Server merger !!!!!!

[BurnerD]

"Every Halloween, the trees are filled with underwear. Every spring, the toilets explode.

and every year someone wants a server merge. There is an ebb and flow to the server populations. The expansion will create a big uptick.....

[MRMechMan]

Hmmmm...every update is supposed to be "the one" that brings people back to the game. Instead it seems to be the opposite...people are so disgusted with quests being unavailable/BTA ing being traded/lack of epic scrolls or whatever that they play less...or quit.

I was not talking about only seeing a few lfms up and then logging off...I am more talking about putting up a tod/shroud etc that is both unselective and welcome to anyone, and taking 15 minutes for a single lfm hit, and 25-30minutes to fill.

I have no doubt that server population is down. None at all. Sure, some of it is that people TR/raid in guild/channels but I am comparing how easy it is to pug right now to 6 months ago or 1 year ago. People did guild/channel runs a year ago as well. Perhaps more adventuring is done in selective forms but it definitely doesn't account for the huge changes I have observed.

I don't know if a server merger is the answer, but if people think the only reason that

lfms are much harder to fill
there are less lfms up
there are less people in the "who" tab

is because of guild/solo/channel runs...well they are just wrong. There are less people playing the game.

I don't know if this is specifically to Cannith, but it appears to be especially true here. Now, I am sure part of it is that I am 1/2way around the world from most of you folks, so I rarely play during "peak hours". But I am comparing the playtimes now to the same playtimes 6-12 months ago. Sometimes it is so frustrating that I will go check another server for their lfm count-not the best measure of server activity but certainly a relevent and valid one. Almost all other servers will have more lfms...often 2-3 times as many.

This discussion is sadly pretty useless, as a server merger is an admission of defeat/lack of growth on turbines part and will probably never happen, even if would be for the best. They've done it before but I just don't see it happening again.

[Ninety0ne]

disclaimer: my squelch list is full, so full I purge it often. So given that i'm most likely part of the problem zealotry pointed out above read on.

The real problem tbh is players that are disinterested in playing outside their private channels and/or extended friends groups. Given this level of insularity, extrapolate to a random lfm: last spot to fill choices are max dps barb clone from a well known guild or lolfail build, human nature says the barb gets picked.
Extrapolate further and it turns to a rich gets richer scenario that after a time turns to a sort of caste system. Where after fully installed the lesser castes dont even bother to hit lfms for the very endgame raids they need to advance into the higher castes.
Your milage may vary but this is what I get out of it

[pSINNa]

When i logged in last Friday night (usa time - it was saturday morning where i hail from) i was greeted with 8 shroud lfm's, and an lfm list that i had to scroll through a few times to see if there was anything i wanted to log a toon for specifically.

The raid channels are bristling, the guild is very busy, and the TR's are chugging away with great force, with channel runs scrolling down the screen constantly.

I usually log in during the week at approx 9-10am usa time, and run a few epics, epic raids, shrouds, well, whatever i want really, and i'm far too lazy most of the time to lead, so i'm hitting pug lfm's most of the time (and i find them more fun i have to admit, not in a patronising fashion either, i actually really enjoy the freshness of a good pug, and some of them are really good flat out professional, which always brings a smile to my face .

I see no problem here at all.

DO not, repeat, DO NOT merge or even consider a server merge.

If it's not up, put one up, they'll fill slowly for a while, then as your reputation gains strength, they'll fill as fast as you can hit accept.

Coit out~

[xxHazexx]

I think a server merge is necessary it literally has been the same effect for me when i log in lfm's are slim mostly, friends list is usually empty when checking to see who's on, the arguments too not merge servers are weak. I'll explain, lag is going to be in here in ddo regardless if we merge servers or not. Naming toons will be simple just put a -1 or -2 next to the name. The general puglic and community is suffering because there are really great titles out right now and in the works for release. Which is discouraging because i really have no interest in playing unless it's raid night personally after investing a couple of years and loads of cash into this game.

[smatt]

The server populations are still FAR above what they were when they merged servers back in 2007 or was it early 08..... Sure the population is down significantly from last May-July... BUT, it's very deceiving how many peopela re actually on, since most of what Turbine has done has been to push people into Tring as much as possible, since this drives store sales. And while doing with allt he rediculous XP bonuses added, it means less people are willing to PUG.... So less LFM's...

Merge not coming anytime soon....

[Pape_27]

I really do not want to see a server merger.

The main rationale it seems behind a call for merger has to do with lfm's. I can log on and look in my level range and see maybe 1 or 2 lfms up. This seems to be the case across all the level ranges. Not a great number of options there. So yes indeed i can take a while to fill.

But just because the lfm numbers appear to be down, it doesnt mean that there isnt activity on the server. A lot of people are now running with friends of guildies. Or they solo. 90% of the time thats what I do. Why? Well, it has to do with how I like to run a quest. I like to move fast, but not so fast that the dungeons are flying by or not so slow that it takes an hour to get thru a mid level quest. My guildies and friends seem to share a similar pace. Its a natural fit. Or I just solo the content I want to run because it doesnt take me out of my "comfort zone".

One last thing about the LFM's. I see some people in this thread complaining about groups taking a long time to fill. A lot of those LFM's are coming with restrictions in place like "Friends and Guildies" "TR's only/preferred" "No Bads" "Know Quest" "Your Lootz are Belonging to Me" "Must Be Experienced" ..... I have seen some of the people posting in this thread with lfm's like that. People dont want to join runs like that. No wonder it takes forever for them to fill.

I think Cannith might be on the low side population wise, but to force a merger isnt the answer to whatever problems the server may have.

[testing1234]

once you spent some time on the larger severs you realize that on the downtime they have as many lfms or often more then cannith have at its hightime.


downtime=low population based on time of day and what day it is
hightime=high....

merger sounds fine to me doubt cannith+orien for example would have as many users as argo for example

this is not a ebb and flow issue cannith have never had the population some of the bigger have not even at its start honestly have no idea why orien was added so close after cannith was created made no sense to me based on its low population

[Falco_Easts]

What I have always wondered is.

If there is a server merg and Im premium, do I get to keep all 8 characters from the two servers that merged (4 from each) or do I get screwed into only have 4 toons?

From memory you got to keep all 8 last time but could not roll any new ones until you got under 4.

[Yalina]

Just logged in and took my time to check the WHO page in social panel, likely 1K people are online right now (without the anonims), Cannith doesnt need a merge.

[Delssar]

Khyber + Argonessen = true love

If THAT was to happen I'd stop playing all my toons on Argo. Khyber is the worst server (IMHO) for community.

[ThunderTank]

I do not believe so. What is actually called for is more people willing to lead and put up those LFM's that everyone is bemoaning don't exsist.

I have no trouble getting groups in nearly any level range I'm running. When I put up an lfm it generally fills quickly unless I have very specific and off-putting requirements to much of pug-dom (BYOH, IP, know way to quest - as an example).


Let's say at any general period in time there are 100+ people looking at the empty social panel. The lfm board may be empty but that's STILL 100+ people looking for group. It's not a lack of population, it's a lack of willingness to act.

IMHO of course, YMMV.

This.
I've never had any issues filling raid lfm's on cannith back then or nowadays. However I dont feel like leading many raids as before and tend to spend most of my playtime doing TR's. I do enjoy DDO endgame but after getting pretty much everything you needed from epics there isnt many reasons to keep running the same content over and over. Something is lacking. Besides e-lob there isn't anything incredibly chalenging or fun anymore that can't be soloed facerolling by a good caster.
Im looking forward to the next update. I think it will definately be make it or brake it for DDO (most likely brake it with Turbines awesomesauce Dev Team D ).

[Miahoo]

I take it back.

A merge can actually be good for this server but only if they fix the lag and/or bring the resources from the other server (if that possible).

[Dolphious]

When i logged in last Friday night (usa time - it was saturday morning where i hail from) i was greeted with 8 shroud lfm's, and an lfm list that i had to scroll through a few times to see if there was anything i wanted to log a toon for specifically.

On Cannith? I call BS, I was on last Friday and there were never 8 Shroud LFMs up. In fact 6 guildies and I sat around for half an hour with a ToD LFM up without a single hit (and we had a Horoth Tank, Shadow Tank, and two healers, so it was open to all classes).

I'm sick of arguing about this (some people just seem set on the idea that there is no player shortage), but *I* personally think there is an issue, and would love to merge with another server and have more people to play with.

I don't think it's a lack of people putting LFMs up. First because I've sat in groups (started by myself sometimes) for ages without filling (even when we just need random DPS), and second because if that was the case the few LFMs that are up would fill lightning fast.

And RE:Zeal

You guys are awesome, I - and everyone else - loves raiding and questing with you guys. But with all due respect I think you're a special case, you have a big active guild, and dozens and dozens of friends. The speed that your groups fill is probably exception and not the rule.

[edit] I'll grant that there probably is a bit of a negative feedback loop here. LFMs fill slowly, so people wait and watch to see if a group is "filling" before clicking it, which then causes it to fill more slowly, etc. But I really don't think that's the driving force.

[NaturalMystik]

One thing you can be sure of about Cannith is that the crickets are thriving... I pop in most evenings around midnight(ish) est, get my fresh ship buffs and sit and watch the lfm's waiting patiently for something to do... Eventually I'll drag my ddo window to my other monitor and start aimlessly surfing the web until my buffs run out and I quit the game. I knew TRing would be slow, but man...

It's definitely slower late night than it once was... Yes I could run my own LFMs, but that seems to come with the requirement of leadership which doesn't interest me at all. Yes I could just solo, but after you've done each quest a few dozen times ++ soloing isn't much fun for me. Perhaps the game has run it's course for me and I'd be better off loading up the Temple of Elemental Evil or NWN. I've always been a dungeon crawler at heart anyway. For me there is not point playing a MMO if you aren't going to party with others.

I suppose when the expansion is launched there will be some revived action, but for those who don't have the expansion i suspect it will be just as quiet. Seems like many folks are into the Star Wars these days...

[GermanicusMaximus]

Cannith is the only server on which I have ever played a serious character in my 2 years of DDO. The first 7 months of those 2 years was bursting with activity. Activity took a serious dive in December of 2010, and while it has bounced up and down since then, it has never come close to the activity level of those first 7 months.

I have a lot of free time, so I get to see the daily cycle Cannith goes through.

I live in the central US, and the server is pretty dead at midnight. If I log on at 8 am the next morning, there are more signs of life than there are at midnight, but it is still relatively slow. I can guess that in between there are times where you could hear the echo of your footsteps if you ran through Stormreach.

By mid-morning, things are much busier, and tend to stay that way through mid-afternoon. It begins to tail off later in the afternoon, and then picks up again in early evening. Starting around 10 pm, activity starts to drop off, and by 11 getting a new group can be a challenge.

That leaves plenty of hours of active game time available, assuming your personal schedule fits into the peaks and not the valleys.

When the server is active, PUGs fill fast, at least the ones that I am in. The fact that my main toon is a cleric undoubtedly doesn't hurt. Some groups are loaded with experienced players, some are full of newer players. Either can be enjoyable, assuming you still have some zest for the game.

About the only kind of group that I won't join is one with exclusionary language in the LFM. They seem to be loaded with unpleasant people, the kind of people I would avoid in real life, and I certainly have no need for them when I am doing something as unimportant as questing for nothing more than pixels on a screen.

Given all of the above, I would have to say that Cannith is not even close to being dead.

It is a small enough community, however, that your behavior over time does get remembered. There are a handful of guilds on the server who seem to have gone out of their way to antagonize a large percentage of the player population. If you are a member of one of those guilds, your guildies have moved on to some place else, and you are now left staring at LFMs that never fill, there is a worthwhile lesson to learned. A character transfer to a different server may be your most expedient course of action.

[alexp80]

/not signed

on GMT+1 time, I can see always lot of pugs, maybe a bit less than before, but it's normal due to tr at this time.

Many people are preparing toons for epic levels (myself included) gathering as many past life as possible to be ready for new content.

[ThunderTank]

Cannith is the only server on which I have ever played a serious character in my 2 years of DDO. The first 7 months of those 2 years was bursting with activity. Activity took a serious dive in December of 2010, and while it has bounced up and down since then, it has never come close to the activity level of those first 7 months.

I have a lot of free time, so I get to see the daily cycle Cannith goes through.

I live in the central US, and the server is pretty dead at midnight. If I log on at 8 am the next morning, there are more signs of life than there are at midnight, but it is still relatively slow. I can guess that in between there are times where you could hear the echo of your footsteps if you ran through Stormreach.

By mid-morning, things are much busier, and tend to stay that way through mid-afternoon. It begins to tail off later in the afternoon, and then picks up again in early evening. Starting around 10 pm, activity starts to drop off, and by 11 getting a new group can be a challenge.

That leaves plenty of hours of active game time available, assuming your personal schedule fits into the peaks and not the valleys.

When the server is active, PUGs fill fast, at least the ones that I am in. The fact that my main toon is a cleric undoubtedly doesn't hurt. Some groups are loaded with experienced players, some are full of newer players. Either can be enjoyable, assuming you still have some zest for the game.

About the only kind of group that I won't join is one with exclusionary language in the LFM. They seem to be loaded with unpleasant people, the kind of people I would avoid in real life, and I certainly have no need for them when I am doing something as unimportant as questing for nothing more than pixels on a screen.

Given all of the above, I would have to say that Cannith is not even close to being dead.

It is a small enough community, however, that your behavior over time does get remembered. There are a handful of guilds on the server who seem to have gone out of their way to antagonize a large percentage of the player population. If you are a member of one of those guilds, your guildies have moved on to some place else, and you are now left staring at LFMs that never fill, there is a worthwhile lesson to learned. A character transfer to a different server may be your most expedient course of action.

Being a player of cannith since day 1 i agree with you my friend. Server isnt as much active as it was one day. Especially at the non prime time server hours. If you create an alt and roam around other servers, you'll see that the activity isnt much different. And what you said about the reputation stands true.

[Futility]

lfms are much harder to fill
there are less lfms up
there are less people in the "who" tab

The last one would be the real indicator. It reminds me of another online game a few years ago,
the one that was touted as the new Diablo from the makers thereof .

In that game, the /who function would return the total number of players online,
so one could actually see the in-game population decline. Of course, eventually,
developers found a solution to the problem - they disabled the /who function.

[Battlehawke]

Ultimately if the Marketing Department at Turbine doesn't get the word out then the expansion won't matter. WB is spending a lot of money on this expansion with added manpower and resources but it just won't matter if no one knows. Commercials and adds as well as some kind of boxed set or "purchase card" need to hit the public for it to matter.

There has been a decline in the amount of players in DDO, mostly to the release of some new MMO's. Some people will get bored with them and will come back. Others will need a reason to come back. Forgotten Realms and Druids are a huge reason to play DDO.


I really hope all of this hard work isn't wasted with shoddy marketing...... it would be a shame...

I personally am very much looking forward to the Expansion and if done right they may have to add a new server or two...