Server Merge Discussion Thread

[docbenwayddo]

...

I also think they should still name purge any non-70s who havent played anytime in KOTFE or KOTET.

 

This has to be a joke. Avoiding horrible story on active characters isn't even in the ballpark for reasons to name purge. Screw that story and anything attached to it.

[MissilyMilcasia]

This has to be a joke. Avoiding horrible story on active characters isn't even in the ballpark for reasons to name purge. Screw that story and anything attached to it.

 

Let me re-specify, cause that was a problematic statement unintentionally.

 

Purge all non 70s on any account that has not logged in under the KOTFE and KOTET expansions. That will likely be at least TWO YEARS or more at the time bioware rolls out the megaservers.

 

The crappy story shouldn't be a metric, trust me i hate it too. But if you haven't even logged in in two years to check anything out at all that's really that.

Edited August 5, 2017 by MissilyMilcasia

[fushnchips]

Let me re-specify, cause that was a problematic statement unintentionally.

 

Purge all non 70s on any account that has not logged in under the KOTFE and KOTET expansions. That will likely be at least TWO YEARS or more at the time bioware rolls out the megaservers.

 

The crappy story shouldn't be a metric, trust me i hate it too. But if you haven't even logged in in two years to check anything out at all that's really that.

 

Worst idea ever you do know some people were previous subs and may have even spent money in the CM for some people the race to 70 isn't even something they care about but purging toons *** maybe Bioware should purge your toons.

[Sareeph]

Worst idea ever you do know some people were previous subs and may have even spent money in the CM for some people the race to 70 isn't even something they care about but purging toons *** maybe Bioware should purge your toons.

 

If you read the post, specifically the quote, above the one you quoted you will see they were referring to name purges not toon purges. They also stated that it would affect toons that hasn't logged in for two years. Not sure what spending money on the cartel market has to do with it.

[sentientomega]

For the specific Guild issues you’ve raised, we would need to ensure the entire Guild, their Flagship/decorations, Bank/Tabs/items, and Stronghold/decorations remain 100% intact. The goal would be for the Guild members to notice absolutely nothing different and this means any returning players would still be in your guild unless you specifically removed them. Bottom line for your Guild would be making sure we protect all your hard work.

 

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--

 

Given that character transfers wipe out outfit designer stamps, what will happen to these outfits with server merges?

 

I've alot of chars with alot of outfit stamps...

[Master_Neaj]

Given that character transfers wipe out outfit designer stamps, what will happen to these outfits with server merges?

 

I've alot of chars with alot of outfit stamps...

 

I'm not one to cry out about something, but there's a lot a stake for folks all over SWTOR that have concerns on Strongholds, Guilds, Outfit Designer, and so forth... Yes its a given that the masses want Server Merges, I'm ok with it but I have these concerns as well. My Grandkids when they come each weekend play on my Account.. One server has the max of 50 characters. All the other servers have no less than 16-20. (They've been busy and got a lot of them from the Dark vs Light Event) So I toss my hat in the ring of concerns because, from the start till now have been a subscriber that has no less than 3 strongholds on Most servers, Guilds that have been abandoned and set to me as GM I try to maintain with SH's if there are any... Have invested quite a bit of $$$ to buy Cartel Coins for packs etc., over the last 5 1/2+ years like many players and just don't want to loose stuff because if it, and because Grandma spoils (my Fault not yours...LOL)...

 

I truly hope solutions can be found to work all this stuff out that will leave folks happy and content...

[DWho]

I'm not one to cry out about something, but there's a lot a stake for folks all over SWTOR that have concerns on Strongholds, Guilds, Outfit Designer, and so forth... Yes its a given that the masses want Server Merges, I'm ok with it but I have these concerns as well. My Grandkids when they come each weekend play on my Account.. One server has the max of 50 characters. All the other servers have no less than 16-20. (They've been busy and got a lot of them from the Dark vs Light Event) So I toss my hat in the ring of concerns because, from the start till now have been a subscriber that has no less than 3 strongholds on Most servers, Guilds that have been abandoned and set to me as GM I try to maintain with SH's if there are any... Have invested quite a bit of $$$ to buy Cartel Coins for packs etc., over the last 5 1/2+ years like many players and just don't want to loose stuff because if it, and because Grandma spoils (my Fault not yours...LOL)...

 

I truly hope solutions can be found to work all this stuff out that will leave folks happy and content...

 

I would say the masses are OK with server mergers under certain conditions not that they are for it. There are some players that are for server mergers whatever the cost, but this is a small group of people (the no merger ever group is also small). Bioware has said they are committed to making voluntary movement of characters easier so that is likely the direction it will go is with people moving to more populated (or even a new server) of their own volition. Until the issues with guilds are worked out, there is little chance of a server merge as transferring guilds the way they did last time (disbanding and reforming) would likely kill the game.

[Icykill_]

If you read the post, specifically the quote, above the one you quoted you will see they were referring to name purges not toon purges. They also stated that it would affect toons that hasn't logged in for two years. Not sure what spending money on the cartel market has to do with it.

 

It should be not logging into an account, not the actual toon.

[Lord_Martheous]

Let me re-specify, cause that was a problematic statement unintentionally.

 

Purge all non 70s on any account that has not logged in under the KOTFE and KOTET expansions. That will likely be at least TWO YEARS or more at the time bioware rolls out the megaservers.

 

The crappy story shouldn't be a metric, trust me i hate it too. But if you haven't even logged in in two years to check anything out at all that's really that.

 

I log in on a regular basis, I have some toons that I will NEVER put through that trash of an expansion. My account, my choice.

[Khaleg]

It's just so sad that all this happens WAY too late. It's unbelievable imho that they just now only START to get a plan for this while it should have been completed and rolled out for 18+ months already. It's a symbol for the unmatched incompetence and ignorance of the former team/the former producer.

Starting to figure out how to handle things now appears to me like comedy, bad comedy. As it sounds to me we are talking about several months from now on until they are even ready to actually do or at least start to do something. Even the new team wasted about half a year as it seems. Many guilds/servers won't survive that since some servers including mine are not dying anymore but dead (if nobody else is online anymore except a few own guild members, 20+ known bots and 10-15 free players/low levels, at super prime time that is, what would YOU call it?). Unbelievable because this topic has also been discussed here in the forums for so long already, by people who are interested in the thriving of the game, and was majorly ignored by Bioware with announced solutions like "better than x server" (lol) that never were anything more but hot air and really unmatched impudence towards paying customers. I didn't experience such a bad attitude of ingorance and neglect towards customers anywhere before, not limted to the gaming industry.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Khaleg

[MissilyMilcasia]

I log in on a regular basis, I have some toons that I will NEVER put through that trash of an expansion. My account, my choice.

 

You didn't read my post. I said log in under the KOTFE and KOTET expansions. That means if you've logged in since OCTOBER 27th, 2015, ALL of your characters would be theoretically fine. It doesn't mean doing a story that feels borrowed from daytime soaps.

 

For example, if you logged into check mail on the 28th of October in 2015... and haven't logged or subbed since then... you're still good.

Edited August 6, 2017 by MissilyMilcasia

[Mubrak]

Bioware has said they are committed to making voluntary movement of characters easier so that is likely the direction it will go is with people moving to more populated (or even a new server) of their own volition.

 

And that's the only way to go. There are players who don't want to transfer because they like their placid servers, and there are those who don't want to transfer, because to them the costs aren't worth the benefits. Even if servers are merged there would/could still be problems with names, mailbox, stronghold layout, outfit designer, guild assets, etc. Once BW solved those problems, they can just as well solve them only for voluntary transfers.

 

Main reasons I wouldn't want to move:

 

Character Names

Should be obvious. I'm here long enough to have quite a few nice ones (As in short, no funny chars, sound like actual star wars names.) Solving the naming problem and finding a way to handle duplicate names in groups and chat would also benefit new players who have a hard time to find a name. Name purges (even if they are a lot more radical than the last ones in 2013) are only a temporary solution, and will alienate returning players.

 

Mailbox

That's my pet peeve that keeps me from even just visiting other servers with an existing char. Even when the name issue is covered (name available, planning to return anyway) I like looking at my first mails to see how old some of my characters are, and I still have a lot of unclaimed items (like the GSF promotional armors) on most chars, that I neither want to throw away nor claim and put in an already overstuffed cargo bay.

 

Outfit Designer

A minor one compared to the other two, but losing the outfits shouldn't be a thing, especially with the option to use expensive dyes directly on an outfit designer stamp. You may still have that armor you used for the outfit, and it still may have it dyed black/black, but dyeing the same armor white/white on the second outfit slot was a bad idea...

 

Strongholds

While you may be able to restore most of your old stronghold with some effort, or even do better when you start from scratch, some things can't be redone due to Bioware changing the hooks. I have a Foreman Crusher on a medium hook, for example, I can never redo this, since at some point BW decided to change that deco to be valid for large hooks only.

 

Also another argument against server merges (especially when there's only one or two servers left after the merges): Right now we can have up to 17 versions of the same stronghold. It's nice to be able to try something new in a "sandbox", while leaving the original layout alone. What motivation do we have to buy a SH account-wide with CC when there is only one server left? (Same argument goes for collection-unlocks: the less servers, the less value you get for your CC)

Edited August 7, 2017 by Mubrak

[Ereldina]

And RP accommodations does not mean a separate instance like pvp. That will not work as people will get on that instance and harass and grief rp.

 

Would just prefer that a rp server like Ebon Hawk stay just the way it is and not be merged with a server, say like, Harbinger.

 

And if you merged servers this time be sure the assets are done better than they were or better yet transfer guilds in tact with all their assets without having to jump through hoops to get the guild restarted and all the assets back.

 

The thought of having to redo/refarm everything me and my partner did for getting our guild ship etc together is really not one I ever want to worry about. We duo got the ship up without anyone else helping and that was a massive time sink for us.

 

Losing all of (of even some of) my character names is another thing that's really upsetting. I've had the characters a long time, I have RP built around them and each one has a back story and everything to it. I really don't want to lose a character name because of server merges.

 

I would suggest what I have suggested before - link character names to account much like NWO did with having say... Manathayria@account (or something similar to Blizzard's Battlenet tags) so duplicate names are allowed, but things like friends, ignore etc are linked to account so if you ignore someone, they're not going to pop up on a second character for you. Mailing in that game just had you add in the @account as well so it's a little more complicated, but the @accounts were able to be hidden if you wanted in chat.

[TUXs]

And that's the only way to go. There are players who don't want to transfer because they like their placid servers, and there are those who don't want to transfer, because to them the costs aren't worth the benefits.

That's not the way it works. You realize Bioware has merged servers twice before right? Those who didn't want to transfer didn't get to keep their dead server to themselves. Merging servers is something you just don't have any say in.

[DWho]

That's not the way it works. You realize Bioware has merged servers twice before right? Those who didn't want to transfer didn't get to keep their dead server to themselves. Merging servers is something you just don't have any say in.

 

Yes they have merged them twice before and each time lost a significant percentage of the game population in the process. A voluntary system is much more sustainable and allows players to play on servers they like rather than being forced to play in an environment they are uncomfortable with. Bioware has already stated they want to let payers play on the servers they want to play on and that was the reason they are trying to make transfers easier. If they were just going to merge servers anyway, why would they put in the effort to fix things, they would just go ahead and merge like they did previously.

[Talon_strikes]

Yes they have merged them twice before and each time lost a significant percentage of the game population in the process. A voluntary system is much more sustainable and allows players to play on servers they like rather than being forced to play in an environment they are uncomfortable with. Bioware has already stated they want to let payers play on the servers they want to play on and that was the reason they are trying to make transfers easier. If they were just going to merge servers anyway, why would they put in the effort to fix things, they would just go ahead and merge like they did previously.

Correlation does not equal causation.

[Ratajack]

Correlation does not equal causation.

 

No, but it cannot simply be dismissed, either. This is especially true given the way guilds and guild assets were handled during the previous two server merges and the nightmares and headaches this caused for many guilds.

 

We don't know how many people left the game because either they lost their names and/or BW blew up their guild and they did not have the pleasant experience that some claim to have had with regards to getting their guild bank restored.

[TUXs]

Correlation does not equal causation.

Correct. To assume it was the merge is silly.

[FerkWork]

Correct. To assume it was the merge is silly.

 

Pretty sure they merged them cause most of the servers were already dead at that point in time. But what do I know it doesn't fit the servers are always fine narrative here.

Edited August 7, 2017 by FerkWork

[Ratajack]

Correct. To assume it was the merge is silly.

 

And it's just as silly to assume that no one left the game due to the headaches and nightmares that BW caused those players with the way BW handled the previous two server merges.

[DarthScruffy]

Yes they have merged them twice before and each time lost a significant percentage of the game population in the process. A voluntary system is much more sustainable and allows players to play on servers they like rather than being forced to play in an environment they are uncomfortable with. Bioware has already stated they want to let payers play on the servers they want to play on and that was the reason they are trying to make transfers easier. If they were just going to merge servers anyway, why would they put in the effort to fix things, they would just go ahead and merge like they did previously.

 

They still have to do a "preferred server" transfer. There's no reason to say the "status quo is sufficient" which would be equal pricing on each server. It empirically didn't work. The pricing should set up a classic "stay/go to intended server" choice. If you are going to do voluntary server transfers as a population management strategy, whatever server (Megaserver, or other target) needs to be free/the cheapest target (to a degree that would affect behavior). What the current approach has created is 2-3 servers of comparable size.

[DWho]

Correlation does not equal causation.

 

I does when the reason for a large part of the loss was the damage done to guilds by the merges. This is what would happen if they merged servers now and damaged guilds in the same way. There is a lot less holding the player base here than there was the last time they merged.

[DWho]

They still have to do a "preferred server" transfer. There's no reason to say the "status quo is sufficient" which would be equal pricing on each server. It empirically didn't work. The pricing should set up a classic "stay/go to intended server" choice. If you are going to do voluntary server transfers as a population management strategy, whatever server (Megaserver, or other target) needs to be free/the cheapest target (to a degree that would affect behavior). What the current approach has created is 2-3 servers of comparable size.

 

Why would you need to incentivize. After all the reason to move is to be on a more populated server so you can get your random group pops. I see no need to make it cheaper/easier. And maybe 2-3 servers of similar size is what the overall population wants and that is why they have developed that way.

[DarthScruffy]

Why would you need to incentivize. After all the reason to move is to be on a more populated server so you can get your random group pops. I see no need to make it cheaper/easier. And maybe 2-3 servers of similar size is what the overall population wants and that is why they have developed that way.

 

You incentivize to actually grow the population by funneling people to the same server. PvP pops are slow and confined to peak hours. Servers larger than the status quo will address at least one of those problems. "Fine as is" isn't fine for everybody.

[Foambreaker]

For the specific Guild issues you’ve raised, we would need to ensure the entire Guild, their Flagship/decorations, Bank/Tabs/items, and Stronghold/decorations remain 100% intact. The goal would be for the Guild members to notice absolutely nothing different and this means any returning players would still be in your guild unless you specifically removed them. Bottom line for your Guild would be making sure we protect all your hard work.

 

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--

 

And still X Server Queues would be harder than all this?

 

I've been a developer for 28 years and my advice is to reevaluate your decisions.

 

This is a HUGE amount of work and in the BEST CASE no one will quit. This will not add any subs.

 

Even if you needed a new engine, is it really more effort than all this and really, how long can you avoid the engine upgrade anyway and still be viable?

 

At least in that case it might bring features that bring customers back.