Trixx Fix Black Site Miracle Fix To Avoid Momentous Tragic Event

[MadCuzBad]

It seems that there is very little opposition to the idea that we have too many servers for the current player base. After consultation with my long time SWTOR friend Trixxie I came up with a simple and easily implemented short list to resolve the problem.

1. Broadsword will create 2 brand new servers. 1 NA and 1 EU.

2. Broadsword will lift any and all restrictions to transfers to APAC.

3. Once 1 and 2 are live all players (subbed or not subbed) will have the opportunity to server transfer any toon that is older than 60 days creation date to any of the 3 servers. All players will have 60 days to complete the server transfers before the forced server mergers take place.

4. All players (free or subbed) will have an option to pick which server their toons will be merged into. An example would be that I can pick my SS server toons to be merged to APAC. Or I can pick my SF toons to be merged into new EU server. The choice would be yours. If no choice is given, all NA toons will be automatically moved to new NA server and all EU toons will be merged into new EU server.

5. Any accounts that do not participate in the free server transfers or declare a destination will automatically be placed in the server closest to the original server. Example if you had toons on SF and SS they would be automatically be placed on the new NA server.

Personally I think this need to take place sooner than later. I think the the iron on APAC might still be hot enough to make this happen and have 3 healthy servers to play on. My fear is that if too much time goes by, we might lose the APAC server forever and not be able to make it viable.

Also I think it is important to get free to play, preferred accounts, and subbed accounts to all participate in this event. This is for the future and health of the entire player base, not just the subs.

Thank you Trixxie for explaining the technical limitations to this. I was not aware of the option to pick a server to merge to was possible.

I hope the dev team considers this sooner than later.

[TrixxieTriss]

To be upfront. I’m not necessarily advocating mergers myself. I was just explaining how it could be done if they decide to do it. 

There are lots of negative connotations that go with the idea of mergers. One of them is character names. This would need to be addressed too in a fair & equable manner or you lose more players. 

Then you have guilds & all their assets. That would also need to be addressed too. 

Edited March 18 by TrixxieTriss

[Darcmoon]

44 minutes ago, MadCuzBad said:

It seems that there is very little opposition to the idea that we have too many servers for the current player base. After consultation with my long time SWTOR friend Trixxie I came up with a simple and easily implemented short list to resolve the problem.

1. Broadsword will create 2 brand new servers. 1 NA and 1 EU.

2. Broadsword will lift any and all restrictions to transfers to APAC.

3. Once 1 and 2 are live all players (subbed or not subbed) will have the opportunity to server transfer any toon that is older than 60 days creation date to any of the 3 servers. All players will have 60 days to complete the server transfers before the forced server mergers take place.

4. All players (free or subbed) will have an option to pick which server their toons will be merged into. An example would be that I can pick my SS server toons to be merged to APAC. Or I can pick my SF toons to be merged into new EU server. The choice would be yours. If no choice is given, all NA toons will be automatically moved to new NA server and all EU toons will be merged into new EU server.

5. Any accounts that do not participate in the free server transfers or declare a destination will automatically be placed in the server closest to the original server. Example if you had toons on SF and SS they would be automatically be placed on the new NA server.

Personally I think this need to take place sooner than later. I think the the iron on APAC might still be hot enough to make this happen and have 3 healthy servers to play on. My fear is that if too much time goes by, we might lose the APAC server forever and not be able to make it viable.

Also I think it is important to get free to play, preferred accounts, and subbed accounts to all participate in this event. This is for the future and health of the entire player base, not just the subs.

Thank you Trixxie for explaining the technical limitations to this. I was not aware of the option to pick a server to merge to was possible.

I hope the dev team considers this sooner than later.

Saying there is or isn't opposition to merging the servers is really an opinion.  

[DWho]

41 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

There are lots of negative connotations that go with the idea of mergers. One of them is character names. This would need to be addressed too in a fair & equable manner or you lose more players. 

Would definitely be the last straw for me. If I lost characters names after being subbed continuously since launch, that would be it. I can put up with a lot of garbage (and have) but that would be a bridge too far. At this point all that is left in the game that is any fun at all is the way the characters are dressed and their names. Where they are doesn't matter but "who" they are does. Change their names, and they're not the same character any more and not worth playing.

[TrixxieTriss]

7 minutes ago, DWho said:

Would definitely be the last straw for me. If I lost characters names after being subbed continuously since launch, that would be it. I can put up with a lot of garbage (and have) but that would be a bridge too far. At this point all that is left in the game that is any fun at all is the way the characters are dressed and their names. Where they are doesn't matter but "who" they are does. Change their names, and they're not the same character any more and not worth playing.

I know how you feel. After 3 forced mergers, I’ve lost many names I had. I even lost names I wanted when SV opened because people who dislike me took specific names they know are linked to my identity in game, just to troll me. They aren’t even playing on the server & as far as I can tell, those characters have not advanced above lvl 1. So those names will be forever locked on the server. 

One thing I’ve now done is replicate all my names on every server with lvl one placeholders I’ll probably never play. That way if mergers are ever forced, I have the name on that server already. 

Edited March 18 by TrixxieTriss

[MadCuzBad]

8 minutes ago, DWho said:

Would definitely be the last straw for me. If I lost characters names after being subbed continuously since launch, that would be it. I can put up with a lot of garbage (and have) but that would be a bridge too far. At this point all that is left in the game that is any fun at all is the way the characters are dressed and their names. Where they are doesn't matter but "who" they are does. Change their names, and they're not the same character any more and not worth playing.

I also have been here since launch. Here is my history. I started on the original Bastion. From there was forced into Shadowlands. From Shadowlands forced to Correllian Run. From Correllian Run to Prophecy of The Five. From there I paid to move all my toons to Harbinger. From Harbinger to Star Forge. 

I agree it is not the funnest thing to go thru however it is essential for a healthy MMORPG from time to time. I think that time is now.

[DWho]

5 minutes ago, MadCuzBad said:

I agree it is not the funnest thing to go thru

Like I said, if the cost of "merging servers" is my character names, I'm done and so will lots of other people be. Keep that in mind when you suggest mergers. Mergers always cost subs, they never gain subs.

Character names are my line in the sand.

Edited March 18 by DWho

[MadCuzBad]

1 minute ago, DWho said:

Like I said, if the cost of "merging servers" is my character names, I'm done and so will lots of other people be. Keep that in mind when you suggest mergers. Mergers always cost subs, they never gain subs.

Not in the long run.

[MadCuzBad]

1 hour ago, TrixxieTriss said:

To be upfront. I’m not necessarily advocating mergers myself. I was just explaining how it could be done if they decide to do it. 

There are lots of negative connotations that go with the idea of mergers. One of them is character names. This would need to be addressed too in a fair & equable manner or you lose more players. 

Then you have guilds & all their assets. That would also need to be addressed too. 

I understand. Having been here since launch I have been thru many.

Yes I understand you are not advocating for them. That is totally on me. I was simply referring to the mechanics of the transfer/mergers you explained to me. Thank you for explaining.

[Taurax]

I've been here since launch as well, had to go through a name change on a character I had pretty much played since launch but was forcibly transferred from Jung Ma, and lost the name to someone else who must have made theirs less than a day before mine.  To this day, there is an annoying apostrophe in the name, and that other person hasn't played in years.  I'm sure there are plenty of other player stories, so no..any one who has to go through this now at this point would probably quit.  That means even more loss of players.

The best way to get more players, especially subs, is to create more content.  

Aside from that, given Broadswords current track record so far, I don't see them doing this as the scale for them would be to much.

[TrixxieTriss]

1 hour ago, Taurax said:

The best way to get more players, especially subs, is to create more content.  

And the best way to get new players interested is to market to them. Either through local/regional gaming media, paid advertising in legacy media or paid advertising in social media platforms. 

Because there is already a great amount of content for new players. They aren’t craving more content straight away & should take at least 12 months to get through it. 

If they can bring in an influx of new players, they would have the funds to start making more content, more often for us long term players. 

But here’s the rub. Because they keep treating long term players as throw disposable & disrespect our feedback, those still playing & those that leave, don’t express a lot of positivity towards the swtor team or the game (Im certainly guilty of it myself). Which turns off a lot of new players. So for the game to really grow again, we’d need a truce between us & the devs.

And that will never happen until the dev team starts listening to constructive feedback & actioning it in a positive way. Them continuously doubling down on bad decisions because they won’t admit something was a mistake, doesn’t help. Ignoring your paying customers & giving them the silent treatment for long stretches because you don’t like what they are telling you is how you go out of business. It doesn’t build trust, it just builds contempt & resentment. Which sadly, is what a lot of players feel.

Edited March 18 by TrixxieTriss

[MadCuzBad]

8 hours ago, Taurax said:

I've been here since launch as well, had to go through a name change on a character I had pretty much played since launch but was forcibly transferred from Jung Ma, and lost the name to someone else who must have made theirs less than a day before mine.  To this day, there is an annoying apostrophe in the name, and that other person hasn't played in years.  I'm sure there are plenty of other player stories, so no..any one who has to go through this now at this point would probably quit.  That means even more loss of players.

The best way to get more players, especially subs, is to create more content.  

Aside from that, given Broadswords current track record so far, I don't see them doing this as the scale for them would be to much.

In your case, there is about a 99% chance you will actually get your original name back. Alot of those names have been taken and stagnant for many many years. To be honest I think the exact opposite way as you do. This complete name purge has been needed for years. And the population to the game itself is at a lower point now.

With the opening of the apac server I recently transferred 16 toons there. I got every single name I wanted without even 1 hyphen. One particular name I have no had since I played SWG because it has always been taken. I think the exact opposite will happen of what you are worried about.

[FrontLineFodder]

This is what BioWare put in place back in 2017 for the last server merge:

United Forces Update Coming this November

Quote

 

As part of the process of uniting the galaxy, we will communicate a specific set of rules to govern the prospective scenario where two names collide:

• Premium players (Subscribers) will have priority over Free-to-Play and Preferred Status players.
• Highly played characters will have priority over characters with less play time.

To limit the challenge of duplicated names we will proactively remove names from characters that have not been played within the past 90-days or more and which are below Level 10. We know your character’s name is very important to you and so we are taking steps to ensure that you can hang on to the names you love to the greatest extent possible!

 

What would you change ?

what would negate the "need" to open the server a month early to allow players to "snipe" their preferred (or to troll other players) names ?

As I read the above, If the merge happened without the ability to secure your character names, As a subscriber, you would only lose your character name if it was not an active character.

[FrontLineFodder]

31 minutes ago, MadCuzBad said:

In your case, there is about a 99% chance you will actually get your original name back. Alot of those names have been taken and stagnant for many many years. To be honest I think the exact opposite way as you do. This complete name purge has been needed for years. And the population to the game itself is at a lower point now.

What would that look like do you think ?

I could imaging a scenario such as

• Year 1, One existing server in each region
  • 3 servers total
• Year 3, New Fresh Start server created in each region
  • 6 servers total
• Year 6, second quarter, Server Merge
  • release of inactive character names
  • purge of old characters
    • unused accounts for X years
  • 3 servers running
• Year 6, third quarter, New Fresh start server created
  • 6 servers running

(We would be at year 3 currently, merging all the legacy servers into 1, and starting the fresh start servers in the NA and EU regions)

Normal operations would generally have 6 servers operating at a time, every 3 years there would be a purge of inactive accounts.

Inactive accounts could be identified as

• FTP not used in 3 years
  • characters deleted
• Preferred not used in 6 years
  • characters archived
  • Possible Re-activation for 1000CC or Subscription
  • all character names would be lost

Fresh start servers would be that, no character transfers.

• Enable the ability to sync Legacy purchases (those purchased with CC) to the fresh start servers
• Encourage the use of CC to unlock Strongholds
• Collections items would be available

 

[MadCuzBad]

21 minutes ago, FrontLineFodder said:

What would that look like do you think ?

I could imaging a scenario such as

• Year 1, One existing server in each region
  • 3 servers total
• Year 3, New Fresh Start server created in each region
  • 6 servers total
• Year 6, second quarter, Server Merge
  • release of inactive character names
  • purge of old characters
    • unused accounts for X years
  • 3 servers running
• Year 6, third quarter, New Fresh start server created
  • 6 servers running

(We would be at year 3 currently, merging all the legacy servers into 1, and starting the fresh start servers in the NA and EU regions)

Normal operations would generally have 6 servers operating at a time, every 3 years there would be a purge of inactive accounts.

Inactive accounts could be identified as

• FTP not used in 3 years
  • characters deleted
• Preferred not used in 6 years
  • characters archived
  • Possible Re-activation for 1000CC or Subscription
  • all character names would be lost

Fresh start servers would be that, no character transfers.

• Enable the ability to sync Legacy purchases (those purchased with CC) to the fresh start servers
• Encourage the use of CC to unlock Strongholds
• Collections items would be available

 

Wow. That is some stuff. I really do not know what to respond to all of this other than to say I am very simply saying we need to get down to 3 servers. 1 NA, 1 EU, and 1 APAC.

This is not rocket science and it is not re inventing the wheel here. It is really simple stuff. We need to consolidate servers for the sake of a healthy game into the future. I am not looking to rebuild the entire structure and all that. Maybe that could be a different thread at a different time.

We have done server mergers many times in the past. We are not the first MMORPG to do so. All I am saying is that it needs to happen again and I think that will set this game up for a long time without having to deal with this for many many years.

Why kick the can. Lets do it now and get it out of the way and make these galactic seasons (pvp pve) funner and more active.

[Anhkriva]

Can't we just let larger servers cannibalize smaller ones in the same region? Isn't that how it always goes?

[MadCuzBad]

4 minutes ago, Anhkriva said:

Can't we just let larger servers cannibalize smaller ones in the same region? Isn't that how it always goes?

There is no meat left on the bone. That ship sailed. It is time to stop beating that horse. Just merge them and lets get it over with.

[FrontLineFodder]

12 minutes ago, MadCuzBad said:

Wow. That is some stuff. I really do not know what to respond to all of this other than to say I am very simply saying we need to get down to 3 servers. 1 NA, 1 EU, and 1 APAC.

This is not rocket science and it is not re inventing the wheel here. It is really simple stuff. We need to consolidate servers for the sake of a healthy game into the future. I am not looking to rebuild the entire structure and all that. Maybe that could be a different thread at a different time.

We have done server mergers many times in the past. We are not the first MMORPG to do so. All I am saying is that it needs to happen again and I think that will set this game up for a long time without having to deal with this for many many years.

Why kick the can. Lets do it now and get it out of the way and make these galactic seasons (pvp pve) funner and more active.

Ahh I see, I got confused with other threads asking for a fresh start server in NA and EU also...

yeah disregard that second post, in the first post I posted the merging rules that were used for 2017 (the last merge)

 

[SteveTheCynic]

7 hours ago, MadCuzBad said:

This complete name purge has been needed for years.

What those words "complete name purge" imply to me is "remove names from all characters on all accounts on all servers".  I hope you don't really mean that.

I mean, think about what it would do to subscriber numbers, the number of people who would see all the names stripped from all of their characters and give the game a rude gesture and a cancel-subscription button.

The problem that server merges cause in the context of character names is that there are collisions: server A and server B are merged to create server AB, and your character Colliding'Name (from A) collides with my character Colliding'Name (from B).  At least one of us has to lose access to that name.

[MadCuzBad]

46 minutes ago, SteveTheCynic said:

What those words "complete name purge" imply to me is "remove names from all characters on all accounts on all servers".  I hope you don't really mean that.

I mean, think about what it would do to subscriber numbers, the number of people who would see all the names stripped from all of their characters and give the game a rude gesture and a cancel-subscription button.

The problem that server merges cause in the context of character names is that there are collisions: server A and server B are merged to create server AB, and your character Colliding'Name (from A) collides with my character Colliding'Name (from B).  At least one of us has to lose access to that name.

You are wayyyyyyyy over playing this "the sky is falling, everyone will immediatly unsub" thing. I have been thru many server mergers and if anything the populations grow as soon as it happens. I have never experienced what you are saying in any game I have ever played that merged servers. Actually I experienced the exact opposite including right here in swtor.

I know you personally do not want to merge servers, but just because you do not, please refrain from the sky is falling and the end of the world is here comments.

If they merge the NA servers and EU servers the absolute first thing you will see immediately is a surge of players from Leviathan, and Tulek Horde, and Sateel Shan returning to this game in force. So many people on those 3 servers do not play because they do not want to transfer all their stuff and pay to go to an active server like DM or SF.

The exact opposite effect will take place on day 1 of the mergers. It will be like a breathe of fresh air for thousands of people who no longer play.

[SteveTheCynic]

On 3/18/2024 at 8:42 PM, MadCuzBad said:

You are wayyyyyyyy over playing this "the sky is falling, everyone will immediatly unsub" thing. I have been thru many server mergers and if anything the populations grow as soon as it happens. I have never experienced what you are saying in any game I have ever played that merged servers. Actually I experienced the exact opposite including right here in swtor.

Tsk.  I was critiquing the "complete name purge" thing, not the server merge thing.

On 3/18/2024 at 8:42 PM, MadCuzBad said:

I know you personally do not want to merge servers,

You don't know that, or if you do, you are *wrong*.  I don't particularly *want* to merge them either, because I'm mostly indifferent to the question.

On 3/18/2024 at 8:42 PM, MadCuzBad said:

The exact opposite effect will take place on day 1 of the mergers. It will be like a breathe of fresh air for thousands of people who no longer play.

Probably, but that's because I wasn't saying that *mergers* would cause lots of unsubbing.  I was saying that a "complete name purge" == "deletion of the names from all characters on all servers of all accounts" (what the words in "complete name purge" should actually mean) would cause lots of unsubbing.

Mergers only cause problems with names where there are characters with the same name on more than one of the merged servers that make up a single after-merge server.