Vana'diel Census/Topic

The Vana'diel Census has been brought up a few times by players and the development team has given some answers below.

2010

When asked why they didn't publish an annual Census in 2010, Matsui responded on his personal twitter.
@matsuiakihiko: Aug 12, 2010 20:25

@marirurusan 今回は国勢調査を行わなかったと聞いております。残念だという声があることはお伝えしてあります。
I heard the census wasn't performed this time. I've already been told by some people they are disappointed.

2013

When the the 12th Vana'diel Census did not arrive at it's usual time in 2013, it was later announced to be published in August, and that appeared to not be happening. The subject was brought up and Matsui responded on the Japanese side of the Official Forums.

松井です。

8月頃の公開とお伝えしておりました「ヴァナ･ディール国勢調査」につきまして、

バージョンアップなど、他の作業を優先したため公開スケジュールが遅れております。

公開日につきましては、スケジュールが確定しだい改めてお知らせします。

なお、今回の国勢調査では、ご好評いただいている冒険者を倒したモンスターの

ランキングや今人気のアイテムの存在数に加え、アドゥリンの魔境にまつわるデータ、

7月と8月のバージョンアップでそれぞれ追加されたモグガーデンとモンストロス・プレッジに

関する情報もお届けする予定です。

「ヴァナ・ディール国勢調査」の公開まで、いましばらくお待ちください。 

Which roughly translated stated the release was delayed because other work such as version upgrades was prioritized. He also announced that the census will include new items and that they'll announce its impending release when it draws closer.

2014

The delayed 12th Vana'diel Census's release was dragged out into 2014 but finally did arrive. Players were unhappy with the format change, which relied on infographics and contained less specific information that prior reports. Matsui apologized in a post on the Japanese side of the Official Forums.

フィードバックありがとうございます。

また、公開時期が大幅に遅れてしまい申し訳ありませんでした。

今回公開した国勢調査が従来と大きく異なっているという点についてですが、

従来の国勢調査のように複数のページにわたってデータをお見せするのではなく、

できる限りイメージを多用してさまざまなデータをわかりやすくお伝えしたいと考えました。

デザインを重視することにより、これまで国勢調査に興味を持たれていなかった方にも

見てもらえるのではないかという狙いがあったのですが、今回いただいたフィードバックを

踏まえて今後の国勢調査の内容を検討していきます。

Where he apologized for the long delay and explained that they wanted to display the information in an easy to understand format, emphasizing a pleasing design. He stated that he appreciated the feedback and they would consider making changes in the future. The players responding to Matsui would emphasize that the report was severely lacking. Items that Matsui promised would be added to the report were nowhere to be seen.

No Vana'diel Census would occur afterward.

2016

The 2016 Reddit AMA saw a question about the Census asked of Akihiko Matsui and Yoji Fujito.

Q: Can you bring back the Vana’diel census? I'd love to know how players use Group 1 / Group 2 merits in 2016, Top Relic / Mythic / Empyrean / Aeonic Weapons, etc.

A: We asked the operations team in regards to this and we were told there that unfortunately there are no plans to do this.

During the Freshly Picked Vana'diel broadcast on December 9th, 2016, which can be seen here, the subject was briefly discussed. It was emphasized that aggregating the data and curating it is a very difficult task, resulting in a lot of man hours spent for information that may not be valued by many or seen as interesting. Therefore, the management team prioritizes responding on the Official Forums and Freshly Picked Vana'diel.