Producer Letter: Addressing EQII Server Populations

NO NAME CHANGES! Have @servername added invisible to the name that can be viewed when that person is inspected. This will avoid any impersonation. There is NO NEED for name changes! Half my characters have already been renamed once and I'm not doing it again!

I endured the merge of Lucan D'Lere into Crushbone, and I lost a couple of names - annoying, but nothing I couldn't deal with. It was the dedicated RP'ers from LDL that tended to be the most annoyed when their names were yanked out from under them - I remember the anger that was almost physical in its intensity, and many an unkind word about SOE was uttered. I could do precious little besides offer sympathy - while I'd lost names, it was not the deadly sin to me that it was for some.

And it's going to be that way again, I expect. Unless the toons are on AB or Test Server, you will always have that proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over your character's name.

If I lose names that are an integral part of the character in question, names I am rather fond of, I will not ragequit. I will not come onto these forums and complain. I will not pester customer service. And I will not badmouth either the game or DGC. Instead, I will scrupulously adhere to the letter of the terms of the EULA in my re-naming, while taking the spirit of said terms out back and shooting it in the head. If I can't have 'Maldaris' (which is just my forum name, but I use it here as an example - bear with me), then I'll be ROACHDADDY TWINKLECAKES...or something else that would fit an ogre.

No, the name isn't 'Norrathian', but hey...you work with what you have.

have had several characters lose their names in previous mergers. I RP and theme my characters around my names, everything from the toon itself to their homes and personality.

I think having played time as a factor is unfair to those who pay and have been a loyal member but dont have the time to be on for a huge amount of time. Sometimes I can only get online a few hours a week, this shouldnt count me out imo because whos to say my time is any less valuable as a player vs someone who can afford to play for days on end?

Im still logging in and still playing the game, just not able to live in the world I love because of my circumstances.

I think creation date and having logged in recently should also be deciding factors to a name change. Also, last time around, when they were taking into account the played time thing, I looked up the other person who had my name and she actually didnt have more played time, created her toon after me, and just happened to be on the merging to server.

Me on Nektulos went into Guk, Guk player kept her name. So I hope thats not a factor this time around, it shouldnt be a factor at all. I tried contesting it but the Gm said she had more play time but I could see on eq2players at the time she didnt.

Announce the remaining U.S. server names and give free transfer tokens. You could easily fit everyone onto two servers. With the upcoming time-locked servers, I am guessing the remaining servers will be in far worse shape.

As mentioned in the past, if you created a new large capacity server, gave out free transfer tokens so people can move themselves to it, then started migrating existing servers into it, you could avoid the poopstorm of rage about names that is coming your way.

Merges preserve guilds, transfers do not. If they're going to close servers, merges are better.

I clearly stated give us transfers so we can move ourselves first and bypass name issues if it was a fresh server to move to. Then merge servers into it, which would require less data to move and people could get set up. If you own a guild, you'd have to make one toon wait that held leadership.

Changed mind. As you were!

okay if there is is a bladedancer in both servers that is merging the 1 that is moving over they do something like this bladedancer(guk) if thats the server they came from at least thats how some of the other games have done that in the past. figure they'll do that with the houses and guilds. honestly i don't think it'll be fair for the guilds. slowly down the road you'll see no more guk chars except the old chars because there won't be anymore new guk chars made then.

All of my toons are on the AB and FP servers I have a feeling these will be the "merge into" servers anyway so no worries here from me personally, merge away.

Being on the "merge to" server won't have any effect of preserving your names if that is a concern Tabri - the way it worked last time was the oldest holder of the name got to keep it, So if you have a Tabri, and there is an older Tabri on the other server, you get Tabrix

Freeport, almost certainly. AB has a solid population, any other issues aside, so I'm doubtful any other server will be merged into that. If I had to make a wild stab in the dark (and this is precisely that), Freeport and Crushbone will likely be the destination servers, as they appear to be the healthiest in terms of population (aside from AB). I have no idea how they plan to handle Nagafen - I quit the PVP servers when they shut Venekor down.

From what I can discern, origin and destination server status will be the last factor (if even then) in determining who gets to keep one's name. So while any toons on AB can more than likely rest easy, Freeport toons may lose out to incoming toons from Guk, Oasis, and so forth, all depending on creation date, subscription status, time played, et cetera.

There WILL be name changes. There can only be one Azian on a server. If I end up as AzianX then that is what it will be and I'll have to live with AzianX or use the free name change token they've always given in the past to come up with something different.

I would just want to be certain that the process takes into account old and long inactive accounts. (Priority should be given to current/active players rather than an account that hasn't been active for 5 years.) They have done so in the past in a variety of ways and I assume they will be doing so again.

As to names, I'm going to have to agree that active toons should take first priority over inactive ones, even inactive ones with earlier creation dates. It's the only way that makes any real kind of sense, to be honest.

And I'm still convinced mergers will just create a larger pool of players that won't play with each other. Sorry, folks.

Can I have your stuff?
AdonicNew Member



New

Just let me keep my name.

If I lose my name, Daybreak loses my subscription.

so this my idea for those concerning with player names for names that were originally taken by players that eventually quit the game.

Would it been useful if there's an expiration date for new people who first make an account, realized they hate EQ2, and then never get back on it even thought their character like level 10 or something? It probably help many of those who loved their names that the characters of those who quit the game early would have the character deleted after a certain date. the requirements is that the character must be;
- played for no more than two weeks or haven't hit level 20 (whichever comes first)
- did not pay any money just to play the game
- if the character is their only character, give them the option to create a new one should they give the game one more chance

anyone can help me out on this, otherwise I think the biggest issue about names is how hard it is for one person to pick a name if DBC have a policy that you cannot have the same name as someone else on the server/game. I understand they did it to allow players to be unique but that also lead to players who make up silly names just to tick people off. It would probably help everyone if they remove name uniqueness and make it possible for more than one person to have the same name. That way it makes it easier for new players to pick a name (plus let's be honest, there's a few names out there that are pretty common but people have to spell it differently just so they can be entitled to it).

Don't waste time on a cross server dungeon finder if it doesn't work for end game dungeons. (just saying...)
Thank you

addressing the advertising angle, why can't they just put the game on Steam? At least it would get gamers attention. My family has 8 all access accounts and has had them since the beginning of the game and some toons are high level, some low level. But I really, really hate losing names.

This will still not solve the problem of the lower lvl areas seeming to be devoid of players...or grouping at lower lvls. People will still do everything they can to rush to end game. Many won't bother to learn their toons or have no knowledge of what their role is in groups. People won't be geared or have their toons set up properly. Folks still won't be able to get into groups because so many will turn them away either for 1. Lack of knowledge of their toon, 2. gear.

Personally, I don't think server merges will have the benefits everyone thinks they will have. But that is simply my opinion.

That won't change, folks rush to end game as quickly as they can.

It is on Steam.

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?snr=1_4_4__12&term=everquest 2