Shae Vizla Launch Updates

[Lord_Ranon]

Is this happening anytime soon?

Oh, and once again, cross server play please devs. Reduce those god awful queue times. If it means greater ping from time to time, so be it - when the Amercians play on our server, they'll have to deal with it, too.

[GweedoBane]

On 3/5/2024 at 11:15 AM, TrixxieTriss said:

 

Personally, I’m safe with the free transfers because I’ve been subbed since before the server opened & I didn’t cancel mine in protest over the credit limits or the free transfer eligibility, like so many did before BS changed the 90 day requirement & subbed at server launch to the 2nd January. 

 

I was in this bracket as well until for whatever reasons my crd card failed - I still don't know why the auto renewal didn't work and it certainly wasn't a $ issue on my end - however it is what it is, I was dropped down to preferred status and was initially puzzled as to how then realised my sub wasn't renewed which I rectified immediately with a manual payment and hope that auto renewal just starts working again /pray.

However does that mean as I wasn't subbed for a few hours I'm now in the well you weren't subbed from January!.....I had to laugh (and cry a little on the inside lol) as I think that's exactly the boat I now find myself in.  No free transfers for you! 

[Nommaz]

1 hour ago, GweedoBane said:

However does that mean as I wasn't subbed for a few hours I'm now in the well you weren't subbed from January!.

Yes its exactly what that means and one of the reasons its extremely unfair.

BTW that thing you did not do 2 months ago, yeah that means you can have this..
 

[JohnnyGatt]

1 hour ago, Nommaz said:

Yes its exactly what that means and one of the reasons its extremely unfair.

BTW that thing you did not do 2 months ago, yeah that means you can have this..

The only way to make this reasonable or fair is to make the 90 days of subscription retroactive for anytime. If you subbed for three months two years ago and are currently subbed When the transfers go live (or within the first month*) you qualify for sixteen free transfers.

The time period of your 3 months subscription should not disqualify you from the free transfer offer. Free transfers is about rewarding subscribers and the most likely players to continue to subscribe. 

My personal recommendation would be for them to send out emails to the entire client database offering free transfers to all returning "subscribers" who have at least three months worth of subscription in their history.  So all you would have to do would be resubscribe and you qualify for the transfers. And I specified all within the first month as due to changes in linked EA accounts Lots of players will have difficulty when they attempt to resubscribe it took me a month to solve my subscription issues I might have been able to do it sooner but playing on SV And having every option unlocked through cartel coins I didn't see the need to rush. 

   

[TrixxieTriss]

12 hours ago, GweedoBane said:

I was in this bracket as well until for whatever reasons my crd card failed - I still don't know why the auto renewal didn't work and it certainly wasn't a $ issue on my end - however it is what it is, I was dropped down to preferred status and was initially puzzled as to how then realised my sub wasn't renewed which I rectified immediately with a manual payment and hope that auto renewal just starts working again /pray.

However does that mean as I wasn't subbed for a few hours I'm now in the well you weren't subbed from January!.....I had to laugh (and cry a little on the inside lol) as I think that's exactly the boat I now find myself in.  No free transfers for you! 

This is why we need a date for the transfers & for them to change the policy to just be subscribed when transfers open.

At the moment it feels like we are being strung along paying for a sub when we can’t actually play the content we want on the server we want. 

If I want to PvP or play the new story, I have to play on the US servers because PvP isn’t popping lowbies on SV & I don’t have a lvl 80 on SV. If it wasn’t for the free transfers, I would have gone back to preferred status till transfers open.

I’ve literally been paying for something I can’t use at the moment the way I’m used to playing. So I’m not really playing at the moment. If a date isn’t forth coming soon, I’m just going to quit & be done with it. 

Edited March 6 by TrixxieTriss

[TrixxieTriss]

4 hours ago, Lord_Ranon said:

Is this happening anytime soon?

Oh, and once again, cross server play please devs. Reduce those god awful queue times. If it means greater ping from time to time, so be it - when the Amercians play on our server, they'll have to deal with it, too.

If you don’t care about ping, just play on the US servers. 

I for one will quit the game entirely if they do cross server between the regions & I have to play with high ping. Honestly what’s the point a local server if they do that. 

[JohnnyGatt]

4 hours ago, TrixxieTriss said:

If you don’t care about ping, just play on the US servers. 

I for one will quit the game entirely if they do cross server between the regions & I have to play with high ping. Honestly what’s the point a local server if they do that.

With cloud servers they've been able to do this with other games even when playing with Americans I'm still on a 40 to 50 ping as are the Americans.  Essentially you're both playing on your own servers and the two servers are transferring information between them therefore your control of your character seems smooth as silk at least that's how I understand it's working out.  

[Advocatis]

14 hours ago, GweedoBane said:

I was in this bracket as well until for whatever reasons my crd card failed - I still don't know why the auto renewal didn't work and it certainly wasn't a $ issue on my end - however it is what it is, I was dropped down to preferred status and was initially puzzled as to how then realised my sub wasn't renewed which I rectified immediately with a manual payment and hope that auto renewal just starts working again /pray.

However does that mean as I wasn't subbed for a few hours I'm now in the well you weren't subbed from January!.....I had to laugh (and cry a little on the inside lol) as I think that's exactly the boat I now find myself in.  No free transfers for you! 

I had a CC failure when the card renewed with the same account number, but a new security code.  The account interface for SWTOR allowed for updating a credit card number, but not a security code.  The last time I had to update to a new card, I wound up having to delete the old card and enter a new payment method.  That caused all sorts of issues and reset my account status to new, so I hoped the payment would go through.

The next payment failed because of the change in security code, so I had to completely change my payment because of the code.  If your card renewed, that might have been your issue.

[Samcuu]

7 hours ago, JohnnyGatt said:

With cloud servers they've been able to do this with other games even when playing with Americans I'm still on a 40 to 50 ping as are the Americans.  Essentially you're both playing on your own servers and the two servers are transferring information between them therefore your control of your character seems smooth as silk at least that's how I understand it's working out.  

If this is possible it would be a massive lifeline for end game players in swtor. If you could keep the servers seperate to their time zones but multiply the player base for stuff like fps, ops, and pvp, it would help immensely. Really need cross server queues as long as they work how you've described. 

[Strathkin]

23 hours ago, JohnnyGatt said:

Essentially you're both playing on your own servers and the two servers are transferring information between them therefore your control of your character seems smooth as silk at least that's how I understand it's working out.  

Yea while you will seem as smooth as silk, other players may appear to lag; for them you may appear to lag, while they appear fine.  As it actually takes more overhead to sync two server's, cause there's connectivity from clients to destination on both server's; yet also additional lag or delay caused by keeping them in sync.  That really only works when both Server's are in the same location (low latency directly connected via a switch) yet requires new dedicated interfaces to directly communicate between servers; yet then there's two additional problems:

1. The other challenge while all 3 European Server's are located in same Location, how do they resolve communication when some are speaking English/French/German all in Large Groups?  
2. Or potential for players with duplicate Character Names, &/or Duplicate Guild Names... ...do they require some Character's, or Guilds change their Names again? 

 

• Satele Shan & Star Forge --same location, little additional lag, easier to merge though!
• Darth Malgus, The Leviathon, Tulak Horde --same location, yet 3 languages.
• Shae Vizla--one location, yet additional delay introduced to sync N.A. & APAC.
• They'd complicate further it trying to Sync European Server & North America.

There is never a perfect solution, only compromises on some level.  So doing this for both North American Server's makes more sense; while merging requires increased character limits!  European Server's present the language barrier issue, unless the Client auto-translated typed text (before displaying) in an alternative supported language.  They could also change Names so they "Name@Account" yet they you'd also loose, being able to claim to be the only one with that exact name! 

Edited March 7 by Strathkin
Grammar

[emperorruby]

@JackieKo @KeithKanneg there's a reason why the apac community is frustrated and in some cases angry right now because it looks like your head is stuck in the sand in their eyes this radio silence is fuelling their anxiety and sense of doom

[Strathkin]

Not according to: Blizzard Support - Cross Realm Party (battle.net)

"In Modern WoW and Wrath Classic you can party-up with friends on other realms within the same region."

Just like I said, within the same regions just as both of us identified makes sense; if they have synced server farther apart, it only see lag further increased!  Which is why they should limit it to Servers in same Region (close proximity) to each other; so only Sync between N.A. Servers, or only between European Servers!  The reason is simple, when Server's are separated by great distance, this introduces additional lag as Syncing them creates additional lag overhead, aside from the lag delay.  You saw Australians displeased when they moved West Coast Server (Satele Shan) to the East Coast along side Star Forge, it increased their lag by about an additional 75 - 95ms on top of what they had of perhaps 175ms!  Server Sync only works it's best, when in the same Data Center or close proximity region!

WotLK Classic - Cross-Realm PvP Queueing On PTR - Warcraft Tavern

"The current system on Live servers allows you to match into players from other realms within your region but does not allow you to queue together with them." 

They might be able to support on Chat Servers, an AI translation via Home Chat Server sending to a Translate Server, before relaying it to the Destination Chat Server; yet that would require some rethinking how they currently do things. That may delay seeing text typed for 1 to 1.25 seconds from different language Server, as even pasting [full sentence] into Google translate takes that long...  ...that be manageable perhaps, yet greatly help queue times in on European Servers, even though Dark Malgus is good.  

That's why the target for Australia was APAC which includes Hong Kong and others whom speak English, very well, to expand the appeal to a larger Server Community!

They'd need to support unique names restricted to Name@Account or Name@Legacy like Guild Roster does today.  Now with duplicate Names, some games allow duplicate names on each Server, as Names only unique to each Account.  Yet that requires a subtle change by Broadsword in how they recognize unique names no longer by just by Character Name on a Server.  In other games you can see several "Gwenn" Character's but the backend system associates it to either "Name@account" or "Name@Legacy" which is what your blocked Legacy does as well--it just require educating users that similarly named individuals are NOT the same person.  This however would be something entirely new, and could give more great choices in Character Name creation...  ...yet some might not like being the only Darth Yogurt, or Darth Helmet for instance.   
-----------------

Trying to Sync N.A. & European server's wouldn't be wise!  Distance from NYC to Ireland is 3,115 miles, or NYC to Australia is 9,950 miles.  It's why most connect to closest servers to spend 95% of their time.  It's why the best solution, creates a 2nd Network Interface over a locally directly connected backend switched Network, separate from Public Internet Facing Interface used by Player to Server Communication!

The two viable options (they should explore) for Server Sync are shown below:

• Satele Shan with Star Forge --within the same Data Center, yet needs to resolve Duplicate Names.
• Darth Malgus with The Leviathon (French) &/or Tulak Horde (German) --also same Data Center, yet needs AI translate tool from source Chat Server, before being forwarded to 1-2 different Destination Server's.  That would delay your home Chat Server receiving typed Text by 1s to 1.25s [pasting a sentence into Google Translate takes that long] to translate to your desired language (based on Home Server Preference) yet that's managable for chat in Flashpoints / Operations / PvP / GSF etc... 

Problems come in if you're syncing Server's over thousands of miles; cause even WoW states to only those within same Region as shown above.  Though it's best limited to within same Data Center, yet is possible same Region (<400 miles) possibly; only if you pay for higher cost separate (switched backend) Interconnect as those aren't cheap.  Trying to use the same Public Internet Facing connection  (via VPN) for this, would also be competing with Players bandwidth, and doesn't include the +10ms to +15ms additional overhead keeping them in Sync, along with any lag of +125ms to +159ms delay from Source to Destination over great distances!  Most Players to local Region Server's have < 85ms lag as a good rule.  So that could marginally increase even in "best" case scenario to those server in same Date Center.  

The only caution there, they'd need to advise on Character creator to warn against creating duplicate names on an Alternate Server; as if you later try to transfer this you'd be forced to later change it's name! 

Edited March 10 by Strathkin
Grammar

[Nommaz]

To be fair, WoW has these things but they do not work well, US players constantly complain when they get an instance on Aussie servers with comment's like 250ms is unplayable and drop group, if they don't do that they complain about the really bad lag, and its the same across all play types especially PVP.

However, even saying that, it is very different here, because it's not 250ms we are talking about SWTORS servers are 300-500ms to AU, at least where I live, they constantly lag out and disconnect, you cannot compare apples with oranges, sorry.
Trixxie is plenty positive, but if all you see is negative then perhaps the issue is not trixxie, they have constantly tried to uplift and even help the APAC community and offer solutions to the devs, and even plead with them for communication/compromise fact is we are all sick of it and becoming jaded, Trixxie is the one constant positive poster.
If anyone is negative it is not them.

[JohnnyGatt]

So we have a date the 12th of March I'm guessing it's gonna be 13 for us Australians...

They obviously heard our complaints about preferred players not having access to the forums and have opened up that a little bit. That's good But I believe they should have more access or there should be multiple levels of preferred status one- basic preferred any purchase. or two- premium preferred. subscriber for X amount of time. 

But there's no mention of changes from Jackie to the credit limits or the Possibility of removing the overall anti inflation cost on SV.

There's also been no mention of changes on free transfers for Returning APAC players.

But looking at how changes like this have been announced in the past, Jackie puts out the basic patch info and then Keith sweeps in to save the day with the changes.

So do you think Keith will come in and prove they've actually listened to us the APAC community like he brags about in interviews?

Or do you think they will stand their ground completely to prove they believe they know what's best for Australian players completely ignoring thousands of posts.?

I'm hoping we get a bone on the free transfers for subscribers. even if they just made it a month before transfers opened, would be better As the 12th was about two weeks after they announced they would be opening up transfers. And without modifications to the cost of living on SV (Currently repair and travel costs outweigh general questing credit rewards), I truly hope they reconsider the 15 million transfer limit as the server will need a much larger influx of credits to cope with the aggressive cost of living.

 

Edited March 8 by JohnnyGatt

[TrixxieTriss]

1 hour ago, JohnnyGatt said:

But there's no mention of changes from Jackie to the credit limits or the Possibility of removing the overall anti inflation cost on SV.

There's also been no mention of changes on free transfers for Returning APAC players.

Yes, I’m very disappointed this hasn’t been addressed. More needed to be done here for the APAC community. I think it will be too little for many. There are a whole bunch of APAC subscribers who won’t qualify for free transfers.
 

1 hour ago, JohnnyGatt said:

Or do you think they will stand their ground completely to prove they believe they know what's best for Australian players completely ignoring thousands of posts.?

I doubt they will do more. They are basically doubling down & saying this is all you are getting. And while I would “love” Keith to sweep in & make last minute announcements, that won’t happen this time because coding is involved. 

I am glad they are opening up the forums more for preferred players. But it’s also not enough. The general section & PvP section should also be opened for them. Because people need help with more than just being new to the game, they also need help as new pvpers. Also BS often ask for player feedback & put it in the general section. How can they obtain all the feedback if people can’t post? And lastly what about the server section? There will be lots of new players on SV in the coming weeks & months. 

Edited March 8 by TrixxieTriss

[emperorruby]

34 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

Yes, I’m very disappointed this hasn’t been addressed. More needed to be done here for the APAC community. I think it will be too little for many. There are a whole bunch of APAC subscribers who won’t qualify for free transfers.
 

I doubt they will do more. They are basically doubling down & saying this is all you are getting. And while I would “love” Keith to sweep in & make last minute announcements, that won’t happen this time because coding is involved. 

I am glad they are opening up the forums more for preferred players. But it’s also not enough. The general section & PvP section should also be opened for them. Because people need help with more than just being new to the game, they also need help as new pvpers. Also BS often ask for player feedback & put it in the general section. How can they obtain all the feedback if people can’t post? And lastly what about the server section? There will be lots of new players on SV in the coming weeks & months. 

if they don't change the subscriber requirements for free transfers it will be a dumpster fire for sure

[Nee-Elder]

3 hours ago, JohnnyGatt said:

So we have a date the 12th of March

Here's the actual  link with official info-->  https://forums.swtor.com/topic/933982-game-update-741-building-a-foundation-coming-march-12th/  for those people who don't  spend much time on these forums  yet are still following this SV thread.

[Strathkin]

Yes, I also believe the decision to open up the Forums to Preferred (Accounts) is wise, the three area's they added were New Player Help, Introductions, & Bug Reports.  Realize this was actually the 3 core area's subscriber's (mostly) agreed were appropriate; in a Suggestion Box thread.  Many subscriber's don't want their voices harder to hear in forums, if they went too far.  It's an improvement as Preferred can earn reputation; or post "bug" or "help" related subjects, and New Player Help is quite broad in how it's used.  *two thumbs up* 

Now that they've announced transfer date, time to focus people on these points: 

Star Wars: The Old Republic - STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ Character Transfers (ea.com)

Yet they haven't indicated any changes at least to these four points:

"The contents of your Legacy Stronghold Storage (including any Credits you have stored there) don’t transfer with your character."

"We recommend that you withdraw any items you'd like to bring with you and move them into your character's personal cargo hold."

"The Materials tab on your inventory is also tied to your Legacy on your Origin server and it's contents won't transfer with your character."

"Don’t try to log in on the character you are transferring until you have received an email to your registered email address confirming that the transfer is complete." 

-----------------

So those points above except the last, are critical to start thinking about now: 

1. I'd probably focus on selling lower level Materials for [<4 for example] on GTN over next week, or possibly a bit higher (if you have a lot) so most transfer in 1 Character's Cargo Hold.  You'll also want to fully expand your Character's Personal Cargo Hold, so each Character maximizes the items they bring with them.  As 1 Character's with full Cargo Hold might transfer most Level 4+ Materials, then other Characters could carry those other items they speak of.  Everyone has to consider how to approach this, depending on how much they have; as some may have year(s) of Materials.  
2. Now an excellent time to use some credit's to focus on buying a few items on GTN, if you find a Good Price and haven't yet unlocked in your collection; and move to your Character's Cargo Bay to bring with you as well!
3. Don't unlock them, save Cartel Coins for when transfers open March 12th, to move additional Characters you require; so you'll later be able to decide, when to add them, as your Coins replenish from Subscriptions & Galactic Seasons! As that also starts that same day, so I hope everyone on Shae Vizla, finally see's new Life brought back to their Server.  

So be wise, Approach the Transfer's using EA guidance Tips shown above!

• Still should increase to 20m, given APAC had years of play time on Satele Shan.
• Also given 1 Free Transfer to F2P Player's, & 2 Free Transfers to Preferred.   

"Just something that makes you go hmm..."  --Arsenio Hall 

Edited March 9 by Strathkin
Grammar

[emperorruby]

11 hours ago, TrixxieTriss said:

Yes, I’m very disappointed this hasn’t been addressed. More needed to be done here for the APAC community. I think it will be too little for many. There are a whole bunch of APAC subscribers who won’t qualify for free transfers.
 

I doubt they will do more. They are basically doubling down & saying this is all you are getting. And while I would “love” Keith to sweep in & make last minute announcements, that won’t happen this time because coding is involved. 

I am glad they are opening up the forums more for preferred players. But it’s also not enough. The general section & PvP section should also be opened for them. Because people need help with more than just being new to the game, they also need help as new pvpers. Also BS often ask for player feedback & put it in the general section. How can they obtain all the feedback if people can’t post? And lastly what about the server section? There will be lots of new players on SV in the coming weeks & months. 

i was referencing to the apac community not usa/canada or eu they can get the january 2 2024 date i call it the apac clause to avoid backlash    

[Duck_Cider]

Thanks for announcing a date. Couple things mentioned in this thread I'd like to see with this update - they should still be feasible, if not done already:

- Check handling of previously mentioned cases like attempting to transfer a f2p/pref char with 4b in escrow. After all the effort to improve the situation on other servers, where exploits played a part in causing hyper-inflation, it would be less than ideal if a new exploit allowed people to easily bring billions to SV, using that method or any other. (Does resale timer get wiped during transfers? People shouldn't be able to buy vendor stuff, transfer, then resell vendor stuff at full price either.)
- Disable transfers off SV, at least for now, so people transferring to buy cheap stuff can't immediately bring things back to their home servers to sell and go again.
- Remove current listings on SV GTN when the update happens, so sellers don't get hit by overnight inflation, and buyers plus sellers both deal with the post-update environment on an equal level.

[emperorruby]

On 2/21/2024 at 6:40 AM, emperorruby said:

@JackieKo @KeithKanneg it should a time for celebration for the apac community not lead it to its destruction

@JackieKo @KeithKanneg celebration = apac clause to avoid backlash destruction = no apac clause to avoid backlash a pr nightmare this is what i meant about the paths you can take

Edited March 8 by emperorruby

[emperorruby]

@JackieKo @KeithKanneg you are bleeding out apac players due to the backdated january 2nd subscriber requirements maybe their payment failed after january 2nd or due to miscommunication they take it at face value misunderstood they unsubscribe to the game because because they did not qualify for free transfers

[Darev]

On 3/6/2024 at 4:42 AM, JohnnyGatt said:

With cloud servers they've been able to do this with other games even when playing with Americans I'm still on a 40 to 50 ping as are the Americans.  Essentially you're both playing on your own servers and the two servers are transferring information between them therefore your control of your character seems smooth as silk at least that's how I understand it's working out.  

 

On 3/6/2024 at 12:25 PM, Samcuu said:

If this is possible it would be a massive lifeline for end game players in swtor. If you could keep the servers seperate to their time zones but multiply the player base for stuff like fps, ops, and pvp, it would help immensely. Really need cross server queues as long as they work how you've described. 

I have a couple thoughts on this.

1.   Just because it CAN be done (technically speaking) on some other game, doesn't mean that THIS game uses the same code / connections---cloud servers or not.

2.   Even if they have the correct tech/base code compatibility doesn't mean they're WILLING to devote resources (programmers / $$$$) to it, especially right away.

3.   Even IF they "agree" that 1 and 2 are feasible and appropriate, they'll likely wait to see if there's a NEED for it.

     a)    International cross server queues may SOUND like a good idea, but there are hurdles to overcome and honestly really only helps PUGs and hurts (potentially) GUILD based runs (a guild member drops for whatever reason and all the people who can PUG are already doing so and unavailable for a last minute availabe spot in a guild run).

    b)   The language barrier - already discussed in other posts

    c)   The Time Zone difference - Shae Vizla is about 16-18 hours ahead of East Coast time, depending on how Daylight Savings time works between US and Australia/Sydney.    So...8 PM in NYC = Noon the next day in Sydney (roughly).  Works for Friday/Sat nights in the east coast, but Sun  - Thu that's the work week, lunch time.    There might not be enough NUMBERS of players to make it worth the investment.

Edited March 9 by Darev

[emperorruby]

@JackieKo @KeithKanneg i highly that apac players would pay 500cc per character more likely they 1 abandoned the characters trapped on us/eu servers or 2 quit the game outright in disgust    

[JohnnyGatt]

19 hours ago, Darev said:

1.   Just because it CAN be done (technically speaking) on some other game, doesn't mean that THIS game uses the same code / connections---cloud servers or not.

And we are just talking about the tech And possibilities for the game.

I learned about the technology at the Australian Gaming Development Conference this year  Some engineers from EA presented it. They are talking about attempting to implement it across as many platforms as they can in the future. They are setting up dedicated links between their servers that are less likely to be affected by basic Intranet traffic. 

So they can get an Excellent connection between Australia and San Francisco Much faster than the average Australian could connect to San Francisco and much faster than somebody in the US could connect to Australia. EA said they had it working in some games And didn't want to make it public to prevent gamers In the games it's currently testing from Dropping when they saw a slightly higher ping. They were confident it would be widely used in MMO's/RPGs and are still working on increasing performance for FPS games. The technology is server side So will work on older games as well according to the presentation. 

I believe one of the games they're testing is Diablo 4 as I have played with Americans and we were discussing our ping times when in the same zones and all of us had low ping So I was connected to an Australian server They were connected to a US server But we were next to each other doing the same crap and PVPing. All the open-world zones Have players from Taiwan, Australia and the US playing side by side killing the same bosses..

And as for your comments about the time zones People Play at all sorts of wild times. This type of Technology will allow people who are playing in the middle of the night in the U. S. to still get PVP matches. That's the benefit for Americans. whereas for Australians. simply increasing the accessible player base will make the world a difference. Also allowing Australians to compete in international competitions which was the main focus of the presentation,

And the language barrier is not an issue at all. I've played multiple games on Asia Pacific servers with both English and Chinese-speaking players playing content side by side. Very little communication is needed in this game Unless you're trying to raid together. Any game that has multiple languages and communities like Guilds simply implements language options in gilded descriptions That's another thing Diablo did with no problems at all.

 

Edited March 10 by JohnnyGatt