Dead Server Syndrome?

[Klaatu]

Doing a /sea reveals pretty much the same amount of people online.
I'm not noticing any decline on my server.

And if bahamut and odin were as desolate as you guys are making them out to be they'd be opened again. Likely just not people logging in as often but still have the characters. Holidays should see some resurgence I'd think.

That's the problem. SE hasn't opened Bahamut nor Odin, even after the population has thinned out. Which is what's causing steady decline in economy and NA prime time population.

[Dizzy]

1500-3000+ population is low ? your best ingame friends have quit recently ? How long have you guys been playing ?

My best ingame friends quit 4-5 years ago and I have been in multiple hnmls that broke. Nothing new, move on, meet new people and join new shells.

Spoiler: show

I'm with this guy. People keep playing the "dead game" card (not necessarily in this thread but in general) but have you tried meeting new people? You know, playing multiplayer in a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG? A lot of my friends quit years ago so I made new ones. Shells break, events stagnate, jobs get boring... shit happens deal w/ it. /end rant

If the low pop is so bad and you're sticking around for friends, why not move to another server with those friends?

[drwaffles]

The end of summer/the start of the new school year is always a time when people tend to quit or take breaks as well. And how exactly is 2/3 of, at the very worst, 2,500 people in any way a symptom of a dead server? 1,600 is rather high for a lot of servers.

[Shenrien]

Spoiler: show

I'm with this guy. People keep playing the "dead game" card (not necessarily in this thread but in general) but have you tried meeting new people? You know, playing multiplayer in a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG? A lot of my friends quit years ago so I made new ones. Shells break, events stagnate, jobs get boring... shit happens deal w/ it. /end rant

If the low pop is so bad and you're sticking around for friends, why not move to another server with those friends?

majority of my friends are all "but I like it here this is my home." remind me of Indians really, then again... I can just do away with them the same way the English did with the Native Americans when they arrived.... Do we have the ability to /scalp yet?

[Shamaya]

I'm sure the game will continue for many many years to some extent or another.

There are good reasons/indications to feel that the game is 'dead' or 'dying' now, more than ever, I think. If you look at this very forum, or several other major forums, you'll see noticeable decreased activity. I've heard PFA and LBR are getting noticeably fewer hits, and with this I imagine it's likely that it's the same for other sites. Aion made a (temporary) dent, obviously. But this and the combined news of FFXIV + SE's continued lack of content for recent and future updates, combined with really lacking POL news, has both made the game situation seem rather stagnant, and at the same time has begun another wave of people leaving the game. It's easy for me to see, at least, the effects this has had. 20-50 people in the aery, even on HQ days? And Asura isn't even a small server.

There's not too much of a problem with server size here on Asura but I feel it's having some kind of small effect on PuG's and the like.

[kyosak]

Odin during NA times is pretty dead... JP population is pretty healthy though.

SE really needs to open it back up. I don't know if they're just being lazy or seriously unaware of the issue... :/

[Mayareira]

Came back from a break and for the first time ever(since 2005), I've seen midgardsormr pop. below 1,000(850~) NA Prime was at 1200~ and JP's probably above 1500.

Not that I care much...Whitegate is still as lively(and laggy) as ever.

...and yeah, game is still fun :D

[Nevex]

When will people stop pretending that "lower population" = "dead game"?

I for one think that the game improved after the salvage dupe bans and it gets better when annoying morons get the hell out of there, I don't care whether they're "good and intelligent players" or complete idiots; their playing skills don't concern me.

Less competition on the HNM scene, less price gougers, less undercutters, less morons who ruin my astralburns, less gilbuyers who cause relic/mythic prices to skyrocket through the roof = good.
Less own LS members, less friends who I do in-game activities with, less people I like I can talk to = bad.

The game is dead only when the people you do stuff with quit. Nobody cares about everyone else. It's a subjective concept.
Sure you can try to generalize this, but it will never be the same for everybody.

[hotpiercedguy]

I did a /sea all a couple hours ago.

2349 people.

Oh yeah. It's a freaking ghost town I tell you.


500,000~ Active account at the moment. FFXI won't be in serious mortal danger until that number is below 100,000 I'm sure.

FFIV will probably put a big hit into the numbers, but I doubt even that will come close to killing it.

[Lonewind]

Open up bahamut and sell me your currency.

OMG Sath, buying currency with your stolen Iraq gil? well according to the person in you sig anyways XD

[Duber]

20-50 people in the aery, even on HQ days?

In my opinion this because people just quit camping due to retarded claim system. On the other hand there are more dynamis linkshells than ever.

Spoiler: show

When will people stop pretending that "lower population" = "dead game"?

I for one think that the game improved after the salvage dupe bans and it gets better when annoying morons get the hell out of there, I don't care whether they're "good and intelligent players" or complete idiots; their playing skills don't concern me.

Less competition on the HNM scene, less price gougers, less undercutters, less morons who ruin my astralburns, less gilbuyers who cause relic/mythic prices to skyrocket through the roof = good.
Less own LS members, less friends who I do in-game activities with, less people I like I can talk to = bad.

The game is dead only when the people you do stuff with quit. Nobody cares about everyone else. It's a subjective concept.
Sure you can try to generalize this, but it will never be the same for everybody.

Totally agree.

On the other hand I think the more people that plays a game the better to keep it supported and continuously growing with updates from the company.

[Cesaria]

If the servers are dying (and yes, the population of Midgard's tailed off noticeably from when I started playing) can anyone answer me one simple question - why do the Whitegate shout fucktards never ever be the ones to quit? Our resident idiots are all still fully resident... yet my flist is dwindling rapidly and those names still on there have often handed their accounts on these days.

I find it quite a sad feeling sometimes watching how SE seems determined to kill this game off with silly management decisions and a lack of new content - like finding the coolest shiniest kid in school turned into a filthy drunk puking in the gutter or something... there is a definite feeling around of it being the final days, has been ever since 14 was announced to be honest - not that the game's dead yet, I still generally find stuff to do and my shell's got enough people on to do things - but yep, the decline's there. Personally I think the server merges will be coming sooner rather than later to be honest.

[TheMysteriousX]

I didn't realise Valefor was in such dire straits compared to other servers.

800-900 people during NA time. 1200 during JP time.

[Riki]

Funny thing how OP thinks Bahamut is dead when 95% of the servers have always been like that (for the last years).
It is just more noticable because Bahamut has been so overcrowded before. But the decline is there on all servers equally.

[Midnightjade]

Came back from a break and for the first time ever(since 2005), I've seen midgardsormr pop. below 1,000(850~) NA Prime was at 1200~ and JP's probably above 1500.

Not that I care much...Whitegate is still as lively(and laggy) as ever.

...and yeah, game is still fun :D

Yep, Midgar NA primetime has been around 1300 recently, I've checked it on several separate occasions. Most of the people I knew from 2004-5 quit a while ago. Some of the old and well-established social shells (eg KoolAid) have folded.

I do still think there's life in the server - still plenty of shouts in Whitegate and the population at least seems pretty active. I think the crunch will probably come when XIV comes out, at that point a big percentage of the playerbase is probably going to hop to the new game.

[BerenTebogo]

OMG Sath, buying currency with your stolen Iraq gil? well according to the person in you sig anyways XD

I'm so unpatriotic I shit the taliban

[dejet]

Friday morning at 9AM(JP prime time?) 2300 people online for Ramuh.

I do not play much and my LS has a ton of people who always merit and do stuff lol. Guess I did not see how badly the severs are losing people. Once it gets really bad SE will fix it. Give it a few months before servers are moved and merged.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

Friday morning at 9AM(JP prime time?) 2300 people online for Ramuh.

I do not play much and my LS has a ton of people who always merit and do stuff lol. Guess I did not see how badly the severs are losing people. Once it gets really bad SE will fix it. Give it a few months before servers are moved and merged.

2692 on Shiva 6am. Hmm maybe I should put this in the server population thread. :D

[Shuichi]

Well, to be honest, a decline in population was going to happen eventually. Perhaps it's time for SE to consider some merging? Until FFXIV, I'm having a blast in Aion.

[Vedder]

Dead game posts need to be a bannable offense on BG, sheesh.