When will there be a SERVER MERGE?

[Jetnai]

People can make the argument that Subsciption numbers have not dropped all day long, so its simply a concurrent playtime? well what ever the issue its kiling the game for me. I don't enjoy logging in to a practically empty server regardless of time of day or day of week i log in. Saturdays are the best for server pop from what i've seen on Spaceslug and its still rediculously low, i don't even bother asking for groups as there are hardly ever even a single person interested in grouping. Generally very few people even chatting for that matter.

 

Many people may not mind rerolling on another server and thats fine for them, but i don't feel like flushing all the time i've put into my characters down the toilet and do conent over and over again due to server population/concurrent playtime issues that i have no control over. I'd be perfectly happy chaning to a server with a wait to get into game over my server in which i can't play with anyone. But apparently they see no issues so they won't get around to it for another few months. Sorry to say but i won't be around in another few months.....not to say i wouldn't come back check it out at a later date, but as it is with so few people to play with unless i'm willing to flush all my play time and reroll it just isn't fun.

 

I've been pondering whether i'd keep up my sub or try something else for abit but when i log onto the forums and people are still debating if theres a problem or not well that pretty much settles it for me. No there isn't a problem for many of you apparently but its a big problem to me so i'll have to come back later and see if they've gotten things sorted out or not as i just can't justify spending the money on this games lack of players on the server i had the misfortune of selecting at launch. There are plenty of other games out there to keep me busy until things get better at SWTOR.

 

And no you can't have my stuff cus i'll be back at some later date most likely.

[Tocaseven]

i would assume its to do with legacy names , stop crying and roll on a populated server.

[Sanxxx]

Why are we suddenly so pessimistic now? BioWare has already stated three times last week that actual sub numbers have not dropped, but concurrent playtimes have. That means that if they merge the servers, the FULL queue times during Events and Expansions would be unacceptable.

 

Sigh , been through this one before they referenced 'population' not subs, not necessarily the same thing.

[JeramieCrowe]

I still fail to see any tangible reasons to be so pessimistic. Is it the new "cool" or something to totally disregard reality?

 

But, go ahead. Continue to act like this is something new to the MMO genre. I'm going to go play on my server where I've gotten a full 24-man together on Tatooine 3 times in two days within 20 minutes just two days ago.

 

ciao.

 

P.S. - My server is listed as "Standard"...

Edited April 26, 2012 by JeramieCrowe

[BrotardNosef]

At the time of this post (3:45 pst) there are 18 +/- 8-16 (depending on WZ groups) ppl on the fleet, 55 50's online total. It used to be 100+ 50's at any time of the day... gimme more ppl plz, at the very least gimme cross-server wz queue's since that is what I play 99% of the time anyways.

[siegedeluxe]

Subs may have dropped, but I don't believe that is the problem - I believe that people simply just play less, because of the numerous problems with this game.

 

*skitters off to play Risen 2*

Aye, we be needen' rum to set sail.

Edited April 26, 2012 by siegedeluxe

[KEKHAN]

Problem is people just starting or re-rolling and then once they hit 50 they quit the game. So TOR is gaining players but loosing 90% of them at end game.

 

I have rolled on 2 servers, one in Euro where i'm based and one in the US because I tend to play late and was hoping for high populations (Though the server I happened to choose is sadly dead too with less than 40 players at peak).

 

I've seen a list of the servers and there are SOOOO many, and almost ALL of them are 'Light', out of all the servers in Europe only 3 are 'Standard'.

 

How can you possibly say that 3 'Standard' Servers are ok? There should be 40% Heavy, 45% Standard and 15% Light, not the other way around!

 

I tried to create a new Char on a 'Standard' server just now, as Trooper. But the customization options were so bad and the fact that I couldn't use my name I had on another server I quit before completing the creation....

Edited April 26, 2012 by KEKHAN

[Projawa]

Server merges are ideal, but as stated before they are afraid of doing this for reasons of bad PR, inrenaming lots conflicting toon names, and more.. The next best thing would be to allow free transfers of all your characters from your low pop server to a server they designate. This would be similar to an optional server merge on the player's part. A 1:1 move if you will.

 

When they allow players to character xfer wherever they want, it needs to be free, apply to all your legacy characters, and block transfers TO the highest pop servers while allowing transfer FROM these high pop servers because there's no point in having a handful of super jam packed insane queue realms amid hundreds of ghost town realms.

 

The biggest dealbreaker is if any of this involves a fee. Charging customers for xfers in order to remedy a BW problem will shoot BW in the foot. However, after the server populations have been balanced out, I can see paying for xfers for voluntary reasons as completely reasonable.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Projawa

[Emrill]

I really hope Bioware is focusing on player population more than any other issue (barring game-breaking ones). Nothing will kill a game more than people being bored. They won't be bored due to lack of content, but the lack of people to do that content.

 

Back at launch I remember there being multiple instances of planets like Coruscant and such. There were plenty of people to always find enough to try group 4 heroics. Now I am lucky to see more than 4 people on any leveling planet and even the daily planets (Belsavus and Ilum) are fairly barren. As others have said, PvP is also a problem due to the lack of people. Some say it's bad because they are short a player and it's always the same group. I say its bad because I keep getting warzones that end early because there just aren't enough people on a side.

 

There are two solutions to the problem. Server merging and character transfers. I'll go over my opinions on each.

 

Character transfers are not the optimal solution unless like some have said, it goes along with a mandatory move because the server is closing. I think if they do transfers like that, it would also have to be your entire character set on a given server going together. Otherwise there is room for abusing legacy rewards. The only problem here is if they have two servers with almost every slot full and can't merge all their characters over without running over the character slot cap. Allowing moves without closing servers just leaves a bad situation worse to the people who don't transfer off a dying server.

 

Server merges are probably much more complex for Bioware to pull off. In the grand scheme of things it's probably a lot easier to force people to pick a server to transfer to due to the one they are on being shut down. The thing that works well with mergers over transfers is that it's easier to balance the server population. With transfers you might have a bunch of republic going to one server and imperial going to another making the population uneven. With mergers they can use the average active players during peak on several servers and merge them based on those numbers.

 

Either way something really needs to be done soon. Every day nothing happens is probably costing them paying subscriptions. After all people can only take so much of not having anyone to play with due to low populations.

[Kthx]

Subs may have dropped, but I don't believe that is the problem - I believe that people simply just play less, because of the numerous problems with this game.

 

At launch, people were taking time off from work to play. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this was not sustainable as the initial excitement wore off.

 

As far as "numerous problems" go, there is no greater prevalence of problems in this game than any other one of similiar complexity. The launch was extraordinarily smooth and servers have been super-reliable.

[zuile]

Merge or bring transfers really and I mean really soon, and merge enough to give very heavy pop servers people could later transfer off if they want less pop.

[Rantank]

I think it might already be too late. This was a problem they created, and they have stubbornly refused to address it. I'm still paying and playing but I've lost interest and the free month will probably be my last. So many have moved on and even if BW get off their proverbial and act now... how many others are like me that have just gotten tired of it? This epic decision making failure has all the hallmarks of ending up being ranked alongside Sony's NGE/CU debarcle for how not to run a MMORPG. Edited April 27, 2012 by Rantank
missed a word

[AerynSung]

I have waited patiently for Bioware to do the right thing and either (a) merge some of the extreme low population servers or (b) offer server transfers (even if you offer them for a price). Bioware has pretty much shown that they do not care about the customer. The fact that they are incapable of fixing major bugs along with the fact that they refuse to listen to the customer is killing this game.

 

Just to give you an idea, our Nathema server is one of the lowest population servers. We barely have 10 people on the fleet at peek time (I am talking 8 pm eastern on weeknights) or any time duright weekend. Now we are lucky to have 6 people on fleet most days. Forget about pvp...there are no queues popping.

 

Our guild has gone from having multiple groups that raid regularly (despite low server population to start) to not being able to field one full group to raid.

 

I was still able to accomplish a lot in this game (rull rakata & cleared nightmare modes etc.,) and so did a lot of my gild mates. But one by one they have left the game because they have grown increasingly frustrated with the bugs & low server population.

 

I just cancelled my subscription. It runs out end of May. When it runs out, I am probably done with the game. Not because I want to try another MMO...i just can't see why i would continue to play this game. There is no way I am starting over on another server at level 1 when i have invested so much time getting full rakata etc., on my current character.

[JeramieCrowe]

I have waited patiently for Bioware to do the right thing and either (a) merge some of the extreme low population servers or (b) offer server transfers (even if you offer them for a price). Bioware has pretty much shown that they do not care about the customer. The fact that they are incapable of fixing major bugs along with the fact that they refuse to listen to the customer is killing this game.

 

Ummm... they've already started server transfers....

 

It may not have come to *your* server yet, but they have started.

Edited April 27, 2012 by JeramieCrowe

[saviocm]

Merge them Bioware, just merge them.

[Vintal]

This needs to happen and fast, GW2 is steamrolling its way into the forefront. If you sit idly by you will lose a lot of players. I'm on Sanctum of the Exalted and i have noticed a big drop in population the past couple weeks. The event brought some people back and a lot were playing again, but as soon as it was gone the server has been really lacking.

[RedRibbonSword]

I will have to both agree as support this thread!

 

-Redribbon

[Allmightyprom]

BW get merging servers allready, sheesh. Merging 10 light-standard servers should make the game not feel dead and stop all the posts about dead servers.

 

The only problem i see with this, is BW will probably choose the "pay to transfer character" option rather than merge servers, simply because they can make a few extra bucks off people transfering to fatman, whereas if they simply merge servers they arent making any money.

 

BW...this is not the route to go, not everyone will pay you to transfer away from dead servers, they will quit the game because they are playing on a dead server and cant be bothered to reroll to fatman. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS!!!!!

Edited April 27, 2012 by Allmightyprom

[Nanndor]

problem is people just starting or re-rolling and then once they hit 50 they quit the game. So tor is gaining players but loosing 90% of them at end game.

 

I have rolled on 2 servers, one in euro where i'm based and one in the us because i tend to play late and was hoping for high populations (though the server i happened to choose is sadly dead too with less than 40 players at peak).

 

I've seen a list of the servers and there are soooo many, and almost all of them are 'light', out of all the servers in europe only 3 are 'standard'.

 

How can you possibly say that 3 'standard' servers are ok? There should be 40% heavy, 45% standard and 15% light, not the other way around!

 

I tried to create a new char on a 'standard' server just now, as trooper. But the customization options were so bad and the fact that i couldn't use my name i had on another server i quit before completing the creation....

 

ligth means dead servers!

[Nanndor]

When transfer characters, there will be more dead servers.

This is so bad.

And its true. People are leveling to 50, then they stop playing this game.

It's sad, because I like SWTOR.

[Yogol]

BW really dropped the ball when it came to server populations.

 

Yeah. This is just another area where it shows that they are new to MMOs.

 

I am on a server that is considered high-populated, but even there there are only 100-150 people at the fleet at peak hours. That is not even close to the numbers I saw in WoW or LOTRO.

 

The fact that there is no way to see lower-level players on other planets, is also very, very poorly constructed. Maybe there are 1.000 people online on the server, but there is no way to talk to these people and see if they are doing a HEROIC + 4 that you need on an alt.

 

A server-wide chat channel would solve this, but no... they rather have 25 seperate planet chat channel that are empty.

[JeramieCrowe]

Yeah. This is just another area where it shows that they are new to MMOs.

 

I am on a server that is considered high-populated, but even there there are only 100-150 people at the fleet at peak hours. That is not even close to the numbers I saw in WoW or LOTRO.

 

The fact that there is no way to see lower-level players on other planets, is also very, very poorly constructed. Maybe there are 1.000 people online on the server, but there is no way to talk to these people and see if they are doing a HEROIC + 4 that you need on an alt.

 

A server-wide chat channel would solve this, but no... they rather have 25 seperate planet chat channel that are empty.

 

Ever developer must be new then, because this "launch surge/dropoff" has happened to every single MMO ever launched.

 

Also, the LFG channel is server-wide....

[aligalahan]

This is getting worse. I am on Darth Sion, according to torstatus 15th most populated server among the 123 servers in North America. My server population is almost always light. Except the first 6 servers in North America all other servers are loosing populations at a fast pace. I have reached level 50 almost two months ago now, and it's not the lack of content but inability to find people to play with is killing my gaming experience. Less than 5% of the servers have ok population. Only server that is consistently heavy is fatman. To make things worse now i am reading financial analysts warning that TOR may loose half a million subcribers by end of this fiscal year: Cowen And Company analyst Doug Creutz. I think they will need to merge servers, there is no way out. We may be waiting for a designated deadline for the merge.

[Sanxxx]

Ever developer must be new then, because this "launch surge/dropoff" has happened to every single MMO ever launched.

 

Also, the LFG channel is server-wide....

 

And in some cases the 'dropoff' is much larger than expected/normal.

[Sanxxx]

My server population is almost always light. Except the first 6 servers in North America all other servers are loosing populations at a fast pace

 

No no no, the population is the same or growing, you're just playing less;)