1. How is the population these days? Is it just as hard to level as it was a year ago?

2. Any chances of the monthly fee possibly going down slightly in the near future?

3. (most important Q of all) I had a 47-50 something Dragoon back when I played and want to rejoin the adventure yet I really don't want to start over again. Is there a way where I can email SE or someone pretty much asking them if this character still exists? I don't really want to spend $13 chancing that my character may no longer exist..

4. If I DO choose to reactivate my character, should I wait for the 1st of the next month? I remember reading somewhere that when you reactivate a character, they charge you for a full month so it'd seem pointless to reactive at a time like this. Or, are they saying that you charge you an additional $13 JUST for reactivating it, and then the regular $13 for the month itself?

Thanks for the helpful feedback.

1. How is the population these days? Is it just as hard to level as it was a year ago?

The population is about the same. Generally on the Shiva server there's 2000-3000 people on at one time. I don't find it really hard to level, depending on your job you may have to wait awhile, but it's never really that bad. Of all the things I complain about in FFXI, parties aren't one of them.


2. Any chances of the monthly fee possibly going down slightly in the near future?

Doubtful. They'd probably only lower the monthly fee if the population of players drastically shrunk, which it hasn't.


3. (most important Q of all) I had a 47-50 something Dragoon back when I played and want to rejoin the adventure yet I really don't want to start over again. Is there a way where I can email SE or someone pretty much asking them if this character still exists? I don't really want to spend $13 chancing that my character may no longer exist..

I remember SE had a thing going on for returnign players, where they could get their old character back and continue playing. I'm not sure if they stopping doing this because I can't find any info on their site, you might want to email them asking if they do. If they do still do it, I'd recommend doing it. 40 levels is a lot of work to lose, however even if you can't get it back, that's not too much work to lose. If you had been level 75 or something it would be, but 40, not so much.


4. If I DO choose to reactivate my character, should I wait for the 1st of the next month? I remember reading somewhere that when you reactivate a character, they charge you for a full month so it'd seem pointless to reactive at a time like this. Or, are they saying that you charge you an additional $13 JUST for reactivating it, and then the regular $13 for the month itself?

Again, no idea. If that's true then I'd go with the 1st of the month. More for your money, I guess.


I hope that helped, if you are planning on returning, PM me and I can get yo ua Gold World Pass for Shiva, I can give you a hand with stuff and make sure you fit in nicely :)

Thanks alot for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

2000-3000? Wow, that's a lot. I think I played on the Hades server back in the day, and I don't remember it ever peaking over 1900.

I actually updated my Playonline player today to browse around, and when I went to the "reactivate content ID" section, my character's name was still there. Does this mean that he still lives? I'd assume it does, yet I've got no clue haha.

And yes, if I do choose to return I'll take you up on your offer. A well populated world and a friend right off the bat wouldn't be a very bad return if you ask me lol.

If he's still listed in the "Reactivate content ID" section, that means SE hasn't deleted him yet. Normally SE deletes characters that have been inactive for more than 2-3 months, so if you closed your account a year ago, it's really unusual that it's still there. But yeah, that means it's still reactivatable.

Ya I found it weird too. Maybe it's because I still log into my POL from time to time and my character actually has play time put in on him. I'm not sure, but if I'm going to reactivate, sooner than later is definately the better choice.

Wait, you still play him from time to time? Do they still bill you? If that's the case then he's still active.