Unofficial Census 2016 for FFXIV

[Remus]

2016 Census

Was watching State of the Realm and thought people should see some of the information that was gathered. This data is based on Story Progression, Alexander Savage Progression and Yokai Watch. This information was gathered through achievements and minions.

This information isn't official but its nice to look at it.

This post explains it pretty well.

To be a bit more thorough on the way that the person gathers the info (if it is the same person who has done the last few and using the same method) it is done by scraping the lodestone with 2 passes.

Active is determined to be any CHARACTER (as it is impossible to determine account association at this time) above level 10 that has had any change at all to their lodestone profile between the previous unofficial census and either of the 2 passes through the PUBLICLY available lodestone data. This includes any new minions , mounts, a change of job, any gain of levels, any new achievments, or even a single change in gear. So in order to be listed as inactive you need to have not done anything at all since April (the last time they did this) making it a fairly accuracte gauge for the number of active characters. Keep in mind that this means that if someone were to have multiple characters that they are active on this would count as more than 1 therefor the active subs are less than the total of active characters (though I would say probably less than 10% of people have played actively on 2+ chracters so it should be within negligible amounts)

I have to say alex clears make me sad...

Go ahead and discuss.

[AskaRay]

That poor lonely Midas clear on Siren...

anyway more new players on Lich than I thought but those endgame numbers seem p accurate to me

[Vantol]

So, only 225k players finished 3.3 story, eh? Which can be done actually in 1 day and takes no effort at all.

So, where are those 5 millions accounts registered / 2.7 millions playing game / 700k active players?

Looks like doomsayers were right after all, the game is dead.

[Ametrine]

How was the data for these numbers gathered?

[Thayos]

So, only 225k players finished 3.3 story, eh? Which can be done actually in 1 day and takes no effort at all.

Every single one of these surveys has shown a surprisingly low number of people who've actually finished the most recently storyline missions. That's not a good indicator at all of active players (which, like you, I honestly find surprising).

I've followed each of these though, and this certainly isn't a new thing.

EDIT: This survey puts the active playerbase right around 500k, which sounds about right given how late we are in 3.x's cycle. Seems down slightly from where we were before HW, but not by much.

[Remus]

How was the data for these numbers gathered?

I just said in the OP. They were gathered through Minions and Achievements because most of the story quests end with you getting a minion/achievement so counted how many had that minion. Alexander Savage gives you a minion so it counts how many have the minion same with Yokai Watch.

[Enkidoh]

So, only 225k players finished 3.3 story, eh? Which can be done actually in 1 day and takes no effort at all.

So, where are those 5 millions accounts registered / 2.7 millions playing game / 700k active players?

Looks like doomsayers were right after all, the game is dead.

Wait, back up - because not everyone finished the 3.3 story the game is automatically 'dead'? You do realize not everyone has the expansion installed? Not to mention there has been a significant amount of new players entering the game who are nowhere even near the start of 3.0 let alone 3.3. Enough with the doomsaying already - it wore thin back when people were saying the game "was dead" even during launch when servers were overloaded with too many players trying to login, and now it just seems a worn out and tired argument.

Hells, where did this 'unofficial' census get it's information from? Not server info that's for sure save of taking info from the Lodestone which is usually inaccurate anyway due to how slowly it updates. A little reality is needed here.

EDIT: and it seems I have my answer:

I just said in the OP. They were gathered through Minions and Achievements because most of the story quests end with you getting a minion/achievement so counted how many had that minion. Alexander Savage gives you a minion so it counts how many have the minion same with Yokai Watch.

You do realize that is totally inaccurate given the fact players can hide their achievements on the Lodestone from anyone but themselves? So if this 'census' can take that information even when it's locked for viewing shows that this is virtually hacking and thus is a violation of the ToS. And minions? Not everyone bothers actually using the minion items believe it or not (many players find them annoying), so again this is NOT a good way of getting an accurate snapshot of the game.

Maybe I'm just overthinking this though.

[Iromi]

Wait, back up - because not everyone finished the 3.3 story the game is automatically 'dead'? .

It just means while they may keep getting new players, they aren't really retaining subs the way they should be.

[Vantol]

Wait, back up - because not everyone finished the 3.3 story the game is automatically 'dead'? You do realize not everyone has the expansion installed?

We are 1 year into expansion. If someone has it not bought/installed, this person brings no value to community -> his existance is irrelevant -> he can't be called "active player". Finishing story at least in 1 week of release is bare minimum to call someone "active". I would say capping tomestones each week until you get full set of patch gear is also requiered to be called active player. But this data is hard to track, so whatever.

Lodestone which is usually inaccurate anyway due to how slowly it updates

It updates info in a few hours, sometimes even less.

[Remus]

snip

Or... not take it seriously? I clearly said this isn't official so meaning it wont be accurate but your just going a bit over board lol.