I Just Want To Welcome My New Sarlona Masters...(Server Merge Announcement)
On Monday, Turbine announced a major server merge for Dungeons and Dragons Online....
After many months of some people saying that servers were "dead", it looks like Turbine crunched the numbers and decided to merge the 12 servers down to 5. Personally, I haven't ever had a problem forming or joining groups, but overall I think this will be a good thing provided the merge goes okay. More people per server will hopefully mean more people to group with, more options in the Look For More panel, more flexibility in quest choice, etc. Also, it'll be cool to meet new people, see new guilds and see more people wandering around Stormreach.
Of course, it's pretty much impossible to see a server merge as a sign that the population was skyrocketing upwards. Let's face it - DDO may never be the next World of Warcraft (nor it is likely that other MMORPG's will be either, lightning has struck already). If it's true, as some say, that DDO is a "niche" game, then it's the best damn niche game out there. Frankly, the people who don't like the game don't know what they're missing. People can like whatever they want, far be it from me to judge, but I think DDO's the best game out there, server merge or not. It's gotta be risky for a game company to merge servers because it sends a message out there that the population needs a boost, but then again, it can be a good way to rejuvenate the player base, and hopefully newcomers will see a thriving game, which DDO is.
I want to close by including an email I received wayyy back in April. I had asked a DDO-Europe player about how the server merger went over there, and got this reply (I'm redacting any personal identifying stuff):
"As to how the Euro merger has gone, well its been good. There is greater
population around so you stand a much better chance of finding a PUG to
quest with, if you aren't with your guild mates. There were issues with
how the duplication of toon names were handled - basically the biggest
of the two previous servers were given precedence over the smaller ones.
And some people got very heated about their toon being renamed with the server
name in their title because of duplications. But by and large
this has been of less effect than people thought and it has all settled
down now. The merger though has brought out some differences between
players from the now non-existent old servers - some players from one server
are thought of as not as skilled as people from another server,
but that's just the usual elitism that goes on with online games.
Essentially all servers have good and bad players. By and large though
we have a better server now and more people."
I will of course have a lot more about the server merge in the next episode of DDOcast. In the meantime, let's talk about it on the forums, or feel free to post a comment.
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SERVER MERGE FAQ:
There's been many questions asked since today's announcement, and Tubine responded by creating a FAQ written by Community Relations Manager Quarion. I'm going to copy and paste some of the critical things here, but if you want to read the entire FAQ here's the LINK.
(HERE'S THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS, AS ANSWERED BY QUARION):
Which servers are being merged into which? What are the new server names?
We'll be combining the source servers on the left into the destination servers on the right.
Mabar becomes Argonnessen
Fernia becomes Ghallanda
Lhazaar becomes Ghallanda
Aerenal becomes Sarlona
Adar becomes Sarlona
Aundair becomes Khyber
Riedra becomes Khyber
Xoriat becomes Thelanis
Tharashk becomes Thelanis
How long will the merge take and when are you going to do it?
On Wednesday, July 25th, we will be running a public preview on Risia with the Mabar/Argonnessen server merge. we expect to begin merging the main servers starting the following week.
The process of merging the servers will be divided into two downtimes.
•Khyber, Aundair, Riedra, Thelanis, Xoriat, and Tharashk will be offline on Thursday, August 2nd, between 2am and 7pm EDT. Around 7pm, Khyber and Thelanis will come back online and contain all of the merged characters and data from their respective servers.
•On Monday, August 6th, Fernia, Ghallanda, Argonnessen, Lhazaar, Adar, Sarlona, Aerenal, and Mabar will be offline from 2am until approximately 7pm EDT. At about 7pm, Argonnessen, Ghallanda and Sarlona will come back online and will contain all of the merged characters and data from their respective servers.
When all service resumes on August 6th, the DDO servers will be: Argonnessen, Ghallanda, Sarlona, Khyber, and Thelanis.
On August 13th, all servers will be offline from approximately 7am until 1pm EDT, for server maintenance and optimization after the merge.
What happens if a character has the same name as my character on the new server?
Character names must be unique on a server, but it is possible to have the same character name on different servers. When merging two servers together, such as Argonnessen and Mabar, if there are characters with the same name, one of the characters must be renamed during the merge. Renaming will add a dash and then the character’s home server name to the end of the character name. So, for instance, character Joe from Khyber may become Joe-Khyber if another Joe exists on the merged servers. Characters will be renamed pursuant to these guidelines:
• If both characters have played within the past 60 days, the older character (the one who was created first) gets to keep the name.
• If neither character has played within the past 60 days, the older character gets to keep the name.
• If the older character hasn't played within the past 60 days, but the younger character has, the younger character gets to keep the name.
Please note that the font displayed in the Character Select screen displays a tilde ‘~’, but it isn’t a tilde, it’s a dash ‘-‘. You may have trouble chatting or adding people to your friends list if you use the tilde.
Each character that is renamed will receive a token that can be used to select a new name. To change your first name simply type /changename in the chat window. If you want to change your name again, after using the rename token we gave you, you will need to use the Character Rename service available HERE.
What if all of my character slots are used on the servers that are merging?
You will not lose any of your characters in the merge process. If you have 5 characters on server A and 5 characters on server B, after A and B merge you will have 10 characters on the merged server. However, you will not be able to make any additional characters until you have fallen below your character limit (based on how many character slots you have unlocked with the highest favor character on that server).
What will happen to my friends list? What will happen to my squelch/ignore list?
Your friends list and squelch/ignore list will both remain intact. If characters on your friends list are renamed (either in the server merge or manually by the player), your friends list will be automatically populated with these new names, once both of you have been online together. So, don’t be surprised if you see some new names on your friends list after the server merge.
How will this affect my guild?
Your Guild will be the same as it was prior to the merge and you will all move to the same server together. Some of the character names may be out-of-date on the member list though, and will remain so until that character logs in for the first time. If any players have their characters renamed that information will automatically update on your guild list.
If there is a name conflict, guilds on the new base world keep their name. Guild renames do not get a dash during the rename. So, if a guild named "The Rubies" comes from Riedra and is being merged into Khyber where a guild named "The Rubies" already exists, the guild from Riedra will be renamed to "The Rubies Riedra".
If your guild has been renamed in the merge and you would like your guild name changed, the guild leader should send an in-game help request asking for a rename. Each guild that has its name changed can request one name change from the GM. Once a GM has confirmed the name was changed by a server merge and that the guild leader is requesting the name change, we will change the name as requested.
If the guild wishes to change its name again, the guild leader will need to use the Guild Rename service available HERE.
How will this impact gameplay?
Server performance: There should be no change as additional hardware is being added to the servers to handle the increased load.
Experience: There will be no change to your XP.
Inventory/Items: All of your items will move with you.
Bank: All of your items will move with you.
Mail/Attachments: All of your mail will move with you.
Auctions: Auction posting will be disabled 3 days prior to the merge to prevent any merge issues.
Favor: All your characters will keep the favor they had on their original server. If you had unlocked the drow and a sixth character slot, then you will still retain the ability to make a drow character and your extra character slot (even if you have deleted the character that earned you the favor originally). If you have earned 1750 favor and the 32 point chargen stat bonuses and 7th character slot that go with it, you will keep those as well. If you have any issues making new drow characters or 32-point characters, talk to the Favor NPC again with your appropriate favor-leveled character to re-grant you access.
Action Points/Enhancements: There will be no change.
Quest series: All quest status will be the same as before the merge.
Keymaps/Hotkeys:Your keymaps, hotkeys and UI layout won’t change in any way.
Founders: You will still have any preorder items you received. The statue will continue to list you and your guild under your original server.
In-Game Help Request tickets: All of your tickets will be preserved after your character moves (even if they are renamed). It is possible that any tickets (both open and closed) associated with a renamed character might become temporarily unavailable after the rename, but all tickets should be available within 24 hours of your rename.
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Also wanted to call your attention to this new video from Freyalice, with the guild The Fallen:
THE FALLEN
Add to My Profile | More Videos
Here's the direct LINK to the MySpace TV page.
I've run with some of The Fallen folks before and think they're really good. Inzane, thanks for helping me get through PoP on Elite recently!
Jerry
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