When will there be a "SERVER MERGE?"

[Melacon]

I'm sure there will be merges when BW figures out how to have more than 1500 people on a server without crashing.

[Illyean]

80 plus Eu servers, population suggests 10 to 15 would be enough, they need to get a merge program in place asap, actual playing numbers will fall until the Autumn (Fall) by which time it may be too late for many people, when they log back in after the summer and find their server is dead.

[recsa]

So, when you exagerate, nobody will take anything else you say seriously.

 

I play on three different STANDARD servers and they are all quite alive, the GTNs are busy, the zones are busy as they have been for the last 6 weeks, and there is healthy bantor taking place in /general in every planet I visit, and people finding groups without much trouble.

 

LIGHT servers, yeah probably dead or dying as people simply reroll to other servers.

 

As stated i play on STANDARD server (HEX DROID) and at peak time 22:00 to 24:00 theres 80 ppl at imp fleet, 1-5 ppl at low lvl planets, 1-2 simoultaneous WZs, GTN has no low lvl resources, you can hardly find ppl for FPs, guilds are dissapearing, and ppl i knew do not longer login because they have rerolled on heavier servers ...

 

For me, thats plain dead, so i stand on my sentence, well, to please you i will change it a bit:

 

MOST STANDARD servers are plain dead

 

better now?

[Elderhound]

Instead of simply a merge, I think the best option would be a hybrid of transfers and merge.

 

1. Characters get free transfers to any server, during a 1 month window.

--------a. All legacy characters count as one transfer.

--------b. Players are prompted for name change when they select a new server (if the name is already taken). Same with legacy name. That way, players can poke around and find a server that doesn't conflict with their name, if that's a big issue to them.

--------c. The first transfer is free. Additional transfers would be charged.

 

2. Anyone who did not leave their home server within this 1 month window will be merged with several others. These stragglers should have no reason to complain about the merge/required name change, because they had plenty of time to take their own initiative.

 

-----------------------

 

This way, there should also be some natural faction balancing, with Empire players choosing servers with higher Republic population (more to kill) and Reps choosing servers with fewer imperials. (Hopefully...)

 

It also gives players choice, and sounds better to investors ("free transfers and eventual merge" sounds less like an emergency measure than a hard merge).

 

I agree 100%, i would like to add tho, that the lowest populated servers should be forced to merge with the higher population obviously that fair. Majority rules. I do think they need to merge servers over all.

[Raeyan]

I've been waiting for this game forever and preordered the CE as soon as I had the money for it. So believe me when I say it pains me to come out and admit this, but I don't think server mergers are going to fix anything. The problem right now is that the servers can't cope with a fraction of the number of simultaneous players as other MMO games. I mean let's face it, even over Christmas for the launch of the game, I don't think I ever saw more than 200 players on the fleet. And never more than 30-50 on each planet past Tython. So do the math. Even if every single one of those players stuck with it and hit 50, the initial population of the servers could not have exceeded about 1,000 players per faction or 2,000 players per server. Compare that to other games like WoW and RIFT where the servers can cope with 4-5x that many players at once.

 

Even over Christmas, the fleet felt like a ghost town compared to other MMO games I've played. Hell in the month prior to SWTOR going into prelaunch access, I fired up my old EverQuest 1 account (back before SoE made it free to play) and logged onto my old server. Astonishingly there were over 200 players in the Plane of Knowledge (the "fleet" of EQ1, and for the record the who feature in the game has a low cap on it so I couldn't get an exact count.). My point is that I hadn't logged on that game in years. The server I played on was one of the originals merged down and merged down over the years. I looked up some of the old hardcore raiding guilds I remembered from my days and found hundreds and hundreds of players all in the upper level brackets. Most of them were in the process of raiding or running instances.

 

So what's the point in all this? Well quite simply, when I fired up SWTOR for my early access and saw the incredibly low population during the prelaunch access, I wasn't overly concerned. I mean that's to be expected. When I got on after Christmas when all the kiddies should have gotten their shiny new MMO to play... and found that the majority of the "high traffic" areas only had ~200 players in them, that concerned me. As the population died down in January at the end of the vacation period, things got worse. More people left because of the low population which started a domino effect of more and more people leaving.

 

Last week I got an email telling me that EverQuest 1 was now free to play, and I have to be honest, I've had more fun playing a game that's over a decade old the past 2 weeks, that I've had in my time with SWTOR the past 2 months. EQ's graphics are horible, the game play is incredibly slow (seriously takes like 2-3 mins to kill a single NPC and the xp rewards are so low it'll take you a year just to level up, but it's always been that way ), but the enjoyment comes from the fact that there are actually people playing.

 

So here's the thing: Could BioWare merge servers? Yes. Could they introduce free character transfers to specific servers to consolidate the population? Yes. Would that be an improvement in gameplay experience? Absolutely. Will that solve the issue that the servers themselves don't seem to be able to support a high enough population to allow players to easily find groups/queue for pvp/form guilds/etc? No. I mean Lord Adraas is a joke right now. Most players are unguilded and people gave up on spamming for people to help them form a guild because honestly, why bother? There's a whole of like 2 guilds who actually have enough people on to even attempt to do raid content. My guild has a group of exactly 8 people who can raid and if you log on during "peak hours" all you get is random spam in general chat for tons and tons of DPS LFG. No tanks, no healers, just DPS because the only thing that's even viable right now on our server is PVP since it's the only way you can enter a queue and automatically be paired with a group of players to do anything. The LFG tool is next to useless in general since you'd have to manually search each planet in your level range for players who are LFG and most people don't even bother to flag themselves anymore. This is even more useless on a low population server where you'll be darn surprised to even find enough players your own level to form a group.

 

I've loved being a Jedi for a few months. I've greatly enjoyed the flashpoints and the pvp and the gameplay during the initial month. I came from RIFT and I went through the hellishly low population disaster that followed the wake of their initial launch. The difference with RIFT is that Trion didn't sit around and watch the problem get worse. They snapped into action and implemented a server wide LFG queue system like WoW, followed immediately by free server transfers and mergers to fix the population deficit, followed immediately by a cross-server LFG dungeon queue to fix the long queue times of the single-server system. They were no further into their launch than SWTOR is right now and they solved all those problems and started the long climb back to solid populations and happy players. All the while releasing new content/rifts/instances/pvp changes. What I'm stuck on is that if memory serves me, the RIFT development team was significantly smaller than the team at BioWare working on SWTOR. If you guys can fix the server populations, you have my word I will come back and give you another shot, but for now I'm cancelling my subscription (which oddly just renewed today of all things, so enjoy the free $15 )

 

I'm not shelling out my hard earned money every month to play a LEGO Universe "MMO", emphasis on the quotes. I'm effectively playing a single player game coupled to a chat room where I can talk to the other players who are also playing their own little single player adventures and occasionally, every once in a while, group with another human being and do something awesome together. Anyway best of luck BioWare, and as one final suggestion before I go, if you do instigate server mergers/free transfers, honestly... throw in a free month of gametime to everyone who already canceled, and send out a mass mailing to all of them inviting them back for a free month and let them move to a new server with a higher population. You just might be able to salvage this trainwreck of a launch (and yes I know EA is mostly to blame for rushing the launch date, I'll still heart you BioWare ).

[Nieky]

A server merge is much need, but my guess is this will be addressed after 1.2. BW will want to gauge the number of players that have come back (and will stay) prior to the merge.

 

I agree that there were just too many servers to begin with. Waiting in the queue wasn't so bad. I would rather wait knowing i'm getting into a populated server than instant log in to a dead one.

 

It's now become a vicious circle. Players don't log in because the pop'n is low, but the pop'n is low because players don't log in.

 

Hopefully 1.2 will bring players back and keep them.

[Matte_Black]

As I think about it more, I am just not a fan of server mergers. I see the upside in retaining the last shreds of those existing communities and directing those numbers to where most needed but, I think it's much better to just manage it with character transfers and shutting down the least populated servers.

 

I rather the player be given wider options of servers that need them as opposed to being very narrowly directed to one or a handful of servers. Let a more natural balance settle in as opposed to make the players go where they might not want.

 

I think paid transfers eventually have to be included and much of the population manipulation could be done via free transfers. Let players from servers slated for closure and from overpopulated servers transfer to the ones in the middle for free. Then just set up a regular population review every 6 months or so where the list of servers is either contracted or expanded.

[Touchbass]

They should offer free transfers, it's there mistake. People aren't going to pay for 3-4+ toons when Bioware was the ones that screwed the situation up.

[Tyraelium]

Another day goes by, no official response. PEOPLE ARE GETTING FED UP AND PISSED OFF!

[Beachcomberb]

80 plus Eu servers, population suggests 10 to 15 would be enough, they need to get a merge program in place asap, actual playing numbers will fall until the Autumn (Fall) by which time it may be too late for many people, when they log back in after the summer and find their server is dead.

 

Well said

[Tyraelium]

Well said

 

If they even make it to the Fall...

 

This is unfortunately a snowball effect. I don't log on bc my guildies stopped logging on, other guildies stop logging on. Other guilds notice how dead the server is seeming, then their members start leaving, etc.

 

We play MMOs to play with OTHER PEOPLE. Bring on the log-in queues, I don't care. I would rather wait in line to play on a full server than to pay $15 a month to log on to an empty one. I would rather wait for mob respawn times on your Instanced planets, I don't care. I want to play an MMO that is Massive AND Multiplayer.

[Stenrik]

They should offer free transfers, it's there mistake. People aren't going to pay for 3-4+ toons when Bioware was the ones that screwed the situation up.

 

They will allow you to transfer all of your characters at once, by default (transfer legacy).

They said that's what is holding up the development.

 

Honestly I think they should allow both single transfers and legacy transfers though.

[Kjoesjoks]

If they even make it to the Fall...

 

This is unfortunately a snowball effect. I don't log on bc my guildies stopped logging on, other guildies stop logging on. Other guilds notice how dead the server is seeming, then their members start leaving, etc.

 

We play MMOs to play with OTHER PEOPLE. Bring on the log-in queues, I don't care. I would rather wait in line to play on a full server than to pay $15 a month to log on to an empty one. I would rather wait for mob respawn times on your Instanced planets, I don't care. I want to play an MMO that is Massive AND Multiplayer.

 

Believe me, loging in on a empty server beats the hell out of not being able to login at all (for few minutes) Imagine how that would go if you were playing a Ops or a FP HM. I've experienced this on another MMO and it was horrible. Secondly, i'm not a big fan of the suggested character transfer. I agree that it should be possible but i don't think it is the solution to our problem.

 

Imagine yourself playing in an Ops or FP HM and not being able to quickly log back in after you have a disconnect. You would constantly play with the feeling 'oh boy, i hope i don't disconnect'. It wouldn't add anything to the game experience and lets face it, thats what it's all about. Eventualy you are back at square one. I rather have BW merge servers. It will force people to the same server.

 

If you soly present the option to transfer an individual legacy you will get a lot of complaints about people chosing a different server then their guildmates. Secondly i think BW should solve the issues for us, instead of making it possible to solve our own problems. Of course it should be an option (people should be able to chose) but i don't think it should be the only option.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Kjoesjoks

[Harislgr]

Every day i see the same thing on General disc, "today is my last day playing SWTOR there's no ppl here to do anything" it's my first MMO game that i play coz im a huge fan of Star Wars but seriously now i dont like it either to log in and see the amazing amount of 17 ppl in fleet at a good time and w8 forever for a Wz or a HM FP/OP so BW must merge some servers ASAP! i hate going today on a hight populated server and see 100 ppl on tython the same time the server i am and i have like 5 chars have only 17 ppl on fleet and like 78 all over! MERGE some servers so we can play that game for long long time!

[Biznotch]

Seriously needs to be a server merger.

 

I'm on Black Vulkars and I would love nothing more then to see a high pop pub/low pop imp merge with our realm to balance out factions. Imps side on our realm at any given time has 150 + people on the fleet. You go to the pub fleet and there's maybe at best 50?.

 

Only thing that keeps me from rerolling imp or just quitting is my guild on there.

[CJAShadow]

I suggest everyone on low pop servers reroll onto a High standard/Heavy server. You can start a new Alt there and have fun that way.

 

When server transfers do come around, move your previous character to the same one as your new one. They can manually transfer characters to the PTS now, but it must take a lot of time (or a lot of intern time... copy paste wait 4 hours to finish...) as they are only doing it for specific guild testing.

 

I am on a low standard server that has a nice community, and its not TOO hard to find people to do FPs during the weekend.

[Touchbass]

They will allow you to transfer all of your characters at once, by default (transfer legacy).

They said that's what is holding up the development.

 

Honestly I think they should allow both single transfers and legacy transfers though.

 

My issue is going to be the price here, I don't really want to dump north of 50+ dollars on transfers for a mistake I didn't even make. My server (Shadow Hand) has a good population but not enough night players as my work schedule is weird. I need a cross server tool or a free transfer to a 3rd shift server.

[decimortis]

This is the first time I've unsubbed from an MMO that I still love.

I just can't justify the monthly fee to log on and see NO ONE around me on any of the planets. A personal goal was to complete every quest in the game and going back to do 4man Heroics when I'm way over-levelled just for the sake of completing them is not my idea of fun, or money well spent.

 

I'll keep lurking on these forums until a solution appears, and hopefully return one day to continue the fun times.

 

D.

[DarthKhaos]

People talk about the power of word of mouth. Yet they talk loudly and push the idea that the game sucks. Then in the very next breath complain how the servers are dying. They run to other servers and complain that the servers are dying.

 

Take a long hard look at what's going on here on the forums. People are jumping on the next complain bandwagon and don't even know what these catch phrases really mean. Hell 1/2 of them didn't even notice their "problem" until someone told them they had a problem and made them believe it.

 

I'm not saying the game doesn't have some issues but it is no where near what people on these forums make them out to be and encourage those who have no other purpose than to drive players (the ones you want on your server) to leave.

[Beachcomberb]

People talk about the power of word of mouth. Yet they talk loudly and push the idea that the game sucks. Then in the very next breath complain how the servers are dying. They run to other servers and complain that the servers are dying.

 

Take a long hard look at what's going on here on the forums. People are jumping on the next complain bandwagon and don't even know what these catch phrases really mean. Hell 1/2 of them didn't even notice their "problem" until someone told them they had a problem and made them believe it.

 

I'm not saying the game doesn't have some issues but it is no where near what people on these forums make them out to be and encourage those who have no other purpose than to drive players (the ones you want on your server) to leave.

 

 

Go and play on a light / standard server and come back with your rose tinted spectacles still on.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Beachcomberb

[Dekkau]

People talk about the power of word of mouth. Yet they talk loudly and push the idea that the game sucks. Then in the very next breath complain how the servers are dying. They run to other servers and complain that the servers are dying.

 

Take a long hard look at what's going on here on the forums. People are jumping on the next complain bandwagon and don't even know what these catch phrases really mean. Hell 1/2 of them didn't even notice their "problem" until someone told them they had a problem and made them believe it.

 

I'm not saying the game doesn't have some issues but it is no where near what people on these forums make them out to be and encourage those who have no other purpose than to drive players (the ones you want on your server) to leave.

 

So 7 on my planets and less than 20 in Fleet is something I just imagine means low population. Trouble is you Star Wars fanboys think some of us other more hardened MMO players are looking for the Holy Grail or something. When you have played a real MMO, where there are these things called... other players, you will realise what you are missing. I have cancelled my account but kinda hope one day I'll hear a mass of voices here saying the game is brilliantly populated. However, I do take the time to log and I do take the time to scan the world, but when it feels empty and devoid of players I just sense its a game thats bombed. Time in an MMO is valuable, and I aint gonna waste time when I can be playing another MMO and be progressing. But the point here is the issue of MMO. But hey... everyone to their own. Or should I say.. On their own.

[tmpearson]

Is that you John Wayne? Is this me?

[Frozenshiva]

So 7 on my planets and less than 20 in Fleet is something I just imagine means low population. Trouble is you Star Wars fanboys think some of us other more hardened MMO players are looking for the Holy Grail or something. When you have played a real MMO, where there are these things called... other players, you will realise what you are missing. I have cancelled my account but kinda hope one day I'll hear a mass of voices here saying the game is brilliantly populated. However, I do take the time to log and I do take the time to scan the world, but when it feels empty and devoid of players I just sense its a game thats bombed. Time in an MMO is valuable, and I aint gonna waste time when I can be playing another MMO and be progressing. But the point here is the issue of MMO. But hey... everyone to their own. Or should I say.. On their own.

 

fanboys? hardened MMO players? Holy grail? are you listening to yourself?

You are SERIOUSLY trying to build an argument based on such an introduction?

you are nothing. much less a HARDENED MMo player. A washed up mmo player maybe, a squishy wet player yes. hardened? not this century kiddo'.

[VigilanteStudio]

I love this Game its Awsome but cant keep playing because of this issue. Telling me to just start over its no big deal is so lame I wish it were you.

 

It was hours of fun and I enjoyed it very much as soon as you re-roll its a Grind baby the and the fun is gone its a rerun at that point.

 

I am envious of anyone who can find 100+ on their fleet I have only dreamed of 300+.

 

I logged in last night as it was the last day of my cancelled sub to find 8 people on my fleet. I went to 4 other planets and found 3 with zero pop and one that had 2 souls on it at 7 pm prime West coast hours. I love the game and would have rather cancelled another game that I play as I prefer SWTOR but I also prefer to have people to play with and chat.

 

I have leveled 4 characters that I love on my server to 40+ My time is valuable telling me to move to another server and re-roll new and start over is a joke I don't want to start over I worked hard on these toons and want to continue with them.

 

I suppose it's easy to say that if your server is peachy and I hope it happens to you someday maybe then you we can call you haters and cry babies.

 

yes the new patch looks fantastic but what good is it when there is no one to play with its just a whole sheep load of more stuff that I cant enjoy so why continue to pay.

 

so give us transfer paid or free or server merges or listen to the happy people from the 3 maybe 4 servers that I ever see heavy that say life is wonderful all the time.

 

Ill come back and drop my other MMO that I have played for 7 years like a hot potato but I won't come back a moment before this issue is resolved no matter what content you add.

[decimortis]

I suppose it's easy to say that if your server is peachy and I hope it happens to you someday maybe then you we can call you haters and cry babies.

 

Lightside my friend, Lightside.

 

Do not wish for his server to die off, but rather yours (ours) to grow.

 

D.