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

[IoNonSoEVero]

I have to agree with Luna on this one. A lot of the posts seem to be geared toward manipulating Bioware into doing more and more with PvP while casting blame on everyone and everything else and any attention given to other parts of the game because PvP isn't just the way some people want it. "Oh, I don't want a merge, but the game NEEDS it..." That's what the gist seems to be.

[Goreshaga]

I have to agree with Luna on this one. A lot of the posts seem to be geared toward manipulating Bioware into doing more and more with PvP while casting blame on everyone and everything else and any attention given to other parts of the game because PvP isn't just the way some people want it. "Oh, I don't want a merge, but the game NEEDS it..." That's what the gist seems to be.

This is also my impression of it...

 

Seriously, before the last merge i played on 2 french servers, played the DvL event on both servers, enough to have Ranos and the full xp armor set on both servers, i was at my max number of toons on of of them, and after the merge, i lost one of the 2 sets i worked hard to get (even had to get involved in PvP which i really don't like), had to delete some of my toons because i had to many, and even had to delete one of my first characters because i had to rename her and it went wrong when i changed her name, so it looked like trash.

 

I was also able to so some group content, even if it was never my main occupation in this game, but now it's nearly impossible for me, i'm just waaaaay too laggy for that.

If another merge mean that i'll have to delete more toons, and even become unable to only play my solo story content, then i'm clearly not okay with that, especially if it's to make only 1 big server in NA for all players (as some seem to want).

[DyreMaker]

No worries, soon you will all be logging into the same laptop in the closet.

 

At that point BioWare will say you are the WINNER of the game and you all get a new achievement and title: LOSER.

 

oh and it just got smaller...

[robertthebard]

Oh lordy lordy. PvP ruined story now? Give me a break, dude. First, the summer of nerfs were due to PvE not PvP and second, you don't need any skills, PvP or otherwise, to select 1, 2 or 3 on the conversation wheel. You're really reaching deep into the false equivalency bag for your anti-PvP agenda now.

 

It's your story, tell it how you like. I've been around a while, and it takes more than one round of nerfs to make me go "roll 'em back". I jested earlier in this very thread about 9000 rounds, but frankly, there have been rounds of nerfs for years, and no, it wasn't PvE, unless you can point me to the mob's forum, where they go to complain about the classes? I can point you to one forum where that happens consistently, care to guess which one that is?

 

Regarding your "anti PvP agenda", I've done my share of PvP here, just not in your "1 2 3 GO" WZs, where all you have to do is AFK to get some rewards. It's the most carebear PvP system I've ever seen. I played Aion for years, as an Asmodian, on a server where we were outnumbered 10-1, literally. 400 Asmos show up for a siege, only to find that the elyos have all 4 teleporters camped with 400 Elyos on each one, plus what they had in each fortress, and on each artifact in the abyss. I like some PvP, I don't like group duels with participation trophies. PvP has been irrelevant in this game since it's inception, and yes, all it's done has break the PvE side in the name of "balance".

 

"But they balanced for PvE", cool story, "bro", tell me, when they nerfed Orbital Strike, why didn't they touch the Heroic Moment version? That's as PvE as you can get, since you can't use comps in PvP. So can you point me to that mob forum, to show me where the mobs were complaining about it, or, is it more likely that we're going to find pages of complaints about it in PvP?

[Zerileth]

I would just like to say that when I ask Bioware to fix stuff or to address things, I’m not just doing it for myself or demanding things because “I want them”. I’m asking because I want the game to be successful. If things were perfect I would be throwing rose petals at their feet. If I wasn’t passionate about the game and it’s success, I would have gone a long time ago.

 

If I pay for a product, I have the right to complain or hold the people who sold it too me accountable if it doesn’t work as it’s supposed to.

 

If they don’t want harsh criticism or feed back, then they should fix stuff and also not release broken content to start with. I get they are short staffed and under pressure.

 

It really is the worst sort of bullying behaviour and a prime example of people hiding behind their keyboards and saying nasty things about others when they think there is blood in the water,

 

Well said. Agreed. And the people that practice this crap don't realize it or are unable to realize they do this. When someone says, "I'm not advocating that!" why can't you believe it? Why attack and make crap up? You don't want words put in your mouth, don't do it to others. Some nastiness in this thread has been shocking for some of you, and then again, for some of you it's expected. Cowardly is an accurate adjective here and the blood in the water is so true.

[robertthebard]

No worries, soon you will all be logging into the same laptop in the closet.

 

At that point BioWare will say you are the WINNER of the game and you all get a new achievement and title: LOSER.

 

oh and it just got smaller...

 

Sure wish I could find this "dead" server when I'm trying to do my dailies and heroics. Had to stand in line for one of the Heroics on Coruscant today, and trying to do CZ 198 was interesting this morning as well, and it's not even part of Conquest. It was really bad when it was. Hell, I was competing for stuff on Ziost earlier too.

[TrixxieTriss]

At certain times, the servers are full and look promising. At other times, they're dead as hell and lack any activity at all.

 

There is also an extreme difference between those times. In the past the highs and lows weren’t so extreme

When primetime is pumping, it looks awesome and most weekend primetimes make the game seem extremely full.

But step out side of the weekend primetimes and venture into no mans land and there is a stark difference. I could debate why I think that’s the case, but most of us can put 2 and 2 together.

 

An example of what I’m talking about with the extremes.

Tonight on the imperial side of SF (early morning and daytime for most of you guys), the numbers were quiet low.

I counted the Imp population twice at an interval of 2.5 hours.

 

11:30pm AEST

9:30am EST

2:30pm GMT

Star Forge Imperial side only

369 people playing below lvl 70

310 people playing at lvl 70

Total of 679 Imp people

 

2:00am AEST

12:00pm EST

5:00pm GMT

Star Forge Imperial side only

542 people playing below lvl 70

441 people playing at lvl 70

Total of 982 Imp people

 

Now I don’t know how many reps there were. I honestly couldn’t be bothered to switch over to check. But from past counts, the reps have had less than Imps.

 

In contrast, when I did a count on the weekend during prime time, there were over 3500 Imps on line and nearly as many reps. There were so many online that it actually made counting hard because I had to split it into instances and have someone help me so I could do it fast enough so it was semi accurate.

 

The whole population perspective depends on the time you play and what days. For some people, everything looks hunky dory and they can’t understand what people are saying about dead’s servers. While others don’t see the game when it looks full and can’t understand why other people are saying its fine.

 

I honestly don’t think there is anyway to help the “dead zone” players like myself. Mergers certainly won’t help me to play pvp at those times. There just aren’t enough people on either US server for that to make a difference at those times.

 

It’s why I tried playing on DM at those times. But alas, the ping is too great for me to pvp with. So I know if I login at those times, there will be little chance of pvp. I’m only there to keep my wife company in the computer room while she does her story. Sometimes I just sit reading a book while logged in.

 

I said earlier on in this thread that mergers were decisive and I’ve not been wrong. But they aren’t the solution at the moment.

Even if and when they become the only option for primetime to stay alive, it won’t fix the underlying problems that will get us there in the first place.

 

Only fixing the game and making it more fun will stop the people leaving and hopefully reverse the population. Anything else is just a pain killer to ease the symptoms and hide what’s making the game sick. Another US merger won’t fix that for long either, it will just hide the symptoms for a little longer and keep the life support going. Then we’ll be back in this same situation again in another 9-12 months, just like I predicted a month after the last merge..

 

There is nothing good about merging if they don’t fix the problems driving the population down to start with. Surprisingly if they fixed those problems, mergers wouldn’t even be needed.

Edited September 5, 2018 by TrixxieTriss

[Lunafox]

And where did I say I wanted mergers?

It’s very easy to put snippets of conversations I was having (with reasonable people) and quote them out of context like you have. Just about ever one of those snippets you quoted also backed not wanting mergers. In the ones where I mentioned mergers or pvp, I was trying to mediate and bring some perspective on why “some” people may see them as needed and I was also trying to stop people from getting militant like you have in your attack on me.

 

Honestly, you are so bent out of shape that somebody else created a thread asking for mergers, that you are irrationally lashing out at me and make stuff up. That is why I’m angry. I don’t like people calling me a liar just because of their own insecurities. And then you get all upset about a couple of angry emoji faces I post because I don’t like being called a liar. Seriously?

 

You obviously don’t comprehend or you would understand what was actually written in front of you.

You know why I used capitols? Not to yell or anything like that. It was to make sure it was highlighted and you and some other people wouldn’t miss it. I was getting sick of repeating it because you and others refuse to comprehend it.

Seeing as how capitols seem to be too offensive or misunderstood, here it is again in inverted comas.

“I don’t want mergers”, “I have not asked for mergers”, “I’m not advocating mergers”.

Hopefully you can understand those simple statements?

 

You say you dont need to go back and read all my posts. But maybe that’s exactly what you should do before accusing me of these things and you can see I’m not in favour of mergers.

You don’t have to like me or agree with me about other topics. That’s your prerogative. The same as I don’t agree with a lot of stuff you post. But I don’t ever personally attack you or your credibility or your integrity.

 

I get you don’t want mergers either. But you cannot argue hard numbers. The game is losing players and that is a problem and upsetting for all of us. Even the most ardent defenders of the game realise its declining numbers is because Bioware have made mistake after mistake. Why are you attacking me for focasting it was happening? I’m not the one driving the players from the game.

 

You, yourself have complained that you aren’t getting enough content. I cannot understand how you also don’t see where this is headed in the long term if Bioware don’t turn it around. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that when the game stops making enough money to keep all the servers open, they will either shut the game or merge. Its basic business economics. That doesn’t mean I want it to happen.

 

As for pvp. I get you hate it with a passion and everything that has to do with it. But you don’t need to attack me for being passionate about it or advocating ways to improve it. I don’t go into your threads on SHs or decorations or love interests. I don’t try to tear you down to defend my passions, but you go out of your way to tear me down over pvp if I ever bring in up in the general forum section. I’m not your personal pvp hating punching bag.

 

It seems to be impossible for you to reconcile the fact that I can have a neutral discussion without an agenda and still discuss pvp.

Seeing as most of my posts on the forums upset you so much, maybe put me on ignore so you dont have to read them.

 

Here are some other quotes from my posts you obviously missed. I’ll try to leave most of them in so they aren’t taken out of context and people can see I’m not trying to hide or twist what I’ve said all along.

 

 

 

Let me add, I’ve also said that mergers won’t help me or anyone trying to pvp at the times I would prefer to. That ship sailed when they moved the server to the east coast and abondoned the APAC community. There aren’t enough people playing on the combined US servers at those times I posted for it to make one bit of difference. I doubt it would even make a difference at those times even if they merged all the servers into one.

 

It’s why I don’t bother trying to play pvp at those times. If I’m on at those times, I just queue and do other stuff. If it pops, so be it. Pvp outside of a lot of primetime is basically a lost cause and it can’t be fixed without a massive influx of outside players (not mergers). Only Bioware can fix that. If I’ve any sort of agenda, it is to get Bioware to fix what they can fix and it’s not that hard. The majority of people I speak to all agree what most of the problems are, so I won’t rehash them “again”.

 

If mergers happen at some point in the future, it just means Bioware failed to keep enough people playing or attract enough new or old people back. It will only be done to keep primetime group content viable. If that dies, the game dies. It’s basically no point doing it to try and fix things out of primetime as there aren’t enough people for it to make much of a difference. If anything, my numbers support that position more than asking for mergers.

 

Honestly, I hope Bioware start listening to “all” the forum feed back on heaps of topics and make the game more fun. Then they can build on that to make the game great again. The last thing I want is for them to let the game die through apathy or their stubbornness to back down on unpopular decisions.

 

 

In every single post you've made you've said that you'd support a merge in the hope it would create more vibrant pops for you. Every single one. The quotes I selected were to illustrate, examples of what you are pushing for and for you to imply that I'm not reasonable is ridiculous. I'm not the one throwing anger emojis and rolling eye emojis around like free candy on Christmas. The only reason I posted the emojis was to illustrate how utterly pointless it is to slam down so many emojis. It serves nothing. I get it you're mad about populations and well it seems just about everything involving the game.

 

When you talk about pvp and mergers you're not merely talking or mediating between 'some people'. You are 'some people' and anyone who disagrees with your 'facts' and 'figures' or anything else gets the smack down. You can't deny that, you get pretty aggressive when it comes to those things.

 

My 'attack' wasn't militant at all. In fact, I was just demonstrating on how you come across. You are extremely hostile to people who don't agree with you. Clearly you didn't enjoy a taste of your own medicine. Why do you think anyone else would enjoy that brand of hostility?

 

I'm hardly bent out of shape, but I am going to oppose mergers anytime they're brought up. I don't want another and I don't mind telling people that. I do argue your numbers because I think you pull at times that support what you're trying to say. I wouldn't call voicing my opinion 'lashing out'. If anyone is 'lashing out' it's you and you're still doing it. Do you think being vicious to people is going to further your cause?

 

I have no insecurities that you try to imply. Just because I don't agree with you doesn't mean I've called you a liar. I don't agree with your 'facts' as you've presented them. I'm sure at the times you've checked they were exactly that.

 

You say you don't use capitals to yell, and yet that's the known internet lingo for shouting and given how you come across, I have no doubt you are actually shouting through your keyboard. If you don't see how your posts are demanding mergers to improve your pvp sessions, then I can't make you see. You plainly don't wish to.

 

You say you're not in favour of merges, and yet you say Bioware better do it by November-January. You state that your pvp is sucking because there isn't enough people. It's not hard to connect the dots between your statements.

 

As for trying to throw it back on me, by stating that I've 'complained' that there isn't enough content, I could hardly compare my couple of posts where I idly mentioned the need for more content to your 'complaints'. I'm not known here for my complaining.

 

Actually, you're wrong, I don't hate pvp. In fact I've done my share of it here. I was just a few points shy of battlemaster when I decided to pack it in. I've played other pvp games, but I don't care for it here, because of the toxicity levels. I played RF Online and relished going to chip war. I'd kill and be killed and afterward, we'd laugh about it because we had fun. But not here. I've never seen such a vicious lot of _____. You'd think their very existence relied on their pvp outcome. My turn to roll my eyes.

 

I'm not attacking you for your passion for the game. In fact, I'm not attacking you at all. I just don't agree with what you've said and tried to prove. You say you don't come into threads about SH's and romance interests, and by that you're implying I'm somehow 'wrong' for coming in this thread to state I want no merge. The difference is, that SHs, decorations and love interests don't impact people's convenience in the game. You don't want a SH, or decorations, don't buy them. You don't want the romance, then don't flirt, but a merge is something that would be inflicted on people who don't want it, and have no choice or option to back out of it or avoid it. Merges can't be compared to content.

 

I don't care if you advocate for PVP. You can do it all day and night till the sun rises in the west. But if you're going to advocate, why not push for cross-server or better incentives for people to play. The one thing you claim not to want but imply at every opportunity is the one thing I don't want.

 

I have no issues reconciling anything, only you're not being neutral, you're putting up the facade of being neutral. You have an agenda, or you wouldn't be pushing so hard.

 

You're very good at pointing the finger at Bioware causing the game to die, but do you think new people that come here get excited about playing when they see posts like yours? Never happy, never content. I understand that you're mad about APAC server being closed, and for the record, I think that wasn't a good move, nor was having no West server at all.

 

I do agree with you about one thing though, that the ignore button is a feature we should both make use of.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Lunafox

[Lunafox]

I certainly share your frustrations here on this.

 

I think the underlying theme is not server merges per se... but stirring up already frustrated players with more reasons to amp up their frustration in some form of hope that it will pressure the studio in some way regarding PvP. Kind of a variation of waving a red blanket in front of a bull.

 

I don't think Trixxie cares how many servers there are or how active they may be over all... but rather.. only cares about PvP queue pops happening fast, and not just at level cap but as sub-cap levels as well. And yes.. there IS a correlation with this desire and the ongoing message about merging servers.. which is why this is being pitched in this particular thread. But if everyone stopped everything else in game and just queued for PvP from level 1 to 70.... I think Trixxie would be in MMO bliss on queues.. but then will come all the "this is broken", "this is poorly implemented", "this is not the right incentive", "we need more incentives for XYZ", "hey Eric.. when are you going to do ABC", etc.

 

Thanks and I agree. You bring up some good points there. Some people can't be happy no matter what, and trying to discuss with them is like banging your head bloody against a brick wall. I'd likely have a better time convincing the wall lol.

[Andryah]

Thanks and I agree. You bring up some good points there. Some people can't be happy no matter what, and trying to discuss with them is like banging your head bloody against a brick wall. I'd likely have a better time convincing the wall lol.

 

hehe... yeah. Plus they try to filibuster you in the discussion... I guess to try to silence you.

 

A lot of this ends up circular and endless in discussion, but I continue to offer contrasting opinions at times because other players do come in and read threads and I don't want them to be dealt only a single player narrative on a topic.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Andryah

[Lunafox]

hehe... yeah. Plus they try to filibuster you in the discussion... I guess to try to silence you.

 

A lot of this ends up circular and endless in discussion, but I continue to offer contrasting opinions at times because other players do come in and read threads and I don't want them to be dealt only a single player narrative on a topic.

 

It's a good thing to get a variety of viewpoints, I agree. As pointless as it might be to engage with one individual, that won't stop me from expressing myself about the things I feel are important too. But yeah, I'm done with this round and round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows business.

[Lunafox]

Luna is one of the very few on these forums that I actually trust as she has proven herself a few times over and the funny thing here is you made a comment a few pages back about people attacking you yet you have done the same thing.

 

Thanks Casi, I appreciate it. <3 Right back at ya, btw.

[CaptRogue]

Let me guess, you’re one of those “fake news” converts that can’t understand facts?

 

Its a good thing you are going to put me on ignore. You can’t have facts interfere with your role playing news and your made up versions of the truth.

 

You really couldn't refute any of what she said, so you reverted to throwing attacks on her choice in life & in character along with play style?!

Luna was way nice in her response to you. Even went as far to agree with you on some things.

 

You really need to step back & take a breather.

[TrixxieTriss]

You really couldn't refute any of what she said, so you reverted to throwing attacks on her choice in life & in character along with play style?!

Luna was way nice in her response to you. Even went as far to agree with you on some things.

 

You really need to step back & take a breather.

 

Actually I could refute her and chose to not have to repeat myself again. She, you and few others have it your heads that I want mergers. It doesn’t seem to matter what I say. So what’s the point in trying to refute her when she won’t listen to reason or facts. I’m sure it wouldn’t be enough for you or her if I signed an affidavit declaring I dont want mergers.

 

I honestly don’t care anymore what the lot of you think, I believe the sane people in this forum can see I dont want mergers.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I honestly don’t care anymore what the lot of you think, I believe the sane people in this forum can see I dont want mergers.

 

Then here's my question, if you truly are not trying to push a narrative that mergers are necessary. I'm honestly asking, not trying to be a jerk.

 

Why post those population numbers, especially in this thread? Why deliberately post the lowest numbers when it's 3am in North America and then not post the prime time numbers because it will "make people mad?"

 

We know the PvP queues aren't popping the way you'd like. You have every right to express dissatisfaction with that. But what will posting the numbers do about that?

 

Bioware has all the numbers they could ever ask for and can certainly count population behind the scenes in many more ways than any of us. Posting the numbers doesn't benefit them.

 

Posting the numbers doesn't do anything to get your queues popping. People aren't going to say, "oh, the numbers are low, I'd better go help out PvP." Those of us who aren't into PvP and prefer not to be ninjaed when doing open world quests don't care about it either. Everyone can see when the servers are quieter with or without official figures.

 

If you're just trying to give people a useful technique to count population, why post it here and not in, say, one of the doomsaying threads about how the lower Fleet populations mean everything?

 

All posting the numbers seems to do is propel the narrative that there aren't a lot of people and thus mergers are necessary, which you're claiming isn't your goal here. Why post those numbers in a thread that is based on that exact premise if you're not supporting it?

Edited September 6, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[Seireeni]

/sigh... you attacked me first and I refuted your attack. Now you try to change the narrative and play the victim, when in fact you were the instigator..... fake news?

 

Ah, so SWTOR forums as usual! Everyone's aggressive, everyone's only aggressive because they're defending themselves from other aggressive people, and they'd be perfectly nice and polite if it wasn't for those other people attacking them. Damn these forums, why there has to be people in here!

[Zerileth]

Luna, Trixxie, both of you are pillars of this forum community, so cut the crap. I'll be the moderator here and it needs to stop. Take the high road. No it's not easy, but cut out the bullcrap. If Trixxie wants to advocate for pvp and throw some shade on Bioware, I agree. We don't do it cause we hate it here, or we'd be gone. And you know what, they can take it. They're not amateurs. Trixxie is frustrated,sure. No need for the attacks. We all love this game, and get frustrated because it does seem to be failing and it hurts personally. We don't have access to their workplace or we'd straighten this out real good. I'm looking at you greedy EA. "Ignore" is not needed. Lighten up and chill a little. Try and understand someone else's frustration is not an attack. I'm guilty too. So, let's all be adults here. You wouldn't do this if we were all facing each other in person. Let's be civil, and treat each other with respect.

 

Now, let's all say we're sorry! ..... *crickets

 

 

Edited September 6, 2018 by Zerileth

[TrixxieTriss]

Then here's my question, if you truly are not trying to push a narrative that mergers are necessary. I'm honestly asking, not trying to be a jerk.

 

Why post those population numbers, especially in this thread? Why deliberately post the lowest numbers when it's 3am in North America and then not post the prime time numbers because it will "make people mad?"

 

We know the PvP queues aren't popping the way you'd like. You have every right to express dissatisfaction with that. But what will posting the numbers do about that?

 

Bioware has all the numbers they could ever ask for and can certainly count population behind the scenes in many more ways than any of us. Posting the numbers doesn't benefit them.

 

Posting the numbers doesn't do anything to get your queues popping. People aren't going to say, "oh, the numbers are low, I'd better go help out PvP." Those of us who aren't into PvP and prefer not to be ninjaed when doing open world quests don't care about it either. Everyone can see when the servers are quieter with or without official figures.

 

All posting the numbers seems to do is propel the narrative that there aren't a lot of people and thus mergers are necessary, which you're claiming isn't your goal here. Why post those numbers in a thread that is based on that exact premise if you're not supporting it?

 

That’s a good question and I’m happy to answer.

 

Originally I saw the thread on reddit on how to do it. The poster asked if someone could do it for the US server as he had done it for the EU. I had intended to do that, but I’ve lost my reddit account password and I no longer have the email address to get it reset.

 

Then I saw this thread and the usual “fleet is the only way to get an idea of population”. So I decided to try the method of getting the server numbers to see how accurate it was and it was relatively accurate.

I was also very surprised at the numbers in the game and what lvls and locations people were playing.

 

Usually these discussions go back and forth and get out of hand because neither side can actually provide facts to back up how many people are actually on the servers to start with.

At the time I believed I was doing the community a service by showing them there was a way to get those numbers. It was my (naive) hope, that it would help reduce the finger pointing and bullying of people.

 

As for me posting my numbers. I think it’s important for facts to be presented in any discussion. There should always be as many data points as possible and my contribution to those are from the times I play.

I think it would be good if more people were to provide data from all playtimes and days of the week, especially prime time and times inbetween for a comparison. That helps both sides of the discussion.

 

I actually think my results dispel the idea that mergers would help outside of prime times (which they won’t). But it also shines a light on just how low the population actually drops at those times. It’s something I think we should all be worried about because it proves what a lot of people have been saying, the game population is severely degraded and only primetime is healthy. It gives a counter argument to people saying “there is nothing wrong when I login”.

 

I’ve actually found the whole exercise very eye opening because it’s apparent to me that more people play lower lvls than many of us expected and often more than play lvl 70. It’s a real shame you can’t drill down further and see how many are subs vs F2P.

 

The only people I see getting upset about the numbers I’m posting are those in the anti-merge camp. Those for mergers are relatively quiet on the numbers because I think they can see that merging won’t fix the problems outside of primetime. I honestly thought it would be the other way around. I expected the anti-merge guys would welcome those because it supports their arguement that mergers won’t fix anything. Instead, they’ve been the ones to question my integrity.

 

Debates are healthy if they use more fact than emotion. I’m trying to provide facts for the discussion. Not to give them to Bioware, who obviously have those numbers at their disposal. I’m trying to drop the veil so the players can see the data too. An informed person is less likely to make wild accusations or strawman arguments.

 

It seems I really kicked the hornets nest by giving people a tool to find out the facts. It was never my internet to make it worse. But seeing as how people are over reacting or getting emotionally defensive over the facts, I’m not sorry I provided that tool. I think for too long people have been able to hide behind supposition to snipe at and bully people from behind the keyboard.

 

Data is data. It doesn’t lie or take sides. People can make what they want to with it, but they can’t change what the facts say. (unless you’re a yellow haired oompa loompa).

 

I’ll end by saying, more people need to post some more data and not just me. IMO, we need as much as possible from different days and times. Only then can we as players, get a better picture of population trends because we know Bioware will never tell us. Then when discussions come up to do with populations, wether it’s people leaving because of specific reasons, ie conquest or other content changes or patches, we can better see what the drops really are and we aren’t just guessing. You cant do that with out a baseline to work from. It also add weight to our feed back to Bioware on such things because they know we know the truth. As it’s been, they’ve been able to say things are successful and we have no way to refute that, even when we see people leaving the game.

Edited September 6, 2018 by TrixxieTriss

[TrixxieTriss]

Luna, Trixxie, both of you are pillars of this forum community, so cut the crap. I'll be the moderator here and it needs to stop. Take the high road. No it's not easy, but cut out the bullcrap. If Trixxie wants to advocate for pvp and throw some shade on Bioware, I agree. We don't do it cause we hate it here, or we'd be gone. And you know what, they can take it. They're not amateurs. Trixxie is frustrated,sure. No need for the attacks. We all love this game, and get frustrated because it does seem to be failing and it hurts personally. We don't have access to their workplace or we'd straighten this out real good. I'm looking at you greedy EA. "Ignore" is not needed. Lighten up and chill a little. Try and understand someone else's frustration is not an attack. I'm guilty too. So, let's all be adults here. You wouldn't do this if we were all facing each other in person. Let's be civil, and treat each other with respect.

 

Now, let's all say we're sorry! ..... *crickets

 

 

 

Sorry

[Andryah]

Luna is one of the very few on these forums that I actually trust as she has proven herself a few times over and the funny thing here is you made a comment a few pages back about people attacking you yet you have done the same thing.

 

Well stated casirabit.

[TUXs]

Luna, Trixxie, both of you are pillars of this forum community, so cut the crap. I'll be the moderator here and it needs to stop. Take the high road. No it's not easy, but cut out the bullcrap. If Trixxie wants to advocate for pvp and throw some shade on Bioware, I agree. We don't do it cause we hate it here, or we'd be gone. And you know what, they can take it. They're not amateurs. Trixxie is frustrated,sure. No need for the attacks. We all love this game, and get frustrated because it does seem to be failing and it hurts personally. We don't have access to their workplace or we'd straighten this out real good. I'm looking at you greedy EA. "Ignore" is not needed. Lighten up and chill a little. Try and understand someone else's frustration is not an attack. I'm guilty too. So, let's all be adults here. You wouldn't do this if we were all facing each other in person. Let's be civil, and treat each other with respect.

 

Now, let's all say we're sorry! ..... *crickets

 

 

Well said I respect Luna and Trixxie both - they both add a ton of GOOD to this community, in feedback and ideas.

[jimmorrisson]

I'll repost this quote from EricMusco from the previous server merge:

 

... 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.

 

This topic is mainly Satele Shan players, who roll mainly OP classes augmented with the latest expensive augments, advocating for merging PVP-dominant Satele Shan with RP-dominant Star Forge.

 

As someone who has mutiple characters on each server - I am opposed to merging PVP-dominant Satele Shan and RP-dominant Star Forge.

Edited September 6, 2018 by jimmorrisson

[TrixxieTriss]

I'll repost this quote from EricMusco from the previous server merge:

 

... 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.

 

This topic is mainly Satele Shan players, who roll mainly OP classes augmented with the latest expensive augments, advocating for merging PVP-dominant Satele Shan with RP-dominant Star Forge.

 

I’m sorry, that just not just true. If you play on both servers you would know there are equally the same amount of FOTM OP players in the best gear with the best Augments.

I also wouldn’t say SF is RP dominant. There were pve servers merged as well and people who have rerolled from SS.

Yes SF has more RP people, but it’s certainly not dominated by them.

 

As for Musco’s post. Things have changed in a year.

When he made that 11 months ago, there were 2-3 times more players in the game, including those who came back briefly and left soon after.

So while the hardware may not have been able to deal with it back then, the reduced population would now make it technically possible.

You would be unlikely to ever experience any login waits and the instances wouldn’t be anymore than they were after the initial merge.

Even with the mergers, they built in a buffer in case they got a bunch of people return. The servers never reached maximum.

 

Essentially, the game would need to get 2/3rds of the population to return for it to get to last year’s numbers, even with a major expansion, I can’t ever see that happening.

Which means from a purely technical point of view, there would be nothing to stop them if population was their only concern.

 

Musco did mention other issues, one being name collisions. I can’t comment on how much affect that would have with so many people leaving. I also don’t know exactly what the other issues are, but I can guess.

If Bioware did decide to go down the merger path, they would need to find away to over come those other issue first.

 

Let me put a disclaimer here. The only reason I’ve replied is to debunk the incorrect information. I do not want mergers.

Edited September 7, 2018 by TrixxieTriss

[IoNonSoEVero]

IMHO I wouldn't second-guess the devs when they say the hardware won't accommodate everyone on both servers, even with the population as it is. There are ebbs and flows, and people come back when there are special events and new bits of content.

 

There's already some lag and weirdness on the servers from time to time, even with a smaller population. Bioware is all about saving money so I am sure if they felt it were financially and technologically feasible to merge they would have already done it regardless of what the players wanted.

[DWho]

So I guess the question I would have is what concrete benefit would merging servers have at this point and how many people would that benefit effect vs how many people would be negatively affected. The title of this thread is an excellent example something mergers wouldn't even have a substantial effect on. What would really be gained from a merger?

 

A lot of merger talk seems to center around things that a merger wouldn't even fix. Queue times outside of primetime are not going to get significantly better by merging the two US servers together. The quality of PVP players is not likely to improve with a server merger, there just aren't enough of the "good" players left. Low level PVP is not going to be revitalized by a merger (the only way to do that would be to somehow force PVP leveling back through lowbies and midbies by something like eliminating the "start at tokens" so everyone has to level their characters again). The toxicity of the game is not going to improve, in fact it will probably get worse.

 

A lot of the merger impetus last time came from people who wanted free transfers off their current server. It would seem that reduced cost transfers would be more likely to improve things than an actual merger because people could move to the server that best supported their play style. People who only PVP or only Raid (or only farm Flashpoints for that matter) moving to one server on their own would not have a negative impact on planet populations because they never go there anyway. A server could accommodate much higher levels of those "instanced" players without negatively impacting the gameplay of those in non-instanced areas. A merger negatively impacts those non-instanced areas.

 

Things like name collisions, legacy bank overflows, increased "ninja" activity, increased time to complete objectives, etc. drive people away from the game.