Server Merge Discussion Thread

[masterceil]

Don't roll anything into Harb. That hamster dies too often. Roll Harb into Ebon Hawk.

 

NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE

[casirabit]

Don't roll anything into Harb. That hamster dies too often. Roll Harb into Ebon Hawk.

 

Please No.

[IoNonSoEVero]

If they do end up merging anything, IMHO Harbinger and Ebon Hawk should be the two NA servers that should be left alone.

 

The servers do have different cultures and types of players, and EH and Harbinger are lightyears apart from each other.

[Rasinator]

Many Thanks Keith for keeping this thread and the community apprised of the situation! I am excited for any server mergers as it will help the Queues for FP, Ops and Uprisings including WZ's. I indeed hope you are able to address the situation to the comment of @actkiyomur you replied. This will address MOST if not all concerns. :rak_03:

[kodrac]

Don't roll anything into Harb. That hamster dies too often. Roll Harb into Ebon Hawk.

 

Harb = West Coast, EH = East coast. So, nope, won't be that way. Not to mention rolling trolls onto an RP server is a recipe for disaster. And, no, I'm not saying everyone on Harb is a troll. LOL @ politcal cerrectness on a game forum.

[Rasinator]

If they do end up merging anything, IMHO Harbinger and Ebon Hawk should be the two NA servers that should be left alone.

 

The servers do have different cultures and types of players, and EH and Harbinger are lightyears apart from each other.

 

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Well Said! The West and East coast servers should be merged accordingly. Harb and TEH should be the ONLY two left. Harbinger IMO, full of Trolls bowing to the Conquest guild BBB. There's no need to create 3 guilds of the same name to dominate the server. Should be penalties in place.

[ZionHalcyon]

Not a bad idea #30760

 

Hey, that's TK-421 to you!

[masterceil]

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Well Said! The West and East coast servers should be merged accordingly. Harb and TEH should be the ONLY two left. Harbinger IMO, full of Trolls bowing to the Conquest guild BBB. There's no need to create 3 guilds of the same name to dominate the server. Should be penalties in place.

 

There is such a need if they have over 3,000 active members. Who are you to tell a guild they can't have more than 1,000 members, and therefore need to roll a sister guild to keep on growing?

[CrazyCT]

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Well Said! The West and East coast servers should be merged accordingly. Harb and TEH should be the ONLY two left. Harbinger IMO, full of Trolls bowing to the Conquest guild BBB. There's no need to create 3 guilds of the same name to dominate the server. Should be penalties in place.

 

{Yeah, it'd be much easier to do conquest when the servers get merged - instead of 17 winners each week, we can have 1, and if you're not in BBB or whatever, that's your problem.}

[omaan]

Jung Ma is also an RP server, which is why I mentioned it. Other servers can roll together and enjoy their 3-5 minute Warzone queue times, I'm perfectly happy with my friendlier community and 7-10 minute queues : )

 

Well, rp servers may be merged into one, no problems with it.

[ZionHalcyon]

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Well Said! The West and East coast servers should be merged accordingly. Harb and TEH should be the ONLY two left. Harbinger IMO, full of Trolls bowing to the Conquest guild BBB. There's no need to create 3 guilds of the same name to dominate the server. Should be penalties in place.

 

I would not say people are bowing to BBB, but I really can't comment on BBB as that would violate the Forum terms of service.

 

I would support more people merging into harbinger simply to provide more options for people other than BBB.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I would not say people are bowing to BBB, but I really can't comment on BBB as that would violate the Forum terms of service.

 

I would support more people merging into harbinger simply to provide more options for people other than BBB.

 

Problem is that Harbinger is really not a good match for a lot of players and attracts a very different crowd. I can't speak for anyone other than myself but as a RPG/story type player, I'd be very unhappy if I were forced to leave Ebon Hawk and go to Harbinger.

[casirabit]

Problem is that Harbinger is really not a good match for a lot of players and attracts a very different crowd. I can't speak for anyone other than myself but as a RPG/story type player, I'd be very unhappy if I were forced to leave Ebon Hawk and go to Harbinger.

 

You are not alone.

[Ratajack]

You are not alone.

 

/sarcasm on

 

You mean there are people who wouldn't want to be on what some would have us believe is practically a "heaven server" with a very few "trolls" and copious amounts of "good" players who are a joy to be around and never rage at anyone or show any disrespect or less than desirable behavior?

 

/sarcasm off

[AlrikFassbauer]

Harb and TEH should be the ONLY two left.

 

GREAT for extrovert people ! Who obviously are the VAST majority here.

 

BAD for introvert people like me, but which extrovert wants to be bothered by them anyway ?

 

There should be at least ONE small server for those who like to play in rather quiet environments.

[Mubrak]

NO! Please don't speak for me. I've been here from day one, read the forums a lot but rarely post until some righteous person believes they know what I WANT. So don't assume YOU know what I NEED. If YOU are on a low population server that is YOUR fault, get off that server and find a new one. Don't ***** and moan that you want to merge because YOU can't be bothered to pay for a server transfer. Don't have money to pay for it ? Get off your butt and find a job! Flame me all you want but I am sick of people that claim to know what the COMMUNITY wants. Too many games have been wrecked by poster thinking they know everything and claim it's what everyone wants. IT'S NOT! Not everyone that play this game read the forums so don't claim YOU speak for everyone! It's just YOU!

 

This.

 

If all servers but Harb and TRE are dead, then merging them into the big servers will do little to nothing for the big server's population. If you know very well that not all servers are dead but want them to be merged into yours anyway so you can have faster GF pops, that more populated game is over there, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

For those who are stuck on the "dead" servers: something kept you there, be it the people you play with, or the character name you love, you may lose either when server merges are forced. The name may be taken, and your friends and guildies may not want to play on a "megaserver" (or not be able to due to ping issues). If only your wallet is keeping you from transfering, try to be a bit less anti-social.

 

What really needs to be taken care of is telling new players what they're getting into, a mmo newb who tries out his first MMO because... Star Wars! may be a bit overwhelmed by the "community interaction" on the high pop servers, and someone looking for a new MMO may roll his first char on a former pvp server and leave that dead game a week later.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Mubrak

[Transcendent]

The losing of character names is one of the key points we are still discussing. We know there’s a variety of issues to resolve including, but not limited to, name collisions, establishing a priority system, purging of old names beforehand, and players attempting to reserve names. We all have character names we want to preserve, so this is a key factor in the overall decision.

 

-Keith--

 

I haven't read the whole thread, so this suggestion may well have been made already.

 

Why not go down the exact same road as Blizzard do in terms of naming conventions, where duplicate names are a non-issue due to having a #number added to the end of the name that is only visible to a player (on login screen) as well as the developers?

 

I know this would probably require some rework of the ignore / whisper / guild list and other chat features, however the benefits of the naming system would also be that players actually get the names that they want for their characters. Instead of the current naming system that simply doesn't work for new players (all the good names are taken), doesn't work for players transferring servers (all the good names are taken), doesn't work for players (name purges simply don't really happen) and can simply be just annoying for players seeing other players with random ĻÉŤŢËŖĪŃĞ in their names (breaks immersion).

 

Why not take this chance to improve that aspect of things, for the players?

[BoySaber]

Well for example people want to name their character Jimmy.

Player A gets Jimmy#6089

Player B gets Jimmy#7145

Both players get to display Jimmy name without a code. In chat, in cuteness, on portrait, on target etc. The code still must be used when mailing, GTN, reporting a bug, whispering, and can be found in your character screen and friend list and guild roster in a separate tab. But everywhere else the code is not displayed.

 

This code can also be the Legacy name. We can chose to display Legacy or to hide it. There cannot be two Jimmy names with same Legacy names, but there can be two Jimmy characters with different Legacy names.

 

 

 

I haven't read the whole thread, so this suggestion may well have been made already.

 

Why not go down the exact same road as Blizzard do in terms of naming conventions, where duplicate names are a non-issue due to having a #number added to the end of the name that is only visible to a player (on login screen) as well as the developers?

 

I know this would probably require some rework of the ignore / whisper / guild list and other chat features, however the benefits of the naming system would also be that players actually get the names that they want for their characters. Instead of the current naming system that simply doesn't work for new players (all the good names are taken), doesn't work for players transferring servers (all the good names are taken), doesn't work for players (name purges simply don't really happen) and can simply be just annoying for players seeing other players with random ĻÉŤŢËŖĪŃĞ in their names (breaks immersion).

 

Why not take this chance to improve that aspect of things, for the players?

 

Yes there are same and similar suggestions.

[Andryah]

Well for example people want to name their character Jimmy.

Player A gets Jimmy#6089

Player B gets Jimmy#7145

Both players get to display Jimmy name without a code. In chat, in cuteness, on portrait, on target etc. The code still must be used when mailing, GTN, reporting a bug, whispering, and can be found in your character screen and friend list and guild roster in a separate tab. But everywhere else the code is not displayed.

 

This code can also be the Legacy name. We can chose to display Legacy or to hide it. There cannot be two Jimmy names with same Legacy names, but there can be two Jimmy characters with different Legacy names.

 

No actual need to do this though.

 

Since they added the ability to put a space in a name, any character I create, or any character that I transfer and need to rename.... I simply follow the following format:

 

<chosen name> <space> <legacy name> + turn off display legacy name in options.

 

So.. If I want a character named Jan..... I simply name them Jan Smith (where Smith is an example legacy name).

 

I have NEVER had a naming conflict with any other player with this approach, and will continue to apply the approach. Other players can as well. Unless you have a very common name+legacy_name you wan to use.... the likelihood you will bump up against a name duplication is extremely low.

 

Any player who is forced to make a name change due to a future merge gets a free rename and can apply the approach I have been using, or one that is similar.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Andryah

[masterceil]

No actual need to do this though.

 

Since they added the ability to put a space in a name, any character I create, or any character that I transfer and need to rename.... I simply follow the following format:

 

<chosen name> <space> <legacy name> + turn off display legacy name in options.

 

So.. If I want a character named Jan..... I simply name them Jan Smith (where Smith is an example legacy name).

 

I have NEVER had a naming conflict with any other player with this approach, and will continue to apply the approach. Other players can as well. Unless you have a very common name+legacy_name you wan to use.... the likelihood you will bump up against a name duplication is extremely low.

 

Any player who is forced to make a name change due to a future merge gets a free rename and can apply the approach I have been using, or one that is similar.

 

Except that the vast majority of my characters don't use their legacy name as their surname. I only show the legacy name on exactly one of my 20+ toons, and have canonical surnames for most of the others.

[Andryah]

Except that the vast majority of my characters don't use their legacy name as their surname. I only show the legacy name on exactly one of my 20+ toons, and have canonical surnames for most of the others.

 

Nothing in my approach prevents you from doing what you want to do either. You simply need to take advantage of the <space> feature in naming now to enable you to make a unique name that preserves your canonical surnames while using the first name of your choice.

 

Or would you prefer being forced by a server merge to have random integers attached to the end of your name, as some are suggesting???? I personally do not. I'll take Jan Smith (or any other surname of my choosing) rather then Jan2145.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Andryah

[casirabit]

Nothing in my approach prevents you from doing what you want to do either. You simply need to take advantage of the <space> feature in naming now to enable you to make a unique name that preserves your canonical surnames while using the first name of your choice.

 

Or would you prefer being forced by a server merge to have random integers attached to the end of your name, as some are suggesting???? I personally do not. I'll take Jan Smith (or any other surname of my choosing) rather then Jan2145.

 

This sounds good but what about players that have the same legacy name. I know that for the most part most will not use the same first name, but there could be someone that does with the same legacy name.

[masterceil]

Nothing in my approach prevents you from doing what you want to do either. You simply need to take advantage of the <space> feature in naming now to enable you to make a unique name that preserves your canonical surnames while using the first name of your choice.

 

Or would you prefer being forced by a server merge to have random integers attached to the end of your name, as some are suggesting???? I personally do not. I'll take Jan Smith (or any other surname of my choosing) rather then Jan2145.

 

A few of my characters don't have surnames by design. And they're advocating for a system where the numbers are invisible for most UI elements. When I join a Discord server, all you see in the names list or when I say something is "masterceil" (or whatever name I'm using on that server). It's only when you go to tag me (e.g. whisper or ginvite) that you see "masterceil#1234". That is a system that works elsewhere, and can be made to work with swtor without forcing countless characters to lose/change their identities.

[casirabit]

Well for example people want to name their character Jimmy.

Player A gets Jimmy#6089

Player B gets Jimmy#7145

Both players get to display Jimmy name without a code. In chat, in cuteness, on portrait, on target etc. The code still must be used when mailing, GTN, reporting a bug, whispering, and can be found in your character screen and friend list and guild roster in a separate tab. But everywhere else the code is not displayed.

 

This code can also be the Legacy name. We can chose to display Legacy or to hide it. There cannot be two Jimmy names with same Legacy names, but there can be two Jimmy characters with different Legacy names.

 

With the ability to share legacy names (my boyfriend and I do) there is a possibility that you can have a problem with a player wanting to have the same first name that has the same legacy name, so it can happen, though rare.

[Andryah]

This sounds good but what about players that have the same legacy name. I know that for the most part most will not use the same first name, but there could be someone that does with the same legacy name.

 

It would of course be possible for a player to try to use both a very common first name and a very common surname, and then bump up against another player that did the same thing. My earlier example, Jan Smith, would likely have this issue. But this was just an example... not the naming I actually use.

 

But again... the approach is about using a firstname+space+surname. Nothing in my approach requires that you use your legacy name as surname.... I just personally find that approach to be best for me. I do not however use a common name for my surname.... so the chances of my bumping up on a naming conflict with another player is pretty much zero. And it has allowed me to have pretty much any firstname I want for a character, which is really nice, since I always displayed my Legacy name anyway.. and now I just turn off displaying it because it is embedded in my character name now.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Andryah