Really starting to worry...

[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.