server merger – MMO Fallout

It’s Choring Time: TERA Releases Checklist For Server Merger (PS4/Xbox)

TERA is merging servers, and if you log in over the next week you can get your hands on five free character slots either in preparation for the move or to preserve more of your alts. In preparation for the movie, En Masse Entertainment has posted the following checklist of instructions to make sure you’re ready for the move. Check out the list below and click the link for more information.

Claim your 5 Additional Character Slots between August 13 and August 20.
Apply your Additional Character Slots to the server where you have the most characters (to accommodate your characters from other servers of that type) and note the total number of Character Slots you have here.
Identify characters on any server that you don’t need, save any important items and gold they might have, then delete them until the total number of active characters remaining on that server type is equal to or less than the total amount of Character Slots you just noted above.
Confirm that any Guild you might be a part of has more than two members. (If a guild drops below two members for any reason—such as characters being removed during the merge—the Guild will disband.) Or if you think it might not, remove your valuables from the guild bank.
Remove any items you have listed with the Trade Broker.
Come up with several backup character names, in case any of your favorite names are already taken on your new server.

(Source: TERA)

How ArcheAge’s Server Mergers Will Work

ArcheAge is getting closer to its planned server mergers, and Trion Worlds has dumped a massive amount of information on how the process will work. In total, twelve servers will be merged into six, divided equally between North American and European servers. For players on affected servers who do not wish to be part of the merger, they will receive a free one-time transfer to a server of their choice (with some exceptions based on populations). Characters involved in the transfers will be moved on September 8th.

While players will need to change their name if there is a conflict on the destination server, if the name is available at the point of transfer request it will be reserved and inaccessible to other players. Players waiting for the merge are required to pack up items on their land or risk losing them when the merger comes. Finally, players have the option of starting new on one of the two fresh-start servers.

Server transfer signups begin August 25th and end September 4th, with requests being processed on the 8th. You can find more information regarding restrictions at the link below.

(Source: ArcheAge)

[Community] Let’s Call A Merger A Merger

Originally I intended this week’s Community column to be speculation about how Trion Worlds would handle ArcheAge’s upcoming server merge, given that the plans are still in the conceptual stage and any real action that will be taken is still months down the line. To fuel speculation, I looked at how server mergers were handled in Korea and Russia under XLGames and Mail.ru respectively, and hoped to get a comment from each party.

While Mail.ru and XLGames didn’t respond to my request, I was told by Trion Worlds that an FAQ was in the works. It isn’t out as of this publishing (approximately 2pm EST on Monday, June 1st), so I’m going ahead with my original plan.

It’s safe to say that the term “server merger” has such a negative connotation attached to it because, in the eyes of the ever-rational internet mob, developers might as well post an announcement that they’ve failed at business. Couple that with a media in love with negative headlines, and you’ve got a recipe for PR disaster. Because of this, Trion Worlds isn’t the first to treat the phrase like they’ve been accused of having lice, and have joined the growing list of developers shuffling players away from low population servers (before closing them usually) without actually using the term “merger.” Even Blizzard opted to develop its engine to support cross-realm play rather than merge its list of low population servers.

There tends to be an even more negative response to this tactic, since if there’s one thing people hate more than being lied to, it’s when companies talk to them like they are lawyers in a courtroom dodging a guilty plea by questioning the definition of the term “murder.” To go back to the previous analogy, they are the kid in school trying to explain that while their head has been buzzed and their hair smells of medical shampoo, there is no way you can prove that they were responsible for the lice sighting that the school warned about over the morning announcements.

This isn’t the first time Trion Worlds merged without ever using the term. In Rift, Trion would convert low population servers to “trial servers” in order to force players off of them without actually calling it a merger. Designating a server as “trial” would result in character creation being disabled (for subscribers) and would limit players to the two main cities, forcing players to transfer off once they had finished the content available in the free trial.

We won’t know what Trion plans on doing with ArcheAge until they release more information, but we did grab this soundbite from their latest Twitch stream:

“It’s basically taking lower population servers and then creating an entirely new server and allowing players to migrate from that server to the new evolved servers.”

If their approach to merging servers in ArcheAge is anything close to what they did in Rift, it is likely that players will be not so gently coerced into transferring over to these “evolved servers,” through various limitations on these legacy servers. This way, once the population has sufficiently dwindled, the servers can be logically shut down due to lack of activity, with any characters remaining forced to transfer off.

So the notion that the servers were never merged is technically correct, and as I have said before technically correct is my favorite kind of correct.

[ArcheAge] Trion Worlds Unveils Non-Traditional Server Mergers

Ask Trion Worlds if they are merging servers and the answer is absolutely not, in the traditional sense at least. According to Trion’s community manager Scapes, server transfers are inhibited by the fact that the process currently needs to be done manually. An automated version is currently in development and will hopefully be available later this year, allowing characters and even entire servers to be transferred.

More details will become available at some point, just don’t call it a merger.

We do not currently have plans to merge servers in the traditional sense. Instead, we plan something altogether different and look forward to revealing the plan as soon as we work out the details.

Linda “Brasse” Carlson has also been making the rounds on ArcheAge’s forums to remind players that the merger will be “non-traditional.”

Those are the other obvious questions. I also realize that it’s hard to pose questions before we put up at least a bare-bones FAQ on our plans. Bear with us. We’ll be talking about this with all our fellow players for MONTHS before it comes to pass, and your input is important.

(Source: ArcheAge)

APB Servers To Begin Merger

APB: Reloaded will be merging its five servers into three over the next month or so in order to bring players closer together. On April 22nd, the two EU servers will be merged into one with the US servers merging into their own on May 6th. The third server Han, which runs for the Asian region, won’t see any change.

Character name priority will be given based on account age, playtime, and last login. The console (PS4/XOne) servers will run from the same locations as the PC servers.

(Source: APB Reloaded)

Age of Wushu Merging Servers

Snail Games yesterday performed a server merge on Age of Wushu to address the game’s low population. January 7th marked the mergers of the White Tiger and Golden Kirin servers into the Blue Dragon server. As a result of the merger, all Jianghu rankings were reset as well as school rankings, NPC relationships, and guild territory.

You can read more at the FAQ posted below.

(Source: Snail Games)

Wildstar Merger Nukes Low Level Inactive Characters

Carbine Studios is set to launch the Wildstar megaservers this week, on Wednesday October 15th. Players will be grouped into one of four servers, based on their physical location (US and EU) and server type (PvE or PvP). Due to the complicated nature of the merger, Carbine Studios is expecting a downtime of twelve to twenty four hours, which will be compensated in the form of thirty Boom-Boxes and an extra day of game time. To avoid naming issues, players will be required to create unique surnames. Guilds with conflicting names will hand priority over to the oldest guild, with the newer one being forced to change its name.

As part of the update, characters under level 3 that are inactive (not logged in within 30 days of the merger) will be deleted.

(Source: Wildstar)

Neverwinter Readying Server Mergers

Neverwinter’s upcoming server merger is no surprise, the company has been straightforward about the fact that the three servers were there to spread out launch traffic as much as possible, and that they would be combined as soon as possible. In an FAQ posted to the Neverwinter forums, Perfect World has noted that the merger is close to being ready and will be rolled out as soon as possible.

We have always been fans of the single-shard model, and like our previous games, we’ve always wanted to optimize Neverwinter’s infrastructure to be able to meet this goal. We are excited to be close to meeting this goal and are excited about allowing all players in our game world to be able to communicate and group with one another.

The good news is that thanks to Perfect World’s unique handle system, players do not need to worry about changing their character name or guild name even if there are duplicates. When the merger does go through, all auctions will automatically expire and either sell to the highest bidder or return to the seller if there are no bids. Astral Diamond exchange orders will be withdrawn as well, and all mail and currencies will be merged to the new server. There is no timeline on when the merger will take place other than “very soon.”

Check out the entire FAQ at the link below.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Age of Wushu Merging Servers 8/28

Snail Games USA has announced that Age of Wushu will be merging two servers in order to increase player interaction and reduce low population areas. On August 28th, Black Tortoise will be merged into White Tiger during the game’s normally scheduled maintenance. According to the FAQ, character data including progression, guilds, and Jianghu Rankings will cross over. Characters with the same name will be able to keep their name with server distinctions added on, however school positions will be reset.

As this will be a fresh reset server, all school positions will be reset. Players can apply with School NPCs for positions in the school structure on day 1. The weekly school tournament will be conducted as normal on the first Sunday following the merger (September 1, 2013).

You can read the entire FAQ at the link below. While the new server is titled “White Tiger,” the server is not the same as the existing White Tiger.

(Source: Age of Wushu)

Age of Conan Server Mergers Coming August 7th

Early next year, Funcom plans on integrating the single server technology from The Secret World into Age of Conan. In the announcement, Funcom revealed that while it may be possible to merge the different rule sets into one server, the game’s antiquated technology prevents North American and European players from interacting with one another. With the long road ahead until the single mega-server technology is fully integrated and ready to roll out, Funcom has begun announcing server mergers to get the community ready.

On August 7th, the US servers Set and Wicana will be merged into one server: Set. The next day, the EU will see its servers Mitra and Asgard merged into one: Mitra. Characters will keep their names on the basis of activity, level (if both active), registration (if same level), and last login (if registered same month). After the server merge has taken place, characters will be given a free transfer that can be used cross-ruleset (but not cross-region) good for one month. You can read more at the server FAQ below.

(Source: Age of Conan)

(Also: Age of Conan EU)