I hope they consider the implication on the community when they start combining data centers. Watering down the community for convenience is arguably what started the problems with that other game whose players currently flood the FF XIV data centers. I can't speak for other servers, of course, but getting anything done has, so far, never been an impossibility in FF XIV so the need for the feature seems...questionable at this point, at least from my limited perspective.

And yes, I'll be the first to admit I wouldn't be able to play at the level I did back then (ooof, has it been really that long?) without the conveniences offered by the likes of automated cross-realm LFG, which I'm OK with if it means a healthier game overall.