Free Character Transfers Now Available On Select Servers

[Tmbn]

I understand your reasoning about evaluating population to avoid queues, but there is also something I can't understand.

 

On all servers of certain types, there is certain amount of active players(let's assume that you consider as such only thise with active subscription and character above lvl10). You have to evaluate population od destination server of this type so it won't end up overpopulated, so this means there are more such players than server can acomodate.

 

In cases of server types where there is more than one destination server, this makes sense to see which one will fill up and redirect others to destination server that still has space. But with only one destination server of given type, what options do you have after you evaluate popoulation?

Since you still haven't opened another destination server, it would mean all those people could fit one already existing. Since you didn't allow everyone from same server type to transfer here yet, it's possible it'll fill up. So in best case scenario, you get one server holding everyone interested in given server type, and no place for newcommers. In worst case scenario, you have to open new destination server to hold those remains. And since it's possible that they could land on already existing destination server, they probably make up about 10% of server capacity, and this new server is still ghost town compared to others.

 

Could you explain how your evaluating prevents creation of destination servers that would stay light forever?

 

Hear hear... please answer this Bioware

[DarthBama]

I understand your reasoning about evaluating population to avoid queues, but there is also something I can't understand.

 

On all servers of certain types, there is certain amount of active players(let's assume that you consider as such only thise with active subscription and character above lvl10). You have to evaluate population od destination server of this type so it won't end up overpopulated, so this means there are more such players than server can acomodate.

 

In cases of server types where there is more than one destination server, this makes sense to see which one will fill up and redirect others to destination server that still has space. But with only one destination server of given type, what options do you have after you evaluate popoulation?

Since you still haven't opened another destination server, it would mean all those people could fit one already existing. Since you didn't allow everyone from same server type to transfer here yet, it's possible it'll fill up. So in best case scenario, you get one server holding everyone interested in given server type, and no place for newcommers. In worst case scenario, you have to open new destination server to hold those remains. And since it's possible that they could land on already existing destination server, they probably make up about 10% of server capacity, and this new server is still ghost town compared to others.

 

Could you explain how your evaluating prevents creation of destination servers that would stay light forever?

 

Excellent, excellent point. Stop the BS monitoring, and just combine the remaining servers in each respective area by type and get on with this. I do presume you think this game might grow again at sometime, where do you expect those people to go?

[mjmcooke]

Is there a list of server populations and where they rank ? I would like to see the list so i can see where my server ranks.

 

nothing accurate. theres torstatus.net but as it can only use the light/standard/heavy/full metrics to determine its rankings its not very accurate, and before the transfers started, only 10 or so of the 123 NA servers had significantly different enough numbers to matter.

[Daethlok]

the simple solution is,

 

The already chosen destination servers are fat enough!

 

Take the remaining servers, i.e. 7xPVE West servers, choose 1 as a destination and merge them! simples

same with the other left over groups apart from the 2 pvp east servers, when its obvious where they should be going

 

it makes no sense to further delay this and aggrevate any more people in the process

we are not anxious and we are not exited! we are frustrated and feel like we being ignored and shuffled into one thread where our voices and complaints can be lost in a thread of sith!

 

so yes there is a simple solution, it just seems this isnt the one they want to take

Edited June 15, 2012 by Daethlok

[BulldogzLife]

By "pretty sure" I meant I am absolutely positive. Sith Wyrm isn't even close. Have you never been to torstatus.net?

 

Sith Wyrm is actually near the bottom population-wise.

 

Actually it's not. It's about even with both Krayt Dragon and Mind Trick. We saw a large drop since D3 came out but it has a steady pop during the day even. Steady not being enough to do anything of course, but enough to see a few people here and there on the fleet besides during peak times. It makes the most sense as a medium pop server to become a destination to balance the Jedi Covenant name.

[Woobies]

I would like to know why I just received an email telling me I had one or more characters ready for transfer when I'm on one of the servers that is not being transferred until SOMETIME next week. I'm ticked off enough about the delay but to have an email sent to me saying I have one or more characters ready for transfer, logging into my account and finding there is nothing to transfer is just beyond belief.

[Skinatics]

I'm a little unhappy by not being on a server that's open to transfer..But on the other hand I understand what the employees at BioWare are going through with rude people always posting and complaining about their transfer process... I get a lot of silly customers at my job too...always wanting things to work right away...and when I tell them it's gonna take time to get it right they always wanna switch carriers or curse up and down all day...What I've learned is that yelling really don't help the situation get any better and sometimes it makes the process longer....its so funny that some of yall are in such a rush to get killed by my operative...be patience and you will be respawning soon enough!!!

 

PVE~~Server~~Tarro Blood~~"yeah we pvp"

[Rehneu]

C'mon! Remember Sith Wyrm as a destination server.

 

I am hoping the same thing.

[Jenovan]

I think a lot of people are missing the fact that it wasn't like the day a server opened up everyone who was going to transferred did. Some servers may have seen major migrations, other may have only see minor ones. As more time goes by, more transfers are made and they have to watch that.

 

Imagine if origin servers that only saw a 20-30% migration, jumped over the next few days to 70 or 80%. (The percentage might not be so drastic, but the hard numbers may be.) You end up with server's that are vastly fuller than they ever intended. Their margin of errors would then mean they have to look at diverting the remaining unopened servers elsewhere, perhaps to more destination servers than the original consolidation process.

 

I could very easily see Day 1 showing only minor migrations, so day 2 we got a lot more servers, also showing only minor migration, as Day 3 approached, Day 1 migrations were still going. but word was spreading, and they sent the day 3 servers to new destinations. Thursday is for some reason a big game night (I never figured out why, but that has been my observation). Imagine if migration totals jumped sharply across the board. They were expecting 20-30% from each server, now they see 50%, and the weekend could jump that to 70% or higher.

 

It's a numbers game mixed with a decision based on a human response (deciding to transfer). I'm on one of those unannounced servers, and as I come closer to the conclusion that I should transfer if and when given the chance, I am actually glad that they are making sure I don't end up on an overpopulated server.

 

Maybe they screwed up and opened up too many too fast.

 

**All numbers are plucked from the ether and not remotely based on anything other than as random examples.**

 

Just reposting this thoughtful post, and adding some emphasis. No matter how much they knew going in about how many accounts are on which servers, they couldn't reasonably predict if or when those people would transfer, whether previously inactive players would come back, and what kinds of active playtime the newly filled servers would have. The first few days of transfers have seen queues and super-high pops, but is that just because of people logging in to see what's going on, re-establish their guilds, or whatever? Or will those high pops continue? The human behavior element is what they need to observe in order to transfer the remaining servers into the most logical place.

 

For those still waiting, I'm hoping against hope that maybe you'll see something today (Joveth did say "it doesn't look like it", not "nope").

[Sylin]

Server transfers just opened up a mere 4 days ago. Most of the player base has NOT been waiting infront of their PCs refreshing the site every 30 seconds. They have real lives, families, jobs, and other responsibilities.

 

So it should come as no surprise to anyone that a large number of Xfer requests may come in as the weekend approaches. For Bioware to call a paltry 2-day time-out while they monitor servers during the weekend rush is both smart and practical.

 

I want my server added to the Xfer list as much as the next Sith. But I'm annoyed by some of the comments in this thread. I've seen toddlers with more maturity, patience and manners.

 

It's not as if we are left with nothing to do. The PTS is well-populated by mature players looking to help improve the SWTOR experience. And this weekend BW is asking players to test Ranked Warzones. So go channel your frustrations in some PVP, before Joveth is driven to drink!

Edited June 15, 2012 by Sylin

[danpen]

Just reposting this thoughtful post, and adding some emphasis. No matter how much they knew going in about how many accounts are on which servers, they couldn't reasonably predict if or when those people would transfer, whether previously inactive players would come back, and what kinds of active playtime the newly filled servers would have. The first few days of transfers have seen queues and super-high pops, but is that just because of people logging in to see what's going on, re-establish their guilds, or whatever? Or will those high pops continue? The human behavior element is what they need to observe in order to transfer the remaining servers into the most logical place.

 

For those still waiting, I'm hoping against hope that maybe you'll see something today (Joveth did say "it doesn't look like it", not "nope").

 

Hello i am sorry but i do not know what you mean ok.

[lexiekaboom]

This is not the case. We understand that having to wait can be a source of frustration, but we definitely did not come into this with no plan. The metrics we had prior to transfers opening helped us prepare for the process, but we knew that the start of character transfer would affect populations. Our plan is to monitor populations and work to ensure that character transfer results in a good experience for players. We're constantly evaluating data and will continue to make decisions based off of it.

 

If you had a plan, why was it your PLAN that the pre-order servers with the lower population get transfered last? That seems like the worst possible thing you could do (making the players that have been here the longest, supporting you from even before the game was released wait the longest, be the most likely to lose the names the logged on 1 minutes after the servers went up to reserve, ect, ect).

 

Why was that the plan?

[jedijanec]

Actually it's not. It's about even with both Krayt Dragon and Mind Trick. We saw a large drop since D3 came out but it has a steady pop during the day even. Steady not being enough to do anything of course, but enough to see a few people here and there on the fleet besides during peak times. It makes the most sense as a medium pop server to become a destination to balance the Jedi Covenant name.

 

I understand. I didn't realize how unreliable torstatus.net is until someone pointed it out to me. I don't care which one Tarro Blood gets transfered to though, even if it's Sith Wyrm! I'm just ready to get this done.

[Bearlauncher]

What are they even deciding on?

 

Can't put these two together to make a server the same size as PotF or Fatman.

Will putting one server on each of the two PVP-East cap them both? If so then you have more problems then a simple transfer.

 

 

You want the two servers to be equal Bioware, but at the expense of Belgoth and Malak having to sit around and play with our thumbs waiting for a queue? These two servers are dead and Fatman/PotF get to have their fun with all of the new transfers.

 

Unacceptable Bioware

[Nerth]

You're welcome. And we truly do appreciate your patience on this.

 

I hope you understand that my patience is running out. I've been patient for the last 3-4 months. Don't get me wrong, I love the game, paid for 6 months and even bought CE (Darth Malgus figurine was completely trashed) to upgrade my account but I'm really, really, really tired of sub-par service I'm receiving.

 

I just want to play the damn game with more than 20 other people at any given time and it's long overdue. I really hope you nail it this time because I don't have it in me to go through the same thing again.

[thatghost]

Since I know that they're paying attention to this thread (the cleanup closure confirmed that, not the sporadic vague "updates")-

 

Why can you not give us some idea of what your transfer criteria has been thus far?

 

Really, I'm curious. I know I'm not the only one. Are those of us who've been left hanging on dead low-pop servers just your filler material for when you've finished compiling the oh-so-important weekend metrics?

[HelinCarnate]

We're not done with opening up server transfers. In one of my previous posts, I said:

 

What this means is that, while we will open up more origin servers today, you're going to see fewer opening up this week and into the next.

 

We opened up many servers at the beginning of this process and only a few remain to be opened up for transfers. You will see us opening more up tomorrow and into next week. We understand that everyone is excited to transfer, but we do have to see how each day's transfers affect server populations in order to open up more origin servers each day.

 

Update: Please see my updated response here.

 

So yesterday when you said "You will see us opening more up tomorrow and into next week." you seem to have forgot to say......maybe.

[xandax]

Yes, it is VERY logical to just willy nilly keep dumping the rest of the un-transferred servers into destinations without allowing some time to see whos going to keep transferring into them from the already opened servers and seeing what the weekend populations will be like, so that by next week all the destination servers have hour long queues to get in and people are yelling for more transfers to lower pop servers again and we can start the cycle all over. Very logical indeed.

 

It's not that difficult actually.

There's a number of left over servers. Either they expect all of them to be transferable into one or two target servers or they don't.

The weekend population cannot possible change that fact because a weekend will be absolutely way too short a time to measure that from. Not everybody will be able to order a transfer, not everybody that's transferred or not will be able to play, not everybody will resub until they know whether the effect of the transfer is good or bad.

You'll need to take longer term population into account and they already have those numbers and then can project rather easily from the existing trends.

 

So either they think the servers can be fitted into a few existing destinations, or they'll have to divide them all out onto more anyway, not filling up the few existing destinations.

Because if they don't have one of these two scenarios they'll create low populated servers with their transfers simply by the ones that are left behind when the 'monitoring' shows they've reached their capacity limit.

 

This is not higher science. So even if wanting to be sarcastic - then yes, it actually is the logical approach.

 

Say you have 100 servers of 1.000 people active people.

You have a server capacity of 10.000 people.

Now, if wanting to account for the possibility that people will become more active once transfers have taken affect, do you

 

a) Transfer 50% of the people into a few servers, leaving 50% of the active population behind on all but dead servers, while you wait to see if activity level will rise from the inactive portion, over one single weekend?

b) Transfer 100% of the active people into enough servers to make them more healthy but allowing a buffer in case activity rises, allowing the active part of the population play the game while being able to monitor activity level over a longer period of time?

 

And with access to the right metrics; and having months to finalize the plan..... yeah, one weekend of monitoring is not logical.

Edited June 15, 2012 by xandax

[jedijanec]

So yesterday when you said "You will see us opening more up tomorrow and into next week." you seem to have forgot to say......maybe.

 

My brother pointed this out to Joveth. He got a direct response from Joveth saying that his excuse was that these two posts were from different days and things change on a day-to-day basis.

 

In other words, they have no idea what they're doing.

[Hawk-Firestorm]

This is not the case. We understand that having to wait can be a source of frustration, but we definitely did not come into this with no plan. The metrics we had prior to transfers opening helped us prepare for the process, but we knew that the start of character transfer would affect populations. Our plan is to monitor populations and work to ensure that character transfer results in a good experience for players. We're constantly evaluating data and will continue to make decisions based off of it.

 

If there was a 'plan' it was a very poor one indeed.

 

You rushed at it trying to placate a ever restless population, their upset because they've been telling you since release this was required, the problems with the design of the enviroments and in the game itself, were expecting that a proper service would be instigated, but instead were given something completely different, and there seems to be a total lack of understanding of that, which is a complete failure in itself.

 

There appears to be a complete and total lack of savy in with regards to design and how a user intereacts with it, both in how this system was designed and implemented and many areas of the game in general.

 

You appear not to have considered the implications or the effects it would have on your consumers both in design and implimentation which have huge oversights, despite being specifically told, regarding problems that would have a critical impact on your customers in the design prior to implementation, such as the problems with Name changes, not preserving friend lists or making any attempt at players being able to find renamed friends in game.

 

There's a Thread in here asking how many names have you lost, there should be another asking how many friends have you lost?

 

You didn't consider how the increased populations would effect problems with the design of the enviroments that don't cater well for large ammounts of players in one area, or indeed how your playerbase would feel after hearing transfers were comming only to then take all their choice away and funnel them to a set destination, leaving those that have already suffered on low population servers, rerolled only to find that server died and now unable to collate their characters ALONG with their friends onto a server of their choice.

 

That actually if they can even still find them now.

 

And then when people are being transfered you leave another block completely stranded on the lowest population servers.

 

Now I ask you honestly if some 'designer' designed your car like that would you get in it???

 

Never mind be brave enough to turn the ignition on.

 

Because to this old engineer/designer doesn't sound much of a 'plan' to me.

[DarthMondo]

I can't wait to log into my very own server (Luka Sene) tonight and play loads of pvp....Oh wait I can't the server is empty and it's a ghost town.

GG Bioware thanks for nothing....

[Shenza]

Edited due to the post was removed. Edited June 15, 2012 by Shenza

[Xiahoufig]

My brother pointed this out to Joveth. He got a direct response from Joveth saying that his excuse was that these two posts were from different days and things change on a day-to-day basis.

 

In other words, they have no idea what they're doing.

 

It does happen. While some may not want to believe it but plans can and do change from day to day.

 

Have you never had to reschedule an outdoor activity like a picnic or BBQ because it started to rain?

[leejason]

What are they even deciding on?

 

Can't put these two together to make a server the same size as PotF or Fatman.

Will putting one server on each of the two PVP-East cap them both? If so then you have more problems then a simple transfer.

 

 

You want the two servers to be equal Bioware, but at the expense of Belgoth and Malak having to sit around and play with our thumbs waiting for a queue? These two servers are dead and Fatman/PotF get to have their fun with all of the new transfers.

 

Unacceptable Bioware

 

Couldn't say it any better...I'm still waiting on Malak right now.

[jedijanec]

It does happen. While some may not want to believe it but plans can and do change from day to day.

 

Have you never had to reschedule an outdoor activity like a picnic or BBQ because it started to rain?

 

Outdoor activities? What are those?