The way a Techy explained it to me, this is not at all an issue. I will explain here how it got explained to me by a Friend that is familiar with such Server Technique. Of course this is a super simple explanation with Numbers that might not be correct (however the idea behind it is the same). One Realm is NOT equal to one Server in ToR (and WoW). They put a huge bunch of Realms on one physical Server. Let's say that number of Realms per physical Server is 50 (it's probably more but let's keep it at 50), and they provide 3 physical Servers, a 50 Realms, that is 150 Realms that they can deal with. Say every Realm holds 50'000 People (as it is in WoW according to the WoW Wiki), then BioWare could offer their Service to 7'500'000 People (if ALL Realms are packed full!) Now CCP doesn't split their Servers into many Realms. They use three physical Servers and connect them together to one massive Realm. Hypothetically (!!!) CCP can use Server Power for their one Mega Realm that equals the Server Power of 150 ToR Realms. Of course, you can not have so many people in one destination (a Solar System in EVE / Carrick Station in ToR), because then the Servers would go down 100%. EVE has by now 7'500 Solar Systems on their Realm and all the people would have to be scattered across the Galaxy in order to be able to hold them. I think a Solar System holds 1'000 People until CCP locks up the Star Gates for that System. I doubt Crarrick Station will do well with 1'000 people hanging out on the Fleet. And because the people would have to be scattered over the Galaxy (NOT in small Groups mind you), I suggested in the Original Posting that BioWare would have to implement more HuBs (as CCP does it in EVE too). All in all a Mega Server brings more benefits for the Community then it has downsides. It's just something that the Game Industry doesn't look at except some Genius Studios like CCP. Mega Realms can be done technically. It just needs some effort and some courage to take on such a task. It needs new ways that the common Game Studios don't think of / are afraid to try. Of course, there is much more to this technique. Details I can't explain here because I am not a Techy. - Indrani

Great Topic and I fully and whole heartedly agree. Get rid of the Gear-Wars and switch to more Vanity Item rewards. People still will go for Raiding and Hard Mode Dungeons if they get unique looking Gear. Gear is a Status-Symbol. It doesn't have to be powerful in order to be attractive. My experience in MMOs is that people see it this way: Rare = Awesome. Powerful or not, becomes suddenly a secondary reason. Also something I often heard in many many many conversations with Hard-Core WoW Raiders: Raider: "You know I don't really like Raiding anymore" Q: "Why are you doing it then...?" Raider: "Because I need the gear!" Q: "Why do you need the gear?" Raider: "So I can go Raid!" In other Words he does something he hates, just so he can get things that help him continue doing that thing he hates so much. Saw this Conversation plenty of times. The reason they hate it isn't really the Raiding as such. The reason they hate it is the Grind. It's a Chore, and not fun. Simple as that. And eventually they will cancle their Sub. Watch Sandox Games. They have much lower Sub Numbers, yes I agree. But their Fan Base is incredibly dedicated and failthful to their MMO of choice (not to mention less Nerd-Ragers, Maybe has to do with the fact that one needs a little bit more of a mature mind for a Sandbox MMO then you need for a Theme-Park MMO). Problem is: Sandboxes take a lot of effort and work and dedication. And they're often complicated to get into (It's a long term thing, not just for the quick fun). Many people will just quit before they even get the hang out of it, because they're too lazy and impatient (In EVE they call this process "The Idiot Filter". While I don't really agree with this ugly term, I can't deny that it has it's truth to it after all). As someone else in this Topic already mentioned: the closest to this idea we have currently is probably EVE Online. It's by far not perfect, but it's the best choice for every Sci-Fi fan that also loves the Sandbox Concept. I love Star Wars very much. And ToR is a solid and exciting MMO. I will keep my Sub, of course, for the Love of Star Wars. But I find myself going back to EVE Online the longer the more. Why? Because the Gear-War in ToR just destroys the experience. I don't know if this is the main reason why people also keep quitting WoW. However, the people in our Guilds that quit WoW are all saying they quit because they're tired of the Gear-Grind and having to repeat that with every new Expansion. Please take this matter serious BioWare. For the Sake of this nice MMO, take the Original-Post serious! It's a great idea and I feel it's the way to go for all future MMOs. Thank you for bringing up this wonderful Topic. - Indrani

Oh that sounds good. That goes into this Direction. Thank you for linking this! - Indrani

Not sure how long it has been since you went to EVE Online. But since last Summer I've not experienced a single Realm Crash on EVE Online (and I spend a lot of time there). Also Lag wise. Even if they close the StarGate to Jita because the Star System is too full of people, there is now less Lag then on Carrick Station with only 150 people there. CCP improved the Realm performance lots over the past months. But they use an entirely different way to maintain that. The way I understand it is: BioWare puts many "Shards" on one physical Server. While CCP has three physical Servers to maintain ONE Realm. That way the hardware can handle the Mega Realm just fine. There haven't been any Server crashes in EVE Online since a long time. Also in case of Disconnections: I hear some people have issues with that, not sure why, but I don't experiene that. I remember one single Disconnect I had in all the time I am an EVE Sub and that Disconnect was most likely my own fault because I tried to go Mining with four Clients open at same time. If I am there without multiple Clients open at same time, I've never had any Disconnections or lag. CCPs Mega Realm works just fine. There is no Lag, Disconnects nor Server Crashes. At least not anymore. - Indrani

I am not a Techy and don't know all the kinks and specifics of how this Server Technology works, however, I think that is not the same. Now BioWare tries to up the Population of some Servers (which, by all means, is good). However, these Server Shards (as BioWare calls them) have a limit, and if they're full, you get a Queue at Log in and can only enter if others log out. The Shards can only hold a certain number of People. On a Mega Server in the style of EVE Online you won't get any queues ever, no matter how many people are logged in (they also put US and EU together, it's just one Realm without limits).

I whole heartedly agree with this. Currently it's not possible to create an old Jedi Master. Sure, you can give them grey Hair, but they still have a face like a Youngster. You can't be a 60 year old Master during the Storyline, that's right, but at least for us Role Players, the BioWare Storyline must be ignored while Role Playing, or else every Jedi Sage has the completely same Biography and Companions as you. Which would be incredibly poor Role Play as the Original Post already points out correctly. Therefore the aging option would add a lot to the ToR experience (at least for Role Players). Please add the suggested Aging option to the Character Creation. Thank you for bringing this up. - Indrani

I am totally signing this too. I've nothing constructive to add here, all has been said in previous posts. We need more Character Slots per Server. Thank you. - Indrani Edit: Oh I have something to add: Seeing that now the slots are already too few. Imagine how it looks in many many many years? I am certain BioWare will bring dozens of playable Races in the future. Seeing that some people already used up their 8 Slots (especially with Legacy / Family Tree), it will get tricky the longer ToR goes on. More Character Slots = VERY critical (especially for RP Servers, the crazy Alt-o-holics we are...)

This are amazing Ideas. Thank you for bringing this up! I hope the BioWare Devs will like this Idea as much as we do. Small details like this might seem trivial on the first view, but for real they have a huge impact of how we experience a virtual world. I agree here with the previousely mentioned idea of giving the Companion the same Speeder as we have (if a Single Seater), because once we can get TaunTaun, Varactyl or Nexu Mounts (I know not confirmed at all but I am sure BioWare will bring Mounts like that eventually) it would look silly if our Companions mount a mechanical Speeder. Another salvation would be that every (Humanoid) Companion has a Drop Down Menu (or something) to assign one of our Speeder / Mount models to them. Also agreed with the Taxi idea! - Indrani

Good Morning dear SWToR Subscribers and BioWare Devs. The reason I come up with this (perhaps silly) Idea is because I dearly Love this MMO, I dearly Love Star Wars, and I dearly Love a chipper and vital Community and a healthy interaction between people (in this case of course the Subscribers within the World of ToR). I don't come up with this because I am unhappy with ToR, no I generally like it pretty good. However, I believe my idea (or something similar to this) would add a great deal to the Community. We both, Subscribers as well as you Developers want this, ToR, to be a success. While the majority of Customers likes a lively Community too (I know, I know there are some individuals that like low-population Servers better, hency I say "the majority", so please, dear individuals, no Nerd-Rage on this particular matter), just as you want to see it as well, dear Developers, it would be worth a thought to switch to a, let's call it (for the lack of a better word) "Mega Server". What I mean with "Mega Server" is a Realm in the way of what CCP managed to create for EVE Online (I know, I know, some of the Customers might not like EVE Online, and this is perfectly fine. I am talking here not about the Sandbox Concept of EVE, but more so of the Server Type! So please, EVE haters, no Nerd-Rage in this particular matter). For anyone that is not familiar with the EVE Servers: CCP does not offer different Realms. All in EVE Online ins one big world. One Realm. One might like or dislike EVE, but one thing not even the haters can deny: EVE Online has an amazingly creative and lively Community. That is not only because of it's Sandbox Concept, no, it's also to a large part because EVE is one big Cluster, not split into hundrets of different Realms. And let's be honest, dear Customers: if the Community is great and you are enjoying the Company of your Guildies / Friends, one can even bear the one or other thing the MMO of choice lacks. I firmly believe that the Community is the biggest reason why people stay (if the MMO isn't too poorly made of course) with a Virtual World. And I believe it's safe to say, you, dear Developers, see it the same way (don't disagree with me here BioWare, or you will be granted 5'000 Dark Side Points! You do not want that!) The benefit I see with a "Mega Server" is that your Group Finder will work perfectly fine, without having to repeatedly balance Low / Standard / Heavy Realms. You will always have enough people around for WarZones, Flashpoints, Operations and Heroic Missions. I know, having a thousand People on the Fleet will cause trouble with the performance, but you, dear Developers, can surely find a solution for this. CCP managed to do it. If a small Dev Team like CCP can manage such a huge and amazing thing (where Battles with over 1'000 people at once happen without a System Crash or too much lag), then you, the big famous and amazing BioWare, can do this as well! Maybe even establish several Hubs, not just the one Republic Fleet. And make the Planets more appealing for everyone, not just the people that go through the Missions there. Change things to adapt to a Mega Server concept. With the Group Finder, the need for a Major Hub such as Carrick Station will lose a lot of it's strategic weight anyway! Ideas for such Hubs could be a Military Hub that is more shaped for the likes of Troopers, one for Smuggles that looks shadey as they like it, a big Jedi Temple Hub (not liveless like the one on Tython)! Of course same thing for the Empire Classes ( I know this just sounded too diplomatic...). This would also have the effect to give the classes an even deeper feel (and of course there should still be "Class Neutral Hubs for the ones that like the mix of having all Classes around them). Add such Hubs to many Planets. This will support a lively environment on all the Planets! I understand that one has to seperate RP, PVE and PvP Servers. To solve this, just make a Mega Server for all of them. And since this would happen, come up with special stuff only applied to PvP Servers (that wouldn't make sense to apply to a RP or PvE Server), and same for RP and PvE Servers. That way you give each of this Mega Server Types a very unique feel in addition! A "Mega Server" would also solve the issue with a "Account wide Legacy". With Mega Realms you can have all your Characters on that "Mega Realms" (if you wish to that is, of course based on if they are PR, PvP or PvE), which would make your Legacy System shine even more. Maybe even offer Legacy Perks exclusively for "PvP Mega Realms", "PvE Mega Realms" and "RP Mega Realms". That way you don't even need to make them Account Wide, since you give the different types of Legacies a very unique feel (of course all the "default" Legacy Perks are sharred by all types of Legacy, no Nerd-Rage here.) I could write more to this but I will stop here to see what the Customers and you, dear Developers, say to this idea. I know this Idea would take A LOT of work, but you wanted to bring a unique MMO on the Market, right BioWare? Sure you added by now quite some interesting, really unique things to ToR, but it's in it's core still too WoW-ish, wouldn't you say so too? Sorry if that stinged a bit, but we don't want to ignore the truth. This are my 5 Cent to maybe inspire you for ideas that are bold and more unique then all that the other Theme-Park MMOs already offer. The current Server Concept of this kind of MMOs is outdated and less Community friendly then a Mega Server Concept. With this said, I hope this Idea (or something inspired by this) will make it onto your "Wall of Crazy" and that we will see such a thing in some Years in SWToR. May the Force be with you. Indrani