What's all this Server Merge business I'm hearing about?

[Primalthirst]

Hey all, just came back to give SWTOR another go and see what's changed in the last 12 months, yadda yadda yadda etc.

I see random threads about Server Merges happening/have happened and found random Dev posts but honestly have no idea what's going on(with Asia Pacific servers in particular.)

Any chance someone could give me a brief timeline about what has/is happening with Server Merges over the last 3 months or so? I don't want to level up then find my server is dead and I've missed the transfers etc.

[Edge-]

NA/EU servers got merged down to the existing ones some months ago, and BioWare is shutting down the APAC servers and moving everyone on those servers to NA ones.

No other mergers are coming up and if you were on a closed server, your characters were moved over to one of the existing ones.

[Primalthirst]

Cheers Edge, my original characters were on The Harbinger and it appears to still be alive and kicking. Any idea when the APAC servers are closing/what the normal Bioware protocol is for transfers? I started playing on Dalborra last night and my god, having 20ms instead of 250ms is a ridiculous difference, it's almost like latency makes a difference in MMOs!1!!!!1!!111!

[Edge-]

Cheers Edge, my original characters were on The Harbinger and it appears to still be alive and kicking. Any idea when the APAC servers are closing/what the normal Bioware protocol is for transfers? I started playing on Dalborra last night and my god, having 20ms instead of 250ms is a ridiculous difference, it's almost like latency makes a difference in MMOs!1!!!!1!!111!

They don't have a consumer side transfer system in place yet, so wherever you are, you're stuck at for now.

No clue on the timing of the APAC server closures, but it's pretty standard stuff. They'll probably let everyone transfer willingly for a while then just force transfer the remaining characters and close the servers down.

[Pensz]

FYI, once you load the game, you have to rename your character before you log into the world.

Once you are in, you will then need to rename your Legacy.

[Arlee]

FYI, once you load the game, you have to rename your character before you log into the world.

Once you are in, you will then need to rename your Legacy.

Unless they recently changed this is not accurate. You might have to change your character names, but you might not. Also you will have the option to change your legacy name but you don't have to. Legacy names aren't unique anymore so many people can have the same one. The screen will pop up iirc, and you can either pick the same name you were using or pick a new one.

[Pensz]

Well, I did use the phrase "HAVE TO" so I can see where the OP would have some confusion. Was just letting them know it was an option once you log in.

[Arlee]

Oh ok

[ItachiZaku]

Unless they recently changed this is not accurate. You might have to change your character names, but you might not. Also you will have the option to change your legacy name but you don't have to. Legacy names aren't unique anymore so many people can have the same one. The screen will pop up iirc, and you can either pick the same name you were using or pick a new one.

When did they change this? I was royally annoyed I had to change my characters first names, which is what led me to stop playing.

[Pensz]

When did they change this? I was royally annoyed I had to change my characters first names, which is what led me to stop playing.

I mean it kinda makes sense.

There is a Player A from Server A who has the name Legolas

Player B from Server B moving to server A should not be allowed to name their character Legolas

They should instead change their name to Legolasx or anything clever they can think of...though the name Legolas is inherently not clever. I don't know of an MMO model where you can have the same named players exist on the same server.

[ItachiZaku]

I mean it kinda makes sense.

There is a Player A from Server A who has the name Legolas

Player B from Server B moving to server A should not be allowed to name their character Legolas

They should instead change their name to Legolasx or anything clever they can think of...though the name Legolas is inherently not clever. I don't know of an MMO model where you can have the same named players exist on the same server.

Yes, normally, but with Legacy names, you could have Legolas Johnson, Legolas Kilpatrick, Legolas Moonbeam etc. Back when I played Ultima, we would be able to do such things - but also had spaces etc. [Name] is taken, much pick a new name. [Name+Legacyname] shouldn't be taken.

[Window]

I missed the oceanic transfer back months ago and am now stuck on the Harbringer / Bastion
cant bring myself to roll on the oceanic server knowing they are dissolving them
but the lack of oceanic players on both servers imp side shows

[Eliandal]

When did they change this? I was royally annoyed I had to change my characters first names, which is what led me to stop playing.

Part of the big problem with this is that they didn't consider them server 'merges' (at least this is the explanation I got) They changed their server infrastructure around a few times - and consolidated populations on 'new' servers - even though the servers had the same names.

It's also why I stopped playing - even though I actually enjoyed the game. Having to rename 5 of my characters - even though my server wasn't changing. Someone with the same names - but the deciding factor ended up being higher level - got to keep the names that I specifically bought the CE for early access to get. Most bizarre of all - my 'main' with the decidedly common name Eli - got to keep his name since he WAS 50

[Arlee]

When did they change this? I was royally annoyed I had to change my characters first names, which is what led me to stop playing.

They made it so Legacy names aren't unique months ago (i can't remember when exactly). As for changing first names, those are still unique but it is impossible to say between two people with the same name who will have to change theirs because they never made how they make those choices public knowledge. For example I started on Jedi Covenant during head start and I have never had to change any of my toon's names. However, friends that I have played with since the beginning did have to change some of their characters names.

[ItachiZaku]

Part of the big problem with this is that they didn't consider them server 'merges' (at least this is the explanation I got) They changed their server infrastructure around a few times - and consolidated populations on 'new' servers - even though the servers had the same names.

It's also why I stopped playing - even though I actually enjoyed the game. Having to rename 5 of my characters - even though my server wasn't changing. Someone with the same names - but the deciding factor ended up being higher level - got to keep the names that I specifically bought the CE for early access to get. Most bizarre of all - my 'main' with the decidedly common name Eli - got to keep his name since he WAS 50

That was the most disappointing part. They build the story, give us a Legacy name and family trees and all that comes with their legacy system, only to crap on it. If it wasn't for this, I'd probably still be playing. Some of my names I preferred to keep, Tatiana was my main etc but I made a light side bounty hunter named 'Omar' dark with face slash to basically be 'Omar Little' from The Wire, but I had to rename him. It completely destroyed my wanting to level as light side and I was really enjoying that toon and would have been my second to level 50.

---------- Post added 2013-05-09 at 02:48 PM ----------

I started on Jedi Covenant during head start and I have never had to change any of my toon's names.

We almost started there, instead it was Jubi or something. We had our Empire and Republic servers and then all of it dumped out. Same thing plagued me in Rift. Needless to say, these companies are ruining it for others in the future.