server-merge
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Aion developers acting to correct server imbalances
Aion's July community address mentions the upcoming 2.0 patch, of course, but that's not what grabbed the attention of the fans. The recent server merge created some predictable imbalances, and the Aion team has made a few decisions on how to begin rectifying them. NCsoft's Lance Stites, who penned this month's address, tells fans that server transfers have been temporarily disabled while the devs sort things out: "All the associated Aion teams are working on a solution to allow character transfers to resume with appropriate limits in place to prevent radically unbalanced servers." Furthermore, race creation is "selectively" limited on each server, in the hopes that it will help balance things out. "For instance, if you're playing on a predominantly Elyos server, Asmodian creation will be the only race available for new characters," says Stites. The situation is only temporary, and hopefully only a first step in sorting things out on the newly-consolidated Aion servers. Take a look at the Aion site for the full July community address.
The Daily Quest: So then he said
Here at WoW.com, we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Some people have things to say about everything under the sun -- like the goblin pictured above, who is engaging in a frank and earnest discussion about poultry-based thermodynamics and the merits of their application in conjunction with other forms of flightless fowl. Unfortunately the only person that would listen to her is Chilly the penguin, who simply doesn't know any better. Fortunately, we've found some posts that are much more entertaining than Miss Yammersalot. Mana Obscura discusses the growing yet shrinking world ... of Warcraft. World of Warcraft Philosophized comments on guild perks and the effects on individual players. The Pink Pigtail Inn asks whether Twitter chat is really the best way to communicate. And speaking of birds, Bible of Dreams has a Friday Five about our feathery friend, the boomkin. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Wings Over Atreia: It's the end of the world as we know it...
Do you feel fine? In the final days of the countdown to server merges in Aion this Wednesday, a mixture of emotions are on display on both sides of the battle. While some are feeling excitement, others are cautious, yet bridled with apprehension, and others still are simmering with discontent about the upcoming changes in Atreia. Some apathy has even reared up, as participation in fortress battles wane and the Balaur slowly re-establish their grip of power. Many simply feel a mixture of different emotions at different times (depending which side of the most recent ganking they came out on). Although the physical make-up of the land is not going to change like it will when patch 2.0 goes live and the Balaur homeland is introduced, the landscape will still be changed. The player base -- the very atmosphere -- of each new server will be markedly different. The population explosion, the economy, abyss rankings, and even tracking reputations will all be affected by the merges. No question about it, life in Aion is going to be altered for every player -- though for better or for worse may be more at the discretion of each individual player, their own attitudes, and preparation. Take a moment of silence then wander past the cut to see what the last days look like, and prepare yourself for a smoother transition into the morning after.
Aion producer addresses legion renaming
NCsoft producer Chris "Kinslon" Hager checks in to answer questions on the upcoming Aion server merges via this week's Eye on Community featurette. While NCSoft has explained both name change and item transfer policies in detail, it hadn't yet touched on how the server blending will affect legion names (legion being Aion's equivalent of a traditional MMORPG guild). "Because we have fewer legions than characters, we're able to be more hands-on with legion name collisions. Our customer service team is going through active and inactive legion names, and we will be changing names based on specific criteria (legion size, contribution points, and so on). Similar to how we are handling name changes, if your legion's name is changed, we will be adding a two-letter designation derived from the name of your original server to the end of the legion name and giving your brigade general a legion name change coupon. You'll notice changes to legion names over the next couple of days leading up to the merge," Hager explains. You can read the full feature on the official Aion website.
Aion offers six free server transfers per character
With NCsoft's upcoming Aion server merges looming, chances are you've taken the time to figure out where your daeva's new home is going to be (as well as marked your calendar to be sure you get first dibs on keeping your name). What you may not know is that you've got plenty of opportunities to test out the various Aion server communities after the merges are complete. In its weekly Eye on Community featurette, NCsoft answers a player-generated question about transfer specifics. "During the free character transfer period, characters you submit for transfer are placed in a collated list, together with transfer requests from other players. The transfers outlined in this list will all be executed at the same time during weekly maintenance. Because transfers are moved in a batch each week, you will be able to transfer your character up to six times before the 18th of August, when the free character transfer period ends. Our intent is to let you test the waters so that you can decide which server best suits you," says the featurette.
Aion server merges delayed, name changes explained
Aion's recently announced server merges have been pushed back a couple of weeks and are now scheduled to take place on July 14th. The delay is apparently the result of name conflicts between players with the same moniker on servers that are scheduled to merge, and NCsoft has decided to take a bit of extra time to smooth the process. In a nutshell, the name changes are likely to affect a small percentage of characters, and NCsoft will be adding one or two letters onto the end of duplicate names depending on original name length. Additionally, all daevas will be given a free name-change. "When the merge maintenance is completed on July 14th, 2010, you'll be able to log in and use your free Character Name Change ticket to change your name. All uses of that Character Name Change ticket will be on a first come, first served basis," NCsoft said in a press release. Check out all the details at the official website.
Server merge hints are confirmed for Aion
"SGDCZ DUZGZ RKZMC DCVHS GRDQU DQLDQ FDZMC BGZQZ BSDQS QZMRE DQCDS ZHKR" was the mysterious message posted by Aion's Andrew "Tamat" Beegle yesterday. The jumble of letters on Twitter and the Aion notice page was decoded pretty quickly by players: "THE DAEVA HAS LANDED WITH SERVER MERGE AND CHARACTER TRANSFER DETAILS." Aion confirmed the server merge and character transfers today with more details as well as a comprehensive FAQ covering all the details. The merge will happen on July 7th, and character transfers will begin on the 8th. Players can take advantage of free unlimited character transfers until August 18th, and then they will continue to be available for a fee. Once the server merge happens and transfers begin, there will be a number of contests and events coming both in and out of game. Check out all the details on the Aion site.
Sony Online Entertainment announces Vanguard server merges
Remember those rumors of a server merge for Vanguard back at the end of April? The game's Lead Developer made a forum post indicating that server merges were on the horizon, stating that the team was "finalizing the process," and that official word would be out soon. We contacted SOE to clarify and were told that there were no plans on the horizon for server merges. That horizon seems to have changed, according to the emails that arrived in the inboxes of Vanguard players today: "Beginning July 7th, 2010 at approximately 10:00 AM PDT, we will start the process of merging the three current U.S. servers of Telon into one server." The Halgar server will follow in August, joining the others as part of the new merged server. All details of the merge have been emailed to players affected, and there is an ongoing poll in the Vanguard forums to name the new server. [Thanks to many of our readers for the tip!]
Sony Online Entertainment announces EverQuest server merges
If you've felt like the population in EverQuest was on the low side lately, you can expect that problem to disappear within the next month or so. Sony Online Entertainment will be gradually cutting the number of servers in half beginning June 22nd. They'll complete the process by July 6th, leaving ten servers in place of the original twenty. It's a big undertaking, and SOE have done some detailed planning ahead. The forum announcement contains the list of planned mergers, answers to common questions, and important information about the deletion of inactive characters and shared banks. They are further easing the transition by offering one free server transfer for all affected characters as well as discounts on race, gender, and name changes. If you've got characters in EverQuest -- active or inactive -- these server merges are very likely going to affect you. Head over to the EQ forums and read the full announcement for all the details.
Aion 1.9 patch dated, server merges announced
Aion producer Chris 'Kinslon' Hager has dropped a bomb of a community letter on the game's players, packing it full of information including the North American release dates for the highly anticipated 1.9 patch. The letter also mentions an upcoming character transfer service (free for a limited time), as well as server merges. "I don't relish the idea of mergers," Hager says. "However, once it is complete you should notice improvements in each of the new server economies, an abundance of players to group and run instances with, a number of great Legions to join or people to form new ones with, and a more tightly knit community.When all is said and done, Aion will be a better game because of the server merge. We're in the planning stages, and will have more information on the timing and execution in the coming weeks." As for 1.9, players can expect to see it on the test server on May 25th, with a June 2nd release date on the live servers. Finally, Hager mentions that work has already started on the huge task of bringing the 2.0 content update from Korea to North America, and hints at a Fall 2010 timetable. Check out the full letter over at the official Aion website.
Ragnarok merges and renews
When worlds collide, continents shift and several unsuspecting people get smooshed between it all. When servers collide, the results can be both good and bad. Ragnarok Online has just announced that they are merging a few of their premium servers into a brand-new one, bringing with them all the current residents of Chaos, Loki and Iris. While there is no definite date for this event, the official merger FAQ pinpoints it down to this week. Because of the merger, all guilds on the three previous servers will be dissolved and need to be recreated, although the Ragnarok team has created a "pre-list" for the purpose of staving off name sniping. "God items" will be broken back down into their component parts, which will require work to reconstruct them. Finally, all character names following the merge will be somewhat temporary until the GM team can figure out if there are any naming conflicts or not. While server mergers can be unsettling, Ragnarok has a bit of upbeat news for players with their "Renewal" revamp, designed to eliminate a few glaring flaws and smooth over the entire gaming experience. Finally, players are encouraged to participate in Ragnarok's Dragon Hunting event during the entire month of May.
Pirates of the Burning Sea announces server merges
Are you a fan of Pirates of the Burning Sea, and feel like the population in game has been a bit thin these days? You're certainly not alone. Other players have been expressing the same opinion, and Sony Online Entertainment has been listening. On March 5th, Pirates of the Burning Sea will be closing three servers: Blackbeard, Defiant, and Rackham. The two remaining servers, Antigua and Roberts, will serve the entire player base. Sony Online Entertainment is giving players a month to make plans and choose a new server. Beginning this Friday, February 5th, players on Blackbeard, Defiant, and Rackham will be able to transfer their characters to either of the remaining servers. Character creation on those three servers will be disabled at the same time, so start making your plans for new characters and transfers of current characters now. Character transfers can be done via the PotBS character transfer service.
Archlord announces server and content updates for 2010
Since picking Archlord up in October of 2009, Webzen has been busy making plans to take the free-to-play game forward, and we got a peek at those plans today. They announced a server merge, new multi-language client, and brand new content for the game in the form of a dungeon designed to be accessible to players of all levels. Beginning today, the four existing European servers will be merged into two, and a new realm "Deribelle" will be opened. The merge will increase population on the two "new" serevers, and Deribelle will feature increased EXP and drop rates as well as a "massive cash item giveaway" in order to welcome new players. February will bring further opportunity for new players to check the game out, in the form of a new multi-language client. The new client will support German, French, Spanish, and Portugese. Webzen didn't stop there, however. All the effort in reaching out to new players will culminate in March with some brand new content designed to appeal to the entire player base, both new and old. The Chaotic Frontier dungeon features an automatic adjustment to the entering character's level, making the dungeon available to all players. The first of the new updates arrives today, so if you haven't checked out Archlord yet, this may be an excellent time to start.
Updated transfer list for Warhammer Online's server merge
Mark this one down under the "good news" category, but with a lot of conditionals: Warhammer Online has updated the list of acceptable server transfers for the upcoming shutdown. We reported earlier on the planned closing of Phoenix Throne and Dark Crag, bringing the game's remaining servers to four. Unfortunately, the decision hasn't been reversed, but the former limitations on what servers could be chosen as a destination for transferred characters has been expanded. In a fresh release, it was announced that characters from the closed servers would be allowed to transfer to any of the four remaining servers. When the announcement was first made there were a number of people who protested the selections for destinations, as players had seen some of the writing on the wall and had already begun transferring over to other servers in anticipation. This move seems to be aimed at engendering some more positive community feelings after the understandably unpopular announcement, although how much help it will actually provide remains to be seen. The announcement goes on to serve as a reminder that the server merge will be taking place on December 2nd, so if your server is on the list to be merged and you wish to say goodbye, now is the time.
Warhammer Online merges two more servers
It wasn't entirely unexpected -- after all, Jeff Skalski gave some indications this might be coming in our recent interview with him -- but it's still unbalancing. Warhammer Online community manager Andy Belford confirmed today that two of the game's servers, Dark Crag and Phoenix Throne, will be shutting down. The population of these servers will be allowed a free transfer to two other servers each -- Iron Rock or Badlands for Dark Crag, Gorfang or Volkmar for Phoenix Throne. He also mentions that there will be a 20% bonus to experience and renown in the weeks following the transfer, to at least slightly take the sting off the event. It looks as if there will be slightly more servers in the European region, as they have a total of 13 still open... but several of those are due to the different languages, and at least one of the realms is scheduled for shutdown. As for what this means for the game itself... it's hard to call it anything but bad news, even with the promises of a boost incoming to ease the impact. We know that Warhammer Online's future looks a bit shaky after recent events, but this is more dire than any of us had expected or hoped. We'll keep up on any news as it becomes available. [ Thanks to JP for the tip. ]
Freesky Online merges two servers, offers players compensation
Browser-based MMO strategy game Freesky Online has just finished merging two of its servers to help bring the player population up. The Paradise and Canaan servers have been turned into a single server called Paradise&Canaan, and the server's map was made bigger and filled with more resources to give the inflated population a chance to prosper in their new environment. The hope is that a greater population will increase the amount of PvP action that goes on and offer new strategic alliance opportunities.Along with the positive effects, the merge brought a lot of inconvenience to players: those that had a character on both servers were only able to keep one, and friends lists and existing alliances were deleted. Players were also unhappy about having their ongoing activities interrupted. To make up for all of this, the game's developers IGG have put together some compensatory goodies for affected players. There are two different gift packages; the players' reputation level affects which pack they will receive. To see what you might be entitled to, visit the news article about the merge at the game's official site.
PlanetSide merges last two servers into one
In an e-mail that went out to the community earlier today, the PlanetSide team has announced that the game's final two servers will be combined into one to preserve the balance of fighting between their three armies. The merge will be conducted on August 25th, so this is ample warning of the things to come.Now, normally people would be complaining and unhappy over hearing the words "server" and "merge" being put into the same sentence, but that's not the sentiment over at the PlanetSide community. This move has put the veteran players into a state of happiness in their anticipation of the merge. Old outfits are preparing for a resurgence as former players are returning to the game once more.
More server consolidations in WAR?
Less than three weeks after launching Land of the Dead, the Warhammer Online Herald is reporting another round of free transfers from several source servers to a few destination servers. Members of Ironfist, Vortex, Monolith, Magnus, and Skull Throne have been urged to transfer to more populated servers. Players on all servers are being rewarded with an extra 20% experience and renown bonus to mark the occasion.The latest WAR Grab Bag mentioned server merges specifically: "...we are expecting to resolve our long term population issues on our lower population servers and see high populations regularly as part and parcel of server merges that are currently in discussion." Mythic consolidated (read: merged) 40 low population servers back in early March 2009, leaving the game with 14 servers in North America. Merging these new servers will eventually leave WAR with 9 active servers. Darren (aka The Common Sense Gamer) is wondering what a lot of us are wondering right now: Is Mythic still correcting for an overzealous server launch strategy or is the game's population no longer holding steady at 300,000?
Warhammer role-play servers: And then there was one
Mythic just began another round of free server transfers in Warhammer Online and this time they are allowing players to transfer from Ostermark (OST) to either Phoenix Throne (PT) or Vortex (VOR). OST and PT are the only two remaining North American servers using the role-play rule set. VOR has a core rule set.This transfer presented Mythic with some unique issues. OST may have been one of the lowest population servers, but it still had a fairly substantial active player base and forcing everyone onto one server could have led to balance and overpopulation consequences. Many role-players also had characters of one realm on OST and the opposite on PT.Mythic's rules do not allow subscribers to play both sides of the war on the same server, so they gave players of PT the opportunity to transfer to VOR as well. Finally, there is the issue of transfering from a role-play server to a core server, where there is less enforcement of proper naming and player maturity.These issues aside, WAR is a game that requires a large number of players to be enjoyable, so many Oysters (as they're called on OST) are embracing this transfer option (as evidenced by Mythic's account website running much slower than usual today). Those wishing to transfer should read all the rules before doing so, as the process requires character and guild preparation.
Mythic merging forty low population WAR servers
This news miraculously slipped under our radar yesterday because it was billed as yet another round of source server transfers. Upon reading a bit deeper, we noticed this line: "Characters on the source servers listed below will all be consolidated onto the corresponding destination server. All source servers will eventually be closed."There are 40 source servers and 15 destination servers listed in the table. This transfer and eventual merge will affect every server except Phoenix Throne, which is widely regarded as the most balanced and stable server for all of Warhammer Online.Perhaps the most interesting part of all this is a speculative tool called the Warheap active server list. If you look at Mythic's official list of destination servers, you will notice that they almost identically match the only servers listed on Warheap with active rank 40 RvR taking place. We were originally sceptical about how accurate this tool was but now we're believers. The only question remaining is how accurate the activity numbers really are. (Incidentally, they are scraped from Mythic's very own Realm War site.)Some people may take this news negatively, but WAR subscribers have been begging for server merges for months now. It appears they are finally getting their wish, which can only improve the game. You need people to RvR with, right?
