Dead Server Syndrome?

[Klaatu]

Yeah. That was the whole deal of closing them in the first place.

I blame BG for that.

[evilpaul]

1,321 people online on Hades now at ~8:30PM Eastern time on a Friday night.

I've personally been playing a lot less lately. I log on to do some LS event (Sky/Sea/Limbus/Einherjar/Dynamis/SCNMs/ZNMs mostly, no camping) and events are cancelled because we have 10 people on for Dynamis or whatever.

I'm not someone who adds everyone I meet to my friend's list, so there's only ~15 people on there and all of them are offline.

Looking at the Hades HNMLS websites I know of, only one of them is closed for recruitment at the moment.

I think between announcing FFXIV and giving us less content updates (and garbage like the mini-expansions) Square Enix is doing a pretty good job killing off FFXI.

edit: As of ~9:30PM: 1,463 people online, another Dynamis run cancelled.

[cdgreg]

1498 online right now on odin (8:30PM EST). Bet ya part of the update notes are odin/bahamut open back up!

[Klaatu]

1498 online right now on odin (8:30PM EST). Bet ya part of the update notes are odin/bahamut open back up!

Heh, I hope so

[Zumi]

2179 people on Phoenix at 8pm PST on Friday. Seems kind of average but it still seems overcrowded at certain events.

[Agito]

It takes alot longer to level a job from 1-75.
Merit parties are becoming a little rare.
Good luck getting help for Missions and Nyzul climbing because FFXI is made up of people that already have that stuff done.
Endgame linkshells lose people here and there due to quitting etc but Endgame linkshells didn't suffer a major blow or anything.
Less people on the servers or players just don't play that much anymore.
There's not as many Endgame linkshells as there was in the past.

[Kipling]

It takes alot longer to level a job from 1-75.
Merit parties are becoming a little rare.
Good luck getting help for Missions and Nyzul climbing because FFXI is made up of people that already have that stuff done.
Endgame linkshells lose people here and there due to quitting etc but Endgame linkshells didn't suffer a major blow or anything.
Less people on the servers or players just don't play that much anymore.
There's not as many Endgame linkshells as there was in the past.

Uh, as opposed to years ago? No, it is most definitely easier now. Or do you not know of level sync? Also, astral flow burn, etc.

[Dizzy]

Good luck getting help for Missions and Nyzul climbing because FFXI is made up of people that already have that stuff done.

jesus christ im banging my head against the wall trying to do this. Apparently only gimps and pups don't have floor 100 and all mythic WS.

[Narol]

God help you if you want anything weird done, too. At least with missions you're liable to find at least one other person who needs it, and with Nyzul you can scrape together people who want to farm tokens/assault rank points/whatever, even if you time out every time because the only fucking people you get are gimps who can't understand lamps to save their lives and dsskdjasfjasda but I digress.

The worst is SE's idea of difficulty, though. People whine about "easymode" missions, especially with how CoP was "nerfed," but I guarantee you the same people whining about how "easy" it is find the prospect of doing it again too annoying to go through with.

In short, unless you're well connected or well established, the game in general is only going to get a lot harder than it was a year or two ago. But at least random lowbie NMs (Castle O birds, Lizzy, etc) are easier to camp, for what that's worth.

[Baelorn]

Yeah. That was the whole deal of closing them in the first place.

No shit. I meant it worked and they can reopen the server(s).

Knowing the retarded playerbase hundreds of people would transfer right as they open though.

[Nevex]

I really don't see SE killing off FFXI. The series is their favourite child, their loyal pet, their pride or whatever you prefer calling it.
Hell for nearly each numbered FF game they make tons of remakes and unwanted (from the audience) movies, spin-offs and novels. Just look at how sickening this whole thing has become with FF7.

So I think they'll do something about FFXI, the offline thing seems actually to be a good idea, there would be a lot of people out there interested in this kind of content. They should've done that instead of FFXIV.

[Narol]

The problem with "FFXI Offline" is that so much content simply wouldn't be any fun in a CRPG setting, without even getting into how you'd handle so much real-time stuff (do you choose to single-handedly save Al Zahbi in Besieged, or assist the NPCs in any of five or six currently-under-attack Campaign areas?). They'd pretty much have to make an entirely new game and strip out a lot of the stuff that'd either be pointless or flat-up requires multiple people.

To be clear, I do like the idea of an offline remake of FFXI, but I should emphasize that it'd have to be so different as to be unrecognizable.

[Siniroth]

The problem with "FFXI Offline" is that so much content simply wouldn't be any fun in a CRPG setting, without even getting into how you'd handle so much real-time stuff (do you choose to single-handedly save Al Zahbi in Besieged, or assist the NPCs in any of five or six currently-under-attack Campaign areas?). They'd pretty much have to make an entirely new game and strip out a lot of the stuff that'd either be pointless or flat-up requires multiple people.

To be clear, I do like the idea of an offline remake of FFXI, but I should emphasize that it'd have to be so different as to be unrecognizable.

Stop killing our dreams!

[BerenTebogo]

It takes alot longer to level a job from 1-75.
Merit parties are becoming a little rare.
Good luck getting help for Missions and Nyzul climbing because FFXI is made up of people that already have that stuff done.
Endgame linkshells lose people here and there due to quitting etc but Endgame linkshells didn't suffer a major blow or anything.
Less people on the servers or players just don't play that much anymore.
There's not as many Endgame linkshells as there was in the past.

Levelsync
I duo'd every CoP mission from 4-2 to the end with the exception of the actual, physical, BCNMs.
Nyzul shouts are every 20 seconds here and I consider this server devoid of life
People have been quitting endgame since 2005, Fenrir people remember esteraza? Yeah, me too, vaguely. Rjork? People quit all the time.
Only true thing you've said
Endgame linkshells as defined by HNM? There's a reason for that.

[Riki]

No shit. I meant it worked and they can reopen the server(s).

Knowing the retarded playerbase hundreds of people would transfer right as they open though.

And that's why they are still closed.
Besides that, people getting fed up, leaving the closed servers and pay 25$ on top of it to do so? Don't tell me SEs business plan does not work out as intended.

[Draylo]

It is slowing down a little but I wouldn't say that it is dying.

[Karbuncle]

From the second something is born, it begins to die. its inevitable.

However, FFXI has quite a few more years left in it!

[Gustaf the Voidbringer]

FFXI Offline would be the greatest stuff ever. Just throw in more Adventuring Fellows without the restrictions and add in basic A.I. commands so you can get pissed off at them for breaking Bind.

That, or change the missions where NPCs in the cutscenes actually help you out in the fights.

[Ashira]

The difference is when you in-game friends make decision to move servers because of their LS decided that this server is too dead and economy is unstable. When server is open, there's constant flow of items and players in and out. Replenishing ranks and keeping up supply of item is crucial to keeping endgame and regular activities going.

Of course, we didn't have server transfers in the beginning, nor was it considered necessary. Transfers exploded the populations on Odin and I assume Bahamut.

But... we can no longer create characters either, so you don't get brand new characters either, and that's crimping our style too.

I hear they swiftly react to duping exploits.

Erm.. that really wasn't all that swift of a reaction.

Worst case scenario is 32 servers become like...26. Stop crying.

Sath, I know you're just acting out cuz you're dying to be on the same server as me.

In my opinion this because people just quit camping due to retarded claim system.

Or outside of a ring and a sword, it's all obtainable through Einherjar which is schedulable, gives multiple drops, and isn't fostering the "need" to cheat.

There's a TON of people I'd love to play with all over. I welcome server merge. Come to buncle!

See, I knew it. Someday, Sath, someday.

Why is it a bad thing to have less people at king camps? If people are having a lack of crafters on their servers, level that craft. Nothing is more enjoyable then going to a king camp with only your LS there. But this is coming from someone that only XP's with friends, does any event with friends, and has or has a friend that as any craft at 100.

What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and four legs again at night?

Endings mirror beginnings, except for one having a past. When you remember how easy it used to be, it tends to be more frustrating than motivating.

Endgame linkshells as defined by HNM? There's a reason for that.

I hate AV.

[Destinye]

jesus christ im banging my head against the wall trying to do this. Apparently only gimps and pups don't have floor 100 and all mythic WS.

Indeed, because FFXI isn't full of people who "have it all done" as someone said, it's more like "FFXI is full of people who find other players the bane of their existence and can't take 30 minutes - 2 hours a day to help someone".

Though I do believe it's mostly an elitist mentality that "if you don't have this done you must be a gimp or idiot" because they can't see past their ginormous e-peen to see the game's current state and how their lack of help is why these 'gimps' exists.

Server merging is good and bad, but I wouldn't expect anything major to happen to/with FFXI till FFXIV is released.