deathcupcake:

worstjediever:

all of that

Catpella nicely summarized all the rumors I’ve seen and the possible ways this will work. But there really isn’t anything to be done until they tell us their plans…which sounds like it will be soon (as in the next month or so).

I’m glad people like the summary. It’s kind of tl;dr, but I didn’t really see all the options spelled out in one big list anywhere.

I know we can’t plan anything until announcements, but what are you guys hoping for? I’m really hoping there aren’t merges of all the East Coast RP-PVEs, because as I said in the Long Post of Long, I have too many chars :( If super-servers do happen near the start, I’d be tentatively interested in migrating to an RP one (but only if my guilds were!). I’d prefer to stay on a smaller server with people who make me happy than be on a bigger one where I don’t really know anyone; I’m lonely enough on Ebon Hawk now that all my guildmates are unsubbed. I wouldn’t mind seeing transfers opening   to Shien to get some new blood in and populate the damn GTN.

(Source: snakebelly)

worstjediever:

deathcupcake:

worstjediever:

deathcupcake:

worstjediever:

deathcupcake:

deathcupcake:

errantlight:

snakebelly:

“Any players required to change a character’s name due to Customer Support request must now make all name changes before logging in with any character on a server.”

Holy shit, are they making us change names for server mergers? WHAT IF I…

The server people are being moved to generally takes priority. If you’re moved from a server to another, you have to change your name if there is a conflict.

well fuck I don’t wanna have to change names… I’d like to know destinations too because I have so many characters all over places that are likely to merge…

Yeah. I’m going to hope for the best but my people and I will be watching! My current server is smack in the middle of the list from most populated to least. I hope we stay and others merge to us. But until concrete plans are laid out, there’s really knowing. I do hope we are given some notice so we can delete characters (with or without the same name) if we have them on destination servers.

Since I learned about this last week, I spazzed and put it in the GMOTD. It affects me and my feelings!!

is there anything out there with this info or is it just a general announcement? I can’t seem to find anything.

From this interview - it’s all speculation right now, but this kind of talk does tend to mean server merges.

PCG: Is the group finder available for Hard Mode Operations, or just Story Mode?
DE: Just Story. Pick-up groups for Hard Mode would be more frustration than anything else.
PCG: Will they be cross-server at launch? Is that planned for the future?
DE: They will not be cross-server as we are coming up on a huge move to servers with massively higher population caps than we have today.

Now, this could just mean server clusters, such as WoW battlegroups.   Who knows yet?

Server clusters, rather than massive merges, might work out well. In WoW they had the mix of all the different kinds of servers - RP, PVE, PVP - which gave the battlegrounds and the later LFG groups a good mix of gear and play style. It gave a good variety to the population. If you just shoved, lets say, all the RPers together you’d end up possibly with less viable PVP matches and so so operations and of course need rolls on pretty gear. Keeping it mixed up some might be better for the longevity of the game.

Semicolon; however, comma… if this is a quick fix they’ll just mash some of the low pop servers of the same types together and call it a day… which would kind of suck.

I have some thoughts on what I think BioWare is going to wind up doing. Apologies in advance, this is long. All the rumors sound like BW is considering three major possibilities:

1.) Merging a bunch of same-type servers together. 

Advantages: Fewer empty servers, larger populations.

Problems: “What if I have more than 8 characters across servers that are being involuntarily merged?” This is less of a likelihood with PVE and PVP, since there are dozens of those, so the likelihood of exceeding 8 in mergers is smaller. but could be a huge problem on types with smaller numbers. Example: there are 7 North America RP-PVE East Coast servers. Between them, I have 12 PCs. If they merge all 7, I am totally fucked (and incredibly pissed). Also, there are very few American RP-PVP servers (2 East, 1 West), so there’s almost no choices for merger there.  

Likelihood: This is the one I think BioWare would want to avoid if at all possible, and do last if they have to. They know there’s not that much choice for merging the RP-types, and they know that merging may cause people to exceed char slots. I think this is least likely.

2.) They create new super-servers, capable of holding massive populations, and people voluntarily transfer to these.

Advantages: Because people would all be choosing to transfer there, there is a lessening on name conflict issues. Whoever transfers first gets it. While not ideal, it could be argued that this is better than “two servers merge and the guy who namecamped on the receiving server day 1 and then unsubscribed doesn’t get to keep a name over the girl who transferred a character in with that name at 50 and a full subscription”. This would also be a good choice because it allows people who split time between multiple servers (for example, people with multiple guild affiliations) to be able to congregate on one server if all of their guilds/friends transfer as well; you could still play with 2 sets of buddies, but share a legacy rather than having 2 separate ones! Another advantage is that people who have several characters across several servers can pick and choose who to transfer to the new one, unlike in a merge where everything gets dumped in a random new place. So if you have 4 Warriors on 2 servers, but only want 1 on the super-server, this might be ideal. It’s also possible that BioWare might give the super-servers perks such as additional character slots on that one in order to encourage adoption, but that’s just speculation out my tail.

Problems: It lessens name conflict, but still doesn’t solve the problem. Since you have to opt-in to transfer there, not all guilds/friend groups might want to do this, and therefore you might still be stuck across several servers. Much higher likelihood of hitting character slot cap.

Likelihood: Moderately high. It’s a much better option than merges, and I think BioWare knows that.

3.) Free promotional transfer to selected servers (or off selected servers); all other transfers paid.

Advantages: It guarantees you can get your preference if you have your heart set on a certain server. Free transfers off of low-population servers gives an out for people who are miserable, without charging them to fix their experience. My gut instinct is that they won’t offer free transfer to the overpopulated ones (the “big names” like Fatman or Jedi Covenant), but will instead encourage transfer to medium-populated ones in an attempt to get them up to bigger status without horrific queue-times).

Problems: Exact same issue of “running our of character slots” and name conflicts as the other two options. Potential issues with people who can’t really afford to pay being unhappy about the server they want to get off or go to not being on the free list. 

Likelihood: BioWare has already confirmed some transfers will be free, so this plan seems guaranteed to be at least part of it.

My prediction:

I think it’s going to be a mix of all 3 options. The way I’ve laid it out below has several advantages: it gives currently-active subscribers a choice of where they want to go, it doesn’t drop unwanted mergers on people immediately, and it provides several server choices, not just the currently popular top 3.

Step 1: open mega-servers, allow free transfers for a certain period of time (2 months, maybe?).

Step 2: Allow free transfers off a group of the lowest-population servers onto a few (one or two of each type) medium population servers (not the megas). This will bring the mediums up to high, and will also allow people a certain level of autonomy over where they wind up.

Step 3: Allow paid transfers to anywhere you want (may be concurrent with 2).

Step 4: To reduce server totals, merge the lowest-populations either together or with the lower end of medium ones.

(via derpsidejedi)