Producer Letter: Addressing EQII Server Populations

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Windstalker, Jun 15, 2015.

  1. Finora Well-Known Member


    That's pretty self centered view of it. "Oh I never have to worry about my name ever getting changed in a server merge so those of you who do just get over it and use the free rename. It's no big deal. "

    Since you don't even have a horse in that race of course you aren't very concerned about it. Would it be so easy for you to brush off if it turned out that your server would be involved in the merges and there was a Tabri on another server that was moving to yours? What if you were the one who was going to lose your name? Would it be so easy to be flippant and say Oh I'll just change it. Nothing to worry about? Maybe it really wouldn't bother you however, it is a big deal to some.




    I've given it a bit of thought and these are things I think would be good.

    1) Devs should do a low level character purge like they did in the past. Not just renaming but completely deleting really low level characters that had not been played in X amount of time (6 mos to a year is more than generous for level 10 and below I think) with less than some amount of coin. I'm not sure of a reasonable number for that. I would think less than 10 plat would work.
    That would clear up at least some names completely.
    1A) I'd also purge locked herioc characters as well if they hadn't been logged on in X amount of time (I guess give them 1-2 months since that's plenty of time to decide if you want to keep it or not.)

    2) Once they decide which servers will be merged together, they should temporarily stop renames, just until the merger occurs. That would prevent any name griefing as well as preventing someone from paying for a name and then proceeding to lose it with the merger.

    3) When the mergers do occur, I still think there is a better way than just appending the X(and XX and so on) when there are naming conflicts. I have seen the _ used in other games on names. It would be really nice if that could replace the X. It would be as flexible (allowing for 3 combinations with the _ in the event of 4 people sharing the same name being merged on a single server) while still allowing people to keep their names instead of opting to use the free rename. If _ won't work for some programming reason for EQ2 perhaps some other symbol would. I would not want this for any situation other than mergers though. The special character shouldn't be available to use in the normal course of naming your character either initially or in a rename.

    The same could work for guilds as well, though personally if our guild name got the short end of the stick in a naming conflict I'd probably just change the guild name to Prism of Everfrost (or Grobb or Ayonae Ro or something) to make a clear distinction.
  2. Hluill New Member

    Years ago, my tiny guild and I were happy on the Lucan D'Lere Server.

    It was merged into Crushbone. It happened over the summer when I don't log in a lot. We didn't lose our names or anything. But we went from a server with a generally fun and friendly community to a server where we felt like outsiders. We went from a server that had an RP designation to a server without one, where the "RP pushback" seemed worse. I could probably use only one hand to count the oppurtunities for open-world RP since the merge.

    I am still miffed by that merger, years ago. Hence, I am apprehensive about all this talk about it again. And, in summer, so I will come back from one of my weeks away to find my characters and guild all discombobulated.

    All this exercise in "efficiency" for a game... Maybe I need to do something more productive with my time.
    Griffon Lady and Seefar like this.
  3. Kiasta New Member

    I believe that this may help some issues but possibly create more ie names, guilds, items etc...that could possibly occur. That being said, my 2 cents would be to focus on cross server dungeons to address the grouping (played other MMO's where this has been successful), lock servers that are high population to funnel new players and or characters to lower population servers and then server merging as a last resort unless merging can be done seamlessly. I do not want to change my name, guilds name nor re-level a guild from the ground up again.
    Griffon Lady and Moonpanther like this.
  4. Alphonsus Well-Known Member


    Ultima Online has always (what 17 years now and still alive?) allowed characters to have the same name on the same server.
    Regardless, the last 2 times the servers merged everyone was the same way, then after a month the dust settled and no one cared anymore. Those that were affected picked a new name and moved on with their lives, big deal.

    Also I think I see history repeating itself. UO also was sold from EA to Mythic to Broadsword. The latter never released any new content.
  5. Theodora New Member

    So I'm just wondering, at the bottom of all of this is it just that people aren't playing anymore and EQ 2 is simply on its way out? Maybe that's why SONY sold it because it not a money maker anymore? I really think it needs more than merging servers.
  6. Belenos Well-Known Member

    One thing I keep seeing pop up is the idea that after the merge there will be only two servers, with AB remaining as it is, and all other servers thrown into one server. Well, that is just insane. The resulting server would have 2-3x the population of AB. And no, I do not have any data to support that, but I did spend three weeks leveling a new character on AB, just to check it out. Based on what I saw, I have real doubts that AB has double the population of Guk, certainly not more than that.

    I have advocated against server merges from the first, as I am happy on Guk as it is now. The last thing I would like to see is for servers to be merged in such a way as to make the population so high that doing anything became an act of frustration. Can you imagine trying to harvest in an area where 7-8 other people are running around harvesting too? A player would spend all their time running around, only to be able to hit a node once in a while. I do not see anything fun in that.

    I'm sure Daybreak has the actual numbers to work with, and based on that assumption, I would ask them to make sure the servers resulting from the merges not allow any one server to exceed the number of ACTIVE players currently playing on AB server. In my time there, I was not hindered in anything I wanted to do because of excessive population, and I feel if the population is held to that level, it will serve all players better.

    If all servers other than AB are rolled together, it will be a madhouse, a total clusteruhhuh, and the complaining will be of a magnitude to make all the server-merge talk pale in comparison. Fighting over spawns, fighting over harvests, fighting over shineys, just nothing good will come from it.

    I also think it would be a great idea to give all new servers new names, instead of retaining one of the old names. Seefar and others mentioned this already, and what was said is totally true. I remember back in EQ, when Zebuxoruk server was merged, I had two characters there. There was so much of the "this is our server--you are the intruders" bull that I just deleted the characters, and played on Erollisi server only. New server names are really the only way to go! Very little effort for the return!

    **Edit** Forgot to add--what good would a cross-server dungeon system be if there are only two servers left??
  7. Kurisutaru Active Member

    The downside, well, IT IS a test server. I don't think some would enjoy the high % chance that things will be buggy and such.
    Belenos likes this.
  8. Nevermind Member

    Here is are some suggestions;

    Make bg's only available to people on a pvp server. If people want pvp stuff they have to come to the pvp server.That might help bring the population up.

    Make it cheaper for people to transfer over from another server or give them a free trial.

    For the time being don't have a exiled side. Let the population rise on the Good and Evil side.
  9. jbc1948 Well-Known Member

    As a "veteran" of 2 server merges (Lavastorm to Nektulos to Guk) The idea of a total rename of any new servers makes since. There was always some of he you are coming to our server and our rules are such such effect A brand new name may help keep that from happening.
    If you do make on giant server (excluding) AB you will need to have multiple zones (ie Phantom 1 , 2 ,3 etc) or greatly increase respawn rates for harvests ,shinies ,mobs to prevent overland zones becoming unplayable. Personally I think if you merge you should keep it to just 2 servers per merger
  10. Azian Well-Known Member

    We really have no idea of how many servers will remain so until they tell us otherwise, the folks making that type of guess are just going with wild speculation. Most of the open world zones already instance when they reach a certain number of people. For sure that is correct with both the new AoM zones. I don't know if that is true for the contested zones though.

    I made a couple characters on AB earlier this year just to see what the hubbub was about and have to say the experience was dramatically different than on Everfrost. I still primarily play on EF but that is because of long standing friendships. AB is considerably better for grouping opportunity at all levels plus the broker is much more active and viable. (I didn't raid there so can't speak to that at all.)
    Edelphia likes this.
  11. Alphonsus Well-Known Member


    In this case, I don't think so. I think Sony just wanted to drops it's PC division all together and focus it's entire team and efforts on consoles.

    Take Lucasarts for instance, they sold it to Disney, then Disney shut it down (mid-development of some PC titles) to focus on App's for iPad's and tablets. Candy Crush still pulls in an estimated $400k per day.
  12. RIPeq2 New Member

    So after probably thousands of posts since the last server merger requesting new mergers, we get an announcement of real action and we're back to a bunch of whiners scared they'll lose their unoriginal name and have to think of a new one? Why am I not shocked?

    Seriously, just create a couple of new servers, unleash free transfer tokens, then start the migrations a week later. If players don't move by then, they'll potentially be stuck with an x at the end of their name and they can /petition for a free name change potion to be mailed to them.

    Additionally, I would pick from the top voted server names polls that will be forthcoming for the new servers and use those names for the new servers you create. DGC > Sony, whole new set of server names > old server names. If a name change potion isn't good enough for players, then let them leave. People are getting beyond ridiculous in their demands. Are they really going to quit over not getting to keep "Legolas"? Or are they going to leave because their server is a ghost town? /rolls eyes
    Edelphia likes this.
  13. Charlice Well-Known Member


    The last merge it was based on played time, so I'm guessing it will be the same this time.
    My daughter shared her name with a player on the server we were merging with, there was only hours in it. She stayed logged in until the merge happened, and got her name.
    Griffon Lady likes this.
  14. Charlice Well-Known Member


    With server transfers you DO lose your guild. That is not something I am willing to do. I doubt many players would be.
  15. Finora Well-Known Member

    Right because everyone that is concerned picked some stupid name from pop culture.

    Why would anyone expect a name tossed up by the games RNG to ever be duplicated and accepted by someone else on a different server. That happened to me. There's only two of us but I find it amazing that there are that many. Same with a name I just pretty much pulled out of thin air with a combo of the RNG and a couple of extra letters to make it look good. Apparently it's an actual name in another country. Meanwhile a name that I have used for a long time but I thought was really low hanging fruit is unused by anyone other than me in the entire game.

    So yeah, there's a lot more here than whiny whiners and their pootastic overused names going on here.

    Besides, if Daybreak does take some of our suggestions how on earth does it affect you negatively?
  16. Tabri Well-Known Member


    True that I am pretty sure my names wont get taken since they havent in 3 merges already why? Here is why.

    1. My name is rare its not something like Drizzt or Gandolph or something
    2. I am a veteran since 2005
    3. I play the game about every day I have a LOT of time invested and money.
    4. My characters are level 95-100 not level 10 collecting dust.



    Daybreak should just allow more than one person to have the same name, why does it matter that more than one person does or does not? Guilds are a different story though, two guilds with the same name on a server is just confusing.
  17. Tabri Well-Known Member

    For people wondering if their name is going to be taken answer the above questions to yourself.

    How rare is your name? If you are the original owner of the name you might not lose it, so if your the very first Drizzt ever made your chances are high you will keep it based on the below speculations.
    How long have you been on the game? If you are a veteran since launch or close to it you might not lose it based on level and time played.
    How much do you play this game in the first place? I suggest people that want to keep their names start logging into EQII and play A LOT now if you want to keep your names.
    Also everyone might want to make sure your characters are not like level 10 and never logged in.
  18. Finora Well-Known Member


    My names aren't common names either. Looking up Finora returns a lot of results, but almost all of them are my characters. I've yet to lose one in EQ2.
    I'm a vet since 2004.
    I've spend a ridiculous amount of time and money on this game as well.
    I'm a slow leveler (adventurewise) because that's the way I like it but I've spend a lot of time with the aa slider cranked up, but despite that several of my characters at 90+adventurer and almost all are 95-100 crafters.

    It's pretty annoying to have people assume people are upset about losing silly names like Legolas or Drizzt or what have you. If that were my name I'd have expected it to have been removed years ago by GMs.

    Even if my names were all 100% safe (and most of them are) I still feel for other people who might lose their name after years in game. And at this point, it'd be nice if the powers that be figured out a new way to deal with it.
  19. Tiggra Catowski New Member

    Holly,
    I am glad you are working on the cross servers as it will be beneficial to all players but I do have one question. When will you decide to update the dungeon finder? When you use it at 100 you are only able to go to older expansions and dungeons and not the new ones you have implemented over the last few expansions. It would be nice to not have to keep spamming chat just to try to find a group. It would be great to have Vesspyr, Age of Malice, Rum Cellar, or even all of the dungeons from Obol plains. I hope you find my input useful.

    Have a great day,
    Tiggra Catowski
    Edelphia likes this.
  20. Moonpanther Well-Known Member


    I still don't understand why they are merging after spending all the precious time and resources on it just to turn around and merge. I really don't understand the logic there. Those resources could have been better allocated if all you were going to do is merge anyway. How about some advertising of the game? Give it the fresh new daybreak look and advertise like mad. A exciting new trailer featuring the new TLS's. You pay a PR manager...lets get some ads going. Either that or exchange her for more customer service.

    I thought we were going to try the cross server first? Why not stick with that plan and offer some free transfer periods for folks to chose themselves where they want to go. (Kind of goes with your "play it your way" mindset and lets your customers choose, especially those of us who are subscribers) Lock the heavy servers so no one can transfer TO them, but all free transfers for those who are tired of fighting for certain mobs, resources etc.

    And frankly, I have toons on most the servers now and I'm always surprised seeing more toons in the beginning areas of them all, sometimes more then what I've seen on AB of late.

    Please, seriously lets try something other then these merges. There are many much better ideas out there and you've already wasted all the time and resources on this "cross server technology".that could have been better allocated if you are going to do what you have planned now.

    Edited addition **And by all means update the dungeon finder :D
    Edited *** And with the complete lack of good customer service, these merges will be a freakin nightmare for the skeleton crew you have now. I mean it took 3 weeks for me to get an answer on a quest I could not complete...little late by that point. Imagine when it involves loss of items etc. Man it will be UGLY :cool:
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