Producer Letter: Addressing EQII Server Populations

So here's a suggestion on names: Lets say there are one toon on each of the servers being merged that have the same name. Couldn't we use the "of Antonia Bayle" or whichever server as part of the name so they can KEEP their name?

Leticia O'Bayle?? or Leticia D'Lere or something?
any suggestions??

As long as I am worrying/complaining I want to try to offer solutions too. Suggestions anyone?? Come On let's offer a few possible solutions now that we have voiced our concerns!

Being a AB player i understand i really dont have much at stake in this, but i have a possible suggestion as to the Name changing issue on transfers. instead of forcing people to change their names at all why not do something similar to sending messages across server such as Guk.Gnaff or Lavastorm.Gnaff those players that are being moved could be given the option to have their previous servers tag attached to their name thus not only Remembering their home servers but also enableing them to keep their names and making it easy for friends to find them.

New Member, Member, and Active Member are based on how many posts you have made. Well Known Member I believe is based on that as well as number of likes (there is no dislike button though for my money infamy should be just as important after all well known does not necessarily mean liked). Member hits at something like a 100 posts and looking at your profile you are at around 30. Not sure about the other titles requirements, but I would not fret it just means you say something when it is important to you. Not like yours truly who will talk about dang near anything.

Yes I'm pretty sure there were free transfers because I remember moving for free. I've a question about my account. I have characters on 4 servers so it's very likely I'll be merged with some of my other toons. Will everything in the bank also merge into a single account? I sure don't want to see an override of what may already be on a given server.

That's my main question.

Hopefully there will be some insight given as to which servers are merging into which, as I still have tons of character moves to do, and the where is largely dictated by which crafter types already exist on which server. I don't really need to have three or four L100 sages or tailors all on the same server...

In the past two merges, the shared banks were merged, and any items that didn't fit went into a semi-random toons overflow. (It was actually deterministic, but they never told us the rules). We were encouraged to clean a bit before the merge, at least enough so that the shared bank didn't overflow.

And guilds 'with leaders' went cleanly. Guilds with no leaders were purged. Houses went cleanly. Vendor displays were expected to have to be re-placed, but it turns out they went cleanly.

You talking about shared banks from different servers? Individual bank contents move with the characters.

Yes, for a few days, people had free transfers. If I recall correctly, you could move your toon all over the place with an unlimited number of moves.

My hope is that this isn't set in stone for a merge. If the cross server dungeon feature works well I would hope we could keep servers as is.

You are in a bit of a no win situation here. Merge and that's a TON of headaches as people who complained and wanted merges will all of a sudden freak out about an x next to their name now and other stuff. And of course people who didn't want them will complain too. I'll roll with the changes but my preference is to see how well the cross server addresses pop issues and if that's not enough then, IF NEEDED, do a server merge.

I solo and group mainly with a friend for several years. I don't raid so the lower server populations don't bother me as much for myself. I do want people who have a different playing style to be able to raid and group. I loved when the idea of cross server groups went up so that the other play styles could also benefit. I was gaming during the server mergers in the past and was very unhappy to have an x added to my names. They were cleared after a while but the feeling still remains on how I felt back then. I have had those names for over 9 years. I don't want to gamble on losing them. I agree with above posts that there are quite a few of us also choosing not to group up for various reasons. I'm just hoping on a way to work with all the various play styles.

This.

By the time the <T>ime <L>ocked <E>xodus is finished, we'll be able to fit the remaining active players on Antonia Bayle.

I like this! I'm happy to have that as a solution

I agree! Please try cross server merges to help the play styles wishing to group. It will allow the others to hold on to what is important also.

This is just me
But why we're concerning over names when there's another issue people forgotten about the servers? Some of the servers are low populated because we get players who bring the worst of their real lives into the game or predators that make the game experience worst. I even heard how on one server there's this guy who manage to take over several guilds by himself because he forced the guild members to abandoned the guild they worked so hard on through his way. I don't want to watch someone come in and steal the guild I came to love.

If we're having a server merge, then I want the staff members to crack down on those types of players and boot them out to make the community safer for all of us.

Also, I agree with those who talked about missing out those player formed events on AB. Aside the holidays, there's not enough entertaining events going on in the lower servers for us to enjoy. At least give us a share.

When Everfrost was merged last time, I advocated for a new name so that neither server gave up their name. I would like that personally, instead of keeping one of the server names, just come up with a new name. That way you all feel as if you are on a new server.

During the last merge everything went fine for us. Nothing was lost.

How many servers are we looking at having?

Here is my two cents instead of another server merger purchase more servers also fix log in issues by getting more log in servers. i have been with eq2 since the beginning and server mergers only cause more problems by stuffing already loaded servers into other over crammed servers.Stop being cheap i pay for 2 accts use some of that money for upgrades not mergers.just my two cents

I lost all of my discos when The Bazaar was merged on to Freeport even though many of them predated the Freeport. This led me to conclude that the previous algorithm retained the discos on the server that became the new home. Since it will be brand new code, we can't know how it will work in the future, but it should not be surprising if the same method continues going forward.

My level 100 guild is on Permafrost. If it and another server are merged I just hope that my guild,especially the guild hall will survive. My guildies and I have spent the past 4 1/2 years (5years Aug 30) building up the guild and decorating it into a guild hall we love! At least I've had the common sense to save the layout each time something is changed. But there are some items in the hall that are no longer available and can't be replaced. So this really concerns me. And I just have to wonder, why did SOE dump us anyway? I really just HOPE that Daybreak Games listens to us loyal players. SOE certainly never seemed to ever take any of my feedback seriously!!!

By the way, I will be celebrating my11th anniversary as an Everquest 2 player.

If anyone gets my name, prepared to be tell-helled with "you making a group?" tells for the first week. Or other tells/general chats from people as I am a reasonably well known player (who also makes pugs).
Good luck on the Server Merge, I would hate to try that with the initial user base you guys have.