Haven't had anyone challenge me yet to an imaginary paper monster version of 3d chess. Guess I'll have to wait for the real thing. My Jedi robes are getting pretty smelly with old Alderanian brandy having slept behind the bar for the last few nights...please hurry Bioware!!!

Sorry, can't reply to any haters. Busy cutting out little paper monsters in the Nar Shadaa cantina and trying get the patrons to play makeshift holo chess with me.

Okay Bioware, I just had the best idea while I was gaining rested experience in the Nar Shadaa cantina. How cool would it be if you could sit down at one of the chess tables with another person. At that point the screen would zoom to a mini-game where you could play the 3D chess game with the little monsters in it that 3-P0 and Chewbacca are playing on the Falcon in episode 4. Nothing like chatting with a mate in the cantina while sharing a drink and playing 3D chess. Anyone keen? I'm staying at the cantina until this happens.

@xxpcwizardxx Would be keen to have a read of your guide for optimizing graphics performance for the game. If you have written it and have a link could you please post it? I play the game from NZ coincidentally to the Harbinger and usually sit at less than 200ms latency. I do get lag spikes but from what I understand so does everyone.

...that all Elite War Hero gear that took months to grind has lost all of its expertise points. I suppose now that PvP has adopted the communist gear model I may as well put my hard-earned robes into storage and head to The Pit in my birthday suit.

Moving to a US server will not cause me to quit the game. It will however, cause me to quit paying a subscription. With a vastly increases latency I will no longer be able to compete properly in pvp (my main endgame hobby). Therefore, the only other real attraction to me in the game are the class stories. I can play those for free. I'm not naive enough to think my comments here will make a difference but if anyone from Bioware is reading this I just wanted you to know how the closure of the APAC servers will personally affect my gameplay and subscription status.

Wow...I've been pretty supportive of the game in general but this is not a decision I was expecting. Server merges or a free character transfer to a choice server seemed like the logical moves here. I've ended up in the same situation I am now except without the great ping...I've already rerolled on the Harbinger and now my APAC guys are getting sent to a different server type. So my toons are still separated but now all have rotten ping instead of only a few. For the first time since launch I'm actually considering unsubscribing.

Lots of us from down under are re-rolling on West Coast servers due to the lack of action in the consolidation of the APAC servers. Having to sacrifice latency for a higher player population which Harbinger certainly has.

Not trying to be negative or rain on your parade...but Australia is the only place with the great ping. In New Zealand about the best I'll get is 90. It can vary all the way up to 200. From what I hear, it's even worse for Asian markets. I'm all for a server merge but when talking about ping it's good to keep in mind that only Australians are really getting the great ping...might help explain why some people are more keen to leave the servers given a choice.

In response to Allie...my main now resides on The Harbinger. I do however, have 3 toons on GD where I started my Star Wars journey. I have met A LOT of APAC players on The Harbinger in the same boat as me...people who have re-rolled due to lack of population on the APAC servers. While this exodus may have created the nice, small niche that you seem to crave, rest assured that if a server merge occurs players will begin returning to our own mega server. I will try to be the first in line. What the majority of us want is a population that supports the definition of MMO. If and when a merger occurs there will obviously need to be measures put in place to support the concerns of the RPing community. I am all for this. But I, as well as most of the APAC community I suspect, are keen to play on a server that gives the kind of game experience The Harbinger can offer but at a much lower ping. I'll admit that at one point I thought these servers were going to die...but thanks to the dedicated players (thank you) who have kept this thread going it looks like we might finally get a resolution to this issue.

For me there are only two solutions I would find acceptable. 1. Merge the Oceanic servers into a super server. I would then look to transfer my Harbinger toon "home" to Oceania. If this option is not possible, then 2. Grant free server transfers to any US server. Cheers.

Thanks for the advice mate. Will have a look and see what I can find.

I know the Harbinger is a PvE server and as such I am having a difficult time finding a guild that focuses a bit more on PvP. While I don't claim to be an expert I can hold my own in a warzone. Love my current guild but it seems to be more ops based and doesn't do much level 50 PvP. If anyone knows any PvP guilds I'd love to hear from you. Thanks in advance.

I play as a full tank in PvP. I will agree it is not the most glamorous job out there but it is definitely not USELESS. While we tanks might not sit at the top of the damage rankings every time we are vital to the success of the group. I can hold a node all by myself against a number of opponents until help arrives. I can be a ball carrying force in huttball or guard a door like a rock in Voidstar. Tanks exist to make life difficult for the other team with interrupts, CCs, guards and taunts. It takes a lot of skill to do it properly and most people aren't going to put the time in to do so when you usually aren't the one getting MVP votes at the end (unless of course you are playing with people who recognize the value of a proper tank). Tanks do the dirty work in a WZ that is vital to a win. If you call them "worthless" in PvP then I suggest you have never tried playing a tank the way they were meant to be played...

Posted last night that I'd signed this petition and this morning my post was mysteriously removed...interesting.

Um...I was on the Harbinger 20 minutes ago and there were FOUR instances of the imperial fleet running. Are you sure you weren't just in the smallest instance of the fleet?

This conversation is dragging us off the subject I think. We all want great population and low latency. To some one is more important than the other. The real issue is the lack of response by Bioware. Maybe after a few weeks of FTP they will decide based on how many of the new players on the starter planets keep playing. I admittedly have based my opinions on the numbers on the fleet...which on Gav are quite bad. Going to stop contributing to this discussion. Feeling quite negative about the way the Oceanic servers have been handled and don't want to poison the discussion or take it out on others in the forum. I hope things work out for these servers in the end.

Have you been on our servers? There is no solution. Who is going to roll a toon on empty servers? Do you really think all the people who have left the game or gone over to US servers are going to come back? Maybe a super server could save the Oceanic servers but I am doubtful. I want the same thing everyone else does in this game...a vibrant game and community. If I can get that with low latency...superb. If not, I'll settle for some lag on a server with people. It's not as if our ideas are going to have any impact on what's going to happen anyways. Bioware will get to this issue on its own schedule...

This arguing about ping really is pointless. Some of you want to stay on the Oceanic servers. That's fine but don't expect others to feel the same. Shouting at us about ping isn't going to make us change our minds. What will is a viable population on a server. Ping doesn't mean anything if it takes 2 hours to find a group to take on that boss with a 1 second interrupt.

@Mowermanx...I agree with you 100% mate. I even PvP on Harbinger with that 200ms lag...I'll never be elite but it really isn't that bad. You learn to adapt. You may be right about Gav people being happy...the 15 of them that are left based on my last few logins.

No, you don't NEED the population of a US server but once you've experienced how fun the game is when there are that many people around you don't want to settle for anything less. If Bioware somehow comes up with a solution that can make an Oceanic server with that kind of population then I will consider moving my toon from the Harbinger back home to Oceania. I'm not holding my breath though.

Speak for yourself mate. These servers have died. If you consolidate the 50 people still playing on Gav (total) with the other two it still won't even equal off peak player numbers on a US server. The US lag is only slightly worse than the "Australian" servers from my location. They might be called Oceanic servers but they cover half a hemisphere. Only Aussies get the low lag. Don't try to suggest that people who want to leave should be forced to stay simply because you want the servers merged rather than dissolved. If you want a diluted game experience that's fine by me but I prefer to sell my goods on a well stocked GTN, get warzone and group pops in under 10 seconds and see four instances of the fleet running when I log in to my toons.

Contacted customer service wondering why server transfers weren't being offered in the cartel market. I thought that would be an easy way for players to move where their friends were. I then asked to be transferred to a server that allowed me to play the game the way it was intended, being a subscriber since launch. Sadly, I was told transfers are not being offered at this time. I have plenty of patience and will continue to support this game until these servers inevitably fold and we are given transfers. I just wish those that want to get off the sinking ship early would be allowed to do so.

Logged into Gav D for the first time in a few weeks to see what the population looked like after FTP. Suffice it to say I think these servers are a lost cause. 14 people on the Republic Fleet at 4PM on a Saturday afternoon. My re-rolled toon on the Harbinger was on the fleet and there were four instances running. As much as I wanted a server merge, at this point I just want these servers to close so that I can have my toons moved to The Harbinger. Who's going to pick Gav as a FTP server when there are no players anymore?

You guys do realize that for an item to be considered "rare" it needs to have a very low percentage of appearing in Cartel packs. Did you expect to get a super duper prize every time? If everyone got the meditation chair on their first pack how much money would be made? How "rare" would that item then be. I would assume that each pack has a set % of generating a rare item. Each pack will have its own individual percentage roll. It doesn't matter if you buy 10 packs, 100 packs or a 1000 packs. The % to get an item is fixed for each pack. If you choose to gamble your Cartel Coins then don't moan when you don't get the item you want. Rather, be smart about it and wait until people sell it in two days on the GTN. (For the record I got a nice speeder in the only pack I bought...lucky me.)