server-consolidation
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City of Steam is merging EU servers on December 22nd
If you've played City of Steam in the EU and thought to yourself, "Man, there are just too many servers for this game right now," the developers agree with you, which is why the server list is being consolidated down to a single server as of December 22nd. Characters will be automatically transferred, with character names getting server tags to make sure naming issues sorted out before they arise. Players on the current EU3 server will be receiving a compensation package that includes a 90-day subscription and a variety of other materials for character advancement. The five-characters-per-server limit will be enforced with prejudice; the staff is simply deleting the oldest or least-played characters on an account if the merge puts someone over five characters on the final server. So take care of that issue before it arises on the 22nd.
Trion answers questions about RIFT's server merges
Next week's RIFT server merge is far from the first time that the game has compressed its servers, but it's still producing no shortage of anxiety and apprehension. The game's community managers took to the forums to answer some of the more pressing questions, starting with the (unwelcome) news that the merged EU servers will wind up without a server flagged for roleplaying. Name changes will be necessary; surnames are possible for the future, but they will not be in place for the merges. Players with more than the maximum number of characters after the merge will only have access to the first 12; players will need to delete existing characters to see the characters in overflow, but they will not be lost. Guild banks do not need to be emptied. Players are also reminded that characters can be transferred before the merger. The one bright point is the fact that the EU servers will have an auction house supporting French, English, and German clients at the same time, allowing all players in the region to interact successfully on the merged worlds.
Star Wars: The Old Republic rolls out consolidation of locked servers [Updated]
Star Wars: The Old Republic has been making a move toward fewer servers with higher populations for a while, but tomorrow's maintenance is the final step. After character transfers earlier in the year and the higher-population technology rollout, the server lists are being fully merged as of tomorrow. If you still have characters on a locked server, they will be transferred over to their new home tomorrow whether you like it or not. For those players curious about their new destination or the ever-present naming issue, the team has created an FAQ to answer any obvious questions. The character limit on the destination servers has also been raised to 12. Players who have more than 12 total characters after consolidation will still have access to all of their characters but cannot create any new characters until they delete a few (although all of the characters will be available for play). As with any sort of transfer, there's still some ambiguity about how smoothly everything will run, so players will have to keep their eyes peeled, log in tomorrow, and see what happens after the dust settles. [Update: The team also just released a miniature dev blog that explains how shadows will soon be prettified.]
TERA is merging down to three servers
The latest letter from TERA's producer is out, and while it includes some interesting statistics, the most important bit of information is that the game will be trimming down its server list. On September 18th, the game will be shrinking to three servers: an unnamed PvE server, an unnamed PvP server, and the existing RP server called Celestial Hills. The letter is quick to state that this is a net positive for players looking for a larger and more active population within a given server. Customer service has already assembled a set of answers for obvious questions. Any players with more than eight characters in total will be locked out of playing until some of those characters are deleted, so if you've got characters on several PvE or PvP servers, you might want to delete some. Players can also expect banks to be merged (with an overflow tab if you need to withdraw some items) and all vanarch statuses to be reset, with refunds to active candidates. The full producer's letter has some other things for players to look forward to during September and beyond. [Thanks to Marisa for the tip!]
RIFT flags more trial servers
In a rather surprising move for a number of RIFT players, it turns out that several of the game's servers have been converted over to trial servers. Naturally, it makes players instinctively fearful that it's the first step toward server shutdowns and closures. But that's not quite what's going on. As explained by community manager Elrar quite some time ago, trial servers are lower-population servers that are essentially being put to one side for large-scale trial programs. Character creation for subscribers is disabled on those servers, and there's a message encouraging you to move to another server with a free transfer, but it's not a shutdown, just a ramp-up to a larger trial period for non-subscribers. According to Rift Junkies, a total of 11 servers are seeing the trial tag applied, and players are encouraged to move off these servers by January 18th. If you've got a character on Belmont, Galena, Atrophinius, Crucia, Alsbeth, Estrael, Shadefallen, Sunrest, Freeholme, Dayblind, or Faemyst, now would be a good time to start planning for greener, non-trial pastures. [Thanks to Celestial Lord for the tip!]
TERA consolidating servers in Japan [Updated]
While highly anticipated in the West, not all is sunshine and rainbows for TERA overseas. Under assault by bots and bugs, NHN Japan announced that it will be reducing the number of open beta players currently in the game down to 33% by consolidating servers. Players in Japan shell out $38.50 per month to test the game. TERA's been testing in Japan for five months now and has shown promise, with over 48,000 concurrent players logging in at one point. Even though the beta test is shrinking in players, NHN is making tweaks to the game to improve the experience for those who remain. These improvements include doubling the amount of free time for new players and cutting the cooldown time of dungeons in half while increasing the amount of loot dropped. NHN Japan says that the population decrease will help to improve the game's performance as it progresses in testing: "Although the CCU has been decreased from the initial start, it is now more stable than we expected. The server consolidation is to promote better cooperative play." The Korean beta test of TERA conducted a similar server consolidation last May. [Update: While the developers are currently consolidating servers, TERA is no longer in beta testing in Japan. TERA launched several months back as a subscription-based game. We apologize for the confusion.]
DC Universe Online rolling out megaservers on Monday
DC Universe Online has been quiet on the announced megaservers for quite some time, but it turns out that the update is just around the corner. Specifically, the new server structure will be going into effect on Monday, and players have been given a brand-new developer diary on the benefits and the procedure to help get everyone up to speed. In short, it's more people on servers and more people to group up with, albeit still segregated between PC and PS3 players. Character names will have to be changed in some cases, but the system being used ensures that characters whose names are changed will also receive a free subsequent change if they want. According to comments, the determination will essentially be comparing hours played -- so if you have two characters with the same name on active accounts, but one's been active since launch, the older character will get to keep the name. While it's not quite the cross-platform servers many players had hoped for, it should help bolster the population of each game server as a whole.
