Server Merge Discussion Thread

[orangenkaiser]

This has to be one of the worst Ideas ever sorry but the servers listed in here like Jung Ma, bastion, Pot5 are all of the wasteland servers that need to go and should have been purged a long time ago.

 

They only need 1 NA server or 2 at the most adding an RP instance would help for planet and RP but the toxic players this is upto Bioware to purge.

 

I'm guessing you didn't understand what I was suggesting. Harbinger and Bastion merged into one server (West Coast); Jedi Covenant, Shadowlands, and Pot5 mergd into one Server (East Coast); Ebon Hawk, Bergeren Colony, and Jung Ma merged into 1 server (NA-RP). Given the preformance issues the servers have been having, the last thing anyone should want is a single mega server for the entire NA game population. And one of the biggest complaints against the single server has been the RP crowd and griefing. Having three servers for NA (East, West, RP) would be optimal.

[Nightblazer]

I'm guessing you didn't understand what I was suggesting. Harbinger and Bastion merged into one server (West Coast); Jedi Covenant, Shadowlands, and Pot5 mergd into one Server (East Coast); Ebon Hawk, Bergeren Colony, and Jung Ma merged into 1 server (NA-RP). Given the preformance issues the servers have been having, the last thing anyone should want is a single mega server for the entire NA game population. And one of the biggest complaints against the single server has been the RP crowd and griefing. Having three servers for NA (East, West, RP) would be optimal.

 

I disagree. It would not be optimal for one RP server. You have people in different parts of the country and world. By forcing one single server RP you potential to increase lag / connection issues even more for those that are forced to either an East Coast server for RP or a West Coast server. That is why there should be two, one east RP and one West RP.

[Tisaren]

I'm only saying that so the RP guys are happy If I had it my way I would have 1 server only for NA and 1 for EU but the problem with this game is you need a box of tissues with every post because of the crying of blue murder if people don't get what they want. .

This is pretty rich Which part of the player base is incessantly whining about how much server merges are needed?

 

(Hint: not the "RP guys" - and girls.)

[Tiberi]

It sad to se we talking abut server merge. I rember when we left the beta some times you had to whait to come on to play. Why not fix the things thet need to be fixt so players come back?

[darthscotty]

This is pretty rich Which part of the player base is incessantly whining about how much server merges are needed?

 

(Hint: not the "RP guys" - and girls.)

 

I agree it seems to mainly be the pvp crowd that wants server merges. As somebody who plays on JC I see no need for it, it get groups and pops for whatever I want when I want it. I might have to wait a few minutes never more than 5 minutes or so and I am okay with that. The server is far from dead, I am very happy with it the way it is, I have not seen anything during my play time or in this thread that makes me see it differently. In fact if I am forced to switch servers and lose my names and have to redo all of my strongholds I am going to be very very unhappy.

[DWho]

I thought of another thing that would need to be addressed. What happens if you have extensive legacies on two of the servers being merged. If I understand what I have read, the oldest is retained and the other ceases to exist. This is potentially a problem for players that have been playing for a long time and have extensively unlocked legacies on more than one server. Some of those unlocks were very expensive either in game credits or real money (CCs). Deleting one of the legacies essentially wipes away the entire investment in the second legacy.

[DathChaos]

From a business point of view I can't​ really understand why you have not merged servers. Paying for severs that have low population cost sever rack space. That alone you are probably not breaking even on. Instead that money could be better invested in better servers that are merged

 

While a few may cry out that they want thier low population servers the amount of player lost from lack of group content is far more of a loss then trying to appeal to that small player base. That population also doesn't quite keep up with the cost to run the server.

 

Idealy the easiest thing to do, would be to refund people for the stronghold and guild ships (money and any other items for expansions as well as decision) on servers being merged. Wipe names of player who have not played in years and inactive guilds to free up names of those who do play. Unfortunately this game doesn't have a system implement like blizzard where your names in games are attached to the account so multiple people can share same names as that would fix name issues, so this is the best options I could see.

 

Player would be more willing to stay subbed if you can que and not have to wait hours for a pop. MMOs are about group activity. Spreading the population out on to many servers cut the amount of group activity.

 

I do agree that rpers need thier own servers. Idealy have a pve/PvP server and a rp server for both east and west as well as each eu language server group. 10 server and invest the saved money in more staff or better servers.

[AscendingSky]

This is pretty rich Which part of the player base is incessantly whining about how much server merges are needed?

 

(Hint: not the "RP guys" - and girls.)

 

I think you hit the nail right square on the head there! Have a cookie!

[DWho]

I agree it seems to mainly be the pvp crowd that wants server merges. As somebody who plays on JC I see no need for it, it get groups and pops for whatever I want when I want it. I might have to wait a few minutes never more than 5 minutes or so and I am okay with that. The server is far from dead, I am very happy with it the way it is, I have not seen anything during my play time or in this thread that makes me see it differently. In fact if I am forced to switch servers and lose my names and have to redo all of my strongholds I am going to be very very unhappy.

 

I have to agree with this. I do not see an immediate need for a server merger (simply adding a warning on character creation for the old PVP servers should be enough to dissuade those who want to be on a high population server from creating a character there - there is already a warning that it is a PVP server) but I think we do need to look down the road at a time when it may be necessary and try and work out the difficulties before that time comes and some of those fixes would benefit the game currently even without a server merge (like allowing guilds to move intact to a different server - this would be an excellent test of any merger systems related to guilds - and cutting the garbage talk in chat a lot of which is not suitable for younger players).

[SomeJagoff]

I'm guessing you didn't understand what I was suggesting. Harbinger and Bastion merged into one server (West Coast); Jedi Covenant, Shadowlands, and Pot5 mergd into one Server (East Coast); Ebon Hawk, Bergeren Colony, and Jung Ma merged into 1 server (NA-RP). Given the preformance issues the servers have been having, the last thing anyone should want is a single mega server for the entire NA game population. And one of the biggest complaints against the single server has been the RP crowd and griefing. Having three servers for NA (East, West, RP) would be optimal.

 

I disagree. It would not be optimal for one RP server. You have people in different parts of the country and world. By forcing one single server RP you potential to increase lag / connection issues even more for those that are forced to either an East Coast server for RP or a West Coast server. That is why there should be two, one east RP and one West RP.

 

Looking at the tor status site that tracks the server population, the most logical merges would be:

 

-Harbinger Main West Coast....merge Bastion/Begeren Colony into Harbinger

-Ebon Hawk Main East Coast...merge Prophecy of the Five/Jung Ma/The Shadowlands/Jedi Covenant into Ebon Hawk

 

Then similar to what happened in June 2012, give free transfers to Harbinger/Ebon Hawk for a month or two, then force transfer any remaining accounts that don't move over. Though, they would probably need to find a way to transfer over the contents of legacy storage/etc. stuff that currently don't transfer over.

 

I could see the merit of having a 3rd server with just Begeren Colony/Ebon Hawk/Jung Ma as an "RP" server, but they basically got the short end of the stick during the last "merge" of playstyle types, so I'm not sure if the population across all 3 of those servers is large enough to justify it. Though, a good compromise if they went with Harbinger/Ebon Hawk...West/East servers would be if they added an "RP" phase to switch to, that also included the fleet/starter worlds/etc. Again though, not sure if the RP population in the game would be large enough to justify that.

 

Regardless of the little details, I absolutely would want at a minimum, dedicated West and East, because higher ping for just 1 server would not be worth it and a huge turn off. There are other MMOs that have just 1 megaserver and the ping is basically terrible for half or more of the playerbase. 1 NA server would basically ruin PVP, high end raiding, and any other activities where fractions of a second make the difference. It would also make ping even worse for the asia pacific players if say harbinger was merged into some east coast/midwest server.

[Otaktey]

I thought of another thing that would need to be addressed. What happens if you have extensive legacies on two of the servers being merged. If I understand what I have read, the oldest is retained and the other ceases to exist. This is potentially a problem for players that have been playing for a long time and have extensively unlocked legacies on more than one server. Some of those unlocks were very expensive either in game credits or real money (CCs). Deleting one of the legacies essentially wipes away the entire investment in the second legacy.

 

They can fix the need for server merging by implementing cross server group queue. It would not affect anyone's legacy either.

[FerkWork]

I agree it seems to mainly be the pvp crowd that wants server merges. As somebody who plays on JC I see no need for it, it get groups and pops for whatever I want when I want it. I might have to wait a few minutes never more than 5 minutes or so and I am okay with that. The server is far from dead, I am very happy with it the way it is, I have not seen anything during my play time or in this thread that makes me see it differently. In fact if I am forced to switch servers and lose my names and have to redo all of my strongholds I am going to be very very unhappy.

 

Lol /5char

Edited June 7, 2017 by FerkWork

[DWho]

Looking at the tor status site that tracks the server population

 

This is a very bad way to track server population since it simply applies a value of 1 to a server when it is in Light status and 2 when it is in standard status then averages that value over how many points were taken. A server that is at 5% of Light shows up as the same as one at 95% of Light despite the server populations being massively different.

[casirabit]

This is pretty rich Which part of the player base is incessantly whining about how much server merges are needed?

 

(Hint: not the "RP guys" - and girls.)

 

Correct. It seems to be the pvp people whining the loudest. Ebon Hawk is doing fine but they ignore this and then want to push RP into an instance which will not work as that will not stop troll and griefers but they turn a deaf ear to that because they want one thing , more pvp but even with mergers that may not happen as not everyone pvp.

[casirabit]

I don't understand why RP needs it own instance your still going to see the chat whether your in a pvp instance or pve.

 

Also 2 Servers for NA as i made in an earlier post, you dont want to much strain on just 1 server, have 1 sever East cost, 1 server west coast, then 3 European servers 1 for english, french, and german speaking.

 

If you do away with RP servers, which some idiots seem to want to, you are essentially telling RP that they can't RP. This happened before on SWG when they pushed everyone on one or two servers and the RP were harassed and grief up to the point they stopped playing because for a RP if they are not allowed to RP then you are taking the fun out of the game for them. You want less people playing? Then take away RP servers and pushed RP into situations where they are harassed and grief up to the point they quit playing.

 

RP instances-Nope that will not work. There have been countless reasons already stated before in this forum which some have constantly ignored because it doesn't fit what they want.

[josephxp]

I'm only saying that so the RP guys are happy If I had it my way I would have 1 server only for NA and 1 for EU but the problem with this game is you need a box of tissues with every post because of the crying of blue murder if people don't get what they want. I just hope Bioware does it and really makes people understand that they are the ones that make the decisions and not the player base pushing.

 

You just need 1 server for the east and 1 for the west coast, no need to 2 in each. (you don't want just 1 centralized server for NA because of stress, and not just 1 server for European because thats a disaster because there are french, german and english servers so group finder can be a pain, just have 3 in the EU for each of the languages)

 

I'm on The Ebon Hawk i don't RP a bunch of people don't RP but are there because GSF pops alot (especially on GSF bonus days and prime time theres usually less then 2 mins between pops just enough to upgrade if any), PvP pops a lot both Ranked and Unranked, Operations are easy to form and make (SM and HM's if you know the right people and guilds). It's a big melting pot and there isn't much toxicity towards RP's (ERP'ers though... have you no shame?)

 

Plus most people now don't care about the pre existing labels because all servers have PvP and PvE instances (unlike before) and now focus on what server is the most populated on either NA servers, or European servers.

[DWho]

Correct. It seems to be the pvp people whining the loudest. Ebon Hawk is doing fine but they ignore this and then want to push RP into an instance which will not work as that will not stop troll and griefers but they turn a deaf ear to that because they want one thing , more pvp but even with mergers that may not happen as not everyone pvp.

 

What is the reasoning behind the idea that an RP server must be merged. Why can't it be kept as a separate server? Is it that it bleeds of population from the random grouping mechanism? or is there some other reason the RPers can't have their own server?

[Nightblazer]

What is the reasoning behind the idea that an RP server must be merged. Why can't it be kept as a separate server? Is it that it bleeds of population from the random grouping mechanism? or is there some other reason the RPers can't have their own server?

 

I don't understand it either. I agree RPers should have their own server not combined with everyone else.

[Gramps]

I'll throw my .02 in here.

 

I recently resubbed after three years away from the game. The game is great.

 

I play on Harb. IMP side. Its the most toxic, disgusting chat I've seen in any game, ever. Period. Bar none.

 

I would love to see even Harb being more active, I use the queue alot, so there are times when a queue takes forever to pop.

 

My concern win merging any server is not names, or RPs, its the community.

 

If/when you guys merge some servers can you guys commit to having a GM presence in chat? ITs going to be more active, and more toxic.

 

Let me be clear, I'm all for a little saltiness from time to time. But sexist, political, racist, the most disgusting things you could imagine are in chat IMP side on fleet.

 

So, can you guys commit to GMs stepping in? Can you guys commit to being in chat from time to time to keep the population , the new merged community, from turning into Barrens chat from 2004

[Ratajack]

I'm only saying that so the RP guys are happy If I had it my way I would have 1 server only for NA and 1 for EU but the problem with this game is you need a box of tissues with every post because of the crying of blue murder if people don't get what they want. I just hope Bioware does it and really makes people understand that they are the ones that make the decisions and not the player base pushing.

 

Ironic post considering certain posters crying bloody, blue murder because BW hasn't already given them exactly what they want by merging all US servers into one.

 

I hope that BW does NOT merge servers and really stresses the point that THEY are the ones who make the decisions and not some players pushing for server merges.

 

Notice, I said "stresses the fact" as I'm certain there would be some among the "merge servers NOW!!!! I NEED more LFG fodder!!!!!!" crowd that would simply refuse to understand that is is BW's decision to make, let alone accept that decision.

[Lunafox]

You just need 1 server for the east and 1 for the west coast, no need to 2 in each. (you don't want just 1 centralized server for NA because of stress, and not just 1 server for European because thats a disaster because there are french, german and english servers so group finder can be a pain, just have 3 in the EU for each of the languages)

 

I'm on The Ebon Hawk i don't RP a bunch of people don't RP but are there because GSF pops alot (especially on GSF bonus days and prime time theres usually less then 2 mins between pops just enough to upgrade if any), PvP pops a lot both Ranked and Unranked, Operations are easy to form and make (SM and HM's if you know the right people and guilds). It's a big melting pot and there isn't much toxicity towards RP's (ERP'ers though... have you no shame?)

 

Plus most people now don't care about the pre existing labels because all servers have PvP and PvE instances (unlike before) and now focus on what server is the most populated on either NA servers, or European servers.

 

You can't just have ONE server for each coast. It'll be laggy at best and offline at worst. Look at precious Harbinger. It's down more than up. And even though I don't RP, I wish people would stop treating them like second class citizens. I've seen first hand what happens when you loose pvpers upon an RP server. It's not pretty and the RP people suffer for it. Their type of game play is every bit as important and vital as pvpers/groupers.

 

As far as I'm concerned this conversation is pointless until they figure out how to handle things so that NO ONE loses their personal assets and guild assets. When they can guarantee guilds moving intact and keeping all their stuff, then it can be discussed as to how to divide things up. Personally I see no need. Shadowlands is fine and I do feel that the previous designations mean something. I play on Shadowlands because it's a pve server. That's it's focus and the majority of people play there for that focus. Pvp is an afterthought there, not the focus.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Lunafox

[fushnchips]

Let me be clear, I'm all for a little saltiness from time to time. But sexist, political, racist, the most disgusting things you could imagine are in chat IMP side on fleet.

 

I agree 100% this needs to stop and stop now it's the worst I have seen in a AAA game with a company with strong and strict regulations in other areas and this type of stuff in game is what really is destroying a servers community the toxic with chicken salt.

[DWho]

I'll throw my .02 in here.

 

I recently resubbed after three years away from the game. The game is great.

 

I play on Harb. IMP side. Its the most toxic, disgusting chat I've seen in any game, ever. Period. Bar none.

 

I would love to see even Harb being more active, I use the queue alot, so there are times when a queue takes forever to pop.

 

My concern win merging any server is not names, or RPs, its the community.

 

If/when you guys merge some servers can you guys commit to having a GM presence in chat? ITs going to be more active, and more toxic.

 

Let me be clear, I'm all for a little saltiness from time to time. But sexist, political, racist, the most disgusting things you could imagine are in chat IMP side on fleet.

 

So, can you guys commit to GMs stepping in? Can you guys commit to being in chat from time to time to keep the population , the new merged community, from turning into Barrens chat from 2004

 

I agree with this and the Pub side isn't much better on Harb. I know there are people out there that think this is a "special snowflake" concern but it is a serious concern for anyone who has their children playing this game. Its all fine a good for the adults but there are a lot of people younger than 18 playing this game

[AscendingSky]

What is the reasoning behind the idea that an RP server must be merged. Why can't it be kept as a separate server? Is it that it bleeds of population from the random grouping mechanism? or is there some other reason the RPers can't have their own server?

 

As far as I can tell, the only advocates of the idea that all servers must be merged into one are Veruca Salt types who want faster queue pops NOW NOW NOW, who don't care whose toons and accounts get royally kriffed up and how many players would lose billions of credits and hundreds of dollars of real money investment in the game as a result. They just want to shave a minute or two off their queue pop time, that's all they care about. All of their arguments come back to that central point.

 

I wonder if they'd be willing to give up all of THEIR stuff to move to another server to get those faster queue pops themselves... or if they're only willing to advocate for other people to make that sacrifice for their benefit?

 

The solution is not server merges. The solution is cross-server queuing. We should all be pushing EAWare towards finding a way to make that work, so no one has to sacrifice anything and we all can stay where we want to play.

Edited June 7, 2017 by AscendingSky

[casirabit]

You just need 1 server for the east and 1 for the west coast, no need to 2 in each. (you don't want just 1 centralized server for NA because of stress, and not just 1 server for European because thats a disaster because there are french, german and english servers so group finder can be a pain, just have 3 in the EU for each of the languages)

 

I'm on The Ebon Hawk i don't RP a bunch of people don't RP but are there because GSF pops alot (especially on GSF bonus days and prime time theres usually less then 2 mins between pops just enough to upgrade if any), PvP pops a lot both Ranked and Unranked, Operations are easy to form and make (SM and HM's if you know the right people and guilds). It's a big melting pot and there isn't much toxicity towards RP's (ERP'ers though... have you no shame?)

 

Plus most people now don't care about the pre existing labels because all servers have PvP and PvE instances (unlike before) and now focus on what server is the most populated on either NA servers, or European servers.

 

 

You just said you don't rp so you would not really be aware of the RP like I am. There is RP constantly going on and the reason there is no toxicity for RP on Ebon Hawk as Ebon Hawk was originally and still considered a RP server.

 

The Ebon Hawk RP-PvEEast

 

http://www.swtor.com/server-status

Edited June 7, 2017 by casirabit