I’m not sure if it is just a coincidence or not, but since the World of Warcraft expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, came out, my Final Fantasy XI server, Shiva has been very quiet. The last couple of nights, during what is usually a fairly busy period of the night (after 9:30pm US Central Time), there have been well under a hundred players in the areas I’ve been in. Bastok, the Valkurm Dunes, and the Khonschtat Highlands have all been very quiet. The near desertion of these areas has made getting a party impossible. So I’ve been quietly soloing in the Highlands, completing some long overdue quests, and taking care of my Chocobo chick.
I can’t help but wonder if the WoW expansion has pulled away big chunk of FFXI’s population. I’m certainly tempted to give WoW another try just to see if it’s gotten any better than the last time I tried it out. In fairness though, last time I quit out of the frustration of never being able to get on a server without a long wait. It’s too early to count FFXI out, but in a game that demands party formation in order to advance, a sparsely populated server is not a good thing. Admittedly, I was in lowbie areas, perhaps it’s time for another trip to Jueno.