.

And population wise, it doesn't seem to be getting any better. I am constantly seeing friends I've made in-game just disappearing, never to be heard from again. I have been in many very successful Linkshells, only to watch them slowly die.

It is getting better. Compared to pre 1.18, where every Camp, every City looked really empty the Towns ( all 3 of them ) are crowed now. In every Guild, at every Camp/Node, at every Daytime i see People now, which wasnt pre 1.18 and i know a lot of People which went to buy the Game now and a lot of People which came back recently. So the playerbase is obviously growing.

SE, I hope you have something great up your sleeve, besides just simple updates every couple months. That's just not going to cut it...

It is imho.

[KiriA500]

Okay, so one primal battle... how long will it take for players to finish that and then leave? (Not long) It'll pretty much be the equivalent of the NMs that everyone was able to beat in less than a week, and after that, what will there be left to do?

Go outside?

The game is still in the process of getting BASIC mechanics down. Anybody who honestly expects the game to have an infinite amount stuff to do can go throw a fit at the straw man they've built.

[miqokini]

The arguments presented have there merit, but I've still got a couple issues. First of all, I'm getting sick of hearing "A lot of people will come back after the patch." I've heard people say that for every single patch so far. And while it may be true to an extent, those same people just seem to disappear again a week or so after the patch. Perhaps that is the problem. FFXIV is updated at a snail's pace compared to most other MMOs. I truly believe that it would be much better for SE to release small patches every week or so, rather than one large patch every couple months. This would at least keep people's interest longer.

For example, someone who has every job leveled to the max will just plow through all the new content in a couple days and then have nothing to do or nothing new to experience for a couple months down the road. If small patches came out every week or so, this would not be the case, and more people would stick around. It just makes sense.

Also, I don't want to sell all my items to a mindless NPC. I actually find joy in interacting with REAL people, and participating in a REAL economy, but FFXIV just seems to lack that to the max. For instance, I have one of my retainers' bazaars full of dye. The first day I put it up, it all sold immediately. I filled my bazaar back up with more dye, and now, 5 days later, I have only sold 1 (one).

This tells me that there must only be an extremely small amount of people who actually buy dye, something you would think would be a hot item.