Let’s get one thing out in the open from the start: this sticky was written by a mod for the Eden server.

Atom0s has created the list in Alphabetical order which “conveniently” puts Eden at the top, although it is neither the oldest nor the largest server even in its category.
Additionally, he has included the “with custom changes” tag to the Nasomi server while omitting it from the other two in the 75 cap category; this is extremely misleading.

No one can make the argument Nasomi is a completely era correct server. Elemental ores come from excavation instead of gardening, track pants+1 give 8% movement to any job at any level, there are sixty custom wyvern NMs spread throughout the world as well as a shape shifting bunny with a million HP, Chatoyant staff and other out of era foods are included, easier relic completion, extra spendable merits, many crafting materials stack, and the list goes on. Any one of these would make a retail purist shutter and consider playing somewhere else.

If you’re like me and retail truly captured your imagination you may be wondering what was technically possible at any given time before the level cap was raised. What was the optimum strategy for beating X bcnm, lowmanning Y endgame mob, or building Z relic the quickest? Sadly, Nasomi server can’t give you most of those answers in any sort of scientifically valid way.

If you’re looking to play FFXI with more of a competitive mindset, you’ll be crestfallen to learn you’re going to have to put a lot more effort into your character to replicate the success of the people who were playing on Nasomi in the earlier years. You could be an objectively better FFXI player than the server’s old guard, and still fall short of their gear and crafting accomplishments after years of effort.

With all of those downsides of Nasomi brought to the light, I’m going to tell you what the Eden propaganda crew really doesn’t want you to hear: they have the exact same issues.
Godmode is not committed to “hard era” ideals that would satisfy the imagination of someone wondering what was technically possible in an era of FFXI. He’s on record here:

https://github.com/EdenServer/community/issues/255

Saying “I’m ok with balancing out of era if it makes sense. I’m ok with opening that can of worms” in regards to a dark knight ability that had its duration extended by a factor of six.
At the time of writing that github link has 606 issues still open with 1258 issues closed. Many of those issues moved the difficulty goalpost after the early players had completed the content in an easier state, which is exactly what they accuse Nasomi of getting so wrong with his server. As a cherry on top, the oldest segment of the player base comes from Kupo server which had the usual suspects in terms of glitches, and 2x multiplier on crafting skillups.

At the time of writing Eden has: level sync, worldwide yell, linked AH’s, mog wardrobes, totally custom blu, heavily out of era pup, underwhelming mnk, and more than a little guesswork in the smn mechanics.

The mog wardrobe offsets any era accuracy they might have gained by making crafting materials unstackable. Additionally, certain jobs in the game will continue to creep higher in power the more inventory space you give them. You put an Eden blm with an inventory full of Hi elixirs/refresh drinks and two wardrobes full of gear vs a Nasomi blm with only 70 slots, extra merits, and a chatoyant staff, and I know which one will feel more out of era. This effect is even more pronounced with Red Mage.

My point is, Eden is as custom a server as Nasomi. In regards to the early player advantage, I will say Eden did a better job than Nasomi, but this is somewhat offset by the fact fewer of Nasomi’s early players still play. Eden is way behind Nasomi on content and job accuracy. I respect them for endeavoring to release things in an accurate state from the start; however if you look through their issues section it is clear they don’t succeed at that nearly as much as they’d like everyone to believe. I’m also curious about Eden’s frontpage announcement promising fully unlocked and finely tuned Sea in the next few months. Big promises from a server that can’t even get their wyrms working right.

This is incredibly entertaining, thanks for posting Deadwing.

I am ignorant of most nuances behind this game as I didn't play the original back in 2005, but it's impressive to see the amount of minutiae that went into these private servers and your assessment of both servers in light of your time spent developing on Nasomi and playing the original.

I realize there is some bad blood between you and older community members, but please don't stop posting.

Cheers,

It was deleted by atom0s in line with their narrative control tactics on that subreddit which capitalize on, most notably, the fact that Nasomi players are too busy logging in and playing to spend time correcting the Eden propaganda shills.

Eden's population growth really appears to be right in line with the mods being stacked in their favor out of nowhere this year. I don't think I've seen anything critical concerning Eden on that subreddit.

It was deleted by atom0s in line with their narrative control tactics on that subreddit which capitalize on, most notably, the fact that Nasomi players are too busy logging in and playing to spend time correcting the Eden propaganda shills.

So yeah, fuck Eden. But that's not what this thread is about: I want the Nasomi endgame drama that was promised, not a deflection about Eden being garbage.

Eden's exploitation problem got so out of hand that it's had to be shut down, and is still shut down.