Producer Letter: Addressing EQII Server Populations

Good point Tiggra! It would be nice to not have to spam general chat to get a PUG going.

I am all for the server merges, but free transfer tokens for one server at a time before merging them would be nice too. Give us a choice, bar AB, on what server to go to. I have toons on AB and Oasis. I don't have a preference as long as I go where my level 100 guild goes.

I have noticed the crowded newb zones too, and I think it's from people that try out the game, have a bad experience with Chat ,when asking a newb question, and they quit. I tend to hang out in the newb zones, answer questions and encourage players to join guilds. I am recruiting for ALL guilds, not just my own. My guild does not raid or power level, so it wouldn't be the place for some players anyway.

Although I actually prefer playing on a lower population server, I understand that it costs the company money to run these servers, and can understand if something needs to be done. I would reiterate, however, what some other players have mentioned previously...that approaching the server merge idea from the standpoint that there are too few players on these servers is the wrong approach...and instead, DBG should start advertising the game and try to increase these populations. I still believe this game has a lot of unrecognized potential, and really wish those who run the game would remove the blinders and finally recognize this, and do something about it.

I'm not sure I'm enthusiastic about server merges, but if it happens, it happens...nothing I can do about it. Some of my characters may have to change names, some I'm sure will not...this doesn't bother me too much.

I also don't like the idea of losing dungeons because of all the deco items placed into storage in them, but if we are going to lose these dungeons, I only hope they will give us enough notice ahead of time to move those items into our homes and out of the dungeons, at least a few weeks ahead of time. With the amount of items stored in these dungeons, it will take quite some time just to move the items over.

I will be quite angry, however, if I lose my guild. I don't care if the guild has to be renamed, but leveling the guild has been a lot of effort, and I certainly don't want to lose that progress. I don't think anyone should have to lose their guild and the progress they've made on it, and it would be completely unfair of DBG to allow this to happen.

The loss of my prestige homes and my house layouts would also be quite upsetting to me, and this, above all else would cause me to quit playing entirely and pull my AllAccess membership.

I think these are some issues DBG needs to take into serious consideration prior to merging servers.

^ Yes, advertise on TV.
I'm pretty sure with a merger you do not lose your guild hall
After going thru 2 mergers already, I don't think it changed any of my houses, but I would like to have plenty of notice if private dungeons will be affected.

All in all DBG needs to do a media blitz on TV and I think that would attract new players, and you can also message about the coming of the 2 new servers.

I understand that you only lose your guild (and hall etc) if you transfer. They go over intact with merges.

Instead of server mergers they should give members discounted character transfers, or one free character transfer a month. That way, people who want to go to higher populated servers can do that, and people who don't like AB or prefer to stay on low populated servers can do that as well. Everyone wins.

I would play more if my favorite characters weren't stuck on servers that are dead and I would re-subscribe if they offered this to members.

Personally I like the idea of server mergers but it sounds like some people don't so I think this allows everyone to go to servers that more suits their playstyle.

Thought I'd chime in my two cents here.

I like Guk the way it is. Densely populated servers are not my play style anymore. Even though this is an MMO, my aging eyesight, reflexes and stamina can't keep up with groups. But I'm one of those players who really enjoys EQ2 solo content and I have time and money to spend now. Would prefer spending those where I want.

I think offering free transfers first is a great idea. And advertise, for goodness sake, to bring in more players before making a huge decision to displace our beloved toons, guilds and homes.

Merriel hit the nail on the head with that post regarding how I feel.

Here is my take. Fewer servers are cheaper to run, take less staff to maintain. The time locked crap is just trying to recycle old content under the guise of nostalgia, rather than give us new content. No annual expansions at $40, instead a half arsed DLC at $15 every quarter ($60 per year).
Folks, we are not playing their lovely new zombie game, so we don't matter to them. The game is being sidelined and it won't be long before we see a sign outside Qyenos saying 'Would the last one out, please turn off the lights." I'm starting to lose faith to be honest.

:\ This is saddening.
Instant gratification has won. The cross server dungeons have been put on the back burner because impatient people wanted mergers NOW. Mergers haven't saved the game in previous times. I know.. well, knew... a lot of people that quit due to mergers. That seems a bit counter productive, don't you think? They lost their character name, they lost their guild name, they lost friends that left the game for the same reasons.
How about that one time where a RP server was merged with a non-rp server and the trolls and xenophobes tore anyone who so much as typed "yall" in general chat to shreds? That really worked out for the better interest of the game, huh?
EQ2 could have spread word of it's cross-server grouping and triumphantly brought back the old players, kept discouragement from new players, and put on a good show of how it's still fighting to be the best.
Instead we guarantee losing any one who was attached enough to what will be lost to quit the game entirely.
I'm just glad I got used to soloing and I don't have to go through losing more friends because of this merger. /..\ A few of my old friends tried coming back, discovered their names had "x" at the end, then I never saw them log in again.... I know all the instant gratification, entitled, "mememe" people don't care... and they make up most of the population of the planet... but can't we just think of those other people for once. /..\

/sigh It was just a matter of time! So close to cross server grouping! IMHO, there should have been a poll after the cross server grouping was enabled to see if mergers were still needed, THEN merge if the majority still wanted them. :\ Oh well.


>.> And the more snarky side of me is wondering... will they still allow people who do lose their names to change them once for free? or will they be giving them the middle finger and use it to point to the marketplace character/guild name change potion? :\ -.- for that matter... am I going to be buying back all my lost items if my DMs go poof in the merger?

Previously they've put an x at the end of your name and given you a time frame in which you could change it for free. That's how I remember it anyway.

Who has said dungeons will be lost? Just a general question here. I don't understand why player dungeons would be affected, when housing and guilds/guild halls never have been.

Save your house layout prior to the merge. I'm more than sure they won't be affected, but, it's better to be safe. They're saved to your pc so not much chance of the merge affecting them.

I'm not looking forward to merges. I wonder who Unrest will merge with. I like it how it is now, but I understand a lot of players do not.
I just hope they're all renamed (the servers merging) because with every merge I've been through, the server that keeps its name, seems to feel it's their server and the newcomers are lepers.

refugees

Mergers are a great thing.

Depends on what you're looking for. I've been through two previous mergers, this, if it goes ahead, will be the third. If you think that merging servers to increase population will increase grouping you'll be sadly disappointed. It didn't work previously and there's no reason why it should work in the future.

This game has been so dumbed down to the point that soloing from 1 to a 100 is a breeze and self mentoring makes many of the pre AOM group content anything from a easy to maybe moderately difficult. So why do anything other play a solo game ? So much easier than pugs and the only drama I see is from the game content.

I'm hoping both TLE and Cross Server Dungeons will help with grouping, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for mergers and I'd rather DBG put the merger work on the back burner and concentrate on the newer stuff they promised.

Flameweaver is correct in stating mergers will not bring a plethora of grouping. Too many botters and people that "box" out there to bother grouping with anyone. You may see a influx of LFG but i doubt it will be the great thing that people think it will be. Probably wont see an increase in characters either as they mostly will be standing around in the guild halls waiting to raid or logging on just at raid time.

Just my 2 cents worth.... I would have preferred cross server grouping instead of merges, more opportunities and more people to meet but in saying that if we have to have merges can we PLZ have someone merge into Unrest not us into someone else cause I came from Najena originally which was then merged into Unrest and I really don't want to have to start using another new server name.

If you would actually spend money on DECENT advertising you may be surprised at how much better it would be, anytime I mention this game to my friends here in Australia they're all like huh what's that, then I say its an MMO sort of like WoW (only better) they're like oh ok yeah we know that one sigh... pretty sad when I have to mention WoW for people to understand what I'm talking about!

While I am fairly certain I came up with unique caracter names for my few EQII all access characters here... if they match one of yours, I'll change mine. My characters are on Crushbone and here is the list: Gefio, Glekozara, Nejiara, and Shartara.

If mergers are truly needed, it means populations of players have fallen, so I would consider them "a good thing" about like calling bubonic plague a good thing. I mean, it DID open up a lot of housing in those crowded French towns, right?

If mergers are taking place only because a vocal crowd screamed for them, all it will mean is new "fresh meat" for those who cannot get groups because they act like as*-hats in groups and have earned a reputation for such on their own server. If they continue to act that way, their deserved rep will just follow them, and their newfound ability to group will not last long.

Please Devs--stop the griefing before it ever starts--give all merged servers NEW names! Let not ONE stand as is! A very quick and easy FIX for what will, based on real history, become a NASTY problem.

Haha