Not a single server on primal is available for new characters right now

[Berret_Snow]

They want new players to go to Crystal thats why. Even though many people moved off crystal when the server move was happening.

That's the plan, wanted to make a new Hrothgar in Ultros but it's full, so going to make one in a preffered server then transfer once the 90 days are up and I take advantage of the XP.

[linay]

They want new players to go to Crystal thats why. Even though many people moved off crystal when the server move was happening.

If many people moved away from Crystal, then it would make sense for Aether/Primal to be more congested than Crystal. SE is not going to change their definition of a congested world based on what players want.

[Vespar]

Jeez! If its this congested then that kind of proves that NA needs more servers! At this pace maybe even a whole new data center of worlds....
Half of Crystal too is already locked to creation... What do they think will happen @ launch!!??

[LaylaTsarra]

Jeez! If its this congested then that kind of proves that NA needs more servers! At this pace maybe even a whole new data center of worlds....

But remember all those people quitting because they didn't get what they wanted and threatened to unsub? Humm guess that didn't work out as intended with their little protests now did it. :P

And seriously I do think there are other servers sitting there and ready to go. I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement soon at this rate. Hey Crystal has some servers locked besides Balmung and that's a real new flash.

[SturmChurro]

But remember all those people quitting because they didn't get what they wanted and threatened to unsub? Humm guess that didn't work out as intended with their little protests now did it. :P

And seriously I do think there are other servers sitting there and ready to go. I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement soon at this rate. Hey Crystal has some servers locked besides Balmung and that's a real new flash.

Yeah, people saying the MMORPG genre is dead or people have outgrown it. No, people were just waiting, or wanting a quality game in the genre. FFXIV is starting to fill that role.

[DevilsDontFly]

Jeez! If its this congested then that kind of proves that NA needs more servers! At this pace maybe even a whole new data center of worlds....
Half of Crystal too is already locked to creation... What do they think will happen @ launch!!??

That's something I was thinking as well. Usually around this time (within the last months) is when the game is supposed to be "dead" because it's the end of an expansion, but it's the complete opposite with many more people yet to come back or start playing. I guess all the advertising is working, but it kinda seems like there's not enough space for the people.
However I'd also like to point out that a good chunk of that "congestion" is also because of bots. There are moments in which I use the player search just for fun while lurking on other servers and a good 30 to 50 "players" are obviously bots because of their names. That's 30 to 50 spots that could haven been occupied by actual people on that area/zone/map alone, being taken by bots.

[Roda]

OH BOY OH BOY I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M GONNA GET TO SAY THIS!

If you want to have people able to roll on your data center, move to a less populated data center! : )

[DevilsDontFly]

OH BOY OH BOY I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M GONNA GET TO SAY THIS!

If you want to have people able to roll on your data center, move to a less populated data center! : )

THE SWEET BALMUNG REVENGE, I see what you did there.

[Dualblade]

It wouldn't surprise me if, say, we had the same population right now but it was 4.4 we wouldn't have as many worlds closed to new characters. SE probably is trying to funnel new players to Crystal to keep the servers stable for Shadowbringers launch.

[Barraind]

That's something I was thinking as well. Usually around this time (within the last months) is when the game is supposed to be "dead" because it's the end of an expansion, but it's the complete opposite with many more people yet to come back or start playing. I guess all the advertising is working, but it kinda seems like there's not enough space for the people.

The active population is 30-35% at level cap right now, and it hasnt increased for 6+ months.

If people were coming back, we would see an uptick, which is potentially worrying both for short term stability and for long-term sustainability, especially on the smallest datacenters.

When you go from preferred to congested, but you still have the same number of people having reached Shinryu and then 4.1 content as you did more than half a year ago, its worrying. You're trading off long term investment for a lot of free trial players, with incredibly low retention rates.