I'm wondering because I'd love having more players on my server. I'm currently on Drinal. I miss the old days when the servers were full of people. We do still have enough people to make that happen, we just have a few too many servers I think.
With all raid content basically instanced these days, I'd have to agree. Making the twelve non-specialized servers into six or even less might be a good idea!
just say no to server merges. did anyone jsut look around last time there was a server merge? half the population disapepared within a couple months, half the guilds died out (raiding ones) etc. Server merges are bad. Except in cases where servers have seriously low populations like trakanon (and they dont even want a merge either) merges just hurt the population. they might make it better for you if yo uare in the top or top 2 guilds on your server but as a whole it HURTS the servers. If you go from 5-6 guilds competing for raiders to 10-12 it comes down to who is the most aggressive about it etc. Zones are populated enough as it is anyway at the end wehre most players play, merging doubles that creates lot more drama due to being cramped, etc. I remember last merger the population in convorteum went from an already camp-full 45-50 to an over crowded 90-100 overnight, but in a week it was back down. Guilds poached each other dry and nearly half if not halff of the raid guilds on my server have since totally died out most in the first 6 months, that were going very strong until then. The social structures of the 2 servers did not mesh well together either and the more..dirty playing..of the 2 won over and corrupted the people from the more...ethical...one and it jsut turned itno one big outlaw fest. Just say no to server merges.
Last time they merged servers I had to change my name. I've played since 1999, Sinestra was created around August and the person who has a name close to mine didn't even play the game anymore and hadn't for a while. I did my research. No server mergers ever again.
https://www.soe.com/status/ tells me that all of the servers besides the special rule set servers are healthy. They are all marked as "high" population wise as I type this. Bristlebane is packed in a lot of the new zones at/around prime time. Bristlebane for example, merging with another server would create some major cramped issues. So no, please no, no server merges. Besides all of that, as people above mention, they are a double edged sword. Guilds die off etc due to them. The only real reason to do merges is if the servers absolutely need them (ie ghost towns) and that is simply not the case right now. Besides all of that, server merges dont cure the lack of group issues anyway. People are set in their ways. More people doesnt equal more group chances. In this case, more people equals more people on that server boxing or more cliques being around. Server merges are just a band-aid on a gaping wound anyway. After about a year or so, the population tails off again. Its just a very very short term fix for a low population server. It doesnt last. There is nothing long term about server merges. The only lasting effects that server merges have, are the death of weaker guilds because the Alpha guilds will scoop their players up. So some folks better watch out what they ask for regarding this.
Pre-merger Saryrn had STRONG: Descendants, Dark Bane, Travelers of Norrath, Shards of Time, Winters Legacy, and a handful of younger or semi-raiding guilds. Bertox had Shahrazad, Omani, Wreckers, Phantom Raiders, Crusaders Valorous, Eternal Soverign, and idk how many more. Now? Desc, Dark Bane, Shahrazad, Eternal sovereign are left, Winters Legacy and Omani merged into 1 thus retaining 1 and removing 1, and SoT, PR, CV, ToN have all died out, split up, or stopped raiding, etc. Still not sure waht the status is of Wreckers it seems to flucutuate, but they ahve a unique place in taht they are Australasian timezone and rest are on this side of the world. Thus of the starting 5 on Saryrn, 2.5 are left, of the starting 6 on bertox about 3 are left. 50% reduction in the raiding population. I wouldnt venture to guess about the grouping population, but raiding is a decent indicator as it is much morecommon for a grouper to become a raider than for a raider to become simply a grouper, thats like living on filet mignon all yoru life and swapping to canned tuna and cheap hotdogs by choice. this is jsut an example of why server merges are bad. theyre asked for by gorupers that cant find groups due to a lack of ability to make friends or unwillingness to join guilds wehre they can make such friends, etc. They never ever make anything better. Before server merge, saryrn population deeply frowned upon those that would try to buy or sell taskadds, powerlevels, or no-trade loots, however it was seemingly rampant on bertox when we merged over, and since spread like a plague across both populations. Poaching from one another wasnt nearly as prominent on saryrn either until the merger. The guilds on saryrn weren't quite as far ahead in progression as those on bertox, or at least 1 on bertox, but they held strong and werent being stripped constantly. after the merger more and more got into the habit of poaching bc it was done to them after, druing, and even before the merger. Thisisnt saying anything bad about either server just that they were different, but the act of hte server merge itself was like Chernobyl, causing death and destruction around rather than building energy. This can be seen in a microcosm easily by merging 2 guilds. say you have 2 guilds taht are fieldign 40-45 raiders a night, both want to fill raids and have better class make-up. you merge them now you ahve 80-90 raiders, tehre will always be 25+ people who get left out and either quit the game or go elsewhere where they feel wanted ratehr than sitting out doing nothing. then the same old attrition starts and the guild falls back down to 45 on a night, only now it's 1 guild of 45 not 2 guilds, population cut in half.
When I returned to the game, I started a couple of chars on Drinal to reacquaint myself with the game. BIG MISTAKE!! The economy there is simply ridiculous. I have just used some SC to allow 3 more char slots on my accounts and as soon as I get more SC, my Drinal chars will be moving. For now they're just languishing there.
I'm curious as I'm on Drinal, what exactly is wrong with the economy? It seems a lot of people who complain about the bazaar are the people who don't actually participate in it - not saying this is you; I've just not really seen an issue. Server merge = no thank you. Partly due to Sinestra's reasoning- I would be beyond upset if my name from '99 was X'd and had to be changed. I had that happen once back when Maelin came out when I moved there from the Nameless (due to it being too crowded!). Luckily, I was able to get it removed and keep my original name. You could make the argument that instancing alleviates overcrowding issues but that is simply not true- if grinding in instances was so great there would never be anyone in static zones (like SL)... yet that place is always packed, at least in prime time. Another downside is the sociological impact- you are basically dropping two people from different cultures in a room and telling them they are now the same and to get along. Sometimes that happens, often it doesn't. The expectations and "rules" of each server's community are different- a merge between incompatible groups could just lead to an overly hostile population. As Teg said- if you're having trouble grouping you're not being pro-active in your gaming. Either make your own group, box, join a guild, or actually... make friends(?!) with people. You'd be amazed how many friendly people actually play this game after you weed out the handful of jerks.
Prices geometrically higher than other servers (excluding FV, which is also almost a greed based economy).
