Producer Letter: Addressing EQII Server Populations

Names should be based on played time NOT strictly creation date. The most important stat should be PLAYED TIME. Maybe take into consideration when played...a toon with 200 hours play time in the first 5 years of release should not get the name over someone with 150 hours play time in the last 5 years.

This is the best idea I ever said. Why not DB do everyone a favor and get rid of their unique name policy?! That way NO ONE have to change their name or get a random 'X' in their name, NO GUILD have to loose their name to another guild that's inactive and NO ONE have anything else to lose! No one wants to lose their name and WHO CARES if we get more than one person name Lissa or Jackle or something that so rare you never expect anyone to have it (and yet they do)!

Also, do us a favor and make the players who picked an inappropriate name on purpose and got pass the character creation process change their name to something appropriate. We're pretty annoyed when we get a player with such a name and you didn't even catch them! Pay more attention to your name creation department (and come up with more names we can take for players who use the random name option in character creation but find out that name was already taken, fact what use is your random name generator keeps picking common names someone already have?)

Well. I've been trying to keep my opinion to myself, but, I'm pretty sure my server will be merged. If I don't speak up now I'll regret it later.. So, here I add my 2cc

1. I am one of those players who have been through server merges before and I believe implementing them should be a LAST resort.
2. Like some have already expressed, the lack of "grouping" it's not all about server population.
3. If I wanted to be in a crowded server I would've moved my characters a long time ago.
4. Most of the characters I have were created 3-4 days after the game went live (UPS lost my pre-order package.. ) and have been in their respective server(s) since creation.
5. The only reason some of them might show with younger creation dates is because they were re-rolled over the years (this before we could buy extra character slots).
6. Don't even get me started on multiple alts, which many of us have.. ALL of mine get play time. Some more than others, of course. But they are all active.
7. Using a name change potion on a character with an old creation date shouldn't be allowed as a factor to keep that name. Please, keep track of these and make sure they're the ones that get the "X" at the end of their names when merges finally take place.
8. And yes, character names are important to me! Whoever is coming here saying they don't care, either "think" they won't be affected by the merges or already know they get to keep 'em..

Anyhow, I need to stress that some of us have been loyal paying costumers (members with recurring subscriptions) since this game went live (and even before that, since some of us played or still play EQ1). I only ask that when the time comes this will also be a deciding factor and be taken into consideration. I for one have been a paying costumer since 2002 and an ALL ACCESS member shortly after EQ2 released as I also play other titles offered by, now, Daybreak Games. For example, though I don't play EQ1 as much as I used to I still have bought EVERY expansion pack among other things as to keep on supporting the game and I also play Landmark. To loose my long time character names, AGAIN, in a merge will only serve to make me feel like I am being punished for supporting other company products and will certainly lead me to reconsider my future support.

There is much to be considered, I know. But like many others, I patiently await to hear the details as to what servers will be merging and how the process will work.

^^^this. And taking it a step farther, I'd suggest: new server --> free transfer tokens so most active players can move themselves and get their names --> then merge 1st server into it, start 2nd merger, etc until capacity is met, then create another and do it all over again. The first new server would have more active populations, the second and/or third would be lighter with more inactive accounts giving those that prefer smaller populations an option to go there. I can't imagine more than 3 US servers.

Also, Freeport isn't even in the top 5 active server populations anymore, that population has fallen drastically in the last 6months. They will likely choose based on total character data and Freeport was added several years after the rest. It is most likely to go. I hope what he proposed above, that way all active players get the best shot at keeping their names.

Server transfers are worse than mergers. The only real hitch with server mergers is names. Transferring is a whole other can of worms, that includes losing your guild.

AND it would still result in the people who stand a chance of losing their names (ie players who've been playing ) still having the chance to lose their name. For example. One of my characters that I made as soon after release as I had the game patched (Nov 9 2004), I still play her regularly. Someone else on another server has the same name and the same character creation date AND is still regularly playing. Both are of comparable levels and playtime. If we both decided to transfer and lose our guilds and what not, we'd still have a naming conflict. As stated before, I really think there should be a way for both to be able to exist without the X or fully renaming.

The script they used last time already takes into account recently played characters, so that is of no concern. No one will be likely to lose their name to a level 2 character that hasn't been played in 9 years unless they log in close to merger time and spent an awful lot of time in game in a short period of time.

• In the event of duplicate character names as a result of this server merge, priority will be given to the character who has logged in to the game within the past sixty (60) days; if both characters have logged in within the past sixty (60) days, then the character which has accrued the most gameplay time overall will retain its name. Other characters will have an "x" added to their names until a unique name has been determined.
• Players with a character whose name has been affected by the server merge can type "/rename" in their in-game chat window and receive a one-time complimentary name change.

I can't imagine the situation that would make transfers then mergers sensible.

Well, I've been pretty pessimistic about things lately, but if this is happening then I say "Good Job Daybreak" mergers can only help.

Which servers are perceived as "low population" by the folks playing on them?

Firstly, I want to add my voice to those who cannot understand why EQ2 has never had a proper advertising campaign behind it. If Daybreak wants to make munny in the long term, then the objective has to be to fill up empty slots in existing servers -- and plan for adding more servers to cater for an increasing population. Expending precious resource on planning for reductions in player numbers is, quite simply, the wrong path.

This is a brilliant idea! It would solve at a stroke the 'this is our server, we were here first, you're the intruders' nonsense that happened on both of the server merges I've been through before.

I'm not sure what to say to your comment, either. For a while there the 'your skills have been reset' lunacy was happening far too often. I don't know about you, but I play a game to play, not to waste time resetting things (not just once but several times) that I've already set before. And I have every sympathy with anyone who refuses to use a system that does not respect the reality that the user's time is important. (I just wish I had that luxury at work! -- thinking of changes to MS-Word, when microshaft replaced menus with 'the ribbon' and caused months of totally unnecessary relearning how to do things that I used to know how to do with menus. And all just so they could make more munny by pushing an 'updated' product. I shudder to think how many person-hours that corporation's wanton greed cost humanity in total just from that one change alone... but I digress.)

... also, don't waste time on it if it doesn't respect user keybinding settings (the main reason I went into Battlegrounds maybe twice and then never went back).

I originally started this game on the Shadowhaven server it was merged into the Bazaar server and then into the Freeport server. I have a feeling I wont be merging into any other server this time, if anything maybe another low population server might merge into Freeport or maybe not since its a mildly busy server and AB I dont really see any servers merging into it at all.

My name has never been taken probably due to how old my account is, the rarity of the name I use in the first place, and I raid every week so Im on the game a good amount of time Im not too worried about losing names for my characters on AB or on FP.

I dont have to worry about my character names but for people that are worried if they offer a free name change then just change it I see nothing really to worry too much about.

Guilds remain the same in a merge. The only problem I can ever remember, is if two guilds share the same name.

I picked a low population server on purpose. I don't want to have to run around with hundreds of other folks, fighting over resources and mobs. I like our nice quiet guild, I like the names I have for all my characters. Please don't break the game for me.

Every other server who's populations are measured as low. In other words if your not on AB or maybe a PVP server then its a low populated server (which is everyone but AB)

FYI: This is how DBC measure the populations of the servers with their monitors. They always noticed that the Roleplaying server seemed to be the only server of them all with the highest population and this draws a concerned to them probably because they feared a population overcrowding of one server. Its not the folks on the server itself; its the company who owns the entire EQ2 department to judge.

The problem is that your preferred style of play leads to the end of the game. Without players, none of us get to enjoy the game.

I don't understand your logic. The game is currently working, I'm happy on a low population server. Why will the game die?
If you mean some players on quiet servers want to be on busier servers, then set up server migration rather then merger. If I have to spend twice as long on quests, waiting for mobs to respawn, then the game looses another player, and probably more like me.

What they should do is not key in the unique name based on the first name of your character. What they should do is allow the entry of a last name (which they do allow you to create one) and key in uniqueness on your last name instead. Everyone loves to have a first name but across servers someone may have that same first name. Usually the uniqueness is based on the Last name of the person and not the first. Yes it can be complex if someone has the same last name but do you really want to squabble over who has the same last name as another?

I tend to say people like keeping there first name verses there last names in this game for simplicity. I see many without a chosen last name. Basically make that field unique.

If Daybreak is up to the challenge allow an inter join between first and last name and base the result on two fields for it's uniqueness. So in essence Zarya El is different then Zarya Belle which then can be allowed on the server!!

Same can be applied to Guild Hall's by adding another field and an inter join between them to give them uniqueness.

Thanks,

Any database designer should know that the primary key of their database should never be a NAME. In games, as in real life people have the same names. Daybreak, just remove the restriction on unique names and the problem is gone. Why does it matter if characters have the same name?
Better still shelve the server mergers, or are you so desperate for money to prop up your awful zombie mess game, you need to destroy our beloved game.

I've never known anyone to quit the game because their server was too busy. However, lack of population for grouping/raiding definitely does lead to players leaving (I've seen this first hand as well as the many different posts we read here to that end).

Low population leads to greater attrition which leads to less profit. Less profit equals cuts to game staff and in the worst case to the sunset of the game.

Your enjoyment of a low population server is great but it doesn't work for paying the bills.

While I understand liking a lower population server, I do myself, it does generally serve the greater good to have a decent population.

If you really do like it quiet and find yourself completely overwhelmed after server merges, the possibility of playing on test full time still exists. There is always a small population there. Most people really only play on test when holidays come. For everything else it seems most do beta copies and test there.

I believe the issues relate more to the guild hall (names) as it can be confusing with 2 guild halls with the same name on the same server... Add another field and inter-join them thus forcing uniqueness but still using the unique number. Yes the unique number (which you do not see) should be the primary key to any development but one could remove the restrictions.

Adding the last name will only help support narrow down issues with the characters... If you have an issue with your account or if someone has an issue with you and there is no unique value for your toon and the restrictions was not in place then Zarya offended player A then player A tells Daybreak that they insulted you, which Zarya did the offending action out of the 10 in game?

You still need an uniqueness of a field but allow the uniqueness based on the last name and interjoin first and last name. So if I have an issue with a toon I can tell Daybreak that Zarya El was offending me. I do not mention the Primary and Secondary key's in the post because they are unique and to the average person they would not or should not see the assigned number.

I don't want a last name on my characters, thank you very much, I'm very happy with one name and don't want to be forced to adopt a last name that fits all my toons. I've played MMOs that required last names, and still there were naming issues. I've played where you had numbers with your name...and again, I hated it. What's easier for people to remember: Bob5820 or Bob8713 or Bob5825 or Bob9362 or just Bob? You know that person you liked playing with and now you have to remember which name-number they were? No, thanks.

It may be a pain to rename, or even have an X at the end of your name, but over all it's much better than than the last name solution or the name-number solution. <rant over>