Quote Originally Posted by AlunKha View Post
I wanna focus on this because while Materia does have populations problems, this is more widespread than just our little corner on the map. I've been playing on JP a lot these past two raid tiers, the PF changed dramatically (most JP pugs go to Mana to raid now) and the overall feeling is one of exhaustion. People are retiring from XIV, and while it's not fair to measure this during a long, long intended lull between now and 7.0 it is kind of alarming.
OCE is the canary in the coal mine so to speak. When the population shifts away from XIV we see it most starkly... and ultimately I don't think cross region will fix the issue. NA/EU/JP players aren't gonna want to come here to play with us, to help fill our queues (NA can't really be bothered helping Dynamis let alone Materia), and if we collectively go elsewhere to make our own queues pop what does that mean for Materia? The sprouts who don't know any better stay in hours long queues because we've vanished, our overworlds become even more barren, the rp scene dries up overnight...
While I do want SE to help us out a bit, I don't think there's much they can actually do. Maybe after PAX Aus we'll see another jump in sprout numbers.
Of course, the simps will continue denying that the population has fallen off a cliff. People are sick of the game's stale and uninspiring cadence.