Time to merge the US servers... again. Primetime window getting smaller and smaller.

[TUXs]

This is my first post in 3+ years. I completely agree, they should merge the two US servers into one.

Agreed.

[OmikronGamma]

This is my first post in 3+ years. I completely agree, they should merge the two US servers into one.

 

Welcome back to active posting

 

Sending some Universal love❤🎶 to all in here

 

 

The reason it’s slow is because the game is in its twighlight years and populations have decreseaed to the point that prime time is just 2-3 hours a day during the week.

 

That's also the reason why they created storymod FP's so that I can solo them with a Bot provided and still increase my XP, when group content does not pop

Edited August 28, 2018 by OmikronGamma

[OmikronGamma]

double post Edited August 28, 2018 by OmikronGamma

[casirabit]

I’m not shouting anyone down. I’m pointing out it’s an MMO, it’s supposed to have a lot of people on the server

 

But people don't need to be jerks about it either. I was doing the black hole last night and some idiot gunslinger decided to be a jerk and come right in and kill the mobs I was working on. I first chalked it off to him not seeing me there, (a little impossible but w/e) so I moved to another area and the idiot did it again and of course I called him out on it. He then got puffy about it. There is one thing of "not seeing" a person one time but quite another when it keeps happening with the same person.

 

Yes the game is an MMO but that doesn't excuse people for acting like jerks nor does it require everyone to group up and do pvp either. I will group up but I am selective on who I play with and if that makes people like you upset so be it. It is my time and I will play with the people I can trust and whom I enjoy playing with.

Edited August 28, 2018 by casirabit

[Andryah]

It's this attitude right here that irritates the crap out of me. People who discount the importance of the solo player by shouting them down with "MMO" like group crap is so much more important. It's not, it's equal.

 

I knew this would happen, they merged the servers, annoyed people and it solved nothing. For a month is was busy, the pvpers didn't cry about queues, and yet some of them found time to go around abusing and bullying the solo or rp player.

 

I agree that's the pvp community's toxicity that is the biggest problem. Not all are nasty but there are a goodly number of them that are, that have sufficiently turned much of the population against the activity. No one wants to play with jerks. Or worse, a throng of them.

 

Merging the servers again, displacing people, annoying them is not the answer. I wish they'd figure out how to the cross-server grouping so that the pvpers will finally stop their incessant whining and the rest of us can go back about our lives and not have to worry about having another assinine merge imposed.

 

100% support and agree with Lunafox here.

 

And to Trixxie: and I am saying this in sincerity.... if you cannot see the irony in your attitude of defending bad behaviors by PvPers and trashing solo PvEers in the context of your very bitter and increasingly negative and demanding posts in the forum.... well... I suggest some break time from the game and some personal self-reflection and some fresh perspective. I get it.. you are very upset right now about the most recent patch... TO A GAME. But it's a charade in my view because you have been on a constant complaint campaign for months now.. long predating the patch. Honestly, to me, you are acting like it is a career rather then a game and that you are being personally harassed by your "employer" or something. You want perfection and perfection simply does not exist in MMOs. You appear to approach PvP like an e-sport in an MMO that is not PvP centric by any means and then complain and demand they put all their time and attention on your personal priority list. Why not go play an actual e-sport PvP game? It sounds much more suited to your preferred play style.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Andryah

[StormForceDax]

It's not just the inconvenience of server merges that bug me. I had 52 characters on ToFN before the last merge and 38 characters on the other two UK servers. So 90 in total across all 3 on my main account. If I had dropped to F2P back then I would of only lost 6 characters. Now I have gone F2P on that account I have lost 45 characters, 39 of which I had already paid for. I lost just as many on the US servers and lost on all my other accounts too.

 

Merging these two servers I would lose an additional 86 characters on the US servers, again ones I have already paid for. BW clearly stated that no one would lose out when the servers merged last time, well that was a lie and only correct as long as you remain a sub. Another server merge along with losing characters also means yet another round of losing character names which is annoying but not a huge issue for me (will be for some) but losing hundreds of characters which I had already paid for is unacceptable. BW offer a F2P modal and as players we should not lose items that we had already paid real money for as we did last time. I lost over 200 characters across all my accounts and would lose even more this time round if such a server merge happened.

Edited August 28, 2018 by StormForceDax

[TUXs]

It's not just the inconvenience of server merges that bug me. I had 52 characters on ToFN before the last merge and 38 characters on the other two UK servers. So 90 in total across all 3 on my main account. If I had dropped to F2P back then I would of only lost 6 characters. Now I have gone F2P on that account I have lost 45 characters, 39 of which I had already paid for. I lost just as many on the US servers and lost on all my other accounts too.

 

Merging these two servers I would lose an additional 86 characters on the US servers, again ones I have already paid for. BW clearly stated that no one would lose out when the servers merged last time, well that was a lie and only correct as long as you remain a sub. Another server merge along with losing characters also means yet another round of losing character names which is annoying but not a huge issue for me (will be for some) but losing hundreds of characters which I had already paid for is unacceptable. BW offer a F2P modal and as players we should not lose items that we had already paid real money for as we did last time. I lost over 200 characters across all my accounts and would lose even more this time round if such a server merge happened.

If you have a desire to play 90 characters, I don't think $15 a month is asking much of you.

[CaptRogue]

PVP toxicity is its own worst enemy and has a direct affect on queue pops. Why?

Because you don't get queued with people you put on ignore.

 

Yes you do. PvP does NOT fall into that category. Only PvE.

 

Are you sure this is true? I don't think it is, but I cannot say 100%.

 

Nope it's not true.

[CaptRogue]

Agreed.

 

No. A firm, adamant NO.

Trust me Tux you don't want that.

The SF RPers don't want that. Keep it two servers.

 

And to Trixxie: and I am saying this in sincerity.... if you cannot see the irony in your attitude of defending bad behaviors by PvPers and trashing solo PvEers in the context of your very bitter and increasingly negative and demanding posts in the forum.... well... I suggest some break time from the game and some personal self-reflection and some fresh perspective. I get it.. you are very upset right now about the most recent patch... TO A GAME. But it's a charade in my view because you have been on a constant complaint campaign for months now.. long predating the patch. Honestly, to me, you are acting like it is a career rather then a game and that you are being personally harassed by your "employer" or something. You want perfection and perfection simply does not exist in MMOs. You appear to approach PvP like an e-sport in an MMO that is not PvP centric by any means and then complain and demand they put all their time and attention on your personal priority list. Why not go play an actual e-sport PvP game? It sounds much more suited to your preferred play style.

 

^ For sure.

[AlrikFassbauer]

The day before yesterday I thought : "Why is there no matchmaking to let weak players play against weak players ?

I had 3 matches (of which we had won 1 arena in the last round), and I've had enough, because we were hit so hard with so good players (at level 70) that I just had no disire to do any PvP after that anymore. And it's NOT the "play and you'll get better" thing - it's just that Bioware doesn't let weak players play against weak players so that they can improve ! Instead, Bioware throws a team of school pupils against a team of world championship players ... It's like throwing a human against a shark. So to say.

 

I still do not believe that when put against world class players I or anyone could become better by trying to figure out what was happening within these 5 seconds until the character's death.

 

I still do believe that there is virtually no learning effect when a weaker player is thrown against a strong player.

 

I still DO believe, however, that a learning effect ONLY takes place when weak players play against weak players - when players are thrown against players of the same level !

 

And I still DO believe that the always heard "play against a stronger one and you'll become better" is only some excuse to let those weaker players feel and swallow who's the boss.

Edited August 28, 2018 by AlrikFassbauer

[Zerileth]

I started to make a comment on this, then realized I just don't care anymore. If they do merge, just do 1 server for Pete sake and end it.

[Drendal]

And to Trixxie: and I am saying this in sincerity.... if you cannot see the irony in your attitude of defending bad behaviors by PvPers and trashing solo PvEers in the context of your very bitter and increasingly negative and demanding posts in the forum.... well... I suggest some break time from the game and some personal self-reflection and some fresh perspective. I get it.. you are very upset right now about the most recent patch... TO A GAME. But it's a charade in my view because you have been on a constant complaint campaign for months now.. long predating the patch. Honestly, to me, you are acting like it is a career rather then a game and that you are being personally harassed by your "employer" or something. You want perfection and perfection simply does not exist in MMOs. You appear to approach PvP like an e-sport in an MMO that is not PvP centric by any means and then complain and demand they put all their time and attention on your personal priority list. Why not go play an actual e-sport PvP game? It sounds much more suited to your preferred play style.

 

Amen.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Drendal

[aerockyul]

Are you sure this is true? I don't think it is, but I cannot say 100%.

 

It's not. PvP ignore only prevents seeing them in chat (not emotes), but they can still be in your groups.

 

PvE ignore blocks both.

[jimmorrisson]

The last server merge was a colossal disaster, where all American servers were merged unto two east coast servers, one dominated by PVP (Satele Shan) and the other RP (Star Forge). Furthermore either Eric or Keith have previously stated that merging into one server would cause logistical problems.

 

This game was better off pre-2017 merge. The APAC-West Coast exodus was disastrous for Satale Shan.

Edited August 28, 2018 by jimmorrisson

[xordevoreaux]

The last server merge was a colossal disaster, where all American servers were merged unto two east coast servers, one dominated by PVP (Satele Shan) and the other RP (Star Forge). Furthermore either Eric or Keith have previously stated that merging into one server would cause logistical problems.

 

This game was better off pre-2017 merge. The APAC-West Coast exodus was disastrous for Satale Shan.

 

In the context of just those servers, perhaps, but ... in terms of scrapping POT5, Jedi Covenant, and the other dead servers, there was no point in EA paying the electricity in keeping those and the other dead servers up. The consolidation arguably served some good in that regard.

[TUXs]

No. A firm, adamant NO.

Trust me Tux you don't want that.

The SF RPers don't want that. Keep it two servers.

I have no say in it, but I'd prefer one NA server - two was dumb to begin with. We don't have the population for two...that's the issue I have with it.

[jimmorrisson]

Found the EricMusco post on ONE SERVER:

 

Since all of NA is in one datacenter, shouldn’t we just have one server?

 

Moving all of NA together would create a very heavily populated server.

This would introduce several challenges:

 

1) Players would likely experience queues accessing the server and

2) It would increase the chances for server instability and downtime.

 

There are also a variety of other issues, but a key concern was combining all of North America would result in substantially more character name collisions.

 

 

Here is all of the FAQ portion from Eric's post:

 

As many of you know, on Tuesday Keith explained that in preparation for United Forces we moved all current west coast servers into our Virginia data center. Here’s some of the key questions we have received about the North American datacenter change:

 

 

Why not communicate this ahead of time?

 

We made the decision to not communicate this information ahead of time because we wanted you to have the ability to immediately login and determine the impact to your gameplay experience. This meant we could quickly start gathering feedback on what you were seeing in-game (more on this in the next question).

 

However, we have seen posts from players who made specific decisions based on location (such as character transfers) and we will be in touch with them to discuss. To ensure there is no confusion about this update in-game, we adjusted the server selection screen to reflect that all NA servers are on the east coast.

 

 

My ping has gone up since the change and it is affecting my gameplay, what options do I have?

 

Please continue to report it! As Keith mentioned in his forum post this is something we are actively tracking and working with our network partners to address where possible. We will be working through this especially over the next two weeks as we ramp up to United Forces.

 

 

Could there be one data center in the Central US so that pings are more even for each coast?

 

Creating an entirely new datacenter is a daunting task, even above and beyond the substantial changes we have already made this year. This just isn’t something that was viable in the scope of the changes we made for United Forces.

 

 

Since all of NA is in one datacenter, shouldn’t we just have one server?

 

Moving all of NA together would create a very heavily populated server.

This would introduce several challenges:

 

1) Players would likely experience queues accessing the server and

2) It would increase the chances for server instability and downtime.

 

There are also a variety of other issues, but a key concern was combining all of North America would result in substantially more character name collisions.

Edited August 29, 2018 by jimmorrisson

[DanNV]

I have no say in it, but I'd prefer one NA server - two was dumb to begin with. We don't have the population for two...that's the issue I have with it.

 

I agree with TUXs. Unfortunately, mergers won't save the population, it just staves off the dead feeling for a while. My group tried GF, looking for a healer and a DPS for an OP. We couldn't get a queue to pop. That is not the sign of a healthy game.

 

As most of you know, I play on here 1 night a week. The rest of the time I play ESO. 3 DLCs and an expansion a year. Lots of content, a claim of a 5 year internal road map and lots of players. EA could take a few lessons from ESO and FFXIV. But, they won't. However, the game will last until EA doesn't want a SW MMO anymore, then it will go away with little warning. Probably 6 months, so they don't have to refund sub time.

[CrazyScruffy]

I agree with TUXs. Unfortunately, mergers won't save the population, it just staves off the dead feeling for a while. My group tried GF, looking for a healer and a DPS for an OP. We couldn't get a queue to pop. That is not the sign of a healthy game.

 

As most of you know, I play on here 1 night a week. The rest of the time I play ESO. 3 DLCs and an expansion a year. Lots of content, a claim of a 5 year internal road map and lots of players. EA could take a few lessons from ESO and FFXIV. But, they won't. However, the game will last until EA doesn't want a SW MMO anymore, then it will go away with little warning. Probably 6 months, so they don't have to refund sub time.

 

most people don't use GF to run an op, until they already have a group made and full. and really this is how it has been for a long time now. So it is not a sign of an unhealthy game, more just user error to be honest.

[Andryah]

most people don't use GF to run an op, until they already have a group made and full. and really this is how it has been for a long time now. So it is not a sign of an unhealthy game, more just user error to be honest.

 

Yep.

 

The "dead queues" complaint is of course coming mostly from players who rely on GF for PuGing... and as such.... they only have access to one facet of the player population..... those who also rely on GF for PuGing.

 

Whereas... and this is likely more so on SF than SS.... players self-group through their guild and/or circle of friends. A tried and tested approach in MMOs that has worked for decades now.

 

If a player is dependent on GF for random PuGing in an MMO.. best play an MMO where everyone is doing so.. and SWTOR is NOT one such MMO.

 

PvPers who rely on PuGing via GF likely have it worse now with the proliferation of Rishi SHs and guilds and groups of friends setting up their own PvP and not being dependent on random PuGing, much less the normal range of toxicity that comes along with PuGing.

Edited August 29, 2018 by Andryah

[DanNV]

most people don't use GF to run an op, until they already have a group made and full. and really this is how it has been for a long time now. So it is not a sign of an unhealthy game, more just user error to be honest.

 

We've never had a problem, getting 2 people before. This is a new issue and coincides with the decrease in fleet population. You also used to see many groups looking to form to run the daily op, but you might see one, maybe two on a good night, now.

[CaptRogue]

We've never had a problem, getting 2 people before. This is a new issue and coincides with the decrease in fleet population. You also used to see many groups looking to form to run the daily op, but you might see one, maybe two on a good night, now.

 

On what server?!

 

SS has had people running at least LBLO all night. But full runs too. You have to pay attn to fleet chat.

[Syal]

Time to release cross faction on PvE side (FLG, chats, guildes ...) Edited August 29, 2018 by Syal

[merovejec]

Time to release cross faction on PvE side (FLG, chats, guildes ...)

 

Well yeah, if it works with PVP, GSF, why not PVP?

[Kiesu]

Time to release cross faction on PvE side (FLG, chats, guildes ...)

That could work. Cross-faction pvp has been working just fine so far and I've found myself playing far mor rep toons than usual just because of that change. And usually Imp side is always more active on ops-calling side.

 

I'm not sure how cross-faction general chat would work out though since the fleets for both factions are still separate.

Simply making a 4th LFG chat tab for that for global cross-faction chat could work. It should probably have a slow-chat-mode on by default though to keep spam and random chatting to minimum, like 30sec timer to to post.

BUT for this to work we'd also need to be able to whisper to opposite-faction players.

Edited August 29, 2018 by Kiesu