I big question directed to Turbine (its not flame)

[MagarPL]

Welcome

I played DDO for a while... (not using forum tho)

We have 1 majror issue... lack of players SOOOOOO

WHy turbine wont merge servers cutting them to half?
we will get living economy and LFG function (now its dead)

[asdfghhjkl]

Sounds like a time zone issue.

[MagarPL]

time zone is not a big problem if i play in nights u have hmm 2pm

and even AH sux... so hard to buy anything cuz no1 sell stuff... too many high lvl and realy no newbes

[IronClan]

it is amazing how dead it is on a +20% XP +1 loot weekend.

Barely any wondrous random loot popping up... I know because I check for it twice a day on both AH's.

[MagarPL]

and this is why its wierd... better for players to have bigger community than playing on 100 server and 200 ppl online each

[jalont]

There are dead servers and there are not dead servers. The problem with most of the dead servers is that it was a sefl-inflicted wound caused by a poisonous community that was allowed to operate unabated. Now we move those people to other servers and hope their poison doesn't spread? I don't think that's a great idea.

[Vint]

and this is why its wierd... better for players to have bigger community than playing on 100 server and 200 ppl online each

It is not that weird really. Hypothetically there could be 1000 that want to pug, but you also have 1000 people that are solo/guild/channel.

It might be nice to combine servers so you have 2000 people that want to pug, but it may not accommodate the 4000 total people. Just using hypothetical numbers of course. Not to mention that if Turbine were to reduce the number of servers it could be considered a sign of doom for many people causing them to quit spending/playing/caring.

[MagarPL]

why ? merge dont erase anything its just implement database to another server so u wont loose anything

[badbob117]

Well, only real legitimate reason i could see for not wanting a server merge would be a increase in lag. I guess there could be problems with players using the same names as well. Those are the only two reason why i can figure anyone would object to it. Idk? It is funny that in all the server merge threads the majority just seems so against the idea but no one ever states why they are against it.

I would not mind a server merge. I would gladly change my toons name if it conflicted with other players even. Would be cool. It is one of the things i liked about lamannia. A whole bunch of players from different servers all playing together on their main toons was always a treat.

[bartharok]

why ? merge dont erase anything its just implement database to another server so u wont loose anything

The equation that people fear goes a bit like this: Servermerge=too few players=game about to shut down=Why spend money on a sinking ship=ship actually may go down

[Astoroth]

why ? merge dont erase anything its just implement database to another server so u wont loose anything

I lost the names of several of my chars in the previous server mergers. Maybe you're looking forward to renaming your char magar27. It's not something I'm interested in though.

[EllisDee37]

I lost the names of several of my chars in the previous server mergers. Maybe you're looking forward to renaming your char magar27. It's not something I'm interested in though.You can't even use numbers when specifying a name, which bummed me out when I wanted to name my series of opener alts on a mule account by their intended final level. (eg: Opener3, Opener7, etc...)

[Teh_Troll]

There are dead servers and there are not dead servers. The problem with most of the dead servers is that it was a sefl-inflicted wound caused by a poisonous community that was allowed to operate unabated. Now we move those people to other servers and hope their poison doesn't spread? I don't think that's a great idea.

It explains why Ghallanda is so awesome, it is the home of my minions.

[NaturalHazard]

There are dead servers and there are not dead servers. The problem with most of the dead servers is that it was a sefl-inflicted wound caused by a poisonous community that was allowed to operate unabated. Now we move those people to other servers and hope their poison doesn't spread? I don't think that's a great idea.

lol wut? some servers are actually that bad? I kind of find it hard to believe.

[FestusHood]

The equation that people fear goes a bit like this: Servermerge=too few players=game about to shut down=Why spend money on a sinking ship=ship actually may go down

Here is another way to look at this. Let's say somebody just downloaded the game and has finally worked their way off of korthos. What's more likely to put them off at this point; The impression that the game may be losing players due to recent server merges? Finding nobody around to play with, which actually affects their experience in the game.

Considering the news we have all heard in the last few days, i don't think server merging would actually be the thing that would scare people off this game if they were worried about it's longevity.

Would merging servers lower their operating costs? That might be another good reason to do it.

As far as lag goes, it's a fact this game was much more populated in the past. Was lag a significantly bigger problem when there were consistently 4 instances in the marketplace instead of 2? If lag really is so heavily based on server population, how did this game ever work at all in it's heyday?

[FestusHood]

lol wut? some servers are actually that bad? I kind of find it hard to believe.

No, they're not. Some people are that bad, but they are spread out across all the servers.

[bsquishwizzy]

Welcome

I played DDO for a while... (not using forum tho)

We have 1 majror issue... lack of players SOOOOOO

WHy turbine wont merge servers cutting them to half?
we will get living economy and LFG function (now its dead)

Given that Turbine is scaling back on staff, this would be an extra expense that someone in Turbine would have to be I-N-S-A-N-E to recommend.

So...I doubt you'll see a marge in the near future.

[bartharok]

Here is another way to look at this. Let's say somebody just downloaded the game and has finally worked their way off of korthos. What's more likely to put them off at this point; The impression that the game may be losing players due to recent server merges? Finding nobody around to play with, which actually affects their experience in the game.

Considering the news we have all heard in the last few days, i don't think server merging would actually be the thing that would scare people off this game if they were worried about it's longevity.

Would merging servers lower their operating costs? That might be another good reason to do it.

As far as lag goes, it's a fact this game was much more populated in the past. Was lag a significantly bigger problem when there were consistently 4 instances in the marketplace instead of 2? If lag really is so heavily based on server population, how did this game ever work at all in it's heyday?

Didnt say its a fact, since that cant be known beforehand, just saying that some fear it

[asdfghhjkl]

time zone is not a big problem if i play in nights u have hmm 2pm
You really aren't going to find many americans on at 2pm. Kids are still in school, adults are still at work, even college students probably have class around then.

DDO is a fairly niche game, there aren't huge numbers of players worldwide. If your problem is "no one in america plays at my peak play time" merging servers is not going to fix that. I'm not opposed to server merges, but there's no reason to ask for them when they won't solve your problem.

Have you tried all the servers? I know all the old Codemaster players (from the EU servers) got dumped on Ghallanda, they might have more players active at your prime time. But it's not hard to create a test character on each server, and just log in to check the LFM panel. You might be surprised by how active some of the other servers are.

[slarden]

Sarlona seemed busy this weekend.

Alot of people online in guild and channels. Usually 5+ real LFMs most of the day and as many as 15 at one point.

[Qhualor]

its no more dead today than it was a year ago as far as I can tell. I don't see the issue with the lfm (im assuming that's what OP is saying) as "not enough people playing". I see the issue in lots of other areas like solo/short manning, guild/friend channels (if OP had a static group he wouldn't "see" a lack of players issue) instead of pugging, not waiting for the "right" group or for the group to fill and the game continues to grow spreading players all over the place.

I watch the lfm off and on every day for years now and skim through the who list and see more or less the same amount of players logged on as it was a year ago. depending on whats going on in the game like current bonus days and the time of the year like kiddies still in school the amount of lfms and players logged on can fluctuate up and down. right now I see a lot of activity on the lfm and just all over the place in the game. of course its still the same old quests with not much variety, epic and heroic, but still pretty active.

[Rexthor007]

much of the reason you don't see as many on Lfm is because of the new big gap in character levels a lot of people don't leave level 28 now a days with Iconics starting at level 15,epic destinys,and epic reincarnation.

[Vint]

its no more dead today than it was a year ago as far as I can tell. I don't see the issue with the lfm (im assuming that's what OP is saying) as "not enough people playing". I see the issue in lots of other areas like solo/short manning, guild/friend channels (if OP had a static group he wouldn't "see" a lack of players issue) instead of pugging, not waiting for the "right" group or for the group to fill and the game continues to grow spreading players all over the place.

I watch the lfm off and on every day for years now and skim through the who list and see more or less the same amount of players logged on as it was a year ago. depending on whats going on in the game like current bonus days and the time of the year like kiddies still in school the amount of lfms and players logged on can fluctuate up and down. right now I see a lot of activity on the lfm and just all over the place in the game. of course its still the same old quests with not much variety, epic and heroic, but still pretty active.

I could be completely wrong about this, but even if there are the same amounts of players, most LFM’s that I see are for epic levels. This could be very off putting to casuals, new people, or those that enjoy running heroic over epics.

[Angelic-council]

why ? merge dont erase anything its just implement database to another server so u wont loose anything

It's extremely difficult to merge servers. There will be some serious technical issues. that's why many game companies don't merge, but they can create new server and or give players option whether they want to move or stay in current server. Now, it's not impossible to merge.. but it's not that simple as you think to just implement database to another server. There has to be preparation and merging servers should take a place while game is fresh, in order works.. there is big chance that you might actually lose a lot of things including quest progress/items.

[Qhualor]

I could be completely wrong about this, but even if there are the same amounts of players, most LFM’s that I see are for epic levels. This could be very off putting to casuals, new people, or those that enjoy running heroic over epics.

lfms are usually very off putting to casuals and new players anyways with all the "IP", "BYOH", "zerg" and "know it". low levels I see a lot of lfms, but its not usually a lot of vet players throwing them up. as the levels increase, the more vet players I notice have lfms, but those are mostly the usual good xp quests and usually state "BYOH" etc. its pretty much the same in epics too. same old same old good xp quests with the usual epic farming quests. actually saw a few EE "BYOH, IP" Red Fens, Von 1-4 and Wiz King before I logged off tonight. I notice too that people want to play EE, probably more for the Comms than anything else, but they go through channels first before possibly using the lfm.

as someone mentioned above, a lot of people are IR and starting at level 15. I just started doing this myself after forgetting about getting a heroic past life and an Iconic past life at the same time. had I remembered I would have started that when Iconics first came out. killing 2 birds with 1 stone and also earning Comms along the way will also keep below level 15 activity a little lower.

[jalont]

Sarlona seemed busy this weekend.

Alot of people online in guild and channels. Usually 5+ real LFMs most of the day and as many as 15 at one point.

Something definitely is going on this weekend. Noticed it too. Four instances in harbor yesterday on Ghallanda, something I haven't seen in... forever. Seems to be a newblette infusion.

[Angelic-council]

lfms are usually very off putting to casuals and new players anyways with all the "IP", "BYOH", "zerg" and "know it". low levels I see a lot of lfms, but its not usually a lot of vet players throwing them up. as the levels increase, the more vet players I notice have lfms, but those are mostly the usual good xp quests and usually state "BYOH" etc. its pretty much the same in epics too. same old same old good xp quests with the usual epic farming quests. actually saw a few EE "BYOH, IP" Red Fens, Von 1-4 and Wiz King before I logged off tonight. I notice too that people want to play EE, probably more for the Comms than anything else, but they go through channels first before possibly using the lfm.

as someone mentioned above, a lot of people are IR and starting at level 15. I just started doing this myself after forgetting about getting a heroic past life and an Iconic past life at the same time. had I remembered I would have started that when Iconics first came out. killing 2 birds with 1 stone and also earning Comms along the way will also keep below level 15 activity a little lower.

Agreed. also, I want to add something to this. Some players quit playing DDO, and many people play with friends and guild mates. Especially pro players, it's hard to find perfect pug teams now.. unless you are good or people like you... PS: Yes, there was many players online in Orien too. But, they usually online when it's day off.

[Seamonkeysix]

I can't really say that I see a pressing need for a server merge, however, DDO has merged servers in the past, so it obviously can be done. As far as the names go, they added your old server name at the end of you name to distinguish between like-named toons (i.e. Greyl would become Greyl-Sarlona, ect...)

[Shorlong]

Thelanis has been bumping this weekend on LFMs, at least when I was on. I was on earlier today and saw around 9 LFMs that my level 26 could join. I didn't look at the non-level range lfms, but usually only have around 3 or 4 at a time for each level range. And they weren't all epic shroud runs, had a caught in the web (filled surprisingly fast), VoN3, VoN5 and 6, Wheloon Slayer, Wheloon chain, What Goes Up and I even got to join a Study in Sable EE. During the week, I see lot's of LFMs, just usually heroic.

That being said, no, I wouldn't /sign for that. There isn't a pressing need for it, it's either bad timing on your part, or you are on one of the two low population servers.

[EllisDee37]

Something definitely is going on this weekend. Noticed it too. Four instances in harbor yesterday on Ghallanda, something I haven't seen in... forever. Seems to be a newblette infusion.Two things are going on this weekend:

1) Risia ends Monday, last chance to farm up your coins and make your festival gear
2) +20% heroic xp, +20 epic xp, +1 loot bonus weekend. It's DDO bonus days on steroids.

[Angelic-council]

Two things are going on this weekend:

1) Risia ends Monday, last chance to farm up your coins and make your festival gear
2) +20% heroic xp, +20 epic xp, +1 loot bonus weekend. It's DDO bonus days on steroids.

lol.. This guy. +1!

[wildbynature]

I will admit I have several good reasons to believe that there has been a declining trend in the server populations over the past couple years. That being said, I typically don't have a problem finding something to run on any given day even though my work hours vary throughout the week.

I've been running my main through a few epic lives. Much of the server population seems to be epic or iconic TRing right now. So in the past couple years, the server population has declined, the levels have spread out, and the majority of server populations ten to congregate toward the higher end of the spectrum.

Over level penalties dont work the same way in epics as they do in heroic levels. That means as soon as I etr, I can still run with my friend stuck 100k behind me at level 27. If you're zerging through heroic levels, there are really only 2 or 3 levels you can run with before somebody starts taking power leveling penalties. So of the smaller part of the server running heroics, you have an even smaller chunk of people you can run with without sacrificing xp.

Not only that, but many people are more willing to stone through and skip most of a heroic life. You're not gathering tokens of the twelve in the heroic levels like you gather commendations of valor in epics. You only need 20 easily farmable tokens to Heroic TR while you need 4000 to etr. It makes more sense to pay 50 bucks to stone through a heroic life, farm tokens an hour, and TR than it does to pay 50 bucks to stone an epic life, and pay another 20 to buy an epic heart.

Certainly declining server populations don't help, but the things that most contribute to the lack of LFMs seem to be practices that turbine puts in place to generate quick revenue. All of this leads me to believe that if I were planning on running a heroic life anytime soon, I might as well solo or find a TR buddy because you're not going to easily find a full group of people to run with.

Long story short: a server merge won't help anything so long as turnine keeps up the quick cash business model.

[Jasongnc2]

Sarlona seemed busy this weekend.

Alot of people online in guild and channels. Usually 5+ real LFMs most of the day and as many as 15 at one point.

Yeah, but I'm often putting up an LFM on Sarlona just to try to help the pug situation, and usually I get few joiners, unless its one of the high xp/min quest. I often wonder if potential PUGers are just avoiding an IP post.

The majority of time is spent either soloing or running with guildmates.

[Missing_Minds]

Welcome
I played DDO for a while... (not using forum tho)
We have 1 majror issue... lack of players SOOOOOO
WHy turbine wont merge servers cutting them to half?
we will get living economy and LFG function (now its dead)

I'm going to assume you know what a contract is and that it works similarly in your place of origin.

Turbine does not own any servers. It rents them. To do so they have to sign a contract of X number of servers for so many years. They may not be able to cancel the contract without paying all the sum of monies promised. At that stage it is just cheeper to run with what they have then worry about a merge when the contract it up when it is deemed more profitable.

[Qhualor]

Yeah, but I'm often putting up an LFM on Sarlona just to try to help the pug situation, and usually I get few joiners, unless its one of the high xp/min quest. I often wonder if potential PUGers are just avoiding an IP post.

The majority of time is spent either soloing or running with guildmates.

If its been more than 5 minutes, I avoid IP lfms. I join something else or go do something else. New players are reluctant to join IP groups too for a lot of different reasons.

[Missing_Minds]

why ? merge dont erase anything its just implement database to another server so u wont loose anything

Incorrect. Given how Turbine has the database configured, everything is based on first character name. (really dumb design in my opinion) This means in the case of duplicates, someone will remain the same and someone gets changed.

This causes player strife and bad PR. Merges mean that a game is dying and people don't want to join a dying MMO for the most part. This is not a sign any company wants to put out.

[MagarPL]

hmm many games like ridt merge servers not showing they dying.... Its only a good thing for us.... now its borring... No eco no partys... its sux

[Yalinaa]

My main character is fvs. I didn't buy the fvs class, I unlocked it via favor. If they move her to another server in a merge, I wouldn't play on that character, so a big NO, THANK YOU.

[gordgray]

Welcome

I played DDO for a while... (not using forum tho)

We have 1 majror issue... lack of players SOOOOOO

WHy turbine wont merge servers cutting them to half?
we will get living economy and LFG function (now its dead)


If you get a response from any one I'd be very surprised thy wont merge any one of them for if thy(do it be like them saying we are in trouble)did all tinfoil hats will come flying out of the hiding places.

[lyrecono]

true, the game has been loosing players for a few years now, i used to see 3 instances in the marketplace in 2011, and fuller lfm's
these days, lots of people hide in private channels.
also, many people are epic tr-ing a lot before the level cap goes up to 30 and the exp required goes up from 6,6 milion to an (assumed) 9 milion per past life.
once that hapends, people will go back to heroic tr-ing.

[Erdrique]

I'm not so sure a server merger is the answer to this. As I have said before, and as many posters have pointed out here, many people just like to solo and to group in their private channels and guilds. Also, don't forget that Friday was Valentine's day and many of us do have real lives to participate in :). I know that I didn't get on that much this weekend, I only ran a few things during the afternoon on Friday and Saturday. But those times I did get on (my server is Thelanis) I saw plenty of groups.

I think once we see more incentives to grouping, the pug scene will pick up once again.

[Angelic-council]

hmm many games like ridt merge servers not showing they dying.... Its only a good thing for us.... now its borring... No eco no partys... its sux

Ridt? You mean lift?.. Merging servers are not easy thing to do. I'm sure there will be thecnical issues for turbine to deal with. I work for Square Enix company so, you have to believe me. Developers won't be able to answer on your thread (I hope they do lol). You can try and contact in game dev (game master). Maybe they can provide you with some information, but... It's separate team so, I don't know. When was the last time turbine merged servers by the way. Do you know? Anyone?

[digitaljc]

You can't even use numbers when specifying a name, which bummed me out when I wanted to name my series of opener alts on a mule account by their intended final level. (eg: Opener3, Opener7, etc...)

Could always use roman numerals - I, II, III...XX

[Kalimah]

why ? merge dont erase anything its just implement database to another server so u wont loose anything

What would you do with two people who have the same name? What about two guilds with the same name? Do you do this all at once? Can the servers take that? How to let your customer base know what is happening and the specific instructions that apply to them? How much staff do you dedicate to this endeavor? What time windows? What do you do for those who need service outside of the appointed support windows? And last but certainly not least...how much revenue will this change provide the company...what is the business incentive to merge?

There are a WHOLE lot of problems merging servers.

[Seikojin]

The equation that people fear goes a bit like this: Servermerge=too few players=game about to shut down=Why spend money on a sinking ship=ship actually may go down

This.

Too many players see things this way. Many more that aren't forum posters/readers.

[Missing_Minds]

When was the last time turbine merged servers by the way. Do you know? Anyone?
2007. http://ddowiki.com/page/Server_merge

Most people can tell the OP is thinking solely as a player that hasn't any clue of how much work really goes into such. I'd say let the thread die as the rest of us know that the only reason we'd ever get a Turbine response in here is if they actually are going to merge.

[Angelic-council]

2007. http://ddowiki.com/page/Server_merge

Most people can tell the OP is thinking solely as a player that hasn't any clue of how much work really goes into such. I'd say let the thread die as the rest of us know that the only reason we'd ever get a Turbine response in here is if they actually are going to merge.

Thank you minds, I appreciate it!