Population continues to fall with time extention

Thachsanh · November 2010

Originally posted by Robokapp

Here is the reason. The daily data are a series of number represent the concurrent users online at that particular moment. Remember the nature of FFXIV population, it includes players from all over the world, which could be divided into 3 major groups, the NA group, the JP group and the EU group. The peak and valley of these 3 groups are at different times. So, to accurately portrait the population of FFXIV you have to run 3 different analysis for 3 different groups of people because the game CCU does actually peak 3 times. You can not take only 1 peak because the 3 groups of people are independent. The average number actually mixing these all up.

I understand your hills-and-valleys argument but I still don't think it relates to what I'm saying. he triple-hump-graph, if we can call it that way will reproduce itself each day.

each day there'll be a JP peak, a EU peak and a US peak. I don't think the rate at which japanese players are quitting the game is different enough from the rate at which EU are quitting or the rate at which US are quitting. Yes, there are differences. But are they large enough to matter? I claim "no".

I partially agree with you on this, however, I don't think they data points are large enough to see this. The 3 groups have different behavior due to the differences in holiday and playing style. For example, the US celebrate Thanksgiving where the JP does not which could lead to a significant change in the population trend for that particular period of time where you don't see that in previous days or weeks. To be able to see the number reproduce itself you need much bigger data pool as in this period of time this year compare to the same period of time last year...

So you claim "no", I claim "could be" and we never know who's right because we just don't have the data to prove either way.

Why would the europeans en-masse behave differently than japanese or americans in their trend? The little inconsistencies and variations ... if plotted individually would show up as random noise, of such a low magnitude that it'd be squished by sigfigs and roundings.

That is true if the data pool is large enough. For such a short period of time and such a small number of data points, the inconsistencies and variations affect the trend big time.

Sankaku Complex reports a 48.06% drop. That number is wrong...obviously nobody can calculate at such high accuracy. But would an approximation of 45% - 50% be correct? more likely the answer is in there.

Let's say the Sankaku Complex method is wrong, and the real answer isn't 48.06% but 47.55% ... Does it really matter?

We have no data to say otherwise, so you guess is as good as mine. Also, you are asuming that they are doing this objectively (no intentionally pick a certain data to plot or pick a certain time to collect data...) which I don't think they were judging from their dedication to bash Square-Enix.

---------------

To end the boring rant, the graph of playerbase repeats itself cyclically at 24 hours intervals. ups and down between days dictated by weekend/weekday and players quitting/joining. At any datapoint, as long as you're consistent you can derive a curve that shows you roughly how the game is doing.

We're not creeting world's best census program, we're just getting a clue of what's going on. Typically more data means less error due to sampling. Sure. I agree with you. But for a "good enough" estimate any datapoint works fine.

Yes, I also agree with you that we are only trying to estimate what is going on but I don't think the data is "good enough". More data means less error but if the sampling size are too small then you can't draw any conclusion at all.

I really need someone to reply to my resumes...sorry for spewing that much number analysis stuff.

TheCalamity · November 2010

Originally posted by JeroKane
Well I am not suprised. Who wants to stick around with such an abomination of a game. Only the relegiously diehard fans maybe?

This game needs at least another year of development and fixing, before it's even close to ready.

At least games like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online had content at release. lol.

I rather deal with a buggy MMO at release any time, than an empty shell with nothing in it.

<---religious die hard FF fan, this game was absolutely horrid, just horrible...the bugs, the lack of things 2 do, the horrid chat system, guilds, pretty much, everything had a bug in it somewhere, there is no way I'm coming back, and prolly wont ever try out a SE MMO again....

SnarkRitter · November 2010

Originally posted by Thachsanh

Do you even aware how this conversation start? You need to read before posting.

I'm perfectly aware of how this conversation start.And I'm talking in "broad term",and the chart on SC is far more well known than the chart that was posted by OP I believe.

Do you know that the OP of this thread when posting the chart here described these numbers as average numbers? Do you know that the source of these charts - Sankaku Complex and 2ch forum - were even more vague about what are these numbers truly mean? They are just blanket saying these are FFXIV population and leave them at that for readers to interpret whatever they mean. And they are wrong by the way, these are not FFXIV population, not even close. So, do you know something that no one else including the maker of these charts know or you are just making stuff up? And you can't just come in and say oh NA and EU drop even harder BTW, where is your proof? Unless you have numbers to back it up, anyone is free to claim whatever they want.

I believe that everyone knows that the chart does not represent the total population of the game,just the number of players log in at Japanese peak time. And how do I know that NA and EU drops even harder? Let's begin by my statement that apart from gym,sleep,college class and hygiene times, I'm always at my computer,even when eating and studying. And when studying I 'stalk" gaming forums which includes FF XIV forums like FF XIV Core,ZAM,Eorzepedia to relieve stress. That's why I know perfectly well about the status of FF XIV. You don't believe that the NA and EU population drops even harder? Just go to the websites I've mentioned and search topics related to "server population" in the last two weeks before patch, the average population is 400-800 max even on the most populated realms, stated by FF XIV lovers. How do I know which one is a FF XIV lover? Because I've been stalking FF XIV forums since OB I know who is FF XIV lover, fanboy and hater.

Right, did you do that? Did you sit down and record the number of players on different servers at different peak times? If you did that, care to share your RAW data with us, not just a vague chart like Sankaku Complex? Until then, you can't just claim you know how dramatically the game population is falling, m'kay? You need to back it up. From common sense, people know that the game population is declining but to tell how hard it is falling, you need to back it up with proof. You just can't read forum and magically know that the game population is falling like a rock. It does not work that way.

See above,and when so many different people on different forums state the same thing.It's most likely the truth.

MMO.Maverick · November 2010

I didn't read the whole thread, just skimmed it, but from what I see from the charts it's about concurrent users, as in the number of people measured that are online at a certain time. That's not the same as player population, but can give an indication of it.

As an example, when EVE announced a PCU (Peak Concurrent Users) of 45k-50k they had about 300k subs.

Some further comments:

- I read somewhere in this thread the concurrent player numbers mentioned per server, usually above 1k for a concurrent users number is a healthy server population, I'd say 750-1500 is medium and from them on is highly populated. But that's my estimation from other MMORPG's.

- Player population dropping in the months after launch? Eh, what's so shocking about that? I mean, haven't people been aware of the launches and months after of an AoC, WAR, Aion, CO, and a whole bunch of other MMORPG's that have been released? A player/subs retention of 30% is common with MMORPG's these days. It used to be that gradually more people became aware of an MMORPG and after a while more started playing it, these days however the MMORPG player base is far larger, a lot jump in at the launch of a MMORPG, a smaller part of those stay when they find the MMORPG to their liking.

- That being said, FFXIV certainly has a smaller number of players who gave it a try than the other MMORPG's. The more accurate and interesting numbers will be however after the free months end.

Hyanmen · November 2010

Originally posted by cyphers
- That being said, FFXIV certainly has a smaller number of players who gave it a try than the other MMORPG's. The more accurate and interesting numbers will be however after the free months end.

Not like we will ever get to see them.

AmbrosiaAmor · November 2010

This was one of the two reasons I posted several charts from different sources versus those websites that were just using weekday charts or charts that just showed the lowest number, they clearly just wanted to belittle the community or use it as ammunition. I think one of those charts came from the Complex site but I would not trust that website at all. One it is a pornographic site in nature and two they clearly state in some of the comments that they take stuff out of context and use it against the company or the game. They do not take the time to analyze the numbers nor do they care about actually taking daily population numbers. They just take the worst charts they can find and post it as a complete picture.

The numbers in actuality come from several Japanese blogs and they have their own charts that shows different trends during Japanese peak times. Some show only weekday, others only weekends, and others show it all together to give people an idea of the different trends on all 18 servers. But it goes a bit beyond that. To certify the numbers are correct, several people upload cropped up pictures of the population menu at certain times, while others uploaded the entire game picture with the population menu in the background.

We can all pretty much agree that when a new MMO is released, the population will decrease the first several months. However considering that over 600,000 copies of FFXIV were shipped worldwide, and you had already close to 1/3 of the servers having less than 400 people during weekdays, even though I understand that weekday population is going to be less, the fact the numbers were so low was nothing less than alarming considering that this is a new AAA MMO title. This is the second reason why I posted those charts and why I talked a little bit about the trends from my server. I wanted to give people an idea about which servers had a decent amount of people and not try a brand new game with only 300 or so folks on during NA or EU peak weekday times, unless a low population is sort of your thing which it can be for a few players.

In one of my previous posts, I stated that a couple of people have already found a way to get the populations numbers, but I did say to take it with a grain of salt, till something actually materializes. Considering that there are already different add-ons like for the GUI, I would not be surprised if the Japanese figure something out. I am hoping the November patch and the December patch will help those servers especially low in numbers, but if not I do hope that Square Enix takes the time to have a small sever merge for those four servers instead of having those customers wait it out with low numbers till the March PS3 release. But to be honest I do not see any type of server merge till after the PS3 release next year.

And by the way Dameonk we are not a bunch of nerds.

*Opens up favorite Star Trek novel and sips some tea*

Notice how it does not say Star Trek for nerds… I mean c’mon!

Thachsanh · November 2010

Originally posted by SnarkRitter

I believe that everyone knows that the chart does not represent the total population of the game,just the number of players log in at Japanese peak time. And how do I know that NA and EU drops even harder? Let's begin by my statement that apart from gym,sleep,college class and hygiene times, I'm always at my computer,even when eating and studying. And when studying I 'stalk" gaming forums which includes FF XIV forums like FF XIV Core,ZAM,Eorzepedia to relieve stress. That's why I know perfectly well about the status of FF XIV. You don't believe that the NA and EU population drops even harder? Just go to the websites I've mentioned and search topics related to "server population" in the last two weeks before patch, the average population is 400-800 max even on the most populated realms, stated by FF XIV lovers. How do I know which one is a FF XIV lover? Because I've been stalking FF XIV forums since OB I know who is FF XIV lover, fanboy and hater.

See above,and when so many different people on different forums state the same thing.It's most likely the truth.

No, that's your assumption that everyone know that. How on earth could anyone know anything about the chart if the maker of the chart say absolutely nothing about it? The original source said "FFXIV population" and that's it. Population what? Average? JP Peak, Absolute peak? Snap shot? Nothing. Just because a Japanese make the chart and you assume that it was Japanese peak number?

You see the OP of this thread has been copy and paste those charts here and saying those are the AVERAGE numbers. That's his interpretation of those charts. You on the other hand say it's Japanese peak, that's your interpretation of the charts. But nobody could even remotely know what the correct answer is.

You see, you can't just make your own assumption and state it as the truth.

So, your holy definite proof to my question was from somebody saying something about server population on the forums? What kind of data is that? Sombody posted with absolutely no time stamp, no date stamp about his server CCU snapshot was around 800 become your proof of the statement "NA and EU population drop even harder than the JP population?"

A few posts from random people about their snapshot of their server CCU at an unknown time stamp are not proof. They are not even valid data to begin with. And please, point me to where people post "the average population is 400-800 max even on the most populated realms". Don't bend people's words or make stuffs up to prove your points. That's bluffing and when you get called on, you're screwed.

Face it, you got nothing. You have no proof and you are making stuffs up just to make it sounds like you have something. Take this as a hint, to prove the NA and EU population drop even harder than the JP population, you need 3 trend lines. The NA trend line, the EU trend line and the JP trend line. Then you can compare them and draw conclusion. You have nothing, just a few posts in the forums. Nice.

choujiofkono · November 2010

Some things speak for themselves.

The charts were made by the japanese not by some individual on an english forum. People on different forums just post what they found on the japanese blogs and forums.

The charts in this thread are self explanitory unless you are intentionally ignoring the obvious.

On certain days at certain times people checked the populations on each server and jotted it down. Perfectly fine way of testing for server population.

Taking the numbers from each server and finding a total then dividing that total by the number of servers shows a clear decline in average server population.

You don't really need a specific number to say the game is empty you just need to go into the game and see very few people playing/talking and a bunch of afk folks hanging around. The fact that SE chose to hide the numbers at this point is just sad.

rykim · November 2010

While I do agree many of Sankakus reports are....to be taken with a grain of salt, there is some truth to all their uhhh...articles.

Honestly. The first thing to come to most of peoples mind when someone mentions Sankaku is troll. Have you people not heard of the word satire? It's a purely satirical web site on Asian media. Seriously, some of you just take something too personally lol.

Selphares · November 2010

Originally posted by choujiofkono
   Some things speak for themselves.

   The charts were made by the japanese not by some individual on an english forum. People on different forums just post what they found on the japanese blogs and forums.

   The charts in this thread are self explanitory unless you are intentionally ignoring the obvious.

   On certain days at certain times people checked the populations on each server and jotted it down. Perfectly fine way of testing for server population.

   Taking the numbers from each server and finding a total then dividing that total by the number of servers shows a clear decline in average server population.

You don't really need a specific number to say the game is empty you just need to go into the game and see very few people playing/talking and a bunch of afk folks hanging around. The fact that SE chose to hide the numbers at this point is just sad.

So I currently just imagine the people around me and the people in my Linshell are just bots? Not get me wrong but maybe we have an other understanding of the word empty.

Hrayr2148 · November 2010

There's always parties forming and the camps are always crowded. I really have no idea what you're talking about.

For example, on Saturday Night, I did Behests with people at Skull Valley. I did it three time in the span of two Hours.

For each Behest, we had 15 people (the max allowed) for the party. Mind you, this is ONE of dozens of locations that you can do a Behest. I understand that the higher areas may not have many people, but vast majority of the player base is still relatively low level.

I am taking this horizontal leveling progression to heart and absolutely LOVE IT.

Admittedly, there isn't much to do, but this is SE. This is EXACTLY how they developed FFXI. I have no doubt it will be the same for FFXIV. This game has lost its chance to be "great" in terms of subscription numbers, but it will still be great in terms of quality for those of us that see a limitless future for it.

People are far less patient than they were 5-6 years ago. That's SE's fault for not realizing it, but I'm knida happy they didn't go the "let's copy WoW" mentality. The foundation for this game is great.... the rest will come in due time.

worldspin85 · November 2010

of course the population is going down the core game mechanic what just horrible thats not including everything else wrong with the game. i was really optomistic about this game until i pre ordered and played it. The reasons why people say oh its crowded because there are very few places to go and explore everything feels the same and looks the same everywhere you go. There are not many places to go u just seem the same areas with the same camps, it just that dull. I mean look at the rating it got even if they were off by a few points that is still a shame when was the last time u saw a game get a 3.

seeyouspacec0wboy · November 2010

i miss squaresoft

SnarkRitter · November 2010

Originally posted by Thachsanh
No, that's your assumption that everyone know that. How on earth could anyone know anything about the chart if the maker of the chart say absolutely nothing about it? The original source said "FFXIV population" and that's it. Population what? Average? JP Peak, Absolute peak? Snap shot? Nothing. Just because a Japanese make the chart and you assume that it was Japanese peak number?

When people make chart about a MMORPG population they make the chart according to the peak HOUR of the servers which is the same hour everyday. Nobody is going to watch the server 24/24 to find out the server's population absolute peak . I advice you to use common sense, and shouldn't use the strawman approach.

You see the OP of this thread has been copy and paste those charts here and saying those are the AVERAGE numbers. That's his interpretation of those charts. You on the other hand say it's Japanese peak, that's your interpretation of the charts. But nobody could even remotely know what the correct answer is.

You see, you can't just make your own assumption and state it as the truth.

The chart the OP posted was from FFXIAH forums,he just repeated what the original poster said while I was talking about the chart I posted which is far more well known.Oh and here's another chart,they're quite similar aren't they? I wonder why.....

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tjOCmTX7jkEGeEzl8FJg85A#gid=0

So, your holy definite proof to my question was from somebody saying something about server population on the forums? What kind of data is that? Sombody posted with absolutely no time stamp, no date stamp about his server CCU snapshot was around 800 become your proof of the statement "NA and EU population drop even harder than the JP population?"

Not just somebody btw,the majority of people on FF XIV fansite stated the same thing, like I said I've watched the forums since OB and I'm very careful with what I report. And you should go to the FF XIV fansites,search for server population related threads 2 weeks before the patch to see for yourself.I'll post some threads that I can remember:

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/27710-healthiest-server-population/

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/27904-397/page__p__428823__hl__population__fromsearch__1#entry428823

http://ffxiv.zam.com/forum.html?forum=152&mid=129039636047188014&howmany=50

And there're many many more BTW, but I'm having a Counter Strike match in 15 minutes so I'll just post what I can remember and found in the first few search pages.

A few posts from random people about their snapshot of their server CCU at an unknown time stamp are not proof. They are not even valid data to begin with. And please, point me to where people post "the average population is 400-800 max even on the most populated realms". Don't bend people's words or make stuffs up to prove your points. That's bluffing and when you get called on, you're screwed.

Ah so you're not only a strawman(which I am not suprise,from my experience of arguing with you on gamevn) but also a denial fanboy.About the 400-800 thing, in case you weren't able to understand I'll explain this like to you: 400 on the lower population server,peak time.800 on the more populated server,peak time.From the things I've read I was able to come to that conclusion.Or are you ask from the exact quote from somebody else's posts?

Face it, you got nothing. You have no proof and you are making stuffs up just to make it sounds like you have something. Take this as a hint, to prove the NA and EU population drop even harder than the JP population, you need 3 trend lines. The NA trend line, the EU trend line and the JP trend line. Then you can compare them and draw conclusion. You have nothing, just a few posts in the forums. Nice.

I've shown my proofs. You on the other hand,showed nothing to prove your statement that the game's population is not dropping dramatically(and when an AAA MMORPG population dropping 42k at official launch's first week to 22k when the game is still in FREE trial can not be called dramatically,then I don't know what can be called "dramatically")

sh33pish · November 2010

Originally posted by Ozreth
i miss squaresoft

I was just thinking the same thing.

Thachsanh · November 2010

Originally posted by SnarkRitter

When people make chart about a MMORPG population they make the chart according to the peak HOUR of the servers which is the same hour everyday. Nobody is going to watch the server 24/24 to find out the server's population absolute peak . I advice you to use common sense, and shouldn't use the strawman approach.
Your knowledge have a big hole in it. Do you even know what peak hours mean? There is no one peak HOUR. Prime time is a period of time which last several hours each day. There is no one fix peak HOUR. Moreover, do you even understand what I was trying to say? Why are you trying to explain to me what peak HOUR mean? Go back and read carefully what I was saying. In case that you are just can't not understand it, I will say it slowly to you one more time. There is no thing on the chart saying how they came up with the chart nor what kind of population (average, peak....) that is. You said when people make chart about MMORPG population they make the chart according to the peak hours. That's your assumption. They said no such thing. There is no "standard MMORPG chart making guilde line". Do not make an assumption and state it like it is the truth.
The chart the OP posted was from FFXIAH forums,he just repeated what the original poster said while I was talking about the chart I posted which is far more well known.Oh and here's another chart,they're quite similar aren't they? I wonder why.....
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tjOCmTX7jkEGeEzl8FJg85A#gid=0

I see that you don't even know where your chart come from. Yes, I know there are several chart versions floating around. Do you know why they look similar? Because people who made the charts you post took the number from that chart, reduce the number of data point and redraw the chart.
Not just somebody btw,the majority of people on FF XIV fansite stated the same thing, like I said I've watched the forums since OB and I'm very careful with what I report. And you should go to the FF XIV fansites,search for server population related threads 2 weeks before the patch to see for yourself.I'll post some threads that I can remember:
http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/27710-healthiest-server-population/

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/27904-397/page__p__428823__hl__population__fromsearch__1#entry428823

http://ffxiv.zam.com/forum.html?forum=152&mid=129039636047188014&howmany=50

And there're many many more BTW, but I'm having a Counter Strike match in 15 minutes so I'll just post what I can remember and found in the first few search pages.

Did you even read those posts or you just do a search and post here just to have something to post? People on those posts do not said exactly when they got their number. Week days, weekend? Nothing. Many people just simply state they observed the population are such and such. Those are only give people a general idea of a particular server are well populate by the NA and EU people or not but they are not data that you can use to analyze population trend. They are too vague, inaccurate and most of all they are just a single snapshot of the server population at one time. We were talking about the trend, remember?

Ah so you're not only a strawman(which I am not suprise,from my experience of arguing with you on gamevn) but also a denial fanboy.About the 400-800 thing, in case you weren't able to understand I'll explain this like to you: 400 on the lower population server,peak time.800 on the more populated server,peak time.From the things I've read I was able to come to that conclusion.Or are you ask from the exact quote from somebody else's posts?

Ok, so now you try to change what you were saying? You were saying the average population is 400-800 max even on the most populated realms remember? It's right there, 800 max on the most populated realms. And now you are trying to change it into 800 on the more populated server? Dude, go back and read those posts you quote up there. In that post several people posting they are seeing 1400 to 1800 people on their servers at US prime time. So either you are just making stuffs up or you just don't know how to read.
I've shown my proofs. You on the other hand,showed nothing to prove your statement that the game's population is not dropping dramatically(and when an AAA MMORPG population dropping 42k at official launch's first week to 22k when the game is still in FREE trial can not be called dramatically,then I don't know what can be called "dramatically")

You have no proof. All you have a some posts on the forums where people say one time what their server population are like. Those things cannot be used when you are trying to say the population are droping hard. Drop from where to where? What was the original NA or EU population on those servers to begin with? Go back and read my other posts. What I said was the charts show cannot be used to prove that the game population is dropping dramatically because those either are average numbers or the maker did not say anything regarding to how they come up with the number. If they did not say how they come up with the number, it could be anything. Just throwing charts out there does not prove anything. Numbers without context mean very little.

HardcoreHero · November 2010

I wanted to love this game but it's just so backwards and grindy that I can't. I feel ashamed for Square for releasing such a poor product. Final Fantasy XIV is going to go down as one of the worst MMOs of all time, and to deny it is either trolling or naivety. I mean no disrespect to those who enjoy it, to each his own; however, if it isn't obvious by the neverending free trial - Square knows most people won't pay for this game in the state it's in. If they can't manage to retain, resub, and get new customers then they are going to shut it down. I'm guessing it's headed in that direction faster then a golden chocoobo.

SnarkRitter · November 2010

Originally posted by Thachsanh
You have no proof. All you have a some posts on the forums where people say one time what their server population are like. Those things cannot be used when you are trying to say the population are droping hard. Drop from where to where? What was the original NA or EU population on those servers to begin with? Go back and read my other posts. What I said was the charts show cannot be used to prove that the game population is dropping dramatically because those either are average numbers or the maker did not say anything regarding to how they come up with the number. If they did not say how they come up with the number, it could be anything. Just throwing charts out there does not prove anything. Numbers without context mean very little.

You remind me of creationists.

So your want SE themselves to make an official statement that the game population at Japanese peak time has dropped from 42k to 22k even when the game is still in free trial? I hope you're smart enough to realize that SE is definitely not stupid enough to do that as it'll make their game looks even worse and drives more people to quit. And drop from where to where? If you search the server population related threads at launch till 2 weeks after launch on FF XIV forums you'd know that the average NA and EU servers population is 1500-3000 at peak times,I'd like to search it for you but unfortunately the threads are buried deep in the forums(obviously) and I've just finished my gym time so I'm quite tired.About the charts,as I've stated,the 3 charts are quite similar,and there's only one popularly accepted peak hour. Apparently the makers of these charts accidently choose the exact non-peak hour to make their chart, what a coincidence!

Once again,I advice you to use your common sense.

Hyanmen · November 2010

Originally posted by HardcoreHero
however, if it isn't obvious by the neverending free trial - Square knows most people won't pay for this game in the state it's in.

Most people didn't pay for AoC nor WAR either- and we see what happened. SE is the only developer to admit it.

MMO.Maverick · November 2010

I don't know, some people either have a short term memory or they like to indulge in sensationalism.

Saying that the population of FFXIV has decreased is stating a fact and not that strange a fact but more of a pattern we have seen with other MMORPG's as well. Saying that the servers are fully empty however or that the game will be closing down is stretching and reeks more of wishful thinking and sensationalism.

People seemed to have forgotten how the population peaked at the launch month in MMORPG's like AoC, WAR, Aion and others only to drop dramatically in the 2-3 months following after. Yet here they are, all these MMORPG's still exist to this day.

It all reminds me how the discussions are/were being held in the AoC and SWTOR (or WoW) forumsections of this site, where people who passionately disliked that game would take one argument or a few quotes from the official forums only to spin them and twist them around in order to put the game or company they disliked in the most negative light they could manage.

Hyanmen · November 2010

Originally posted by cyphers

in order to put the game or company they disliked in the most negative light they could manage.

SE Official player experiences revealed as FAKE

SE removed the world population numbers from the game- BEGINNING OF THE END!?

Zakor · November 2010

Originally posted by AmbrosiaAmor
While I consider most of the recent update a success, with a couple of hiccups, this one feature about having the world population and nearby player counts no longer displayed seems to have eclipsed the mostly positive update with this one change, and of course no surprise there. While I do not consider the world population to be the only important factor in deciding which server to join when starting out, I do consider it my top three. I was actually shocked myself a bit they did this considering all the positive features that were implemented to the game. If you guys think the NA FFXIV forums are rough with this change, I can tell you the Japanese are much more critical calling the move by the company cowardly and some even blaming the Chinese for it. I am part Chinese from my grand papa’s side and I have to say I am getting tired of getting blamed for everything! Blame the Canadians I say, or at least blame Matt Lauer.

For those that might try the game during the holidays, and want to join a medium to high server population I have a few recommendations. If you want try to get the buddy pass and make two characters on two separate servers to get a feel for them, maybe level each up to 5 or so and check out the starting town. I will break them up to four different categories, and those that are going to try the game in December can decide from that point on where to start. Note that these are JP peak times, but with all the forums I visit and comparing to all the population threads and roll calls, they share the same trend for the most part and as such these are rough estimates. NA and EU times are bit lower overall but close enough to their JP counterpart with a few exceptions.

This chart was last updated on the 25th and uploaded on the 26th:

http://minus-k.com/nejitsu/loader/up82484.png

I.

Population around 1750

Gysahl

This is a highly populated server and some folks might like this while others not so much and may want some breathing room whether it be for exp or more important for crafting competition.

II.

Population around 1450-1650

Cornelia

Figaro

Selbina

Mysidia

These are what I would call mid-high servers and have a little bit more breathing room when it comes to exp but crafting competition is still very high. Personally I like to join the mid-high servers. If you are going to start a new character or are thinking or re-rolling a character you might want to give one of these servers a try.

III.

Population around 1050-1300

Palamecia

Istory

Karnak

Trabia

Besaid

Lindblum

Melmond

Kashuan

These are medium populated servers and pretty much is very similar to the servers grouped in II.

IV.

Population around 850-950

Saronia

Fabul

Rabanastre

Wutai

These are what I would call low populated servers. On some of the forums, some people have stated that during NA or EU peak times during the weekdays have fallen to around 300-400 on a couple of these servers. If this is your first or second MMO, or you do not know anyone that is going to join the game with you from a previous guild, I would suggest looking at a higher populated server. If however joining a lower populated server is your cup of tea or you have several friends joining in with you then you might want to try one of these out and see if it fits you.

In my opinion I think the company should have left the population numbers up. With this update there may be chance that the population may have at least stabilized or might have even gone up. In FFXI I used the search function and world population to determine if I should try to make a party or to seek instead, see which top tier camps might be open, see which jobs and level ranges are available, and ensure if there are some camps taken to communicate with the leaders to see which locations they are at to avoid over camping them before heading out to the same area.

Granted the party search is a bit different this time around but I did find the players nearby to be very useful. I used that feature often to check if there were any players nearby and avoid a certain spot if there were several people as to not clash with them in case they were farming or exping at that spot. The thing from time to time I have lag on mobs and people to pop up on my screen, and sometimes when I think a camp is empty I start beating up a mob or two then to then realize the players pop up in the same area, so I am flying blind now so to speak.

On one last note it seems from a couple of forums have commented that there is a way to keep track of the population, but nothing else. I would take these comments with a grain of salt. If... and this is a big "if"... If somehow these folks are correct, or the Japanese find another way to keep track of the population, and if after this current update or the December update shows that the population continues to decrease with the current party population disabled, I think this would create a much bigger negative impact to the company despite the updates. I have one question out of curiosity. In the past 8 or so years, when it comes to AAA MMO titles that are P2P, besides the Star Wars MMO (never tried it just have heard of it) are there any other MMO that have disabled the population feature? I am not even sure if it was reinstated in the Star Wars MMO only that it is the only one I know of.

I'm Canadian and since you like to blame others I guess I could blame you and the CHINESE farmers too! You and your kind DESTROY MMORPGs. Stay away from MMORPGs PLEASE! How do you the blame part???

You want to play that game, we can too... geez... see my point? DO NOT attack other countries, even if it's a joke... or not!. You Piss me off.

I don't know why people are starting to pick on the Canadians lately, but I think it's because of jealousy. Yes, we have one of the best economy and we're cool and perfect, but don't hate, because we don't hate you...

Peace

MMO.Maverick · November 2010

Originally posted by Hyanmen

Originally posted by cyphers

in order to put the game or company they disliked in the most negative light they could manage.

SE Official player experiences revealed as FAKE

SE removed the world population numbers from the game- BEGINNING OF THE END!?

? Was that an argument to support my point or contradict it?

Throwing things around as "beginning of the end" reeks of sensationalism pretty much to me.

The same applies to the phenomenon where people suddenly suffer from amnesia and tend to ignore the fact that significant population drops happen in all MMORPG's these days in the months after launch.

Originally posted by Robokapp

Originally posted by Zakor

I don't know why people are starting to pick on the Canadians lately, but I think it's because of jealousy.

it's literarly because of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAYMJnO9LBQ

Lol! Heh, I thought of that same scene too when I read the question about why the Canadians got blamed

Hyanmen · November 2010

Originally posted by cyphers

SE Official player experiences revealed as FAKE

SE removed the world population numbers from the game- BEGINNING OF THE END!?

? Was that an argument to support my point or contradict it?

Throwing things around as "beginning of the end" reeks of sensationalism pretty much to me.

Just throwing out some rather hilarious examples to prove your point.

SnarkRitter · November 2010

Originally posted by cyphers

Originally posted by Hyanmen

Originally posted by cyphers

in order to put the game or company they disliked in the most negative light they could manage.

SE Official player experiences revealed as FAKE

SE removed the world population numbers from the game- BEGINNING OF THE END!?

? Was that an argument to support my point or contradict it?

Throwing things around as "beginning of the end" reeks of sensationalism pretty much to me.

The same applies to the phenomenon where people suddenly suffer from amnesia and tend to ignore the fact that significant population drops happen in all MMORPG's these days in the months after launch.

Problem is: Those MMORPGs you've mentioned didn't have their population drop as bad as FF XIV during their FREE trial.

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Population continues to fall with time extention

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Population continues to fall with time extention

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