Keep in mind, I'm talking 1000 *average* concurrent users, which includes the times most people aren't playing. Given the stats in the linked thread, Fatman averages about 2000 av concurrent users right now. I'm not talking total users on a server, which would be much much higher. I'm also not talking peak concurrent users, or even usual concurrent during primetime.

Okay, so the missing part above is the grace period between opening a server for transfers and opening the next server in the list. With likely the forums going nuts with people saying, "When is it my turn?" etc, we could have a smaller replay of game launch. First though, why have staggered transfers at all? I'm assuming there's technical reasons for such an approach, along with a general fairness issue. My scheme above assumes the people who have played the most on the most empty servers get first choice of server and names, and get to start playing as soon as possible. Otherwise it comes down to who happens to see their email first. With enough of a warning, and an email to indicate precisely when transfers will be allowed for a server/account, they could stage it at regular, predictable intervals, such as once every hour (or two or three). You get an email that says, "You'll be able to transfer tomorrow at 2pm."

This is simply wrong. Google "Mythical Man Month". Adding developers does *not* speed things up.

Having some production experience, I'd say the most likely thing is that they simply pulled the screenshot from a media repository when they made the video. The video guy probably didn't even think twice about it. In fact, I'd be surprised if we don't find the same screenshot in another older video/screenshot, etc.

Oh please, no more free time. I'm so looking forward to the drop-off in QQ'ing.

TL;DR ... details on how they should roll out server transfers. Hi, I'm a software architect killing time in the forums while working on a system that's not unlike our server population quandary. For fun, here's one scenerio for how to roll out the server transfers in the US regions. This uses this thread for a general statistical basis. Bioware will of course have much better numbers. ASSUMPTION: My server, Jung Ma, is the desired goal. With 600 to 750 average concurrent users, it's never hard to find a group, there's always people nearby on the planets, but not too many, and there's an active, good community. Personally, I hope they don't allow transfers to Jung Ma in the initial batch. Given that it's currently #10 in the US, I'm using this as a way to gauge locked-out servers. GOAL: get as many servers as possible up to 1000 average concurrent users. * top-ten servers are locked-out to transfers. No exceptions. * the initial target servers will be those with av pop rank between #11 and #20. Only those servers will be available until they are either full (brought to 1000 av concurrent users) or all server transfers are done. If they fill up, then the next group of 10 will be opened up. * server transfers will occur in waves, starting with the servers with the lowest average concurrent population over the last two months. How long to wait before allowing the next server to do transfers is an open question. * within a server, accounts will be prioritized based upon collective play-time ... those with the most go first. Now, I don't mean number of days subscribed ... I mean number of minutes spent in-game. * guilds will automatically get a slot for each guild member once the guildmaster transfers over, meaning there will definitely be room on the chosen server for everyone. Character & legacy name choices will still be first come, first served, which means guild members will get the guildmaster's choice of server, but not necessarily their name/legacy. * active accounts will get emails inviting them to transfer in the priority order listed above. When servers fill up, update emails will go out to pending accounts to indicate the new set of available servers. * when there's a name (char or legacy) collision, the user gets to choose a new name either when filling out the form to indicate their transfer, or when logging in for the first time on the new server * on the server transfer form, accounts will be able to select which characters transfer. Characters on other servers will become available to transfer when that server gets its turn. * transfers are TRANSFERS ... characters will be deleted from old servers. * guilds go with the guildmaster. Characters remaining on the old server will not be marked as in that guild, though if they transfer to the new server, their guild status will automatically be transferred as well. * given this last point, guildmasters should be given a higher priority ... transferring sooner. * once servers have zero active account populations, they'll be disabled and removed from the server list. * once all waves have been given the opportunity to transfer, and following a certain grace period, emails will go out to unsubscribed accounts as well. Should someone resubscribe, they'll get their choice of server like everyone else, though they go in the second batch. * should someone resubscribe while on a disabled server, they'll be required to transfer before they can play. * once transfers have calmed down, and after a grace period, accounts still on low pop servers will get reminder emails on a periodic basis, escalating in their perks for transferring, depending on server pop. If there's only a few on a server, free game time might be offered to get these to move. * after all free transfers have completely calmed down, low pop servers will taken off the "new server" list, preventing new people from subscribing to very low pop servers. People can continue to play there if they want, but will be told that they should transfer if they want a growing community. Ideally, this will yield 15 to 30 servers with av concurrent users between 750 and 2000. Also ideally, they'll be able to disable or "hide" 15 to 30 servers as well. Thoughts?

I hope they wait for current subscribers to finish their transfers before letting lapsed subscribers do it. There will of course be a week or two while server transfers get ironed out, perhaps not as bad as Asia Pacific, or perhaps much worse (given much greater numbers). To say nothing of loyalty, letting actives get their names and choice of servers.

Wow, thanks! Things are much clearer now. Some things I was confused on before: * I didn't know how medals related to valor, XP, warzone commendations * I didn't know what valor was good for * I didn't know PVP gear was: level 1, recruit ... level 2, battle master ... level 3, war hero I'm still unclear on PVE/raid gear, but that's another topic! Anyway, thanks again.

Just had a fun world PVP experience on Jung Ma, outside Duvaal on Alderaan. My wife and I were jumped while questing by two imperials, and were outleveled, but kept at it. I put out a general distress call on our RP channel (which people actually listen to unlike General, which nearly everyone turns off) and we were soon joined by a Level 50. The imps ran, so the three of us started searching all around, to no avail. Nice to have a 50 friend. Anyway, just a note to say Open World PVP is alive and well on Jung Ma. I've had a half dozen such encounters, and they're all fun. Of course, I sometimes go out of my way to enemy bases, which helps. If you're an imperial on Jung Ma, or to everyone in general, please venture outside your quest zones for random encounters. And if you have them, put a distress call on a server-wide channel. It's fun.

I'm loving Jung Ma ... rarely a warzone wait, lots of people leveling on planets, so not hard to find groups for heroics, etc. Also, the community for the most part is more mature than I've seen elsewhere. (RP related?) And the guilds seem to be strong, wtih many events.

Server pops are fine on Jung Ma, which is top-ten, but not Fatman.

I'm looking forward to the drop in QQ'ers. I'm staying.

Hi, can someone point me to the REAL basics? I have read a half-dozen guides about warzone commendations, ranked warzone commendations, battlemaster, rakata, etc, and I still don't think I've got a handle on it. Everyone seems to assume the missing bits, such as the very basics of medals, valor, commendations, etc. Starting with a glossary of terms first, then explain each concept separately, then explain the path to progress. Has someone done this well? Maybe I need a "Gearing for dummies" post.

I'm very happy with Jung Ma. I never have a hard time finding groups, and I play Republic. Some very strong Republic guilds that have large regular events.

Thank you very much for the specific and detailed answers. I personally think BioWare is doing a great job responding to the community.

(while walking the Tatooine dunes) Nel'qen: "You know Kasmar, I think my companions are holding out on me." Kasmar: "Why?" Nel'qen: "I send them on a mission to another freaking planet, and they come back in 3 minutes. I mean, I can't even get across a single quadrant of this map and There They Are" Kasmar: "Yeah, I've always thought that was odd." Nel'qen: "You think they've just got a crate of junk hidden somewhere and they run off to get a "rare" artifact." Kasmar: "Or a local goodwill store." Nel'qen: "Exactly."

(at the slippery slopes) Monnassa, Jedi sage: "Hey Zerpa, you know that magic pocket we both have that holds our entire speeder when we start walking?" Zerpa, Jedi knight: "Yeah, it's great. I love how it holds our companions too while we're using the speeder." Monassa: "Yeah, Qyzen hates it. Well I was thinking, why is it my arms get full when I'm holding a dozen bacterial samples?" Zerpa: "Well, another magic pocket would cost you another $30,000 credits." Monassa: "Come again?" Zerpa: "You thought that speeder license cost all that? No, it was $5k for the license and $30k for the pocket." Monassa: "Ah."

The way I'm playing it is to do my class quests first on a planet and see how much level I have left. So, if the level cap is 25 and I finish halfway to 24, then I have a level and a half left to do side quests, PVP, space missions, flashpoints, etc. This seems to work better when I'm soloing though. I think I read that grouping increases your XP, which actually seems counter to what it should be. If it's easier to do, then you should get less XP. I know they want to reward grouping, but come on. Is XP the carrot everyone wants? Come to think of it, I'd rather have cash than XP. Give me a toggle for that and I'll be very happy

My wife and I played a Neverwinter custom community called Layonara, which was fairly epic. Not only were the XP decreases upon death non-trivial, but they had something called a "death token", which you had a chance of earning each time you died. Your level was your percent chance, so level 10 meant a 10% chance of getting a death token. Three death tokens and your character died forever. Given how very, very hard it was to level (sometimes a month or more for 1 level), this was pretty harrowing. It was an RP server and they had funerals for characters, etc. Anyway, my wife was afraid to do anything in that game except RP at the tavern Though from a challenge-hungry standpoint, it made venturing into unknown areas quite the adrenaline rush. High level monsters were mixed with low throughout the map, so you got to know "Don't go there alone" and people would talk to each other about it. Needless to say, people took dying very seriously on that server.

My wife just threatened to make her first forum post ... she wants to say, "My husband is crazy. Don't listen to this man." I joked, "Hey, I'm a healer ... it gets boring when you're killing entire mobs while I stand in the back spamming number keys while I'm reading a book, occassionally hoping for a lower health bar."

One way to help prevent the 49 farming is to make the "XP pause" class-story related. You keep leveling until you've caught up to your class story level, then you stop. Of course, you'd need to put some kind of time-limit on that state ... maybe make it a one-time use per level or class-story-point, which would force "pausers" to move through the class-story.

How about a general ability called "Beginner's Mind" that pauses leveling while it was active. An XP pause button. At least then I could PVP without feeling bad about it. As for not logging out in a cantina, I already to that (though my wife still insists on it.)

I'm loving the game, though if I could change one thing, I would add a way to have characters lose experience in some way, such as after dying repeatedly. I'm nearly always in a state of over-leveling the content I'm going through, which is made much worse when playing with my wife. We try to stay near each other in level, though she's a completist and always a level or two ahead of me. She likes being powerful, though I find encounters downright boring at times unless I'm the right level. I've finally convinced her to skip through planets where we can, but we both feel it's sad, since the stories are so good. We're leveling multiple alts and even distributing quests among them, it's still hard to do all the content and stay at or below level. Add to this that we've started to PVP and do flashpoints and space missions ... ee gads! Please level more slowly! Or please steal back experience when we die, like in many other games. At least then I could take on a few world bosses solo and get back to where things are fun again. I'd settle for a XP-draining item from a vendor and would pay good money for it

Pardon my ignorance here, but why is the security key even necessary? Do accounts get cracked that often (either here or other games)? Do they use encryption for the password prompt?

If Jung Ma is 750 av, then I'm happy with this number. Never a problem getting into warzones or finding a group, at least the times I've tried (which is usually around lunchtime EDT).