Anyone else think megaservers are gonna be announced some time before october?

[iamnotshrek]

At this point I'm almost positive that BW is gonna go ahead with megaservers, but for whatever reason, they don't want to officially announce it yet.

 

I think its very telling that this new promotion they are running doesn't have a set end date. So far, we've been told that the promotion will last "a while" and that we'll have at least a few weeks warning before it goes down, suggesting that the 90% off transfers are going to last for at least a few months. And if you think about it, it doesn't really make any sense for them to end it any time before the expansion, seeing as how the KotFE hype train isn't going to be stopping any time soon.

 

When combined with the interview with the Bioware analytics guy in which he states that high population servers would be "a good start" to improving ranked PvP (http://www.swtornetwork.com/news/interview-with-bioware-stats-and-game-design-decisions/), and Eric Musco's post on server populations from back in December (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=7879116), I feel like we have enough evidence to say that megaservers are probably gonna happen. In all likelihood, this promotion will run through the summer and provide a nice buffer time in which people can transfer for dirt cheap, and when megaservers are finally announced, nobody will feel bad that they paid 90 cartel coins to move a character in the interim

 

So on that note, what would you guys like to see from megaservers? Would you prefer one giant server which combines everyone with swappable instances for the different playstyles or three servers per region, one for each of the major playstyles (the RiP Jung Ma option)?

 

Also, how do you think Bioware is going to be handling characters names on the megaservers? The Musco post from December makes it a point to mention that they will remain sensitive to character identity, and I'm sure that Bioware would like to avoid a repeat of the naming debacle which happened during the last merges.

 

And speaking of names, what do you guys think the name(s) of the new server(s) should be? Personally, I'd like to see The Fatman, the mega server before the mega servers, make a comeback. Unfortunately, the legacy of this once great server is rotting in the corpse of POT5, and I would love to see what was unquestionably the game's greatest server make a triumphant return.

Edited June 22, 2015 by iamnotshrek

[DreadtechSavant]

Hope not!

[azudelphi]

I highly doubt megaservers because of the announcement.

 

I doubt they want to deal with the legal hassle of what is likely to be a bunch of Cartel Coins spent on transfers, only to have destination servers be merged.

 

They may try to shut down POT5, but I don't see them doing "Transfer for Cheap!" then going, "Okay, now transfer to where we want you!"

[Infernixx]

Considering they just announced that they were massively discounting Server Transfers because of a population surge of old players returning, I don't think your mega-server idea is gonna happen.

[CmdrShpd]

I agree with the others. I think it makes sense to do a server merge OR to deeply discount server transfers. It makes much less sense to do both.

[AdrianDmitruk]

I hope they change the naming system to allow a space followed by a capital letter before they do forced server merges/megaservers.

 

The anger at losing names due to things beyond player control would be far more severe if the naming system is kept as is. If I lose the name "Andreus" because Begeren Colony is shut down, for example, I'm gonna be upset. If, however, I have the option of renaming him by incorporating legacy surname into his actual name, i.e. "Andreus Makaryk," I wouldn't even care. I suspect that most people who would "lose" their names in a transfer would find appending their legacy name an acceptable compromise instead of the disaster that is losing all semblance of name/character identity. Depending on whether guild ship unlocks transfer (or not) I might still be upset, as I've put a lot of my time and gameplay into expanding said guildship, but that pales in comparison to the "much butthurt in the Force" if I was forced to lose something as basic as my main character's name, along with the reputation I've earned on my home server to go with that name.

Edited June 22, 2015 by AdrianDmitruk

[iamnotshrek]

Considering they just announced that they were massively discounting Server Transfers because of a population surge of old players returning, I don't think your mega-server idea is gonna happen.

 

I don't really see how having a massive discount on server transfers is evidence against mega servers eventually being implemented. In fact, I see it as evidence for it. At the moment, server transfers are needed to make sure that returning players can play with their friends. Massively discounting them not only makes it less of a hassle for people who want to transfer now, but also softens the blow for when mega servers do go live. Imagine if you came back to the game in August, paid 1800 cartel coins to get to the server your friends are on, and then mega servers are announced in September? I think one reason for this indefinite promotion is to avoid situations like this as much as possible.

Edited June 22, 2015 by iamnotshrek

[Infernixx]

I don't really see how having a massive discount on server transfers is evidence against mega servers eventually being implemented. In fact, I see it as evidence for it. At the moment, server transfers are needed to make sure that returning players can play with their friends. Massively discounting them not only makes it less of a hassle for people who want to transfer now, but also softens the blow for when mega servers do go live. Imagine if you came back to the game in August, paid 1800 cartel coins to get to the server your frriends are on, and then mega servers are announced in September? I think one reason for this indefinite promotion is to avoid situations like this as much as possible.

 

For one, it makes no sense to make it easy to transfer characters if you intend on merging servers.

 

Logically speaking, if you intend on merging servers, you would 'disable' server transfers so you don't have angry customers ranting about spending real money on transfers right before you merge the servers.

 

Making server transfers easy and cheap actually argues against merged servers. And they've pointed out that these server transfers are aimed at a population surge of newly returned older players who were around before the last set of server mergers.

 

Literally, there's zero reason to merge servers if we're having so much of a population surge that they need to all but make server transfers free for a while.

[Technohic]

Looks to me like rather than a direct approach at that, they are enabling us to do this ourselves. I really hope for a focused concentration of players personally. Just hesitant to decide on a server just yet but will make a decision pretty soon if I see a lot of feedback on where most are heading east coast.

[ALaggyGrunt]

There are at least three characters on three servers who share a name with my first character. Merging servers would make that... interesting.

[Kalfear]

nope

 

mega servers require new engine and new engine requires massive high cost expansion to pay for it

 

You will not get one with out the other and since they have made a point of stating these free to subscribers

 

that would be a no on mega servers

[MillionsKNives]

mega servers require new engine

 

I'd ask for a source but I doubt you have one.

[JDzero]

nope

 

mega servers require new engine and new engine requires massive high cost expansion to pay for it

 

You will not get one with out the other and since they have made a point of stating these free to subscribers

 

that would be a no on mega servers

 

Not really. The servers are already act like mega servers with multiple instances.

[WorldSmasher]

If server mergers was something that could be done, then that's what BW would have done instead of the mass character transfers that they did instead.

 

This game has trouble operating with a too many players on at the same time, What makes you think it won't turn into a lag-frame rate nightmare after the mega mergers?

 

No. It will not happen.

[Newyankalt]

Given that they're discounting server transfers rather then just merging low pop servers it makes me think they're not going to do any merges at all. They just want to give everybody the chance to get off the bad servers.

 

Also what about the French and German servers? Just going to merge them with the English ones or what?

[mpddispatch]

At this point I'm almost positive that BW is gonna go ahead with megaservers, but for whatever reason, they don't want to officially announce it yet.

 

I think its very telling that this new promotion they are running doesn't have a set end date. So far, we've been told that the promotion will last "a while" and that we'll have at least a few weeks warning before it goes down, suggesting that the 90% off transfers are going to last for at least a few months. And if you think about it, it doesn't really make any sense for them to end it any time before the expansion, seeing as how the KotFE hype train isn't going to be stopping any time soon.

 

When combined with the interview with the Bioware analytics guy in which he states that high population servers would be "a good start" to improving ranked PvP (http://www.swtornetwork.com/news/interview-with-bioware-stats-and-game-design-decisions/), and Eric Musco's post on server populations from back in December (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=7879116), I feel like we have enough evidence to say that megaservers are probably gonna happen. In all likelihood, this promotion will run through the summer and provide a nice buffer time in which people can transfer for dirt cheap, and when megaservers are finally announced, nobody will feel bad that they paid 90 cartel coins to move a character in the interim

 

So on that note, what would you guys like to see from megaservers? Would you prefer one giant server which combines everyone with swappable instances for the different playstyles or three servers per region, one for each of the major playstyles (the RiP Jung Ma option)?

 

Also, how do you think Bioware is going to be handling characters names on the megaservers? The Musco post from December makes it a point to mention that they will remain sensitive to character identity, and I'm sure that Bioware would like to avoid a repeat of the naming debacle which happened during the last merges.

 

And speaking of names, what do you guys think the name(s) of the new server(s) should be? Personally, I'd like to see The Fatman, the mega server before the mega servers, make a comeback. Unfortunately, the legacy of this once great server is rotting in the corpse of POT5, and I would love to see what was unquestionably the game's greatest server make a triumphant return.

 

Nope, sure dont. If they were going to implement mega-servers they would NOT be encouraging people to transfer now. It would make absolutely no sense to encourage people to move servers now only to merge them all into a mega-server in a little over 3 months.

[Alphasgimaone]

By TFE?

Probably not.

 

By 2017?

I'd say there's a pretty good chance.

 

Whatever EA does now is completely irrelevant to what will happen months down the road.

 

Offering something for a price, offering it for a reduced prices, then offering it for free, and finally rendering it irrelevant is fairly common business practice.

 

Any "complaints" people might have about how they spent money on server transfers would be legally invalid. People are coming back to play NOW and are switching servers NOW and NOW it still costs money.

 

If you co buy a shirt at full price and then two months later it goes on clearance, you don't go back to the store and insist they refund you the difference.

 

And there's nothing "logical" arguing the discounts are proof of anything--quite the opposite, actually.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Alphasgimaone

[LyraineAlei]

More likely, IMO:

 

-Cheap transfers are to bring in immediate cash income for the company for those buying CC to move whole legacies of 8+ characters around.

-Cheap transfers are to keep returning players in the game by letting them move to where their buddies are en masse instead on moving one and refilling many.

-Cheap transfers are a fulfillment of a suggestion made by people in those POT5 IS DEEEAAD threads and those threads' cousins about PvP in general, about a discount to move from "dead" servers.

-It's a census of a sort, to see how many are in what server, how many are active. If certain servers drop below a certain population level, then they may move those people and maybe close the server.

 

Honestly, Harbinger is a test of a Mega-Server IMO, go through the forum history. How often do we see someone complaining of lag on Harb, or Harb crashing again?

 

Nah, I don't see megaservers coming around, but I do suspect server merges and closed servers in our future. Not that they will announce them as such, for publicity reasons of course.

Or maybe they want to ease up on Harb, let those from Harb run to less crowded servers, or see if they need to add more PvE servers because of Harb.

[DawnAskham]

By TFE?

Probably not.

 

By 2017?

I'd say there's a pretty good chance.

 

Whatever EA does now is completely irrelevant to what will happen months down the road.

 

Offering something for a price, offering it for a reduced prices, then offering it for free, and finally rendering it irrelevant is fairly common business practice.

 

Any "complaints" people might have about how they spent money on server transfers would be legally invalid. People are coming back to play NOW and are switching servers NOW and NOW it still costs money.

 

If you co buy a shirt at full price and then two months later it goes on clearance, you don't go back to the store and insist they refund you the difference.

 

And there's nothing "logical" arguing the discounts are proof of anything--quite the opposite, actually.

 

Agreed - plus this way gives players the choice to decide if they want to transfer at all (and possibly lose names and such) and if so, where they want to go, rather than logging in one day and finding ones characters moved to a Bioware chosen server with a prompt to rename.

 

It also lets Bioware gain data based on where the population distributes itself between servers and server types, which could lead to decisions like eliminating PVP servers should very few active characters remain on PVP servers.

 

As far as seeing one big mega server this fall - I doubt it - but who knows.

 

I do think it is only logical they would consider merging / closing very low population servers, especially if the populations drop even further on servers like POTF due to this promotion.

Edited June 22, 2015 by DawnAskham

[CloudCastle]

I think this is the first step in a server merge but not a megaserver. They did something similar already with the first merge a few years ago. First they let people merge for free (except they chose the server for you) and then later the remaining lonely souls were force-merged.

 

So, this time, they charge a small fee, and you actually get to choose where you go.

 

I'd question why they would encourage people to move (and let people choose where to go) if they were just going to force everyone to move again later anyway. It's only one server that is having population problems, right? I'm guessing that is the only server that will be merged. If they were planning on merging more, they would not let us choose were to go, because someone would inevitably choose the "wrong" server and be moved again. That's bad customer service and bad PR.

[Savej]

I'm pretty sure they're planning merges. They've done merges before; we aren't talking about brand new tech. And that's what EM was dancing around in his announcement last December in which he all but said flat out: "merges and some other related changes and systems will happen next year some time, more info coming soon". But I think they're waiting to time the announcement. My guess would be early August. They are not going to let us all smush into a couple servers and leave most of the rest in an anorexic condition for people starting up during the new x-pac and the new movies.

[Devrius]

Well the cheaper transfers are certainly going to help diminish the number of servers, that's for sure.

 

Many small ones will likely be low enough in population by the end of this to warrant closure.

 

My guess is either they won't need to merge anything, they can simply close servers that are too small and transfer people off into active servers.

 

Or merging the many surviving servers into a server type: PvP, PvE and RP.

 

My guess is they'll go the easier and simpler thing to implement, which is what they did offer a limited discount, see where the chips fall and cut the low pop servers at the end.

[iamnotshrek]

For one, it makes no sense to make it easy to transfer characters if you intend on merging servers.

 

Logically speaking, if you intend on merging servers, you would 'disable' server transfers so you don't have angry customers ranting about spending real money on transfers right before you merge the servers.

 

I don't see how it could ever be logical, incoming megaservers or not, to disable character transfers, especially at a time when you have players returning to your game. As for the ranting customers point, I agree that its a big factor and I believe one of the key reasons why they are making it so cheap to transfer. If they did nothing for a few months, kept the price at 1800 cc, and then announced megaservers as a part of 4.0, you alienate anyone who transferred from June to October.

 

I suppose that this could still be a factor even at the new 95% reduced cost, but lets be real here, the vast majority of people are not going to care that they spent a few bucks, or more likely, their monthly cartel coin allowance to transfer over a few characters. To have the same financial impact of one pre discount character transfer, you'd need to move over an entire legacy of 20 people. Very few people are going to do that, and the ones who do are clearly pretty committed to the game.

Making server transfers easy and cheap actually argues against merged servers. And they've pointed out that these server transfers are aimed at a population surge of newly returned older players who were around before the last set of server mergers.

 

Again, I agree that returning players definitely benefit from cheaper character transfers. I'd imagine thats why a free character transfer is one of the key reasons why someone would want to use a player's referral link. And again, I don't see how temporarily discounting character transfers argues against an eventual move to megaservers. I'll admit that it doesn't necessarily suggest the opposite either, and if the discount was 50%, 75%, or even 95% off with a set end date on the release of the new expansion, I'd probably agree with this line of reasoning.

 

However, the combination of the ridiculous 95% price cut, the indefinite length of the sale, and the various obvious (Musco's post in which he says they plan to "rethink how we approach server separation") and not so obvious (Alex Tremblay discussing how to improve ranked pvp) hints suggests to me that this is a precursor to something and not just a temporary sale.

 

Literally, there's zero reason to merge servers if we're having so much of a population surge that they need to all but make server transfers free for a while.

 

This is only true in an imaginary world in which the returning players are equally proportioned to like solo questing, endgame PvE, and PvP and are divided up among the servers in such a way that each server, is at or near capacity and is able to get consistent q pops for ops, flashpoints, ranked pvp, etc. Suffice to say, I don't see this happening.

 

I think at the very least, theres enough evidence to pretty much conclude that at some point there was a plan to do megaservers. Musco's post in December strongly implied it, especially so when considering how tight lipped they are about this kind of stuff. Granted, we haven't heard anything about it in a while, so maybe things changed, but with the release of a major expansion incoming, if they were planning on switching to megaservers, this would be the time to do it. Good news is that we don't have to wait all that long to find out.

Edited June 22, 2015 by iamnotshrek