Curious About Playerbase/activity

Several people on my friend list left Bismarck and moved to Asura because they wanted to make faster progress. None of them play anymore. Just sayin'.

If the only thing holding you back from moving is a name change or losing friends . I got over that in like 2 weeks. There are tons of social/casual linkshells on Asura. Hell judging by the shouts I see the casuals outnumber the end game "elite" players.

That's a very bold statement to claim every Endgame ls on 300 people server are struggling with finding people. There's more than a couple ls on various servers on twitch clearly has full alliance in event.

Asura gives more options, that does not equal to opportunity for the right options.

Right option means: ls Culture that applicant feels comfortable with and fit in, schedule works, uses strategy that applicant prefers. A smn player would probably look for smn burn ls, a DD player would probably look for melee burn ls etc.

What if Asura provides 20 options and none of them work, and random 300 people server provides 3 options and 1 of them work? Are you still going tell op to pick Asura for ls that they are not happy with?

It means exactly what I said it means. Options I didn't say better options or worse options.

Judging from the OP things aren't that great on Sylph and might be time for a change.

Or find the right option first then change. Don't change to biggest server first then look. That's limiting the option.



Except people just posted recruitment thread on this forum not very long ago.

Sylph is dead. Extremely difficult to do anything via PUGs,including ambu or CP.

Very limited amount of endgame LSs that can clear aeonics. To get into these shells, you need multiple pimped out jobs of varrying roles.

Usually, there are around 250 people online.

Transferring to Sylph is not a good idea. I constantly contemplate transferring off of Sylph. Only reason I haven’t is I don’t know anyone on any other server.

Yeah like I said, PUG won't work on all the not-Asura servers. You are either in Endgame ls and do endgame, or you don't.

Asura provides options for people to do endgame without ls, just a very inefficient option. I think people should aim for more efficient options, not worse options like PUG.

And for every case of that, there's people who kept playing after moving to Asura. I came from Lakshmi, nearly everybody in Byrth's LS was pretty much MIA for a long time. I probably would have quit if I didn't move on over. In either case, completely anecdotal and not an accurate representation of Asura being the main factor in why a person quit or kept playing.

I find it kind of insane people are blaming a server with options. The absolute worst thing you can suffer in this game is having to play on a dead server with zero shout activity. if you're in a linkshell and have a niche group, you are virtually unaffected by player population, since you can create your own events. But if you're somewhere dead, logging in and getting nothing accomplished in a group setting is just about the biggest waste of time to date in the game.

Nobody is claiming Cerberus or Lakshmi or Sylph or Asura is the "better" server. Thats all completely subjective and based on your goals. If you feel like not wanting to deal with riff-raff and trolling and occasional shitty play, that's fine. If you want access to pretty much any hq abj item or shard/void from dynamis, Asura has perks. if you're looking to get something simple done, like fill up a SR htbf omen spam pug or anything else under cl130~, Asura simply offers you the option of getting ***done without needing a group of friends.

I am a living example of someone who kept playing cuz of Asura's activity, and, though I took periodic breaks from ffxi, none of it was due to Asura being a shitty server. If it was seriously that bad over here, people would move back to the server they came from rather than quit. It's not an Asura problem.

server populations

I wasn’t even speaking about actual endgame content when it comes to PUGs. My point was, even content that was made for PUGs, like ambu and CP, is nearly impossible to get a group going on Sylph.

But I get your point as well, while the efficient route to get stuff done in this game is to have a static group, the likelihood of getting into those, especially as a “returning” player, is much smaller on a server such as Sylph, because of the amount of active players.

Because of ffxi being a mmo, a large part of the game should be PUGs. However, even in simple content, on small servers like Sylph, you can be shouting for hours.

Except a troll, No one here is bashing Asura nor mention people problem at all. If anything almost every server discussion almost always turn into this:

"My server is the best your server suck".

Truth to be told, objectively speaking all of them has pros and cons that is just the matter of preference.

However I can't help but feel pro Asura people are heavily biased against smaller servers. I keep seeing "dead" "dead" "dead" "not playing mmo" "struggling to find people" everywhere while pen 15 still stream with alliance dyna? Definitely biased. Really it's just opinion from people not in Endgame ls sharing their personal experience that can't apply to everyone.

And yeah I agree that it's harder to find "niche" pt like sr or cp on 300 people server, except a geared Endgame player solo or lowman sr cp with trusts more efficiently than 6 returning players. Apex mobs literally die in 3 to 4 ws solo on geared DD with an aeonics ls. So it doesn't affect players that's not new.

People are just exaggerating the impact of server population. It does affect people without ls, otherwise the difference is limited except maybe hq availability and for people that likes to play 24-7 and want something to do on none event time.

300 people on a server may not be dead but I would consider it on life support. I'm not sure what the exact number SE would consider dead. But there is a reason they do the discount server transfers. You could call it an un official server merge.

Pen15 are only looking for Yagrush’s and Epeos. My point is, your options of joining an endgame shell, on smaller servers are limited, becaus they often time already are basically full. Because everyone on the server wants to join.

I have Death Penalty, Ragnarok, Almace, Tizona, Raetic Algol +1, and Nirvana and have yet to find a reliable group on Sylph. While I have jobs that are extremely useful in the current meta and geared, it’s still difficult to find people to do stuff with. Had to join a JPN omen shell that goes at odd hours, for me.

The % chance to find a reliable group is much smaller on a smaller server. Plain and simple.

I don’t suggest a returning player to join a smaller pop server. If I knew people on other servers, I would have transferred by now.

Are you kidding me? The person at the top of this very page is presenting an anecdotal connection between friends who left for asura, and then stopped playing, essentially blaming asura for them quitting. I didn't once suggest any bashing towards any other server. I just often hear people say silly ***like "stay off Asura" etc etc. It's lame and scares people away who really haven't a clue of what goes on.

I'm saying the same exact thing Fonewear originally mentioned, that Asura has options for the weekend warrior who pops in and out to get things done. I could not care any less if you prefer a server with 50 people or 5000 people. It's all based on your personal preference and experiences. Like I said, if you have a group to play with, stay where you are. If you need people to play with, Asura has more options, and, despite what Afaina posted above, PUG isn't the worst thing over here. You'll get things done and occasionally won't. But that's still better than looking for something to do to begin with.

Unless ffxi fix instance problems, 300 people server is the right amount in terms of Endgame content, but not ah.

I had serious problem getting into orb bc during campaign on a "dead" server because there are no queue system. I made macro for orb and spammed trade, but people who clearly live in JP would come and enter before I stuck in trade menu. After 30 min of failing to enter had to give up.

1 min wait is ok for ambuscade VD HP and retry. Anything higher is horrible and may as well do D for higher success rate.

No1 ??? Taken by another ls for Kirin or #2 for T4 is pretty lame when escha was primary Endgame event.

FFxi content design really doesnt support mega sized server, it just makes the game less fun to play. Im like "wtf" everytime I see people ask for 5k pop on OF. If every content has separate instance and instance is unlimited that would be a different story.

Just saying, got most items/clears Omen, Dyna D, SR, Vagary, Aeonic all in pugs. Weren't the best or greatest groups all the time, but I didn't sit around and twiddle thumbs. There are a bunch of endgame shells on Asura if that's your thing. Logged in this morning and saw 1600 people online.

Again like Buk is saying it depends on what type of player you are.

No one server is better than another however. You could argue that at some point the lack of people does hinder your game play. That is why they should have addressed massive server imbalances a long time ago.

When Omen came out, was limited to 6 people. I didn't have a tight group to join with, so I started my own PUG doing Fu with BST/SMN/RNG spam amd I tanked it RUN/RDM self-healing with a RDM and GEO supporting. It was entirely PUG members and we often shouted for people to fill stuff in. We didn't always win, but we did it every single day up until we got everything we needed, then moved on. PUGs are a tough pill to swallow and it's hard to trust people. It's super frusrtating, but at the end of it all, it got done rather than me sitting back looking for a group to take me along.

When Frog Ambu came back around, I paired with another great PUP and we pretty much did a bunch of PUG VD spambus. We didn't win every time, but there's another month where I got points where I probably would have skipped it due to most of the groups being SMN burn.

I'm sure there's people on other servers who never get some wins because they don't have the options. I'll take PUG and winning/losing mixed in vs sitting around and not completing it any day of the week.

I agreed with that, thus I suggest OP to find a ls first then transfer instead of transfer first then find ls. One you are dead set on "Asura ls only" "Sylph ls only", there are less options to pick from.

On the other hand if you set your goal to something like "I am looking for a melee burn LS that runs dyna, Omen, aeonics event sometime between 6pm to 11 pm. Server doesn't matter. It's more likely to find the right one.

That was my point to begin with.


As if Asura top end ls doesn't have tons of applicants wanting to join, lol. You guys are acting as if Asura ls automatically hands out free entry ticket to anyone regardless of their job, lolno. It's probably only easier for people with smn setup jobs.

I guess the difference is that your Nirvana would give you more chance there since smn is a thing on Asura?

Has OP even try the recruitment tread just below this one yet?


No one is saying PUG isn't a viable option here at all, you are missing the point.

It's just a backup option if you cant get the best option.

My point is people shouldn't suggest OP to aim for backup option first, they should aim for best option first instead, and only use back up option if best option isn't available.

"I don't need ls, I can PUG everything. Even if it's not efficient it's fine" isn't the the right way.

It should be "I want to get into an efficient static or build a successful one so I don't have to PUG. I will only PUG if I fail to find a group everywhere"

I don't think anyone here is suggesting people never pug regardless of circumstances.

Why are you calling people *** when I am speaking in general?? Are you that sensitive that it hit a nerve? I wasn't even talking to you specifically, making a general statement about what "I've heard people say" (never mentioned you once). Why did you feel the need just now to personalize it as if I was attacking you? The only part I referenced something you said was when you said I was 'bashing" other servers (note: I wasn't). The rest of what I said was general commentary. You've gotta stop being so e-defensive.


Then why was it bashing when I did the same thing......?

the op quit ffxi altogether and is now heavily scrutinizing all of their other life choices....

I'm not missing the point. We're on the same road, just passing each other in traffic.

I agree with you 100% that someone should definitely aim for that first and foremost. Certainly. But if/when that is not an option, you don't need to stick around on a place where the pickup group activity is low. You can just as easily get things done on an active space while looking for a competent linkshell to be a part of. Those things are not mutually exclusive. You can be a part of a great linkshell and PUG on the side, or you can participate in PUGs regularly while looking for a group to join. Doesn't mean you settle for PUG life, you just aren't sitting around twiddling thumbs waiting for that to happen.

@OP - We do Dynamis clears/megabosses twice a week and omen twice a week as scheduled events. The Saturday Dyna run is usually full, but there is almost always room on the Wednesday Dyna run, and omen has thinned out to lowman-ish levels since nearly everyone has gotten everything they want from it. There are multiple people in the shell who would be more than happy to attend scheduled ambu/farming for whatever the hell you want if you're just semi-competent and don't waste people's time.

A full aeonic rotation is done maybe every other month or so now that nearly everyone has what they want, and usually someone throws ***together for ambu/WoC/master trial/vagary/random stuff after the Saturday dyna run for drunken shenanigans.

My playtime is somewhat limited due to my current employment and RL, but I usually stream the nights I'm on via Twitch (shameless plug). I'd suggest watching a replay of a Saturday date if you decide to check anything out because I'm often pretty wiped/low energy on other weekdays. We actively use discord and have a very chatty bunch.

All that said, for the most part I think we're mostly interested in people who have and are willing to play 4 song bard, idris geo, ergon RUN, and WHM. It was already an issue before, but even moreso after the inception of aeonics imo that we've had an issue with too many people just having DD jobs. I'm by no means a mouthpiece for the shell as a whole though - the actual shell holder quit like 7 years ago and we've been playing with most of the same sacks/pearls since then. De facto leadership over the past 7 years has pretty much just shifted around and established by instances of whoever feels like organizing events and does so in an organized enough manner to maintain people's attention/attendance.

If you're actually interested, I'd suggest sending Takutu, Gobbo, Reain, or Chosenone a PM.

Aside from all that - I can echo what others have stated that Sylph is very much on life support in terms of population. I enjoy myself quite a bit, but would probably transfer in a heartbeat if not for being in an established group. RMT commonly transfer HQ's here due to the lack of endgame crafters, and I've personally had to server swap 4 times to buy items I got fed up waiting on. I've mentioned to people about having everyone transfer to another server at some points, but we usually come to the conclusion that Sylph is kind of like an abandoned tropical island with little to no congestion for the very few things it actually matters for, so we just stay.

there's a pretty good chance that it's them...