Quote Originally Posted by Xatsh View Post
Multiple server merges about 6months after abysea released. Almost all the all the serious endgame shells leaving the game in all time zones. Sounds like fairly enough proof for the population crash. The lack of people going back to the game since XIV crashed more proof of peoples resentment of it. Ask most people who played XI that are not still playing it why they will not go back even with a new expansion... that will more often then not be the reason.

People are delusional to think abysea helped XI in anyway. It could of but the devs did it in the worse way possible.... that seems to be a common theme.
Well it was about 12 months after, and if you'd kept on top of it you would have noticed that the player base was declining WAY before Abyssea or the level cap increase was released. (Hence the server mergers in 2010) The hardcore endgame shells that were active, stayed. The people who left had already done so due to lack of content and XIV's release (the people initially disappointed didn't come back even before Abyssea was released).