Antonius Bayle Server: Free Transfers to Vox Available

As several underlying issues concerning lag continue to impact the Antonius Bayle server, players now have the option to transfer onto Vox for free.

This option is currently being offered as a one-way transfer. Before deciding to change servers, we highly suggest that players make a free character on Vox in order to see how the game experience feels. Transferring is absolutely an option – if you find you are still enjoying gameplay on Antonius Bayle over Vox, you are welcome to stay.

In the meantime, we are continuing to work towards improving the state of the Antonius Bayle server, although this requires a significant rework to some core architecture and will likely take a considerable amount of time to fix. Until further notice, the free transfers will remain available to players.

What is so different about that server that it needs rework of the core architecture? Is it running other code than the other servers?

How much is considerable amount of time ? 2 months, 4 months, 6 months or more ?

Also, why VOX and not any server ? I dont think there is many raiding guilds there, and potentiel applications for euro raiding guilds ?

I guess not possible to make a complete new server, then move all AB people over there ?

I find that interesting as well.

USD to Euro conversions?
Bits getting lost when crossing too many time zones/international borders?
European hamsters not as hearty as American ones?

We need to discuss this as a community before anything happens - Ancient Dominion will not move yet, this is too sudden. You cannot expect a guild with 1500 toons to move overnight without preparation.

We have been asking for something for ages and this is a good start, and we appreciate the offer. We will take our time to discuss this with our members and other guilds first.


Please note that we had been asked to test lag on vox ages ago and I had reported similar lag spikes (shorter in duration, but the population was low at the time) - I do not believe this will help unless anything has been done to address that.

While it's a relief to finally see some acknowledgement of this as an issue that requires action, there isn't enough information here to make an informed decision.

Haven't we already been waiting a "considerable amount of time" for this to be fixed - 8 months? How much longer?

And it seems there are no assurances that Vox will be any better than AB. Some vague suggestion that we all make level one toons on Vox to test it is hardly going to replicate the conditions when the raiding guilds are online.

It also smacks of Daybreak putting the onus onto the community rather than tackling the core problem which is providing us with a stable server to play on.

If AB is broken take it down, fit it and bring it back up again. Surely it cant take more than a few hours to clone another EQ server and restore the player database?

Is AB actually hosted in Europe? If this is step 1 of closing down a European hosting location just migrate the server to the US with the rest of them, this free move just seems crazy way to split guilds up.

The difference for this server is quite literally where it's physically located on the planet.

The issues are actively being worked on, but we currently don't have a set time frame to share.
Additionally, we are only allowing transfers to Vox as it has a lower population - we don't want to overpopulate any of our servers with a surge of unrestricted free transfers.

My guess:
An eq server consists of many different parts(threads?) running on several machines(maybe virtual), and was designed with the assumption that there would be low latency between all the machines(they are in the same physical building), but with the AB server some of the server is physically located in belgium(?) while the rest of the server is at the DBG headquarter with the rest of the serverpark in USA.

For example, "gameplay server" that handles game-mechanics is located in belgium, and all europeans have good connection to that one(we can cast spells with no lag, and everything game-mechanical is local to the machine in belgium), while the server that handles chat and zoning is in usa,"chat-server"(it can handle cross server-tells, so its not local to the belgium server). When we chat with chat-channels all chat-packages must go all the way to chat-server(in USA) and thats where the chat-specific lag comes from, and why spellcasts aren't affected.

At least that is my theory, its probably way more complicated than that though....

I guess "lol" was a bit too short, let me elaborate. You're saying that it's a good idea to cut in half the euro population. Is it because we're way too many? Do you understand how gaming community works?

We're offering transfers as an option for players who have decided they no longer want to play under the issues that AB is currently facing. As it has been several months, we don't want players to feel that they are being subjected to play on a server that is not running as smoothly as it should be.
Again, as stated in the original post, the transfers are completely optional. We're not forcing the population to split by any means, and AB will remain playable for all of those who wish to stay.

I got it that you're not forcing anyone to leave but if that fix solves nothing, why do you offer it? Why not moving all of AB to a new fresh working server?

They don't want to spend resources on EQ is the obvious answer. Start speaking with your $$.

Just wanna drop my 2 cp... I don't play on AB but I think your (DBG) decision to only allow transfers to Vox is a horrible move. There is a reason Vox has a low population... everyone left because it was not a happy place to be. So basically you are now saying a) stay on a server with horrible lag that will be fixed 'some time in the future' or b) go to a server with no sustainability because all of the core already fled.

They should have allowed multiple options for Xfer. Obviously they know the populations of the other servers and lets be realistic... quite a few are much lower (relative to the other populations). Even if the team took 2 minutes to look over the raiding guild progress on EGL site they'd have a better idea of places that are low (not saying raiding guilds are the tell-all of population but it's a decent metric to start with).

Anyway... best wishes to anyone on AB. This is a horrible situation I've been reading about for ages now and it's really a shame that this was their "solution".

This is a very bad move, You will kill the community with this, and possibly every raiding guild. If people don't want to move and for example if D Pikey moves to vox, and no one else, their recruitment pool would be pretty close to zero is it a low population server after all? You could have at least set up the moves to rathe, which is another server with a european population. (I believe?)

You should either move us all, as a community or not at all.

Server merger would have been the smart move, individuals moving accounts is not, especially as they are keeping AB open with the carrot of a fix.

Personally, I'd rather mothball my accounts than transfer to a server with minimal euro population, which it will be without a server merge.

The cynic in me wonders if this has been handled this way so that a server with hosting rent/tied up contract, paid in advance, doesn't lose its whole population (which would happrn in a server migration)
As it would make management question their competence, paying for unused hardware..

Honestly I can't think of a sensible reason not to server merge AB with another low population server, and instead to offer this ludicrous transfer situation as a solution.

We're playing at european times and that's the goal of the server: keeping all the euros on the same server. It has nothing to do with friendship and all to do with having people playing at the same time together. There's no point in going to Vox since it's unreasonable to assume everyone will move. If there's no point in going to Vox, why is it even thought as a real solution to the problem.

I play on Vox from time to time. Not sure if there is much of a raiding scene, but there is always people leveling up. I've been on much deader servers than Vox (i.e., Trakanon, Vulak...).

Anyone not guilded on AB that just likes to casually plink away at the game should be good with this move option. Certainly better than no option.

Any casual/family guild should consider it as well. If big guilds (or serious farmers) don't move you just got much easier access to some content.

That's a fair amount of population on any server, though almost never the vocal on forums nor obvious in game. Maybe a big chunk of those people taking the free move is enough to fix AB a bit?

I get the risk a more serious raiding guild takes moving servers. At least it's a free move, a lot harder to move a guild when you are asking people to pay to do it.

Being smaller population, it wouldn't be that hard for transfers in to turn Vox into a euro-heavy population server. The irony will be if enough do it and replicate the issues fully on Vox, though this does eliminate the Belgium server factor?

While it's a thing on other servers, there are not that many casual/family guild on AB. Also, I don't see the point for anyone, casual or not, to move to a dead server, that's less people to play with if you happen to want company or help, less people that sell things in the bazar and so on. I guess that's usefull when it's revamp time like Sebilis but the rest of the year?

You want to try recruiting from a dead server if the whole server doesnt move with you that play in the european times ? No ? Didn't think so.