Especially when they're one of the most anticipated releases in recent decades...
Besides it's better for FFXIV to grow at a steady rate. WoW didn't reach the peak of popularity until WOTLK - it's second expansion. I believe that if FFXIV's developers continue to be humble and acknowledge their mistakes then they'll continue to make a game that sees quite a lot of success over the coming years. FFXI did quite well for itself, after all. I didn't play it myself though.
Heck, if and when they ditch support for the PS3 then they'll be able to do even more with FFXIV than they are at present. What they're doing already is pretty impressive though.
This might sound rather selfish but I'd really rather the WoW players stay where they are. I'm enjoying the game right now as is and I have faith the debs won't "sell out" to attract the masses.
I just find the average FF player to be a better type of person then I experienced while playing WoW after BC.
Not sure how accurate this one is but its a lodestone sample from the end of July after HW was released:
https://jonathanprice.org/xiv/compare/
He sampled lodestone and checked on characters that had atleast 1 lv 50 skill.
Personally I don't really give a damn about subs as long as the server is healthy and I am having fun it doesn't really matter for me.
I am on Odin and every evening when I run trough the zones I see enough people running around even new "leavies" it feels lively enough
My art page: http://malackai.deviantart.com/
Probably quite accurate, but it's impossible to say how many of those 7 million are actually active subs.
I'm also on Odin btw and it's a server that's very much alive as you say and that's all that matters really. I recently hit 50 on my first job and I'm working through the 2.0 content so I can jump into Heavensward but I'm thinking of switching to Machinist when I do so 60 might be far off in the future, but I'm in no rush, I actually enjoy the levelling in this game
Thats why he also put down experienced toons (toon with at least 1 lv 50 spell)
That one clocks around 1.6 mill out of those 7 mill, but still there is no way to say if they are all active atm might also be lv 50 players that stopped at the 2.0 release.
I was hoping he also would have done a sample of characters with the "heavenward" achievement or character with lv 60 skill.
My art page: http://malackai.deviantart.com/
Even if you assume that half of those accounts are free - which would be rather absurd - that still leaves a huge number of paying customers throughout the years.
Either way, I keep seeing this "5 millions" thing repeated in various places and continously misinterpreted. Some of that is wishful thinking, some of that is because it's a rather unclear statement (or convoluted marketing). Still, no MMO developer would miss the opportunity to gloat about 5 millions actual subscribers. Doubt that it will happen, unless they absolutely dominate the market with their next expansion.