The current DC restrictions have only made this worse. Now being stuck on Dynamis feels like a punishment and I hear Dynamis players wanting to transfer back to any of the other big three as soon as they can, because they transferred there under the assumption that they would still get to see and play with their friends across all the other DCs, which isn't true anymore. And it also feels like a punishment for me on Aether who made friends across different DCs in Endwalker and has been raiding with them since the beginning of Pandaemonium now that we all finally could get together, because they can't come ever visit me and my house and FC anymore, I can only go visit them.

People want to play with other like minded people, and will find ways of doing this. If they learn that X place has the best of Y activity, they will go there. That's just how people operate. If SE really wants people to go to Dynamis, they need to make it worthwhile. Free transfer and bonus EXP isn't worthwhile for a lot of folks. Shuttering Aether and half the other DCs at primetime just makes going to Dynamis feel like a punishment, like you lost out getting to play on the active servers and are stuck there now, which only makes people want to get out the first opportunity they can.

Dynamis needs its own server identity to thrive. Unfortunately, I don't know if that will ever happen, because right now identity seems to be "sprouts and housing land." I think the best solution would be to make a Cross DC Party Finder. Duty Finder would still pull from local players, but anyone anywhere could make a PF and run raids and harder content from anywhere. Being on Dynamis wouldn't feel like a mistake or punishment then.