Population

[adamo]

I'm new to this game, but it is usually this empty on the servers

[Murphie]

Re: Population

No.

It's pretty not empty most of the time.

[Aeolus]

Re: Population

What server are you on? Do you mean is it usually as empty as the site is atm? I dont understand..

[Murphie]

Re: Population

Here's a test.

Go online in FFXI.

Type /sea all and wait to see how many people are online.

Then post it here, and we can tell you if your server has a low, high or average population.

Keep in mind that it's a holiday weekend.

[Ryouken]

Re: Population

That's strange that a server would be empty... in fact it's pretty impossible for something like that too happen

Besides, it's labor day weekend, so alot of ppl should be online. Maybe it's just the area you were in, for example, Ronfaure can sometimes get pretty empty sometimes, while places like Valkrum are usually very active.

[Kitalrez]

Re: Population

Ok, most important question: Where are you looking? Because where you are in the game at any given moment has a huge impact on how crowded the place looks. If you just walked out the Port Windurst Gate into West Sarutabaruta, expect to see about 1-3 people at any given time. Less than this if it's mid afternoon Central Daylight Time, or the same period in Japan. Why are there only 1-3 people in view here? Because you just entered a newbie zone in a game that's a good 5-6 years old, most of the people you're going to meet here are either brand new players like yourself, or veterans playing through another job for subbing or a change of pace. The new guys you'll see for awhile, the veteran players will be in and out of this zone as soon as possible, since they have the gear and levelled combat skills to quickly progress.

On the other hand, if you zone into Lower Jeuno at any given moment in game, (Also Al Zabbi, Aht Urgan Whitegate, or Ru Lude Gardens), you'll be unable to walk 5 feet without stepping on several players' toes. It can take upwards of 30 seconds for people to appear on your screen in these places sometimes, just because there's that many of us there.

Until about lvl 15, this game is going to look pretty dead unless you spend a lot of time in town near the auction houses. This is because most of us don't spend more than the bare minimum amount of time necessary in town or newbie areas if we can help it. There's a lot more happening outside. When you get to around level 15, you'll start to hit places like Valkurm Dunes, Qufim Island, and Yuhtunga Jungle, which are the areas most of the low-mid range players congregate in to level up. Usually by this time you'll wish the game was as empty as you first thought, since competition for mobs in some of these places can get pretty intense.

Another thing you'll probably notice is that your server has a population of 2k-3.5k players online at any given time. If you're used to playing another MMO, this can seem pretty small. However, remember that FFXI is not instanced, which means that every player in the game has access to the exact same monsters and areas at the same time. To keep the load on the server down, and ensure that everyone gets a relatively fair chance to level up, recieve items/gear, etc. the systems operators generally like to keep the peak numbers for each server below 3.6k players. You'll notice that anytime a server begins to recieve between 3.6-4k players online during a primetime period, that server becomes a candidate for World Shifting (FFXI's version of a server change). What this does is allow players to request a change to either a designated new server or a designated lower population existing server on a first come, first served basis. This will then drop the current server population down to a more manageable range again. The idea behind this system is to avoid overcrowding of zones, like we saw this year when Puppetmaster, Blue Mage, and Corsair jobs were released, and Valkurm Dunes basically overcrowded to the point where monsters had maximum life spans of 20 seconds or less.

[adamo]

Re: Population

I was just watching my sister play. She said she was in Wirdst Tower and when she typed /sea all there were 2,800 people on. She plays on Fenrir.

[bside]

Re: Population

I was just watching my sister play. She said she was in Wirdst Tower and when she typed /sea all there were 2,800 people on. She plays on Fenrir.

That's one of the least populated areas in the game. We only visit there for mission-related events, and other things that only take a couple of minutes to finish.

[Raitox]

Re: Population

Hmm... maybe come to Asura, usually 3.4k-4k people online.

[Aeolus]

Re: Population

3ooo people isnt alot? o.O

[Raitox]

Re: Population

no like, Maybe COME to asura, 3.4k+ IS a lot.

[Murphie]

Re: Population

2800 isn't that different from 3k though. That's about what Bahamut has right now online, and the zones are crowded enough for my liking.

It seems perfectly normal to me.