... about your server?

[Aselin]

Well, there was the "Dead server syndrome?" thread several posts down, so I thought how about something a little similar. With my current and probably last Linkshell on Bismarck to disband by next week, I wondered why did I ever stay here on this server? Would I have achieved more faster by going to another Linkshell or another server?

Weekdays will be my 22nd Linkshell to disband after five years playing FFXI. That's an average of four Linkshells a year (if rounding down). Yeah, I have had very little luck with Linkshells ever since I started FFXI, with the average lifespan of any Linkshell I joined lasting no longer than one year. Many disband because of various reasons going from the most common-- LS drama-- to members quitting because of real life or another MMO like AION.

Over the years, my Friend List got smaller and smaller, and the server feels quieter and quieter nowadays. I haven't logged on much in the past three weeks now, and I am debating whether to just call it quits and say, "Enough is enough."

So I ask: What did you like... about your server? (Hence, the format of the title.)

What did you dislike?

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?

And, if you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?

The reason I ask is because after reading a lot of the posts here on BlueGartr, I noticed many players, the regulars here, who have stuck to and stayed with their Linkshells as they post here over the years. And, it's made me curious why they stayed on their server even through all the drama, the players-- good or bad, and the oft neglected problems by Square-Enix.

And, another reason being is that the game is pushing seven years (if counting the Japanese release date) and FFXIV is around the corner. A lot of players have argued that the game is dying and many counter it with their own reasons that it isn't dying.

I read the "Completed Relic/Mythic weapons list" thread often and see regular posters and regular Linkshells proudly displaying their achievements. Maybe if I had a stable Linkshell over the years, I'd probably be in that thread already.

There are so many regulars on BlueGartr that I've taken notice of over the years since I've started reading the posts here-- Sonomaa, Rocl, Tekki, Linsivi, Spira, Fiendishone, Aksannyi, Yugl, Uryuu, Starr, Nitsuj, Falisa, DAKpluto, and so many others that I can't list them all, but it begs to ask these questions. (I've been reading BG Forums long before I've joined in 2007.)

I'll start with mine. Maybe, our answers will be similar or even different.

Spoiler: show

What did I like about my server? Why did I stay?

The people mostly. I made a lot of friends here and stayed on Bismarck mostly because of them. However, many have quit or transferred off Bismarck in the last two years, and those that stayed only talk to me if they need my help.

Also, Bismarck is relatively quiet in a sense. We have three major HNM Linkshells if not counting the Japanese Linkshells. LS versus LS drama is relatively light and contained within LS chats and forums.

Lately, I've seen Bismarck become a home to what I call "refugees" from other servers. We've had a lot of transfers recently.

What did I dislike about my server?

How quiet the server can be, which has both a good and bad side to it. Bad, because it's hard to find anyone or any group of players with the right jobs to level with below level 30 unless you want to do an Astral Burn party. Also hard because finding help for missions that are as old as Zilart or Promathia or even the Rank Missions can prevent you from accessing certain areas of the game and advance further in FFXI.

Not finding a relatively good, solid and stable Linkshell after five years playing FFXI is another reason I am not liking Bismarck much now. It could be my fault or the LS members in my past Linkshells influencing my reason.

The last reason is because a lot of my friends have left Bismarck, and the ones that still remain stopped talking to me often.

If you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?

That's a good question because I considered leaving a year ago but I stayed at the request of a friend. I gave it a chance and it didn't work out after a year; so I might leave or just quit altogether.

(Sorry in advance if this is a "tl;dr" thread, or if the post is too long.)

[Corrderio]

What did you like... about your server?

It has good people at heart I guess, but that's about it.

What did you dislike?

The lack of decent endgame shells. Most shells seem to get remade/fade/break/merge at a fast pace.

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?

Don't have the money to transfer, and I want to finish Maat's Cap before I move on just to get the urge out of my system

And, if you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?

Damn straight I plan on leaving Failbuncle sometime at the start of 2010 if everything goes the way I plan it.

[Argettio]

What did you dislike?

Lack of EU shells/players. I am happy with the shells I hold, but they were formed by a group of friends because they couldn't find a shell for the events we wanted to do.

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?

The aforementioned friends and this late in the game (pun intended) I can't see the point in trying to find new groups/friends on a new server.

[Guitarman]

I stuck on shiva until i quit last year because i was familiar with most everyone on the server. I knew 'oh ok that red pearl is a x member" etc. stuff like that. I left because I never got even the slightest hint that the devs gave a shit about their consumer base. if they did, and actually updated the game / fixed issues I would have stayed. but wow is good to me, so that's where i stay.

[Nishida]

I don't leave because I'm poor. My old answer would have been the friends..but they've all quit / left..and the few I have left on this server aren't much more than acquaintances anymore..if that.

[Viq]

I left Sylph due to "the grass is always greener..." I came back because I missed the people, most notably those who now make up the 5-man LS I'm in. Maybe I wouldn't have returned to a bottom tier server if RL hadn't gotten busy enough to push me out of doing hardcore end-game, but it's certainly better off this way.

[Mizango]

Aselin, you forgot my name in the 'what I like about this server' portion of your post.


j/k <3

[Neoex]

What keeps me playing on my server is the people I play with, they are not only cool people but some of the best in the game. Playing with compettant people completly changed the game for the better for me when I transferred from Lakshmi to Hades.

Current linkshell is Excellence - Hades

[Amastacia]

What did you like... about your server? (Hence, the format of the title.)

Some of the people on it. The relatively large NA community.

What did you dislike?

Most of the people on it. Closemindedness of many endgame shells.

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?

Nowhere else to go, not enough playtime to make it worth leaving. If I had more time to play I might look for more shells like SML, but they're few and far between anyway.

And, if you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?

If my last few friends quit and/or I wound up with enough time to play to make transferring worth the cost, maybe.

[SassiAsura]

Asura

What did you like... about your server? (Hence, the format of the title.)
Feels like home, I have history on this server. I know a lot of past on this server. I have a lot of friends I've made through the years still playing be it end game or just chilling in a social shell.

What did you dislike?
Migrants. Don't trust them.
Honestly though I'd have to say that if I ever disliked something about asura I've probably either grown to accept it or ignore it.

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?
Stayed because I like it here and I wouldn't really see any benefits to leaving either.

And, if you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?
They'd probably have to merge servers before I leave.

As for leaving for another MMO, well... I haven't really committed as much to another MMO as I have to FFXI. Like a lot of people I've tried WoW, Conan, Aion and Warhammer. Warhammer was the only one I really liked above any other there.

[Sho]

What did you like... about your server?

Friends obviously! they stay cool (well most of them, some joined endgame hardcore and became flaming douches, but whatever). And I'm not even gonna lie, the endgame drama was amazing from 2003-2006. It was never really publicized out of KI Carbuncle forum, but the shit was amazing, and I know many a person that was (still is) a native of Carbuncle that wish the shit was still going down, haha.

What did you dislike?

The only major thing I disliked was the general "slowness" of the server as a whole when it came to NA/EU players.

When everyone else on other servers was tackling Jorms and Tiamats many times over, Carbuncle players were still mostly fighting over Fafnirs (couldn't beat Nidhoggs well at the time) and (King) Behemoths + Sky for the most part. That moved onto Cerbs and Khims as well, then onto Sandworms and Ixions, but JP had those on lockdown forever before everyone went the way of Mercenary-LSing. I still to this day believe we (as a server) will never take down a Pandemonium Warden without 2 or 3 LSes getting together.

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?

For the friends, for the friends. Unlike the OP, I'm still pleased to see 40~60 people on my Friend List every time I log in. Its still a point of my friends to say "Oh hay, everybody knows Sho!" as well, and that's saying a lot. I don't think I could take that away from any of them by server transferring (as much as it would benefit me even right now).

And, if you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?

Many a time I think about leaving, if only to better my character properly before I quit for that sense of satisfaction. Like I said however, it's a hard choice on my end. Hmmm...

[Starr]

When I left Hades it was REALLY empty, when I arrived on Phoenix there were so much more people online (over 2x more I would honestly guess) but all it meant were more people=more retards, more JP ONRYs, more ass holes etc so it's not necessarily a good idea to move to a more populated server.

[Starr]

Yeah Hades was really good for both buying and selling R/Ex gear, even after years there are still massive markets for it and a lot of people even transfer there for it.

[Klaatu]

What did you like about your server?

It's hard to say what I liked specifically about Bahamut as it is the only server I ever played on, but from what I heard this is most JP populated server of all, being one of the first servers that is. Which leads into second question...

What did you dislike?

Not a whole lot, I assume game-play is equally balanced across the servers aside from minor population differences and play time number fluctuations between each time zone.

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?

This is where I started, this is where I feel at home and this is where I'll end my FFXI days. I'm not most adventurous person when it comes to exploring new social environment. I prefer to stay where I know everyone's strengths and weaknesses. On top of it, I don't feel like SE deserves extra $25 from my pocket for something that should be free. Oh and unlike a bunch of other people, I don't run away from infamy and drama, which answers your last question.

[Vigilia]

What did you like... about your server?
It was a brand new server opening up shortly after I started playing on Cerberus. The group of gamers that I had joined on Cerb on NA PC release made an unanimous decision to transfer just out of curiosity (and all of us were still like lvl10-20 at the time of transfer applications). Also, as it was opened post-NA PC release it has always lacked the very strong JP presence and has come to have a fairly even all-around playerbase of JP/NA/EU. I have to say that short of one or two random incidents I never encountered any "JP onry" attitudes and there was always decent co-operation between players from around the world.

What did you dislike?
Nothing majorly, the strong RMT presence in Sky made it frustrating for a year or so but short of that Asura's not had any drama that other servers wouldn't had.

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?
LS mates and old friends, even now that I'm in no LS anymore due to RL demands and being able to just play casually, all my friends are still there. In my FFXI life I've only ever had 3 main linkshells (and 3 Dynamis shells)- first a social, then a sky shell and lastly an HNM shell. Being able to go through the entire FFXI game experience on the same server in my own timezone and without compromises on the quality of the shell has been a large factor no doubt.

And, if you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?
Most likely will stay on Asura till SE closes the server or I get suckered too deep into FFXIV. I have no reason to leave.

[Shenrien]

What did you dislike?

The inconsistency of finding stuff to be active, rather sitting idle in town

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?

mainly just for friends, don't want to lose those that I feel are somewhat special to me, and that I could depend on over anyone else in the game.

And, if you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?

mm if the last of my good friends actually quit I'd probably move servers, nothing else really binding me here, I have no debts with my LS's or anything that I could leave unfinished here and pick up on another server, but I don't see any of my friends really having plans to quit any time soon.

[Lahan]

I am on Bis and Aselin better not quit or I am telling Xeres!
(then you will be in trouble)


I play it for the people a LOT now.

And to try and squeek out a little better gear for my jobs.

[Silenka]

What I like about Siren:

Not so much the individual people as the community in general; I was often struck by how a lot of times two people from different shells I was friends with would also happen to be friends with each other, it's kind of an 'everyone knows everyone' deal. I think the cohesion of the Siren community is a lot of the reason why we hold an undefeated Besieged record, which is something I definitely like because it's unique among all the servers. The small event linkshells on Siren are awesome and we have a lot of cool 'lone wolf' types too.


What I dislike about Siren:

HNM, though I'm not involved with it and never have been, because Siren's HNM scene has always been a real turnoff. It's not even the drama, but when it's not going through a terribly weak period, we'll have one or two big shells crop up that recruit pretty much anyone and then proceed to act like total idiots for the duration of their stay.

I don't like how Siren seems to be a giant magnet for the most difficult/stupid/annoying players ever to grace the game (I'm looking at you, Feiwong). We'd do just fine without the abnormally huge population of spazzes who feel the need to have shout conversations ALL THE TIME pretty much anywhere and as obnoxiously as possible. Granted, they're occasionally fun to watch when they dissolve into drama, but aside from that they're just annoying.


Why I stay:

I have irreplaceable friends who I could never leave. Siren was my first and will be my last ffxi 'home'. There's nothing that would tempt me to switch servers at this point, although Siren has its bad points I feel the good ones mostly outweigh them. Being involved in the community is the important part for me, leaving for a brand new community doesn't make sense as far as my enjoyment of the game goes. Being known and knowing others is the important part, to me.

[Mayareira]

What did you dislike?

Low EU population and the recent japanese dominated community (this may be the case in other servers as well). For a while now even the NA Prime has a huge Japanese population, which is probably caused by the huge number of English speaking players drifting away from the game.

Why did you stay? Or, why did you leave (or quit)?

Well, most of the servers are more or less the same so bouncing wouldn't really remedy the problems I've had. Besides, I don't see any point in leaving a server where I have friends at.

And, if you stayed, would you ever leave (or quit)?

Leave, no. At this stage there is absolutely no point for a fresh start in a different server...and I don't think I'll ever have a motivation for that. Quit/play casually, maybe...all depends on the last 1/3 content of WoTG.

[fredjanx]

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