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Concept: SWG Server Mergers 2011/2012

B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
Concept: SWG Server Mergers 2011/2012

Having recently spoken with the SWG Development team regarding the current Server Population Imbalance in SWG we're heard that although there are still no plans for any server closures or Free Character Transfers, there are a few possibilites that they would like to hear your feedback on.

The Development team are not keen on a repeat of the last Free Character Transfer service as this resulted in some servers being hugely overpopulated while some were considerably less so. With this in mind we'd like to ask your opinion on a few scenarios they are aimed at better balancing the current population across the remaining servers, and how they may effect your choice of destination server.

IMPORTANT: These are just examples and do not represent any current plans as there are none. We'd just like to know which option you like best and have filled in the server names ourselves as the Development Team have not identified any particular servers for closure. We'll then be passing on your feedback to the Dev team so that they can use it to plan out what an FCTS/Server merge may look like in future.

Here is the Q&A we had with Teesquared in February 2011 regarding the various options for FCTS/Server merger:

  1. If mergers mean more characters per server (up to 8) would be permitted.
    ANSWER: "If we went down to 4 servers instead, players could have 2 characters on each server. We have no plans right now to increase characters per server. There is a lot involved with that option that we would need to work out first."
  2. If mergers make cross server play more feasible.
    ANSWER: "SWG will not support cross-server play regardless of number of servers we have."
  3. If the house packup event could be run previous to, or concurrently with the server mergers.
    ANSWER: "Yes. We would definitely want to do a house packup and give incoming players a chance to get some good realestate."
  4. If server mergers allow server hardware to be consolidated, would this mean the performance issues recently faced by starsider would be eradicated?
    ANSWER: "The hardware improvement impact will be on the average area load. Basically by adding more CPUs we can decrease the physical area a given server hosts. That reduces CPU and memory requirements. However, since SWG does not control player density, you will still have issues when too many players gather together on the same server. In the end though I think players would be able to appreciate the improvements."
  5. Would less servers to maintain mean a reduction in the SWG Subscription price?
    ANSWER: "Number of servers would not impact subscription price."
  6. Would the server mergers run concurrently with a returning veteran trial?
    ANSWER: "We did not do a re-entitlement with the last FCTS so I don't think it would happen for this one.... we would do a re-entitlement for house packup so that may cover it."
  7. Would it be possible for players to FCTS off of Starsider to one of the other destination servers? Is this something you'd think of doing if demand was high enough?
    ANSWER: Yes. It's definitely something we can consider doing.
  8. Some players would prefer the option of an FCTS to a clean server, is this something you would consider?
    ANSWER: No. A clean server presents many issues. We had a lot of problems when we setup TCPrime back in the day. For example, a clean server will not have the "aged" resources that our other servers have. There are other good reasons as well.

Questions to ask next:

Q. Will transfers from closed servers still be free after another server merge/FCTS?

Q. Could all destination servers also be given Free Transfers?

The Dev team did also mention that they would be able to use the hardware from the closed servers to significantly increase the performance and stability of the remaining servers.

In case it helps, the latest server population statistics can be viewed here: SWG Galactic Civil War and Player City Statistics - 14th of December 2010

OPTION 1:

"One to One" Server merger.

Each server marked for closure can choose to transfer their characters via the Free Character Transfer service to one higher population server:

FROM >>>>> TO

* Radiant (E) >>>>> Chilastra (E)
* Sunrunner (W) >>>> Ahazi (W)
* Shadowfire (E) >>>> Eclipse (E)
* Gorath (E) >>>> Bria (W)
* Bloodfin (E) >>>> Europe-Chimaera (EU)

OPTION 2:

"Many to few" server merger.

Each server marked for closure can choose to transfer their characters via the Free Character Transfer service to one of two higher population servers, leaving 8 servers open in total:

From:

* Radiant (E)
* Sunrunner (W)
* Shadowfire (E)
* Gorath (E)
* Bloodfin (E)
* Starsider (E) (remaining open)

To:

* Ahazi (W)
* Eclipse (E)

OPTION 3:

"Many to Many" server merger.

Each server marked for closure can choose to transfer their characters via the Free Character Transfer service to one of any five higher population servers, leaving 8 servers open in total:

From:

* Radiant (E)
* Sunrunner (W)
* Shadowfire (E)
* Gorath (E)
* Bloodfin (E)
* Starsider (E) (remaining open)

To any of the following medium population servers:

* Ahazi (W)
* Eclipse (E)
* Chilastra (E)
* Bria (W)
* Europe-Chimaera (EU)
* Flurry (W)
* Europe-Farstar (EU)

OPTION 4:

"More to Many" server merger.

Each server marked for closure can choose to transfer their characters via the Free Character Transfer service to one of any five higher population servers, leaving 6 servers open in total:

From:

* Radiant (E)
* Sunrunner (W)
* Shadowfire (E)
* Gorath (E)
* Bloodfin (E)
* Ahazi (W)
* Eclipse (E)
* Starsider (E) (remaining open)

To any of the following medium population servers:

* Chilastra (E)
* Bria (W)
* Europe-Chimaera (EU)
* Flurry (W)
* Europe-Farstar (EU)

Option 5

"Extreme" server merger.

Each server marked for closure can choose to transfer their characters via the Free Character Transfer service to one of any three higher population servers, leaving 4 servers open in total:

From

* Radiant (E)
* Shadowfire (E)
* Gorath (E)
* Bloodfin (E)
* Ahazi(E)
* Sunrunner (W)
* Europe-Chimaera (EU)
* Bria (W)
* Eclipse (E)
* Starsider (W) (remaining open)

To :

* Flurry (W)
* Chilastra(E)
* Europe-Farstar (EU)
* [Fourth option required to allow 8 characters to be transferred in total from servers marked for closure. Fourth option could be Starsider, Bria or Europe-Chimaera]

Feel free to reply to the following questions and we'll get your answers to the Dev team:

Q1. Which option would you prefer?

Q2. Which server would you transfer to under your preferred option?

Q3. Which servers do you think should be given an FCTS and then closed?

Q4. Are there any specific problems that you can see with any of the options above?

Q5. Do you have any thoughts on other ways that the situation could be handled?
 
D

Decria

Guest
Something does need to be done to address server issues within the community.....some cracking ideas there badg but i do feel it will be hard to please everyone.

At least this issue is being looked but i will not hold my breath as to a good conclusion
 
B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
Something does need to be done to address server issues within the community.....some cracking ideas there badg but i do feel it will be hard to please everyone.

At least this issue is being looked but i will not hold my breath as to a good conclusion
Teesquared was great in being uber responsive to my PMs and allowed me to put together a Q&A list based on all the questions that have come up from players.

I've then been able to put together a list of options that best reflect what is possible and can now spam this out to all the servers involved.

Hopefully we'll be able to get an idea of what the majority of players want in terms of an amicable solution.
 
S

s32ndDamian

Guest
Q1. Which option would you prefer?
Option # 5 for sure and I'll tell you why. The largest % of players have expressed interest in either Flurry Or Chily. This would please the masses.

Q2. Which server would you transfer to under your preferred option?
A majority or our guild (over 100 toons) would prefer Flurry.

Q3. Which servers do you think should be given an FCTS and then closed?
See Option 5

Q4. Are there any specific problems that you can see with any of the options above?
The only thing I can see really is I would let the low pop/closing servers transfer first for free. Give them time to get set up and situated before you let SS/Flurry/Chily etc start moving around.

Q5. Do you have any thoughts on other ways that the situation could be handled?
Someone suggested starting two new servers (East and West coast) and letting the low pops all start over from scratch?? Could be an idea but probably more headache than it's worth.
 
S

s32ndDamian

Guest
Teesquared was great in being uber responsive to my PMs and allowed me to put together a Q&A list based on all the questions that have come up from players.

I've then been able to put together a list of options that best reflect what is possible and can now spam this out to all the servers involved.

Hopefully we'll be able to get an idea of what the majority of players want in terms of an amicable solution.
Once again I can't thank you enough for your efforts in this matter!
:thumbup:
 
B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
Q5. Do you have any thoughts on other ways that the situation could be handled?
Someone suggested starting two new servers (East and West coast) and letting the low pops all start over from scratch?? Could be an idea but probably more headache than it's worth.
This isn't an option unfortunately, according to the Devs. Check question 8 above.
 
M

Monty Burns

Guest
This isn't an option unfortunately, according to the Devs. Check question 8 above.
Personally I think that answer is BS:

ANSWER: No. A clean server presents many issues. We had a lot of problems when we setup TCPrime back in the day. For example, a clean server will not have the "aged" resources that our other servers have. There are other good reasons as well.
So if SWG had been popular they couldn't or wouldn't open new servers because there would be no old resources?

Heres a thought a new server with people transferring to it would provide its own "aged" resources comprising all of the old resources from the transferee servers.
 
T

TapVallian

Guest
Q1. Which option would you prefer?

Option 4 leaving 6 active servers.

I'm in the same guild as s32nddamian so Flurry would end up being our new "main" server, but I have more toons to thi nk about than just the ones on radiant. 6 final servers makes all the moving easier and I think if only 4 were left they might all get overcrowded and laggy like SS.

Q2. Which server would you transfer to under your preferred option?
 
B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
Personally I think that answer is BS:



So if SWG had been popular they couldn't or wouldn't open new servers because there would be no old resources?

Heres a thought a new server with people transferring to it would provide its own "aged" resources comprising all of the old resources from the transferee servers.
Would be good to know what "other reasons" there are, I'll prod a little more on this the next time I chat with the Devs.
 
D

DeeMoneyBig

Guest
Q1. Which option would you prefer?

If I had to answer today, I would say option 4. Depending on the fallout from TOR, option 5 may be the best solution. We have no idea how many players will remain. 6 servers may still end up being too many.

Q2. Which server would you transfer to under your preferred option?

I'd stay on SS.

Q3. Which servers do you think should be given an FCTS and then closed?

I'm not close enough to the actual figures, but I'm sure the devs have accurate data on how many players log in. They should close the least populated servers.

Q4. Are there any specific problems that you can see with any of the options above?

There will I'm sure be problems and people upset that their server is closing. I was on Tarq since launch and it was tough to leave, but I love the population of SS. Always something to do and new people to meet.
 
K

Katrin'a

Guest
Q1. Which option would you prefer?
I think option 4 or 5. Option 4 was my original choice, but then I agree with someone who said earlier that the opening of TOR will probably cause a decrease in the population again and leave us with the same empty server...So I think option 5 now would be my choice.

Q2. Which server would you transfer to under your preferred option?
Which ever server my friends/guild transfer to is the one I'll chose. Our guild is considering Chilastra becuase a couple of guildies have toons well established on Bria and Flurry.

Q3. Which servers do you think should be given an FCTS and then closed?
Lower population servers, but leaving servers on both East and West coast (and Europs) so that people have a choice to chose a server closer to them.

Q4. Are there any specific problems that you can see with any of the options above?
Lack of choice on the first option.

Q5. Do you have any thoughts on other ways that the situation could be handled?
No other thoughts. Thank you for taking the time to work on this.

-Katrina
aka: Lyrik/Anira, Yyra, Bastet/De'ja
Guild: NAM/EZ-Co
Server: Sunrunner
 
L

LatikDarkflier

Guest
Q1. Which option would you prefer?
Option 5

Q2. Which server would you transfer to under your preferred option?
Flurry with the rest of my guild

Q3. Which servers do you think should be given an FCTS and then closed?
FCTS should be given to the low populated servers first thenclosed.

Q4. Are there any specific problems that you can see with any of the options above?
Allowing the larger populated servers to have a FCTS would hurt the whole thing. Low populated servers should be given the FCTS then closed, after a minimum of 3 months (allows establishement) then give the other servers FCTS. This would help keep the issue of creating another overpopulated server right off the cuff.

Q5. Do you have any thoughts on other ways that the situation could be handled?
A game wide house pack up, merge servers, then give a free month to ensure players stay/come back, in which people can setup cities again.
 
N

Natir

Guest
Concept: SWG Server Mergers 2011/2012
  1. Some players would prefer the option of an FCTS to a clean server, is this something you would consider?
    ANSWER: No. A clean server presents many issues. We had a lot of problems when we setup TCPrime back in the day. For example, a clean server will not have the "aged" resources that our other servers have. There are other good reasons as well.

The Answer is simple if you ask me, Open up Infinity again and wipe all the houses, give everyone on farstar and chim 2 weeks notice to pack up then move all the toons from both servers onto Infinity.

Fresh start and a busy server.

Could to the same with the old American servers.

I for one am getting sick and tired of waiting for SOE to do something about server popluation.
 
W

Wayson

Guest
Natir,

That is an excellent thought. However do we know if the old (retired) servers have been reallocated to the still functioning servers?

I do like this idea as it is giving a 'fresh' server without having to create anything new. Badger, would this go against SOE's 'were are not creating a new server stance ?'
 
N

Natir

Guest
Natir,

That is an excellent thought. However do we know if the old (retired) servers have been reallocated to the still functioning servers?
Thats a good point, i have no clue how the servers work. Guess i just hoped there is a big on/off switch for it somewhere rolleyes:
 
A

Aachuba

Guest
One concern I have is this: When the FCTS first occurred, my main server was safe, so I chose to move my alts to the remaining, other local servers. Now, my server will likely close, but to get my main characters to my preferred server, I will need to move the alts somewhere else. Will this leave me having to pay for moves to that I can take advantage of the next FCTS?

I think that in the long run, 6 servers is the correct number to have. I think 8 might still present problems, whilst 4 is too few to allow any growth. That said, I like the idea of having 3 East Coast, 3 West Coast and 3 EU servers. If the final number was 8, then I would like to see SOE periodically (every 6 months?) offer a FCTS to the lower populated servers. This would ensure that if a server grew enormously over a period of time, that those who wanted to get out would have a chance, and ensure that the population would remain fairly balanced. I guess that would put me at a blend of Option 3 and 4.

What I would really like to see from SOE would be a solution that incorporates long term thinking, so we do not have to keep going through this headache.
 
A

AERHAE

Guest
Hello Badger,thanks for this thread and Info.
This is my concern, I play on a west coast server,well I think its west coast anyways,its Flurry.Well since then I have rolled up toons on Star Sider and there my ping is cut in half,which some here may find hard to believe but it is true.
So im all down for FCTS but I want to move to a server that has a better ping for me and right now that is Star Sider.My ping on Flurry is around 150 for general play and around 200 plus for pvp.On Star Sider my ping is around 50 just like Lowca use to be for me.
This is why I want to go to Star Sider.I just want to make sure that for people who made a choice in the first FCTS get a second chance if possible to help themselves by picking a closer server to them for a better ping and better game play.
Right now and I may be wrong but I dont see a choice to do that if Flurry is a destination server only.All in all I just want a better ping to the game,ive seen where I need to go ,But do not want to pay what ever it costs to move seven toons.
Thanks again Badger and thankyou for all your hard work!

BOTA-IRAY
AERHAE
 
B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
At 11:09 in the following video from 17 February, 2011:

Star Wars Galaxies Webcast - 2/17/11

Zatozia: "What can you tell us about any future plans dealing with server populations?"

Teesquared: "Err... Regarding that we'll have more information in the near future that we can talk about err.. regarding the situation we are aware of the players feelings and things and we are looking at how to solve it."
 
B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
Hello Badger,thanks for this thread and Info.
This is my concern, I play on a west coast server,well I think its west coast anyways,its Flurry.Well since then I have rolled up toons on Star Sider and there my ping is cut in half,which some here may find hard to believe but it is true.
So im all down for FCTS but I want to move to a server that has a better ping for me and right now that is Star Sider.My ping on Flurry is around 150 for general play and around 200 plus for pvp.On Star Sider my ping is around 50 just like Lowca use to be for me.
This is why I want to go to Star Sider.I just want to make sure that for people who made a choice in the first FCTS get a second chance if possible to help themselves by picking a closer server to them for a better ping and better game play.
Right now and I may be wrong but I dont see a choice to do that if Flurry is a destination server only.All in all I just want a better ping to the game,ive seen where I need to go ,But do not want to pay what ever it costs to move seven toons.
Thanks again Badger and thankyou for all your hard work!

BOTA-IRAY
AERHAE
I don't think there will be an FCTS for Flurry, it seems to have somewhat optimal population right now.

By the way, Flurry is a US West Coast server. Starsider and Chilastra are both East Coast USA, so you'd get better ping on both.
 
B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
Natir,

That is an excellent thought. However do we know if the old (retired) servers have been reallocated to the still functioning servers?

I do like this idea as it is giving a 'fresh' server without having to create anything new. Badger, would this go against SOE's 'were are not creating a new server stance ?'
I do know that the GM team have to bring up each closed server in order when they want to process the free requests of players wanting their characters transfed off of them. Perhaps this means the server resources have pretty much been used elsewhere and they are bringing up a minimum specification server cluster each time then havign to down it to bring up another servers database.

I doubt much is left of those clusters.
 
M

Monty Burns

Guest
Is this project of yours done with Dev support?

If so maybe it would help if one of them could mention this to the mods on the forums who keep deleting threads leading people here.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This topic has moved:

/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=1180836

Don't use the forums as staging grounds for planning disruptive activities or to promote general unrest in the form of sit-ins, polls, petitions, etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
Is this project of yours done with Dev support?

If so maybe it would help if one of them could mention this to the mods on the forums who keep deleting threads leading people here.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This topic has moved:

/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=1180836

Don't use the forums as staging grounds for planning disruptive activities or to promote general unrest in the form of sit-ins, polls, petitions, etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teesquared was interested in hearing players feedback, but the community team were concerned that my threads on the server forums and in-game mailspams linking to this thread were giving players "false hope" that the issue would be addressed, this is despite the "IMPORTANT" disclaimer in the concept, in game mail and forum threads.

When I spoke with Zatozia about this, she did agree to ask the player volunteer SoE forum moderator team to stop locking threads which were discussing server merges/FCTS.

They wont put my threads back on the forum but feel free to create your own, or just post here. :)
 
M

Monty Burns

Guest
Teesquared was interested in hearing players feedback, but the community team were concerned that my threads on the server forums and in-game mailspams linking to this thread were giving players "false hope" that the issue would be addressed, this is despite the "IMPORTANT" disclaimer in the concept, in game mail and forum threads.

When I spoke with Zatozia about this, she did agree to ask the player volunteer SoE forum moderator team to stop locking threads which were discussing server merges/FCTS.

They wont put my threads back on the forum but feel free to create your own, or just post here. :)
No offense but they either want feed back or they don't I am not sure how they expect to get feedback by removing all traces of it from the forums which are our only means of providing it.

It is not hard to see why this game is in the mess it is when there appears to be no communication between departments within SOE, their player link being the Senate are for the most part an old boys network of Dev Team butt kissers and the approach toward the player base is "we want to hear from you as long as it is to tell us we are wonderful otherwise bugger off".

Basically everything is geared towards telling them only what they want to hear, it's like it was set up by Baghdad Bob.
 
O

Omnicrom

Guest
What about another option to all of this..

The Bottom 4 servers are the ones most likely in trouble..

Take it like this 13, 12, 11 and 10

So 10 and 13 merge into 10
11 and 12 merge into 11

Subsequently, if 13 has 900 players and 10 has 1000, you now have 1900 players

example works the same for 11 and 12.

Instead of having more SS sized servers, you now have medium level sized servers that can handle the new load on it. I personally play both Radiant and Shadowfire, both of which are targets for low population. If you force me up to other servers, and close down 4, you limit the number of servers I can now move to, thus limiting the characters I've spent YEARS developing from being A: Together like they are now and/or B: Being able to be kept.

That's not fair because people don't want to stay on low populated servers.

They can do IN GAME survey's, they just choose not too..

Some of us enjoy playing on lower population servers for a reason, we don't like the lag fest that IS Starsider. We don't have the High End machines to run the game with the massively increased population and we should not be forced into buying one to deal with it either.

I played this game since around day 1, I remember the lag that was there then, and yes, to a degree I miss it. HOWEVER, my home is Shadowfire, my 2nd home WAS Valcyn, now Radiant.

So, SOE screwed up on their first FCTS, and pissed people off.

I've read people leaving the lower pop servers to move to Starsider, and the funny thing is, in THIS scheme, SS isn't even a viable option.. so, you still **** off players.. you can not win.

Here's the deal, and this is where it gets fun..

You're going to **** off MORE players by doing this again. You're not going to get it right, no matter how hard you try.. why? Cause, as stated before, you can't please everyone.. TCG, Updates, Holiday stuff should prove that.. you can please some of the people, some of the time, but you can not please all the people all of the time. This FCTS needs to be done slowly. Instead of massive increase to just a few servers.

You should do a REAL server merge, as suggested earlier in the post..

Move the lowest pop server to one just a few notches up.. This does a few things.

1: Increases the population of the transfer TO server to make it viable
2: Keeps it from getting over burdened
3: Keeps it small enough to keep those of us that like smaller servers happy
4: Makes it large enough to give MORE people to make things happen
5: Keeps from closing half the serve base
6: Allows for the changes to the server status from being a drop dead in the middle of the night (Think SS here again), and pissing people off

This is more workable, it keeps more servers active, cause the more you kill the harder it is to talk them into 'reviving' them should a resurgence actually happen.

The chances that SOE will do a SWG2 (SWG-Rebooted), are slim to none. They shot themselves in the foot with the CU. Stabbed themselves in the heart with the NGE and have done little to no advertising to get new customers. They aren't even trying to keep things going. The current base is about as good as it's going to get, and rather than FORCE people into changing when they may not want to, (Think CU/NGE AGAIN), you can roll them up and make a lot more people happy all around than make mad. Think of this as a viable option.

It's easy to turn off my accounts and save $120 a month (8 accounts btw), but it's not easy to find the entertainment, the friendships, the reasons for playing that I have for the same amount of money. I have a lot invested into this game over the past 7+ years. I'd hate to see that get thrown away, because they don't do this right. Right is COMBINING servers that are low, and breathing new life into one of them.

Do you go out and buy a new computer because the power supply on one is gone, and the hard drive on another is shot or can you combine them and make them viable again? Why not do the same thing here. Makes sense.
 
B

BadgerSmaker

Guest
The Bottom 4 servers are the ones most likely in trouble..

Take it like this 13, 12, 11 and 10

So 10 and 13 merge into 10
11 and 12 merge into 11

Subsequently, if 13 has 900 players and 10 has 1000, you now have 1900 players

example works the same for 11 and 12.
Just looking at my spreadsheet, if they were to do something like this and there was 100% uptake on the part of the players, the combined populations of Bloodfin, Sunrunner, Radiant, Gorath and Shadowfire would rival Flurry.

But again that assumes everyone takes this offer, which doesn't seem to be happening.

One thing I have heard is that Customer Services are actually granting Free Character Transfers to players who have requested it via a Help Ticket. If you are on one of the lower population servers perhaps ask them nicely and see if you get lucky?
 
R

RDKryker

Guest
@omnicron:
while i agree to your post in almost every point, i think it will not work in the end.
It will not work because of the mentality of the playerbase.
Several people from the more populated servers (Chimaera, Bria, Chilastra, Farstar and even flurry) complain that they don't get their favorite game content on their actual server and choose to transfer to Starsider. Sometime even complete guilds from those servers do this.
It looks like many players are thinking they can't enjoy SWG anymore if they are not on the most populated server, and once they will on SS they would get everthing they ever want at everytime they are online (may be true for them, i don't know).
But thinking and acting this way will do damage to the smaller servers, slowly but surely it has it's part in the death of the other servers.
No matter what kind of activity SOE will do to manage the actuall server population imbalance, the players will make it imbalanced again. So in this point are the players even themselves worst enemy.
 
O

Omnicrom

Guest
@omnicron:
while i agree to your post in almost every point, i think it will not work in the end.
It will not work because of the mentality of the playerbase.
Several people from the more populated servers (Chimaera, Bria, Chilastra, Farstar and even flurry) complain that they don't get their favorite game content on their actual server and choose to transfer to Starsider. Sometime even complete guilds from those servers do this.
It looks like many players are thinking they can't enjoy SWG anymore if they are not on the most populated server, and once they will on SS they would get everthing they ever want at everytime they are online (may be true for them, i don't know).
But thinking and acting this way will do damage to the smaller servers, slowly but surely it has it's part in the death of the other servers.
No matter what kind of activity SOE will do to manage the actuall server population imbalance, the players will make it imbalanced again. So in this point are the players even themselves worst enemy.

I couldn't agree with you more, this all rests on the player base themselves.

While I applaud Badger for at the very least looking into it, the down side is, people are buying and drinking the kool-aid already. His first question to Tee is already being considered gospel.

The thing is.. people are asking for FCTS.. not going to happen, at least not like the first one.. live and learn they say.

People are wanting 'server merges'.. apparently this is a valid option, except for ONE thing.. you don't get to pick your merge point.. hence why they do in fact call it a merger, not a transfer..

This is one of those times where SOE has to take the bull by the horns and say hey.. we hear you, and we have a solution that works for a majority..

We have 6 servers.. A, B, C, D, E and F..

Server F will merge to server A, becoming the New Server A
Server E will Merge with server B, becoming the new server B
Server D will merge with server C, becoming the new server C.

The transfer of your characters is FREE to your new server, and will cost you 25 dollars to transfer to any other server, with the exception of Starsider (or any other non transferable server).

In all honesty, SOE should turn off possible transfers and new character creation to these higher pop'd servers to stop the outflow of players leaving these servers. They CAN do it, but they won't, because every 25 dollar charge they make is 25 dollars in their pocket.

This whole issue is not about saving time or resources, it's about making money for them, they know it, we know it, everyone knows it.
 
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BadgerSmaker

Guest
...except for ONE thing.. you don't get to pick your merge point.. hence why they do in fact call it a merger, not a transfer..
I also suspect that this was the reason for labelling the process as a merger, I don't think that financial gain is one of their motivations though.
 
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Omnicrom

Guest
I also suspect that this was the reason for labelling the process as a merger, I don't think that financial gain is one of their motivations though.
You may be right, however, my wife made a comment that is pretty accurate: 'When it comes to a company, like this one, or any company for that matter, it's always about money'.

She's right in that aspect, why would they even think about closing down any server, including the 13 they already closed down, if money wasn't part of the issue?

They can do this, and it would be workable..

Badger, give me the numbers, not a graph, the hard numbers.. what does each existing server have population wise. Graphs can tell most people part of the story, but people like me (color blind) graphs mean squat as I can't decipher anything on them to be honest. Just feed me the numbers..

As for merging, it can work, and it will make more people happier than not. They get to keep the 'small' server feeling, while boosting the over all numbers, but not beyond the realm of rationality. Starsider is a fluke, and should NOT be repeated, even today people are upset that it's not 100% stable, so why pay 15 dollars a month times x number of accounts (a lot of people do have multiple accounts btw) to barely play.

Also take note, not everyone has a high end machine that can deal with the lag of starsider. I personally do not have even a dual or duo core processor, I have a single core, Pent IV still (I know, dinosaur). Thing is, while I can go out and get better, I shouldn't have to for SWG, it's an 8 year old game, and my 4 year old computer should be able to handle anything they do, short of a complete re-write of the system.

a system merge may not be pretty for all involved, but it is the most practical and would take care of the deed in and of itself. It would also cause the least disruption.

Thing is, before people go running off because chicken little said the sky is falling, AGAIN, no Dev has said this is going to happen, but the potential is there, they just want to make sure BEFORE it happens, that they get things right this time and do what is in the best interest of the game itself.
 
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BadgerSmaker

Guest
Badger, give me the numbers, not a graph, the hard numbers.. what does each existing server have population wise. Graphs can tell most people part of the story, but people like me (color blind) graphs mean squat as I can't decipher anything on them to be honest. Just feed me the numbers..
OK, let me see what I can paste in from my spreadsheets...

Number of GCW ranked players per server:



Minimum number of characters declaring residence in servers cities to support current city rankings. This is put together based on Rank 2 cities requiring 10 characters declaring residence, Rank 3 = 15, Rank 4 = 30 and Rank 5 = 40.

 
W

Wayson

Guest
Well looks like alot of us finally got what we had been hoping for. From what I have gathered with my 4 accts and the +20 friends I assisted with this.

Send in help tick
-- title it REQUEST FOR COURTESY TRANSFER
-- Relist your account
-- toons on account

-- message -- ( be nice and polite ) If they dont want to tranfer you gently remind them all your friends did go and you are now all thats left of comatose server and if need be you will go play WoW.

1 - you cant go to SS for free.
2 - servers I know you can go to are chilly and flurry. ( maybe bria, dont know anyone who went. )
3 - your account is supposed to have been subbed for past 6 months ( i have seen ppl not get moved becouse of this )
4 - in good standing if you have been reported, banned etc. apparently you are going to have to pay..

- Good Luck to you all -

Wayson (now of Chilly)
 
A

Aachuba

Guest
Well looks like alot of us finally got what we had been hoping for. From what I have gathered with my 4 accts and the +20 friends I assisted with this.

Send in help tick
-- title it REQUEST FOR COURTESY TRANSFER
-- Relist your account
-- toons on account

-- message -- ( be nice and polite ) If they dont want to tranfer you gently remind them all your friends did go and you are now all thats left of comatose server and if need be you will go play WoW.

1 - you cant go to SS for free.
2 - servers I know you can go to are chilly and flurry. ( maybe bria, dont know anyone who went. )
3 - your account is supposed to have been subbed for past 6 months ( i have seen ppl not get moved becouse of this )
4 - in good standing if you have been reported, banned etc. apparently you are going to have to pay..

- Good Luck to you all -

Wayson (now of Chilly)
And in a blazing stroke of genius, about half the population was granted free passage off the server. As of the beginning of the week it was shut back down again leaving some servers with even less population and hard feelings. Seems like the right hand and left hand went in separate directions big time.

I will be very interested to see your server population stats this go around, Badger.
 
M

Monty Burns

Guest
And in a blazing stroke of genius, about half the population was granted free passage off the server. As of the beginning of the week it was shut back down again leaving some servers with even less population and hard feelings. Seems like the right hand and left hand went in separate directions big time.

I will be very interested to see your server population stats this go around, Badger.
But this is the story of SWG's management from day one, it is almost like a reality show where they gathered the biggest bunch of ******* they could find together and gave then an MMO to run, last one left gets a new helmet for the short bus.
 
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BadgerSmaker

Guest
But this is the story of SWG's management from day one, it is almost like a reality show where they gathered the biggest bunch of ******* they could find together and gave then an MMO to run, last one left gets a new helmet for the short bus.
I did ask Teesquared what Customer Services were playing at and he suggested that I'd need to ask them.

I didn't bother as they've been a law unto themselves for much of SWG's history. Just look at what they did with unattended macroing.
 
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RDKryker

Guest
And now SOE offers generall public free transfers with few limitations:
You can transfer-off starsider, but not transfer-on starsider.
Even paid transfers to SS are disabled now (maybe paid transfers are disabled at all)

The transfers shall happen ingame with a windor similar to those of the veteran rewards. Toons transferred once will have to wait 90 days until they can claim another transfer.


Happy server-dying SWG
 
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