Another Beg for a server Merge.

[Mr_Helmet]

Not being able to fill groups is part of the challenge of DDO.

What? You don't like challenge?

[cru121]

The technology template was ingrained in those other game systems..
DDO would have to rework their entire game system.. while I would love to see it happen.. it is pretty unlikely it would be done..

The other games had individual servers and now offer single grouping interface. I am sure their devs faced challenges and managed.

DDO already did some steps that could make it possible. Remember when server transfer used to be a lengthy procedure? Now a copy to Lamannia is lightning-fast. Join a global LFM, upon joining, game quickly copies a subset of character data to other server, maybe you're gonna have to connect to that server instead your own, maybe not. Do quests, have fun. Upon leaving group, you're beamed back with more XP and shinies.

[Enoach]

Since we don't have all the information I think it best to let SSG determine if they need to consolidate the servers. I imagine they still would have several hurdles to figure out before they could do any merging.

Of course when they do come to that point there will also be those that will be upset with how they merge the servers.

[SeveredSteel]

Not being able to fill groups is part of the challenge of DDO.

What? You don't like challenge?

but... but my unique name bruh!

[Livmo]

I wonder how often the no-voters pug.

I pretty much only PUG and say no.

However a server merge will not impact me in a lot of ways with exception of storage and toons. I have 8 full shared banks and there are 8 servers. Merging those and the crafting storage may be a problem for DDO, but I do know there are some logistical issues. For example, I have 22 toons on each server for 1 account. Merge 2 servers and that is 44 on one account. Also plat caps etc.

The upshot is that I won't suffer from the butt hurt that many folks would get to experience. For example, I'm Livmo on all servers, so I have my names locked down. Same goes for guild names. I have those names locked down on all servers as well. There are gonna be allot of upset people that have played their toon for years that will end up with Livmo~Sarl or some convention when their OG name is taken, and they're one getting the altered handle. Same with guild names.

[FranOhmsford]

It's actually surprising that this poll is split literally down the middle with 25 for and 24 against right now and the for vote never getting more than I think 3 votes ahead of the against.

tbh I expected a massive no vote - And considering what seems to be putting off many of the no's is the worries about character names /TR Cache and Guild Movement I honestly think that if the Devs could show that those things were actually non-issues the clamour for server mergers would become a torrent!


Here's some options for the Devs:

TR Cache: Create a new TR Bank that would transfer - Players could move gear from the old TR Cache to the new one themselves rather than the Devs having to automate it.

Character Names: Add Player Name/Log-in OR Add "of server" with free namechange tokens for everybody.
Have "dead" characters {those not logged on in say 18 months} lose their names rather than "Live" characters.

Guilds: The Devs can create and level Guilds on Lamannia - They can also do so on the Live Servers! Allow Guild Leaders to remake their Guild on the new Server at the same level with all their extras already earned.
IF the name is already taken:
1) Offer Mergers with the higher level Guild adding the lower level Guild's renown to their own. {allow 2 leaders/joint leadership - perhaps have a moratorium on booting from merged guilds for say 3 months while the new guildmates get to know each other.}.
2) For those who don't want to merge Give Free Rename Token.
3) In case of "dead guilds" taking up names - If no-one in guild has logged on in at least 3 months that guild loses its name/gets a ~1 after its name and a free rename token rather than the Guild that is actually active.




Ah...I forgot character limits/multiple server banks being full - DOUBLE EVERYTHING! Just do it, A Player like myself with 30 character slots on all servers will have 60 character slots on all servers BUT there'll be LESS Servers and even I couldn't fill 60 slots on every server, I have 29 on Cannith and the next highest is 10 on Sarlona not counting alt accounts!

If you merged any other server apart from Sarlona or Khyber with Cannith and gave no extra slots I would have to delete at most ONE Character!
Obviously as I feel Khyber+Cannith are the closest in feel to each other I would not want to have to delete 6 characters but you {the Devs} could also offer FREE Transfers for extra characters to say a Server where you're not full up. {Then using my example I would just transfer 6 of the now 36 characters I would have on Khyber-Cannith to Orien where I have 3 characters right now or Argo where I have 2 or Wayfinder where I have 1.

The same goes for Bank Space - Just Double the Shared Bank Slots! {Or create an overflow bank that like the TR Cache once something is taken out cannot be put back in.}.

[Enerdhil]

Since the devs promised before server migration (what means 1 year ago) that they'll consider server merge and inform community about their decison i would like to hear any statement from them. I guess year is enough to consider something. Final choice doesn't matter, but it'll be nice to keep promise and let us know what can we expect in future.

[mattttt]

Perhaps a Guild recruitment board in Korthos/ Harbour to make it easier for people to look or for Guild to advertise?

I love this idea, because I feel many new players will not look on the forums of chronicle for a guild.

[smithyo83]

Server merge needs to happen my friends list is longer than the who list at times and 90% of friends list no longer play????

[Hutoth]

The poll questions are not neutral.

Either they both MIGHT be (good/bad)

Or they both WILL be (good/bad)

Currently you have an option which MIGHT be good, and and option that WILL be bad. Biased.

And even then, as of posting it's 50/50

[Wipey]

There are sometimes 250 people on, probably less than 10k unique daily logins across all servers at this point. Market, Eveningstar, Meridia, harbour - public spaces are often completely empty.
Even seen EMPTY lfm panel few times. 1-5 people in former "raiding" channels. Whole guilds gone.

How can anyone be against some merges just blows my mind.

[psykopeta]

There are sometimes 250 people on, probably less than 10k unique daily logins across all servers at this point. Market, Eveningstar, Meridia, harbour - public spaces are often completely empty.
Even seen EMPTY lfm panel few times. 1-5 people in former "raiding" channels. Whole guilds gone.

How can anyone be against some merges just blows my mind.

cause my guild, my name, my gear... honestly can't understand it either... iirc some players even said something like "if i lose my name or it becomes a -1 i would stop playing"

whixh is amazing, too, but it's just a proof of what kind of players we can find in ddo"s fauna

so the game is dying, there's no way new players want to stay in such dead public activity but they only care about their exclusivity

i would merge all servers in packs of 2, biggest with smallest and so on, then would give a free "move all your toondfrom that server ti wherever you want"

so if thelanis merges with orien, i could move my thelanis toons (altogether) to another server, so the issue of having 600 toons in 1 server would be by my own decision (i have 11 or 12 slots and only using them in thelabis, in other dervers i created a 2k favor toon and 1 guy who got the experience stone when you could only use 1/account)

i solo most times, but i think the game needs new blood and new cashers, or it would die faster than with WB lol and i'm pretty sure i wouldn't stay for long in a game where i don't know players and i'm forced to solo or be carried by players

[JOTMON]

There are sometimes 250 people on, probably less than 10k unique daily logins across all servers at this point. Market, Eveningstar, Meridia, harbour - public spaces are often completely empty.
Even seen EMPTY lfm panel few times. 1-5 people in former "raiding" channels. Whole guilds gone.

How can anyone be against some merges just blows my mind.

Personally, a forced server merge overall I think is a poor concept..

and really what would the server merge accomplish.. squishing all the existing players onto already laggy servers..
even server transfers are risky and don't handle TR caches, shared bank, bag deposit boxes, guilds, guild ships, player names, favor, etc, etc, etc...
transferring loot is messy..


If you could guarantee that nothing would get screwed up with a server merge, wouldn't lose your player name or end up as name-1, and there would be no additional lag..
Then I am sure more people would be on board with a merge..
but currently there is just too little.. faith..



IF they were going to merge I would hope they would go about it differently...

1.create a new world on a new server.
Clean start server.. no historical baggage..

2.have a planescaller traveller patron setup on each of the old servers.
This NPC that creates tokens to represent your guildships and amenities, shared bank, other inventories or whatever other assets.. redeemable when you spawn on the new world.

3. Create an account based transfer system that allows players to transfer their entire account(or selectable portion) to the new server
Tier transfer access over a period of time based on join date of active players.. founders, long term, short term, newbies...then open up to first come first serve for names.
This way active players who transfer retain their names. (have a hold on new name creation for a short period of time).

4. Once active players have moved their toons to the new server, systematically merge the remaining servers into an 'old world' server(s) with all the remaining inactive players
If they ever become active they have the option to transfer to the new server or continue on the old one(s).

5. copy to server option... (like Lamannia) allows player to replicate their toon onto another server without losing their existing player on the current server...
May have some issues with checks and balances for exploit considerations by replicating toons across multiple servers.. but being able to play my toon on whatever server may be of interest...
This format works better in the Mega-server environment where servers are nodes of the bigger server, more like instances and not really separate servers..
from an event perspective.. a Lamannia event party where various rewards get redeemed bak to you the home server could be fun..


Ultimately..
The focus should be on expanding the player base and adding more players to the game..
even engaging players to want to play on other servers or create new toons.

could offer server bonus events for creating new toons on servers.. unique starter events, unique cosmetics, bonus packs, other new bonuses items..
rotate them around from server to server..
could make rewards unbound so existing players can move them to their mains and not be 'but-hurt' or even offer alternative trade/buy option.



Game advertising still seems lackluster..
getting the attention of New players is always needed...
advertise the game as a MMO D&D game.... embrace the niche...
update and get better recognition on the WOTC website.. the WOTC drilldown for DDO look like it was a game from 10 years ago.. not one that is currently still played.


add/update tools for the game for players....
~export data.. like character sheets to the PnP formats, inventory lists, etc..
there are people out there using 3rd party character generators and worksheets to play PnP or other DnD games..
offering teasers that catch them and draw them into the game.. it also is of interest to in game current players ...

[Zzevel]

the problem is that the character name you had can be gone by another user whose name is same to you. I just worried of the people who'll lose their character name. but server merging will be good for population problem.

Not really, to really simplify it.. You add a 2 new fields called [Server] and {Display Name} . Change the UI use {Display Name} in all of the various areas. Behind the scenes concatenate in your [Server] field into your existing [Character_Name] field and load it into the [Character_Name] field: i.e [Sarlona_Lleggolas] Now when your code tries to do all all of its checks or loads information on your char vs the other guy (with the same {Display Name}) it can tell you apart in the code.

Now 9 People from 9 servers (Sarlona, Argonnessen, Orion, Thelanis, Khyber, Ghallanda, Cannith, Wayfinder & New Server) can all have the same name ans co-exist in the same spot at the same time. Heck you could even rename the servers to regions or continents or whatever and make them a backstory and add DOZENS more and allow hundreds of Chars with the same name...

They could take all characters active in the last 18 months from all servers and put them into an Xendrik MEGA sever, put everyone else in a Everice purgatory with a 1 year window with free char transfers to Xendrik...

It would take some effort and re-coding but it DEFINITELY could be done.... Personally I would rather see some base work done on the AD&D MMO...

[Dragnipurake]

1. You know what is one of the most effective ways to keep new players away? Merge servers (aka the game is closing soon, so you better not waste your time trying it out).

2. My chars have their names because it is an essential part of the whole "concept". If the name is changed to name-1, name-server or whatever, it is not the same anymore. > I will leave.

3. If 2 or more servers are merged and I end up not being able to play a subset of all my chars any more because their number exceeds the max. char limit. > I will leave.

4. If 2 or more servers are merged and I end up not being able to play a subset of all my chars any more unless I buy more char slots. > I will leave.

[Enerdhil]

1. You know what is one of the most effective ways to keep new players away? Merge servers (aka the game is closing soon, so you better not waste your time trying it out).

I wholeheartedly agree, first of all we should make sure the trend of quickly growing population will not turn upside down... Merging servers will keep away those 10 ppl/year interested in trying ddo. This year only 3 of them gave ddo a chance, the fate of remaining 7 is in our hands.

2. My chars have their names because it is an essential part of the whole "concept". If the name is changed to name-1, name-server or whatever, it is not the same anymore. > I will leave.

3. If 2 or more servers are merged and I end up not being able to play a subset of all my chars any more because their number exceeds the max. char limit. > I will leave.

4. If 2 or more servers are merged and I end up not being able to play a subset of all my chars any more unless I buy more char slots. > I will leave.

Once again - i agree with you. Also i have to add my own few reasons.

5. If new update won't be fun i will leave.
6. If my build wont be OP after next upadate i'll leave.
7. If devs won't ask me about my noble guidance i'll leave.
8. If i won't get 100$s every month for testing the game by playing i'll leave.
9. If there'll be no duping xp potions event soon i'll leave.
10. If summer will be too hot i'll leave aswell.

PS: i'm sure the devs will do everything to annoy you, change your name and deny access to the other chars, just cause they can. How about leaving right now, just to not let them strike first?

[Vulkoorex]

I don't care if there was a merger or not anymore.

Things that would make me leave:

1) Crippling lag. Given that they have to do weekly restarts to combat lag, I'm not overly optimistic that a server merge would not add more lag.

2) Losing my guild that me and my guildmates worked so hard and spent $$ (Kraken) to level up.

[DeltaBravo]

Okey i see there is alot of things that can go wrong.. buttom line there is a lack of players on some of the servers atleast.. ( all of em maybe even ? ) And DDO is getting less players each day not more. This will in the end forcee less people to join and more people to leave. The game had a major split with the reaper XP and raceial PL comeing out. Its is simply faster and better (proberly not as fun for all? ) to solo R1 quests on heroic on your warlock . You dont need the LFM panel for that . But new players dont know that. they need other new players. And they are not here.
I dont see other options then either get ALOT more player to actully play DDO or make a server Merge, and for now they are not getting more players.

[Arch-Necromancer]

Even if you are solo and/or don't have need for grouping, less players means less maintained guilds (with all cargo hold buffs present all the time) and less items in the auction (and your items posted in the auction are less likely to be sold).

So I would definitely support merging just because of that.

But they have to do it right and test it thoroughly before actully doing it to avoid problems people mentioned in this thread.


I like DDO points special reward for reaching favor for the first time on the server. It encourages people to start new toons on different servers.

Server merge should eiter reset this special reward bonus for merged servers or keep it completed only if it was already received on both merged servers.

I wouldn't like some server that I haven't played on moved into a server that I played on so I would lose the special reward from that lost server.

That's not a point against server merge, just another thing that needs to be taken into account when merging.

And they should renew/update/optimize the hardware and software that runs all servers so that merged servers do not have more lag problems then those that were not merged (if they choose to merge only some servers and not all).

[bjones0064]

I would love to have a server merge.