While joining an established server with a map that was pretty much already set was an annoyance, it's a small price to pay for having a merge and everyone back together on one global server. Numbers seemed to have leveled off and stabilized with a steady 650+ population most evenings and peaks over 700. Far better than before the merge. Even anti mergers like the famous Lars @Bearwall have returned, despite vowing to never come back. They always do.