When will there be a SERVER MERGE?

[sovereigns]

Short sighted they were, much pain they cause..hmmM.

 

They're waiting too late to do anything now, the damage is done, players have already left (over 400,000 last I read from EA).

 

Not much point in putting in transfers months after the game has already started dying, there SHOULD have been a plan from launch, they had to have known their million and one servers wouldn't all stay full ffs.....geez.

 

true about the damage is done it was a big mistake opening to many servers and not having something in hand to deal with it after the fever go cold.so many have left and many more are just stuck till their subs end .

transfers should have been there after the first month end not now.

[Shreddi]

My question as well. News is last month almost half a million subscribers cancelled, who knows the count this month? Im cancelling till the game can be played right. You can not get anything needed from market because its so damn thin (wasn't a problem before}. The answer isnt craft the stuff because been trying and some materials can Not be obtained or bought at any price because only the purchased crafting missions drop. Oh been waiting for those and in three days one did show and i bought and recieved 1/2 of whats needed to craft on item my level. Crafting level is way higher then what material im looking for too so you think ya would get a break. Mean time CO copied this games opportunities plus the none linear equiptment leveling, it blows it away. Cancelling my script for now (since did the 6 mo. and don't want to let it lapse) and see what happens later. Thanks, have fun. Too bad cause lots of really nice people here. Edit: I noticed a post saying Devs said up front they will not do a server merge? It's more like they didn't stub the code in while building Not thinking ahead and now can't. No big, im so glad they didnt offer lifetime memberships haha. They will wish they did . Edited May 12, 2012 by Shreddi

[vandana_]

or go the smart route and not start with so many servers. I would much rather have queues then a dead server. Bioware dropped the ball but what can we expect when a lot of people that work on this game came from Mythic. even Stephen Reid came from Mythic, so the bad customer support should have been forseen as well.

 

The smart route is to adapt to the situation. The game was massively popular in the beginning and a lot of servers were needed to avoid queues. That's fine, however the population decreased dramatically so adapt and do the merges.

[HKDeath]

Server merges will happen after the money from paid character transfers stops rolling in.

 

It's that simple.

 

(Don't believe for a second that transfers are going to be "free" with no paid component.)

Edited May 12, 2012 by HKDeath

[Shreddi]

Server merges will happen after the money from paid character transfers stops rolling in.

 

It's that simple.

 

(Don't believe for a second that transfers are going to be "free" with no paid component.)

 

I will thank them for that along with not allowing lifetime memberships . This game is good but not great. Check co out now, they copied swotr's game play to an extent and far surpassed it being none linear when leveling. Cryptic Devs arent tied down with big company policies, layers of approval, etc. etc. My freinds quit and I did earlier today. Have till end of what time I paid for in case a miracle happens but in meantime im back on co where tons of people are. Weird but True.

[BittyCookie]

I would like to add in the request for server merges.

 

Yes, Character transfers would be nice.

 

 

However, with a guild of over 450 members (most extremely inactive but still a part of our family)...and working on tab number 5... alongside our legacy, our names and our progression... the thought of requesting server transfers for all 400 of our guildies (ok, maybe 250 would want transfers because the rest quit permanently)... on top of rebuying all of our tabs....

 

I am so tired of seeing single digit numbers in the fleet around the clock. Please.... merge down the servers. The game is GOOD but the servers being dead makes us feel like the game is dead!!!

[Beziel]

I feel that usually when a server merge DOES happen, it's already too late.

It never looks good from the outside OR the inside to what seems to be a large portion of the player base (whether it is active or potential). So even if the move IS good, it will not look good.

 

But I really want a server merge too. Out of the 200 ppl (different players, not considering the number of toons) that used to be in the same guild as me, only about 30-ish are still there. And never more than 15 are on at the same time. Considering that Canderous Ordo's Imp side has already seen some smaller guilds shatter and their members migrate into larger guilds; barely enough ppl at a time to run both an op and a HM fp, wow how Massive Multiplayer is that?

 

The stories are great to the extent that I've seen. The voice-over was a nice touch (but IMO it was just that: some not-so-significant detail). The IP is of course a sure-shot... But I'm not looking just for those: there has to be a local community. Adding a x-server LFG tool will add to the playability to some extent, but really meeting other toons "in person" is so much more efficient.

[Medieve]

I somehow missed this thread when I posted, so migrating over from my unintentional locking . Anyway, my two cents.

 

One of the things that kills fledgling MMO's is a stubborn refusal to merge and realign servers after the intial surge into the game. The new dugeon tool is a great addition, but even if you opened it up to cross server you should still bleed players on low pop servers that generally do not come back. It is an avoidable fate, but one that for some reason or another, game designers and administrators don't want to embrace. People play MMO's in part because they want to feel like they're part of this massive player enriched world. When on peak times you see only 5 people on Balmorra, 30 people in fleet, you don't get that feeling.

 

You currently have roughly four times as many servers as you require. I read recently that your sub numbers are stable, but many players log in at many different times, so we don't see "peak hours" as we do in other MMO's. That may be true, but doesn't help your case. Like I said, this is a MMO, and you WANT lots of players on in the same area. Players that don't want to socialize play single player RPG's, such as Skyrim or the Final Fantasy series. MMO's are social animals, and you have to make a conscious effort to keep them that way. If you can count the number of other players on the same planet as you on one hand, or even two hands, you're in trouble. Lonely players lead to bored players, and bored players leave. This is one path to boredom that is well within your realm of control to eliminate.

 

A dungeon finder in 1.3 will not be enough. It's time to migrate players to selected consolidated servers. You launched well with stable services and room for what is the biggest MMO launch in history. But you need to maintain the population as well. MMO's go through this ebb, it's natural. High launch, high attrition. The MMO that wants to get past that needs to realign the entropic nature of players that want to continue, but are left almost alone. From there, they continue to update as necessary and release new content, opening new servers as needed and allowing free transfers to fill them. Leaving the servers in their current state will increase the attrition of otherwise paying players at a much, much higher level than necessary, even running the risk of hemhorraging players at an unrecoverable rate. Not merging servers after launch is a huge mistake that many, many other F2P MMO's have made and is the reason that they are F2P

[Medieve]

Server merges will happen after the money from paid character transfers stops rolling in.

 

It's that simple.

 

(Don't believe for a second that transfers are going to be "free" with no paid component.)

 

Unfortunately, that won't work. Taking the willing few to move to another server will cost them much more money and a higher percentage of players than consolidating now. I know it's a tall order, but it's very possible, and entirely probable, that if they don't merge at a significant level by 1.3, they'll lose their ability to grow this game the way it deserves. People who are still paying for multiples MMO's would rather drop one MMO and wait for another than pay additional money to fix one problem that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place. MMO's are over a decade old now, this is a very foreseeable problem, and the solution is equally foreseeable. There is no face to be lost by rearranging after a launch. It's not like they had any idea of where the player base would lie. They're simply correcting an issue that presents itself after every MMO launch before it leaves such a sour taste in the mouths of MMO players that they never return.

[Vincit]

You know what's so funny about all of this? Some of the same people demanding server merges were demanding new servers in December.. BW listened to the loud voices, they got what they wanted and guess what? It wasn't what was needed...

 

Now we've got people demanding, "merge merge merge now now now! !! !!!" And BW is taking their time trying to do it right. If they rush it, sure as God made little green apples, they'll do something that a loud group of forum posters dislikes and we'll have another gripe fest on our hands.

 

What I'd like to see is a period of free server transfers from the lowest 50% in server population but only if going to one in the highest 50%. I'd like that to go on for about a month, and have it be a whole transfer thing (all your legacy goes over.) After that I'd like for BW to look at the servers and see which of the low ones are now dead ones and merge them into the mid-population servers. Possibly 2-3 servers into one, with a close look at trying to balance the Imp-Rep populations when doing so.

 

But I want them to take their time, do it carefully, measured and correctly. Why? So we don't have people in here complaining about how they screwed up the server merges by doing it too fast and not looking into all the issues first.

 

I guess I'm a dreamer.

[RennioFlurry]

The server population is killing my in game experience. Right now I'm sad I paid for 6 months!

[Woosh]

The server population is killing my in game experience. Right now I'm sad I paid for 6 months!

Couldnt agree more, we need some info other than summer!!!

 

Summer could mean up to 5 months!!! that's unacceptable imo.

[FaDedBriLLianCe]

Couldnt agree more, we need some info other than summer!!!

 

Summer could mean up to 5 months!!! that's unacceptable imo.

 

I'm with both of you on this, and come on BioWare and EA. almost 100 pages of this and not one answer from your staff.... come on

[Anelitt]

Gonna be refreshing to wait around 0,5 sec for a group to form in D3 when i feel like grouping

[JeramieCrowe]

I'm with both of you on this, and come on BioWare and EA. almost 100 pages of this and not one answer from your staff.... come on

 

Probably because they already answered about it again yesterday, although in a different thread.

Edited May 12, 2012 by JeramieCrowe

[BittyCookie]

You know what's so funny about all of this? Some of the same people demanding server merges were demanding new servers in December.. BW listened to the loud voices, they got what they wanted and guess what? It wasn't what was needed...

 

Now we've got people demanding, "merge merge merge now now now! !! !!!" And BW is taking their time trying to do it right. If they rush it, sure as God made little green apples, they'll do something that a loud group of forum posters dislikes and we'll have another gripe fest on our hands.

 

What I'd like to see is a period of free server transfers from the lowest 50% in server population but only if going to one in the highest 50%. I'd like that to go on for about a month, and have it be a whole transfer thing (all your legacy goes over.) After that I'd like for BW to look at the servers and see which of the low ones are now dead ones and merge them into the mid-population servers. Possibly 2-3 servers into one, with a close look at trying to balance the Imp-Rep populations when doing so.

 

But I want them to take their time, do it carefully, measured and correctly. Why? So we don't have people in here complaining about how they screwed up the server merges by doing it too fast and not looking into all the issues first.

 

I guess I'm a dreamer.

 

I'm sorry but this is totally beside the point. The point is that they completely refuse to admit server merges need to happen. The point is that there is no official word they are even considering server merges. The point is... when asked their response is "Hey, character transfers are coming!!"

 

I do believe if we got word that server merges are actually in the works, most of this ************ would die and we would wait, knowing there is an end in sight. Seeing no end in sight causes an immense amount of distress and consideration of cancelling sub. If there is no end in sight, why continue to pay?

 

CHARACTER TRANSFERS ARE NOT SERVER MERGES. SERVER MERGES WOULD PRESERVE OUR GUILDS, OUR PROGRESSION, OUR BANK TABS, AND OUR COMMUNITY.

Edited May 13, 2012 by BittyCookie

[whofan]

Whilst I do look forward to some form of merging/transfers etc to increase populations etc. I do have to wonder, are the people demanding a server merge "now" the same ones demanding more servers be opened up at launch due to queues etc? ...just sayin!

[Riiquiem]

Whilst I do look forward to some form of merging/transfers etc to increase populations etc. I do have to wonder, are the people demanding a server merge "now" the same ones demanding more servers be opened up at launch due to queues etc? ...just sayin!

 

Because at launch no one could foresee how bad this game actually is.

Transfers won't bring a solution, merge indeed is one.

[Kayse]

Because at launch no one could foresee how bad this game actually is.

Transfers won't bring a solution, merge indeed is one.

 

I rather like this bad game tyvm

 

Out of all honestly i don't blame bioware for holding out this long to merge servers, they have become EA's lil puppet buisness and they can't rlly do much without their approval lol.

 

The main problem i can see with merges is that they need to get an overall population of each server and see which ones are the most suitable to merge with each other based off this info. With all the fluctuating population shifts lately with the new betas/games coming out and many people being burnt out/quitting because of their servers being empty I can imagine it's hard to get a proper consensus on how to merge the realms together without possibly causing an even larger issue.

 

They also need to factor in the faction balances and try to balance those out accordingly as well. It's not something they can just whip out and just slam together...they've already done that enough lately, and i prefer if they got their information right this time before they do. Merges will come people, and yes It is obvious it is greatly needed but would you rather them smash a bunch of random realms together and say "good luck" or at least get some nice facts down first and make the merges a success that won't kill tor more? I'm waiting, and i'll keep pvping and hope they come around soon. Shien is still alive somewhat and im happy with our community and anyone who is lonely on their current 1 population realms are more than welcome to come join us until the merges.

[RocNessMonster]

Whilst I do look forward to some form of merging/transfers etc to increase populations etc. I do have to wonder, are the people demanding a server merge "now" the same ones demanding more servers be opened up at launch due to queues etc? ...just sayin!

 

It's not like we twisted Bioware's arm. New servers were going to open at launch, it was inevitable whether we complained or not. It all comes down to bragging rights to investors, "SWTOR is doing so great we had to open 50 new servers". That kind of **** is exactly what shareholders want to hear.

 

This games largest flaw is too many decisions are made by accountants aiming for maximum profits and not "is this fun?"

[Senorita_]

My post is the 3920th post on this topic. So apologies - I haven't read them all.

 

Its amazing to see so many of us using the forum, but yet no one seems to be in game (at least on my server!).

 

I can appreciate why Bioware wouldn't want to merge servers, as from a PR perspective, it's a bit like admitting defeat. But in reality, its just the natural way of things; there's always the rush to try a new game at launch (any game) and then the crowds ebb away and the developers are left with the players that actually like the game they've created - the paying customers.

 

The sad thing is, for those of us still playing (and paying! please take note Bioware ) it feels really rather lonely when online. Which is not a good thing for an MMO.

 

I really hope they will look at the success that WoW had with global pvp servers - it totally rejuvenated the playing experience for most people on WoW, and fingers crossed, Bioware will make swift steps to do the same.

 

In the meantime, I wonder how many posts we all have to make before they notice this is a 'bit' of an issue??

[Caskont]

Yea, i'am not sure why bioware is taking so long to merge the servers... seems like a horrible move on their part to delay this.. Terentanec is way dead and it is to the point that it is NOT fun to play anymore... I will be ending my subscription until the merge or transfers happen. Why pay for a game that is not producing what it promised? I will not.

[JeramieCrowe]

I'm sorry but this is totally beside the point. The point is that they completely refuse to admit server merges need to happen. The point is that there is no official word they are even considering server merges. The point is... when asked their response is "Hey, character transfers are coming!!"

 

I do believe if we got word that server merges are actually in the works, most of this ************ would die and we would wait, knowing there is an end in sight. Seeing no end in sight causes an immense amount of distress and consideration of cancelling sub. If there is no end in sight, why continue to pay?

 

CHARACTER TRANSFERS ARE NOT SERVER MERGES. SERVER MERGES WOULD PRESERVE OUR GUILDS, OUR PROGRESSION, OUR BANK TABS, AND OUR COMMUNITY.

 

Come into this decade with us. Transfers now take your items with you. In Rift last year, you logged in, picked a server, clicked "move to" and voila, moved with all your stuff, bank items and all.

 

They also put a message on targeted servers, allowed players to pick which server to move to, then once emptied, shut them down.

 

This is most likely what BioWare will do. It's a LOT less buggy than the convoluted, outdated merging, and actually works better.

Edited May 13, 2012 by JeramieCrowe

[Satans_Puppet]

Come into this decade with us. Transfers now take your items with you. In Rift last year, you logged in, picked a server, clicked "move to" and voila, moved with all your stuff, bank items and all.

 

They also put a message on targeted servers, allowed players to pick which server to move to, then once emptied, shut them down.

 

This is most likely what BioWare will do. It's a LOT less buggy than the convoluted, outdated merging, and actually works better.

 

Yes but I have a guild but I also have a seperate group of friends in WZ/PvP who I play with regularly what's the liklyhood everyone is going to stay together? Pretty slim. What the poster was saying is that transfers will split communities instead of adding to existing ones which would be the better option for an MMO community as a whole

[Neloth]

I'm starting to wonder what the heck BW is using all their time on, don't they have hundreds of devs working on TOR? The critical LFG tool and server transfers sure is taking it's sweet time. TOR is slowly burning because of dead servers, lack of people to play with makes even more people quit. TOR can be turned around to grow but BW better get their act together.