110601-okay-they-are-looking-into-server-pop-issue

Page 1, Page 2
== Content ==
			
They have said "we are working on some tech regarding that issue. You should hear about it soon." but what do you think that means? Sever merge? One time use server transfers? sound off lets hear what you think.
 	
----
			
New tech to get the hamsters to breed faster, stronger, more superior server hamsters!
 
Next step, world domination!	
----
			A commenter on reddit said he heard from a friend of a friend that Carbine has been working on megaserver technology for a few weeks now.. I'd take that with a grain of salt, though.  :P Could be megaserver, could be merges, could be CRZ.. Or it could be something entirely different. Your guess is as good as mine.	
----
			Honestly, I'd be fine with any of those options at this point. (Would prefer mega server or merges first though)	
----
			
Well, one thing about there tech is they have "Instances" on the same server... so you can have a certain amount of people in an area before a new instance opens up, Prevents overpopulation.
 
Maybe they are altering this aspect because overcrowding is no longer as much of an issue? Or allow people to manually transfer to a particular instance within the region they are in?	
----
			I doubt they would switch to megaserver, I think half their servers fell off the back ends of trucks.	
----
			Mega server would be better so we can get better market rates in the CX and AH.	
----
			Source?	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Source?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Source?
----
			
Never can tell what that cryptic message means...but at least it's something.
 
As much as I enjoy separate servers and communities..I would actually love to see some sort of megaserver implemented, or perhaps a hybrid of the two. I think it would bring new life to many smaller servers/communities/guilds.
 
Who knows, I'm happy to hear it's on their radar after the long silence.	
----
			I would love it if they did a server vs server war. You want to keep your server? gotta fight for it to the death...last server standing winner takes ALL the players!	
----
			
Megaservers! Megaservers!
 
Make it happen Carbone.	
----
			
If Carbine wasn't looking into every option to increase sustainable revenue (however they maid a tonne on credds you can tell that by all the people credded out for years), I am sure NCsoft would not be happy.
 
Mega server would probable be my preferred option but would need to not screw people over on names and on auction houses and cred prices.	
----
			
my reaction to hearing this news was pretty much:
 
[sad]
oh...really? that's nice...i guess
 
**deep sigh**
 
ohh look, it's raining outside. I think i'm gonna go take a nap...outside...in the rain.
 
**falls down to floor and very slowly crawls to the front door**
[/sad]	
----
			Megaservers!!!	
----
			
Megaserver would be the death of our RP community. :(
 
I know. I know. You can't make everyone happy. I get that. But lump our community in with the toxic PVPer and Uber-Leet PVE crowd and I'm gone. No way am I dealing with those people on a regular basis. I can always leave the forums if I don't want to listen to them, but force me to be in the same world as those folks and I won't be coming back. I imagine most of the Evindra population would more or less agree with that.	
----
			
There could be three megaservers. Or two megaservers and one miniserver. :P
 
A PvP megaserver, a PvE megaserver, and a RP miniserver.	
----
			A megaserver would not span both pvp and pve realms, it'd be craziness. Oh pvp realm but I'm seeing a ton of people I can't attack, omg wtf etc.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
A megaserver would not span both pvp and pve realms, it'd be craziness. Oh pvp realm but I'm seeing a ton of people I can't attack, omg wtf etc.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I would love it if they did a server vs server war. You want to keep your server? gotta fight for it to the death...last server standing winner takes ALL the players!
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
my reaction to hearing this news was pretty much:
 
[sad]
oh...really? that's nice...i guess
 
**deep sigh**
 
ohh look, it's raining outside. I think i'm gonna go take a nap...outside...in the rain.
 
**falls down to floor and very slowly crawls to the front door**
[/sad]
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
What RP community? I'm not a fan of standing around in a circle talking in-character, and the only RP-ing I've seen outside taverns etc was a guy running up to me, talking some random BS and told me: "lol, I'm RPing." I would have talked more, but I was very busy. All of a sudden. Needed to far, far away. :P
 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
 
 
What RP community?
 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Megaserver would be the death of our RP community. :(
 
I know. I know. You can't make everyone happy. I get that. But lump our community in with the toxic PVPer and Uber-Leet PVE crowd and I'm gone. No way am I dealing with those people on a regular basis. I can always leave the forums if I don't want to listen to them, but force me to be in the same world as those folks and I won't be coming back. I imagine most of the Evindra population would more or less agree with that.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Why wouldn't they leave the RP server on its own ... we'd get on each other's nerves.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Dunno. Just speculating. I started a thread in the Evindra forum to talk about what kind of reaction the community might have to "open megaserver" technologies.
----
			Megaservers a la GW2. As long as I can still find resource nodes - fine. If I can't - Rabble Rabble.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Dunno. Just speculating. I started a thread in the Evindra forum to talk about what kind of reaction the community might have to "open megaserver" technologies.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Query.  Most of the RP is not.. say.. random, in world public RP, is it?  It's more events, Rocio writing 14 novels, etc?  Couldn't that survive a merge?  Just build a guild or guild community around that?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
A lot of RP is just "open world" stuff. We had a Hoogle Hike this weekend. The weekend before that we had a bar night in Whitevale. We've got Beach Parties every Sunday in Malgrave. Open world, all of it.
 
Now let's take our happy little community and throw xxDEADPOOLROXxx and xXNEWBKILLAXx from the guild <Bewbs and Beerz> in the mix.
 
Yeah. That's going to do wonders for us, let me tell you.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Query.  Most of the RP is not.. say.. random, in world public RP, is it?  It's more events, Rocio writing 14 novels, etc?  Couldn't that survive a merge?  Just build a guild or guild community around that?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I do a LOT of open world random RP.  Random RP is a bit like dancing at the club.  Nobody wants to be the first one on the floor, but once a couple people are doing it, everyone feels comfortable jumping in :)
 
This works better on Spenser, who's a bit less... um... murder-y than Seeger.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Ah!  So far, I've only stumbled into it once as Sepulchre.  I took the "I am groot" route. lol
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I met a couple people on the rolodex that way.  Just see other people kind of stopped in the open world, turn on walk (or draw weapons) and just start RPing.  You'd be amazed how many people hop on the train. :)
----
			
Guild Wars 2 work on megaserver too. 
 
It can save Wildstar too.
 
Too too.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
Too too.
----
			
For those worried about mixing PvP, PvE and RP onto a single megaserver, check out how DC Universe Online's megaserver works to see how that "problem" is actually a non-issue.
 
Long story short, the Devs can create "super-shards" that operate by a particular ruleset (PvP rules, PvE rules, etc) that do not cross over in the open world but still allow for the linkage of instance queues and auction houses. This gives all the advantages of a merged population, without forcing one ruleset on all open world content. Players still choose PvE or PvP at character creation and then are permanently deposited into that world ruleset, interacting with players from the other ruleset shard only when they queue into dungeons, battlegrounds, and the like (no different from cross-server queuing as it presently exists).The megaserver then sub-divides the population of each "super-shard" into multiple zone instances to prevent zone overcrowding (again, no different from what the current servers do).
 
 
Yes, I know DCUO allows for players to cross back and forth between the two rulesets, but this was because the players begged for it, claiming that there weren't enough PvPers to make it worthwhile. In the end it only destroyed most open world PvP on that shard, and players and devs alike would probably not make that choice again. Given the general attitude of the players in Wildstar, I don't think there would be many asking for the ability to cross between PvE and PvP "super-shards".	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
For those worried about mixing PvP, PvE onto a single megaserver, check out how DC Universe Online's megaserver works to see how that "problem" is actually a non-issue.
 
Long story short, the Devs can create "super-shards" that operate by a particular ruleset (PvP rules, PvE rules, etc) that do not cross over in the open world but still allow for the linkage of instance queues and auction houses. This gives all the advantages of a merged population, without forcing one ruleset on all open world content. Players still choose PvE or PvP at character creation and then are permanently deposited into that world ruleset, interacting with players from the other ruleset shard only when they queue into dungeons, battlegrounds, and the like (no different from cross-server queuing as it presently exists).The megaserver then sub-divides the population of each "super-shard" into multiple zone instances to prevent zone overcrowding (again, no different from what the current servers do).
 
 
Yes, I know DCUO allows for players to cross back and forth between the two rulesets, but this was because the players begged for it, claiming that there weren't wnough PvPers to make it worthwhile. In the end it only destroyed most open world PvP on that shard, and players and devs alike would probably not make that choice again. Given the general attitude of the players in Wildstar, I don't think there would be many asking for the ability to cross between PvE and PvP "super-shards".
----
			Seems to me like free transfers would be the logical first choice.  Let people who are on low pop servers have a choice between a few higher pop servers.  Not to mention that they don't have to work on anything for that, if they can take your money for a server transfer, then they can waive the fee and direct you to a few choices...	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Seems to me like free transfers would be the logical first choice.  Let people who are on low pop servers have a choice between a few higher pop servers.  Not to mention that they don't have to work on anything for that, if they can take your money for a server transfer, then they can waive the fee and direct you to a few choices...
----
			True story Tex.  I'm saying that free Server Transfers are a quick stop gap fix while they work on that "tech" they alluded too in that tweet.  I don't understand why they didn't implement the stop gap fix of free transfers when the populations started declining after the 30 days and then three month period as they tend to do in all MMO's that have launched of late.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
True story Tex.  I'm saying that free Server Transfers are a quick stop gap fix while they work on that "tech" they alluded too in that tweet.  I don't understand why they didn't implement the stop gap fix of free transfers when the populations started declining after the 30 days and then three month period as they tend to do in all MMO's that have launched of late.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Those subs who might be lost over this? Next quarters earnings. ;)
----
			
Calling it now the other thread was locked in favor for this ones title. Back on subject..
 
 
WTF DOES "TECH" MEAN!!!
 
Don't repeat this mistake, I have yet to hear anyone anywhere, that wasn't lying in a reply, that said the like or love CRZ.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/5393667/Cross-Realm_Zones_Coming_to_Beta-5_10_2012
			
				
	Edited August 26, 2014 by PinkPanther	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Calling it now the other thread was locked in favor for this ones title.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
They have said "we are working on some tech regarding that issue. You should hear about it soon." but what do you think that means? Sever merge? One time use server transfers? sound off lets hear what you think.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
 
 
 
WTF DOES "TECH" MEAN!!!
----
			
do not understand why companies make things so hard on themselves.
 
you are not Blizzard. you should NOT be charging for server transfers.
 
when you have a burgeoning community and are expanding by leaps and bounds, by all means, charge for server transfers
 
when you are bleeding subs ... you should be locking low pop servers, and allowing each character to transfer, once every 2-3 months, FOR FREE.
 
this is your fault, not ours. stop charging us for your failures.
 
also .. do not want mega servers.
			
				
	Edited August 26, 2014 by BusterCasey
	
		Content	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
The real issue, as you've seen, is how they're going to separate the PVE/PVP/RP communities.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Why separate them?
 
People who want world PvP will flag themselves for world PvP. Geez, if people want to feel hardcore about world PvP, Carbine could even add a PvP character designation at character creation that permanently flags a character for world PvP.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
People who want world PvP will flag themselves for world PvP. Geez, if people want to feel hardcore about world PvP, Carbine could even add a PvP character designation at character creation that permanently flags a character for world PvP.
 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Why separate them?... 
I think one giant megaserver has the potential to be amazing.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
That would kill the fun in wPvP. Majority of people will keep themselves unflagged. They need to keep PvP and PvE servers separate. Lets not do more damage to the PvP community.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Calling it now the other thread was locked in favor for this ones title. Back on subject..
 
 
WTF DOES "TECH" MEAN!!!
 
Don't repeat this mistake, I have yet to hear anyone anywhere, that wasn't lying in a reply, that said the like or love CRZ.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/5393667/Cross-Realm_Zones_Coming_to_Beta-5_10_2012
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
It's bad enough with some of those guilds advertising on Evindra as it is, but I overlook them because they've chosen to play here and don't get in the way of the RP.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
So why not just apply that same logic to mega servers?  Just ignore / over-look what you choose.  I don't see how merging into a mega-server would "ruin" the RP community.  If anything it would bring it together more because there would be more of you centralized, and you would (likely, like in most other MMOs with mega servers) become a close, tight-knit community of players.
 
Or you'll just blame the "death of RP" on something inconsequential like server merging.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
We're ALREADY consolidated and ALREADY a tight-knit community.
 
As I said elsewhere, sure, more people would be nice- but not at the expense of the identity we've created.
 
I understand that folks on other servers probably don't understand that, because instead of community-building, you see it as a competition. Instead of building something together, you all took your toys and went home individually. Why would we want to play with that kind of person?
 
The people looking for community have already transferred or re-rolled to Envindra. I'd rather we grow our populace organically (or not) than be forced to play with people who don't want any part of what we do - and many of whom take an active and aggressive stance against role-players wherever they find them.
----
			
Server merges into one PvP, one PvE, and one PvE-RP would be the best course of action.  I'd even imagine they'd roll the RP into the PvE server as it's probably a smaller sect. I'm sorry that it messes with immersion, but this wasn't really sold as an RP focused game.
 
Major cities, AH / CX, housing, all of those things benefit from a single server.  PvE is instanced, PvP is instanced.
 
The one issue you'd have would be having open world pvp clutter, which is already solved by instancing.
 
Can't wait:  ETA 1 month+	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I can't get into participating RP but if you don't mind me sitting in the corner stealthed eavesdropping then I can get into it! I would be on RP servers if speech bubbles had comic book style fonts and balloons, plus cross-faction restrictions lifted to a very least of chat and mail. 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 I'm sorry that it messes with immersion, but this wasn't really sold as an RP focused game.
 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
That would kill the fun in wPvP. Majority of people will keep themselves unflagged. They need to keep PvP and PvE servers separate. Lets not do more damage to the PvP community.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Which is totally a great reason to kick us all to the curb, amirite?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Which is totally a great reason to kick us all to the curb, amirite?
----
			
I mean.. yeah.. finally... but, it has taken way too long until the actual and official statement AND now it just states that they are looking in to it.. which actually means they analyse if there really is something bad and what can be done about it? :D Maybe not completely like that, but somehow....
 
NEVERTHELESS, be fast and efficient, be DEV-ninjas at their best endurance... !please! do as much overtime as necessary - please! I really appreciate your work you have done so far, but issue/failure has to be corrected ASAP.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
You seem to be doing fine with tons of people on Evindra who don't RP. Why do you care if there are some more?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Because, if I may be so bold ... those player CHOSE Evindra and know what to expect. Suddenly throwing us in with thousands of players who have NO CHOICE but to see us?
 
Can you not see the difference?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Because, if I may be so bold ... those player CHOSE Evindra and know what to expect. Suddenly throwing us in with thousands of players who have NO CHOICE but to see us?
 
Can you not see the difference?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
So the fun in wPvP is killing people who aren't going to fight back? The majority of the people I see running around on Warbringer aren't even interested in wPvP. Anyone who's going to give you a decent challenge in wPvP will still have themselves flagged.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I can, but Carbine would probably give a warning to them to be respectful of the RP community on Evindra and that any abuse wouldn't be tolerated.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I can, but Carbine would probably give a warning to them to be respectful of the RP community on Evindra and that any abuse wouldn't be tolerated.
----
			
Leave Evindra alone!
 
 
 
No, in all seriousness, if this is true, I am glad they are finally doing something about the server pop.  If we have to be swallowed by the rest of the servers for the health of the game, so be it.  There will still be Circles and Guilds that will be around for RP purposes.  But, it would be nice if they made one giant server and one tiny RP server :D  I mean, since our community is so great.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
That would be nice, but Carbine was VERY clear to us at launch that they would NOT be policing the RP community for anything other than run-of-the-mill griefing and cheating. They were very clear that naming conventions and the like were up to us to police. So far, that hasn't been an issue - because everyone there WANTS to be there with us.
 
Go dig up the pre-launch discussions about moving the RP-PVP crowd to Widow. Go ahead. See what those people had to say about our "filthy stupid casuals" and how we'd mess up "their" server with our stupid RP. Please. I'll wait. It will be very enlightening, I promise.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Nope, not going to bother.
 
I get it. You're worried. Fine. I think you'll be OK, you don't. No prob.
----
			
AH! UGH! Whatever you do .. please let the RP guys/girls untouched in any common sense. I do not love nor understand what and why they do it, but I know they will raid your headquarter when you kill the RP servers.
 
I am in for something like two-four PvE Servers, two-four PvP Servers + one RP Server per region.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
The joy in wPvP is picking on someone while they quest. They then go get friends, then I have to get friends. Then you get a little mini battle going. That's why I love to gank a person in Red Grave. They always call on their friends.
 
Being able to unflagged yourself would ruin it. I could gank a guy in Red Grave and then unflagged myself as I go around laughing at them.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
 
I am in for something like two-four PvE Servers, two-four PvP Servers + one RP Server per region.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I can't be bothered with wPvP, and honestly it seems like most people on Warbringer feel the same way, judging by the behavior in the lvl 50 daily zones. There's usually one small group of gankers, and everyone else completely ignores each other.
 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
That is one problem I do have with Warbringer, it doesn't have a lot of wPvP going on. I try to get some fights going(and like I said in previous post, Red Graves tend to respond to my bullying) but it does seem like most people just want to do their dailies (which I don't understand because they seem rather boring(no offense to the people who enjoy them, I'm just a big PvP fan)).
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Which is totally a great reason to kick us all to the curb, amirite?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I'll be honest, the only reason I rolled on a PvP server was that the guild I joined was there. PvP servers tend to have very toxic communities. At this point, I have no more desire to play on Warbringer. In fact, I should really take the guild out of my signature, because it barely exists anymore.
 
Regarding world PvP, I'll gladly fight back if one person jumps me. I'll even keep running back if that person is still in the area. However, I have no patience for people who jump me with a group. That's just as bad as ganking lowbies, and I don't see how people think it's fun.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 I'm sorry that it messes with immersion, but this wasn't really sold as an RP focused game.
 
 
----
			If they can consolidate each territory (EU and NA) down to just 5-6 servers each, it would change the social experience for the better dramatically.  There's no need to make a megaserver at this point, especially if it breaks the PvP, PvE, and RP-PvE distinction. 	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Two things. It's an MMORPG you can guarantee that there is going to be roleplay in every single one since the entire genre is based on roleplaying, specifically D&D. I'm getting pretty tired of the "it wasn't billed as 'x' type of game" argument because everyone and their brother has used it to try and bolster their argument about their favorite portion of the game when the argument actually means nothing. They never said "This is totally a PvE game" or "this game is a PvP game!" or "we aren't catering to RP'ers". That would be silly and foolish because they want to capture all those markets. They did bill it as hardcore and WoW done right. That's why there are PvP, PvE, and RP servers.
 
Sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean it as an argument to oppress your RP community. I simply meant it as it seemed to me that there are many other games out there that cater greatly to the RP community and that from my experience this game doesn't put a lot of emphasis on RP.  Not that it should or shouldn't, but that it simply does not.  The more people that play this game, the better imo.  More people = more money = better developers = better content / systems.
 
Second, I love how this was posted on twitter and not in the forum. Gotta love how the devs communicate on twitter because "it's quicker and it's the way we like to communicate". Like keeping a webpage open on your phone to the forum is rocket science compared to twitter. (yes cougar I will complain about this until the game breathes its dying breath because I think it's *cupcake*ing ridiculous) The trickle down method of communication is horse shit.
 
If you can't tell from the very vague twitter post, this was just a "morsel" in his own words to satiate the hungering masses for server merges.  I know the general consensus was that we don't even know if Carbine wants or believes that server merges are necessary.  This was a way for Stephen Frost to basically say, "hey, we know there's an issue and right now we're figuring out how to do it best."  I for one was already in the spend credd to sub for the next 6 months and move on crowd.  This + the ability /amp point changes have led me to believe that there is a reason still to stick with this game and finish my character.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
red text.
 
I personally don't care to RP in games, but I'm a proponent of people playing how they want and not having to deal with people making fun / being toxic about it.  Perhaps in the future when the playerbase and the RP community is large enough to demand their own server, then Carbine can create Evindra Reborn and offer free server x-fers until then.
 
Perhaps you'll even meet a bunch of new friends that want to try out RPing with you without having to level a new character.
----
			
How about you could chose a rule set, such as pvp or rp or even pvp rp, and you would always join instances that follow those rules. Plus you would always go to instances that contain the most fellow guild members, maybe circle and friends factor in as well. Its possible you could have even more control over who you share Thayd with on a megaserver.
 
Not sure they could roll one out this quickly though, but after seeing all the instances used on a single low pop server, I do think this game would play better with one.	
----
			hope for 1 megaserver aswell, it would suit the game better.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
hope for 1 megaserver aswell, it would suit the game better.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Calling it now the other thread was locked in favor for this ones title. Back on subject..
 
 
WTF DOES "TECH" MEAN!!!
 
Don't repeat this mistake, I have yet to hear anyone anywhere, that wasn't lying in a reply, that said the like or love CRZ.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/5393667/Cross-Realm_Zones_Coming_to_Beta-5_10_2012
----
			
All I know is whatever they're working on is better than whatever we're running on right now. I'm glad Frost addressed the issue at last and I'm looking forward to hear what 'tech' is coming our way :) .With regards to RP ( for those worrying):I'm also on an RP server and to be honest I don't see how it would be a bad thing , even if we did lose the server. Think of it this way :1. more people on a server means more potential RP'ers in their free time, or newbies willing to try it out.
2. Since most RP is done in housing or guild chat/circle chats anyway , This should not affect anybody wanting to do this.
3. People will make use of circles once more and a greater influx of RP'ers will prosper overall. 
4. more people = more housing fanatics with mad skills = more rp zones to love each other in <3
 
I've played plenty of MMO's in my time. Not having a dedicated RP server never stopped Rp'ers from having a great time.	
----
			Ugghh, cross realm zones were such a scam. Its all about appearances, adds nothing to game play. Keep in mind, what works for Blizz won't necessarily work for anyone else. 80% of their 200+ NA servers have been dead for years and no one ever calls them out on it. They seem to have a special rule set - their solution for massive, lingering problems always is "we have 12 10 8 6 millions subs, so we don't have to fix anything!"	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Megaserver would be the death of our RP community. :(
 
I know. I know. You can't make everyone happy. I get that. But lump our community in with the toxic PVPer and Uber-Leet PVE crowd and I'm gone. No way am I dealing with those people on a regular basis. I can always leave the forums if I don't want to listen to them, but force me to be in the same world as those folks and I won't be coming back. I imagine most of the Evindra population would more or less agree with that.
----
			My guess is they're going to recalibrate the display so that it says "Medium" or "High" at a much lower level. Then say something like it was more reflective of consumer expections and so forth and whatnot.	
----
			
Server mergers would be fantastic! my poor server is so dead lol
 
I also feel this needs to be pointed out. I am an AUSTRALIAN player and I play on MYRCALUS (oceanic). Why is this server in Dallas? I'm not fussed about it not being in Australia, I know that's beyond stupid for you as far as cost efficiency goes; but shouldn't the server itself be at least in Cali/WestCoast so we can at least achieve under 200ms? Your game is pretty hard, and I love it. But 300ms does add a bit TOO MUCH edge at times :)
 
Overall though guys, I love your game. It's difficulty is what makes it so fun. I just finally got into raids, so much fun!!
It sucks you have so many whiny ex WoW players who expect the update speed and efficiency of an 8 year old game, and miss their free welfare style epic system [minimum effort, max results gameplay]
The people who come on here and complain constantly are ironically the reason why a lot of players don't come to Wildstar, these forums would scare anyone off. So maybe lay off a bit guys, they really are doing a good job in comparison to so many other games I have tried, by a long shot.
 
Keep up the good work guys, I definitely plan to be here until the game dies (hopefully that's not in the foreseeable future)	
----
			Megaserver should be what all MMOs use from this day forward.  Seriously... separate servers now?  WTF.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 Like keeping a webpage open on your phone to the forum is rocket science compared to twitter. (yes cougar I will complain about this until the game breathes its dying breath because I think it's *cupcake*ing ridiculous) The trickle down method of communication is horse shit.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Actually Mysery, it's not possible to reply via phone on the forums. You can't actually log in from a mobile device because the login pages are cut off. (obviously I'm not defending Carbine; but pointing out that their site is so poorly designed that it's not possible for anyone to access it via phone).
 
At least, I cant access it on my IP4s. Anyone can with their phone?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
A megaserver would not span both pvp and pve realms, it'd be craziness. Oh pvp realm but I'm seeing a ton of people I can't attack, omg wtf etc.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Actually Mysery, it's not possible to reply via phone on the forums. You can't actually log in from a mobile device because the login pages are cut off. (obviously I'm not defending Carbine; but pointing out that their site is so poorly designed that it's not possible for anyone to access it via phone).
 
At least, I cant access it on my IP4s. Anyone can with their phone?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I have to rotate my phone into landscape mode so that I can get half of the authorize button.
 
Yes, it is very annoying.  Doesn't Carbine employ any software engineers / people that are good with computers to fix things like this?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Actually Mysery, it's not possible to reply via phone on the forums. You can't actually log in from a mobile device because the login pages are cut off. (obviously I'm not defending Carbine; but pointing out that their site is so poorly designed that it's not possible for anyone to access it via phone).
 
At least, I cant access it on my IP4s. Anyone can with their phone?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Yeah I just turn my phone sideways to log in and then turn it back after login is done. Even sideways the entire login page isn't visible.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
This game is dying and you're worried about the RP community being affected? Strange priorities.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Our community isn't dying.
 
We didn't get mad a bugs and storm off in a huff. We didn't roll on a last-minute server and now sit alone in a wasteland. We didn't bail because endgame is unfulfilling and shallow. We didn't stomp and scream because the PVP systems are terrible.
 
We've continued to build our community DESPITE what the rest of the game's communities are doing.
 
Our priorities seem in perfect order, comparatively speaking. 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
If your community isn't dying, why are you so worried about bringing "others" into "your" server? I like and respect the RP community, and have been part of it in other games. But instead of the "Hell no, we don't want you here" attitude, how about offering other solutions like "Please don't instance home cities" or "Increase the number of instances or include a way we can easily swap so RPers can always choose to be in, say, instance 2 of any zone."
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
If your community isn't dying, why are you so worried about bringing "others" into "your" server?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
If your community isn't dying, why are you so worried about bringing "others" into "your" server? I like and respect the RP community, and have been part of it in other games. But instead of the "Hell no, we don't want you here" attitude, how about offering other solutions like "Please don't instance home cities" or "Increase the number of instances or include a way we can easily swap so RPers can always choose to be in, say, instance 2 of any zone."
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Because there are a lot of people hostile to RP...
lack of a dedicated shard / server tends to mean harassment from the " LOLNURD!!! HARDCORExxxxLEETNEWB" crowd
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Ignore them then. It also means that people who would normally not roll on an RP server might run into some roleplay, find it fun, and join in.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
While it might be hard to believe, there are segments of the MMO population who detest role-players. Everything we do offends them. Many others are largely unfriendly to it, even if not actively hostile. Why should *their fun* and *our fun* be brought low?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Then offer a flag much like a PVP flag, where you can select whether or not you want to RP.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Our community isn't dying.
 
We didn't get mad a bugs and storm off in a huff. We didn't roll on a last-minute server and now sit alone in a wasteland. We didn't bail because endgame is unfulfilling and shallow. We didn't stomp and scream because the PVP systems are terrible.
 
We've continued to build our community DESPITE what the rest of the game's communities are doing.
 
Our priorities seem in perfect order, comparatively speaking. 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
How would that make us invisible to each other?
 
It would have to be separate phases completely. Basically, another server.
 
I've been part of megaservers and I've been part of those multi-shard zones. The problem with megaservers is we're either all lumped together or we've partitioned into PVE/PVP phases that we can move between. The problem with multi-shards is ... well ... we're the only shard.
 
I'm all about solutions, I really am. I don't go into my opinion or position lightly, I promise.  ;)
----
			
I wouldn't mind a single server. It should be PvE by default, so that the only people who get ganked at Scorchwing are the ones who want to fight. The only issue I can think of at the moment would be character name claiming,
 
{| class="blockquote"
I just get tired of everyone hating on RP'ers when the entire genre was founded on roleplaying
----
			
Having an RP shard would be the best solution in a megaserver situation. I've never, ever seen or heard of such a thing, though. And I hardly expect Carbine to lead the charge in equality for the role-player crowd. Just doesn't seem like their bag, ya know.
 
That said, I don't think it's going to be megaservers. They can't make money from server transfers and given the dearth of other income streams, it seems unlikely they'd cut that one off completely. I could be wrong though.
 
 
{| class="blockquote"
 
Just look at this thread, and the past ones about merges; I've yet to see many - if any - players from PvE and PvP servers saying "keep those damned dirty RPers away from us!". The reverse, though...
 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Just look at this thread, and the past ones about merges; I've yet to see many - if any - players from PvE and PvP servers saying "keep those damned dirty RPers away from us!". The reverse, though...
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I wouldn't mind a single server. It should be PvE by default, so that the only people who get ganked at Scorchwing are the ones who want to fight. The only issue I can think of at the moment would be character name claiming,
 
 
I see much more hate coming from the roleplayers than being directed at them, and this is coming from someone who's been RPing on forums, IRC, and games since 2001 or so. There's a terribly condescending attitude about it all, this notion that RP communities will die in a merge because they are mature/friendly/creative and that those immature/hostile/vulgar undesirables are just out to loot and pillage and burn everything you create- which is more a statement of personal stereotypes than anything else.
 
Just look at this thread, and the past ones about merges; I've yet to see many - if any - players from PvE and PvP servers saying "keep those damned dirty RPers away from us!". The reverse, though...
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Indeed. They'd probably be combining all the servers of a given type.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
The RP crowd on the other hand was inviting and had a welcoming attitude
----
			The way "megaserver" works in GW2 is that it priority your party -> your guild -> your server first then mix up with everybody for one realm of map. So in case Wildstar decided to bring that megaserver tech to it i think it will follow suits of GW2. In sum, you still able to RP with your fellow friends in major city hub just fine with slight mix of other server people.	
----
			Even with mega servers, exiles still outnumber the doms.	
----
			Merge before mega server IMHO. Mega servers make an MMO feal like a single player game that a bunch random strangers happen to be playing along side you (eg GW2). They wreck the sense of community and damage immersion (in comparison to a healthy independent server).	
----
			I definetly think merging alot of the servers would help the pop a bit	
----
			
I just wanted to chime in for a moment onm the RP server aspect fo the discussion for a brtief moment. I'm not sure how many people are actually on RP server(s) in their respective games(s) they play, including Wildstar. However I'd be strongly against Evindra merged with other servers. Id rather they offer transfers to Evindra and merge the others instead.
 
Speaking from my own experience RP servers when officially supported are never disregarded unless the server in itself is in an extremely poor state, which is usually caused by having multiple RP servers. With the exception of World of Warcraft, I haven't seen many games that could sustain more than 2-4 RP servers and it's become more common to see 1-2(usually if it's 2 one is pvp and other is pve). I see some people citing GW2 for megashards, but a key differenc ein this regard is that while Tarnished Coast was considered widely by almost everyone to be the go to place for RP minded people(due to a lot of coordination on part of the community) Arena Net never officially supported role play(They even stated this as well at one point when asked why there wasn't an RP realm). Because Arena net never officially supported RP and Tarnished Coast was not a designated official RP realm it was not isolated from the server changes that took place earlier this year.
 
While there wasn't an official RP realm, you could still feel the effects of those server changed in GW2 on the RP community and quite frankly to be blunt it was a giant cluster*cupcake* that really hurt the community there. Since most if not all of the people on Tarnished Coast were roleplayers or people who liked being on RP servers in general, they now had a large influx of non-RPers in the same spot and the amount of griefing/harassment was enormous in open world toward role players to a point that some just stopped or took their RP to more private areas, which was a bit heart breaking to see. However since RP was never officially supported, there isn't much you can do...
 
With that said Wildstar does officially support RP by having a server specifically designated as a RP server and I can't recall any game that hasn't shut down that has closed all of their RP servers.More recent games I can think of that did server merges/closures that have RP servers are TERA and Rift. In the case of TERA, they've always only had 1 RP server much like us in Wildstar, but they eventually closed a few servers as well as lifted the pve to pvp restrictions to accommodate the server changes.During the process Celestial Hill(The RP server) was untouched, but it took in a lot of people who primarily fell into a few categories:
 
They wanted a smaller tighter-knit community(comparatively speaking)	Didn't for whatever reason like the servers they were merged with(hey it happens i guess)	(the most dominant reason after asking people during that time)Because the population was less spread out, the RPers who rolled on other servers in fear of being on a low population server moved to Celestial Hill, which in turn gave the RP server a boost in population and those who RP yet wanted a good pop size now had it.
Regardless though. To have an officially RP designated server(s) and then to basically take it a way is a good way to *cupcake* off an entire section of your community(basically a giant "F you" to RPers). IF server merges were to occur it's best to consolidate them by server types to preserve and possibly help grow those communities further. It'd be different if there was no RP server to begin with, but we have one the community is established, fairly stable, and from what I'vce seen is getting some growth(at least on Evindra)	
----
			
@Typrop,
 
Totally agree.  All you have to do is look at what happened in SWTOR as a case study.	
----
			
Well, It is really nice to hear Carbine decided to have a look that matter finally! I think this is the most important issue needed to be solved in game. Such as lots of players my mains are in a semi-dead server and I really do not enjoy the game while playing on that server. I also knew lots of players has cancelled their subs because of the population issue, this is just like a snowball and it started to roll weeks ago. Each people left from game because of the lack of population, became reason to leave for others.
 
 
My opinion is making a super urgent merge is the best solution, merge all pvp servers to one server, all pve server to one server.
 
RP server needs to be untouched, I have been part of RP community in different games and I know that they have completely different enjoyment aspects than a regular server player. Leaving them alone is the way Carbine should go. :)	
----
			
Couldn't they just take the less populated servers, give them a choice of say 3 different larger servers to join, and take everyone that didn't choose a server after a month and toss them all on a designated larger server? I mean that will allow people that wanted to switch to a certain server at least have a chance at it and also could allow people to switch from pve to pvp servers or vice versa. 
 
I also think that they should leave the RP community by itself. There is no point in subjecting them to all the asshats that aren't mature enough to let people enjoy what they want to enjoy without disturbing them.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Regardless though. To have an officially RP designated server(s) and then to basically take it a way is a good way to *cupcake* off an entire section of your community(basically a giant "F you" to RPers). IF server merges were to occur it's best to consolidate them by server types to preserve and possibly help grow those communities further. It'd be different if there was no RP server to begin with, but we have one the community is established, fairly stable, and from what I'vce seen is getting some growth(at least on Evindra)
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Merge before mega server IMHO. Mega servers make an MMO feal like a single player game that a bunch random strangers happen to be playing along side you (eg GW2). They wreck the sense of community and damage immersion (in comparison to a healthy independent server).
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
This.  Why are people even talking about a megaserver before even talking about a standard consolidation?  As it stands, there are 16 North American servers.  Just consolidating these 16 servers to 3-6 servers will provide a huge impact, while keeping the PvP, RP, and PvE distinction intact.  One of the fundamental complaints about ESO is that the world is essentially a mega PvE server with one glorified PvP zone (Cyrodiil).  Because of this, you had unhappy RPers and PvPers.  For those who RP, many felt that flagging as an RP player in ESO was insulting and arbitrary.  Thus, merging/consolidating is the right step before making a desperate move to a single mega server solution. 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
heard from a friend of a friend
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
For those worried about mixing PvP, PvE and RP onto a single megaserver, check out how DC Universe Online's megaserver works to see how that "problem" is actually a non-issue.
 
Long story short, the Devs can create "super-shards" that operate by a particular ruleset (PvP rules, PvE rules, etc) that do not cross over in the open world but still allow for the linkage of instance queues and auction houses. This gives all the advantages of a merged population, without forcing one ruleset on all open world content. Players still choose PvE or PvP at character creation and then are permanently deposited into that world ruleset, interacting with players from the other ruleset shard only when they queue into dungeons, battlegrounds, and the like (no different from cross-server queuing as it presently exists).The megaserver then sub-divides the population of each "super-shard" into multiple zone instances to prevent zone overcrowding (again, no different from what the current servers do).
 
 
Yes, I know DCUO allows for players to cross back and forth between the two rulesets, but this was because the players begged for it, claiming that there weren't enough PvPers to make it worthwhile. In the end it only destroyed most open world PvP on that shard, and players and devs alike would probably not make that choice again. Given the general attitude of the players in Wildstar, I don't think there would be many asking for the ability to cross between PvE and PvP "super-shards".
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
A commenter on reddit said he heard from a friend of a friend that Carbine has been working on megaserver technology for a few weeks now.. I'd take that with a grain of salt, though.  :P Could be megaserver, could be merges, could be CRZ.. Or it could be something entirely different. Your guess is as good as mine.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Megaserver would be the death of our RP community. :(
 
I know. I know. You can't make everyone happy. I get that. But lump our community in with the toxic PVPer and Uber-Leet PVE crowd and I'm gone. No way am I dealing with those people on a regular basis. I can always leave the forums if I don't want to listen to them, but force me to be in the same world as those folks and I won't be coming back. I imagine most of the Evindra population would more or less agree with that.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I wouldn't mind a single server. It should be PvE by default, so that the only people who get ganked at Scorchwing are the ones who want to fight. The only issue I can think of at the moment would be character name claiming,
 
 
I see much more hate coming from the roleplayers than being directed at them, and this is coming from someone who's been RPing on forums, IRC, and games since 2001 or so. There's a terribly condescending attitude about it all, this notion that RP communities will die in a merge because they are mature/friendly/creative and that those immature/hostile/vulgar undesirables are just out to loot and pillage and burn everything you create- which is more a statement of personal stereotypes than anything else.
 
Just look at this thread, and the past ones about merges; I've yet to see many - if any - players from PvE and PvP servers saying "keep those damned dirty RPers away from us!". The reverse, though...
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Second, I love how this was posted on twitter and not in the forum. Gotta love how the devs communicate on twitter because "it's quicker and it's the way we like to communicate". Like keeping a webpage open on your phone to the forum is rocket science compared to twitter. (yes cougar I will complain about this until the game breathes its dying breath because I think it's *cupcake*ing ridiculous) The trickle down method of communication is horse shit.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
This one time, in another game I played, I used to know a guy named Tex that actually pvped to pass the time. The Tex in that other game was on a PVP server at launch, then re-rolled to another PVP server when the population started shifting. It seemed like he pvped all the time. I even ran into him in matches a time or two. I wonder what ever happened to that guy.
 
----
			I'm not sure it really even matters at this point. So many people are playing on CREDD, so many friends/guilds have disbanded. Even if they com bined most of the servers together, I doubt it would feel like 1 high pop server.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Lol.
 
One, have you seen the hate Olivar gets for posting in character in GD? Oh how they want him to keep that filthy rp away from their precious GD.
Two, Tera has crossrealm lfg. You should have seen the hate between the three server types, omg. PvE people detested pvp guys, always horror story about those arseholes. NON-RP often kicked rp people if they could because thinking they'd all rp and not know their job etc. The whining about them was a weekly thing. Pvp people always thought the PvE people were slowing down their runs because everyone knows the best PvE players are on PVP servers. Lmao
 
There's plenty of hate and trolling.
 
I don't rp really. For my own reasons I don't play my Evindra characters. I don't roll pvp.
Just saying that so it's clear I don't have a horse in this race.
 
People who want pvp, who didn't just join pvp realm cause their guild is too hardcore for PvE ruleset... They'd hate flagging and all that nonsense. They want people to be up for grabs, they want to be up for grabs. You, I, don't understand this mentality but it doesn't make nonexistent.
I'm not sure how many of them there are considering how little wpvp is encouraged by the game with the dailies and instance oriented design, but I wouldn't want to take their fun away.
Rp players are trolled often. At least on their server they can state "it said rp server, you rolled here, this is our house". And have your community behind you. The PvE guilds that don't rp that joined Evindra are unlikely to stir stuff up, they know what server they picked. Joe-blow who wants to lynch Olivar would see red if he's inundated by rp (have you heard how big the range of say is and emotes?!?!)... Oh and he can't kill him either cause on this megaserver you can choose to not flag?!? Lmao. The rage, the trolling, the questionable words. Sweet drama.
 
For those suggesting technology, it sounds like a heck of a lot of work to bring it all to one server and then keep compartmentalizing the players in the right category. This game can't afford to work months on this and they cannot afford the backlash of wiping away distinctions.
 
And lastly. They're not even willing to let you transfer PvE to pvp. For money! But they will merge them?!? Haha
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Then offer a flag much like a PVP flag, where you can select whether or not you want to RP.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I'm not sure it really even matters at this point. So many people are playing on CREDD, so many friends/guilds have disbanded. Even if they com bined most of the servers together, I doubt it would feel like 1 high pop server.
----
			
Food for thought:
 
So... when the Grand Convergence happens, will they open up additional character slots?  I have one of each class on both factions.  My Exiles are on Caretaker and my Dominion on Thunderfoot.  Should those two be combined, will I be forced to delete the 'excess' toons?	
----
			I just cant get why Carbine didn't thought about the most obvious thing. Back in launch everyone who owned the game could possibly have invited 3 more pps as free trials. This means there would be a plasmatic overall population, 3 times more than those ppl who originally owned the game. Those ppl should have been placed in separated servers and not in the same ones as the rest of the real subscribers. So it was a natural thing after the first 1-2 weeks the servers went down on pop not only from the ppl who doesnt like the game, but also from the huge amount of ppl who played a week as trials and left after the end of it. This imho was critical for the state and the number of the game servers and it was a mistake from the day 1.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I just cant get why Carbine didn't thought about the most obvious thing. Back in launch everyone who owned the game could possibly have invited 3 more pps as free trials. This means there would be a plasmatic overall population, 3 times more than those ppl who originally owned the game. Those ppl should have been placed in separated servers and not in the same ones as the rest of the real subscribers. So it was a natural thing after the first 1-2 weeks the servers went down on pop not only from the ppl who doesnt like the game, but also from the huge amount of ppl who played a week as trials and left after the end of it. This imho was critical for the state and the number of the game servers and it was a mistake from the day 1.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Food for thought:
 
So... when the Grand Convergence happens, will they open up additional character slots?  I have one of each class on both factions.  My Exiles are on Caretaker and my Dominion on Thunderfoot.  Should those two be combined, will I be forced to delete the 'excess' toons?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I just cant get why Carbine didn't thought about the most obvious thing. Back in launch everyone who owned the game could possibly have invited 3 more pps as free trials. This means there would be a plasmatic overall population, 3 times more than those ppl who originally owned the game. Those ppl should have been placed in separated servers and not in the same ones as the rest of the real subscribers. So it was a natural thing after the first 1-2 weeks the servers went down on pop not only from the ppl who doesnt like the game, but also from the huge amount of ppl who played a week as trials and left after the end of it. This imho was critical for the state and the number of the game servers and it was a mistake from the day 1.
----
			
I would love to see connected realms instead of actual merges - I would be very mad if I had to rename all my characters.
But all in all, I'm glad they are looking into it.	
----
			Who knows, they need to do something though. Even on Stormtalon, which is supposedly the most populated PvE server, it is very difficult to do group content outside of prime time hours. If Carbine is correct that there's more than enough subscribers, then the issue is obviously that none of them have any desire to actually log on.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Who knows, they need to do something though. Even on Stormtalon, which is supposedly the most populated PvE server, it is very difficult to do group content outside of prime time hours. If Carbine is correct that there's more than enough subscribers, then the issue is obviously that none of them have any desire to actually log on.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
No, this was a huge mistake. If the trial happened some months after launch, when servers and the population have been stabilized, i would agree. But putting in launch so many ppl as trials in the same servers with ppl who owned the game was a huge mistake.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Food for thought:
 
So... when the Grand Convergence happens, will they open up additional character slots?  I have one of each class on both factions.  My Exiles are on Caretaker and my Dominion on Thunderfoot.  Should those two be combined, will I be forced to delete the 'excess' toons?
----
			
1 RP server
1 PVP server
1 PVE server. 
 
instances with pop. caps for open world zones with the ability to "go to" the instance of a group member. 
 
Everyones happy?	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
It all depends on what Technology they decide to use. If you look at WoW, with Connected Realms, they added the server suffix to names so that they didn't collide. So, you'd be Plasmajohn-thunderfooot and Plasmajohn-caretaker (for example).
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Well, sure, there are several ways to accomplish it, but that wasn't what I was asking about.  Will the character limit policy be updated to accommodate the combined populations? 
 
Almost all of my Dominion characters have made it to Illium, about half of my Exiles have made it to Thayd and the remainder are parked in their post-ship starter zones.  Even if the cap is raised to nine, I'm going to lose progress somewhere.  Makes me a bit gun-shy about working on any of my alts.  Considering the state of Dominion everywhere and the overall state of Thunderfoot, that's doesn't leave me with a lot of confidence.
 
I sincerely hope that once Carbine decides on how they plan the convergence that they post the details prior to implementation so that they we can give focused feedback on how we'll be affected.  This will give them a chance to adjust their plans if they've overlooked something (again).
 
 
This.  IMO 12 should have been the per server minimum.  The global max should be somewhere between 24 and 240.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
That's a good question.  I think I heard something about an overall character limit across all servers, but I don't recall what it is.  I suppose we'd get immediately rolled to that for all the people that have multiple characters across servers.  Vaguely, was it 20?
----
			Honestly, they should have addressed server population (even just talking about it), back when drop 2 killed most of the playerbase. I don't see how any of these fixes will improve queue times for support roles in pvp, make a single pvp match not a 30+ minute wait,... Queue times aren't server based unless you have only your own server selected.They're gonna need to do a lot more to fix these types of issues.Despite there being a moderate or decent amount of players playing wildstar, the game feels dead. And that's going to drive people away even more. It feels dead beyond server issues.	
----
			
Megaservers are the only realistic option going forward for the next generation of MMOs.
 
It's horizontal scaling to compensate population changes. MMOs will always have more players at launch than 2 or 3 months down the road. It doesn't make sense to add permanent realms when you know they will become empty soon after.
 
The concept of elastic infrastructure isn't new, cloud computing has propelled it for over a decade -- Amazon's EC2 service being the forerunner.
 
Megaservers are tough to implement without some loss of community or interrupting immersion and communication, but having a populated world is far better than an empty world regardless.
 
I think the best implementation is to shard per zone and only shard when absolutely necessary. When a player enters a sharded zone, they should be placed into the shard based on criteria in order of importance: party/raid members, friends/guildies, emptier shard. Allow players to jump to the shard of ANY player at any time (while out of combat) by right-clicking on the player and selecting "Go to player's shard". Going between shards should require only a brief loading screen, it should NOT require logging out and in.
 
All invites (group, party, etc.) work regardless of shard. I would even say channel communication should be shard independent, but perhaps identify what shard someone is in. e.g. "[shard 1] [General] Player X: Hey guys"
 
You could even name the shards based off the current servers.	
----
			Even Stormtalon is on low lately and it is supposed to be most active. I can only imagine what other 'low' pop servers actually look like.  :huh:	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
And this is worse than any other problem...
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Remember all those posts where I said don't be so quick to claim sheer population was the problem; but that PLAYER CONCURRENCY was the major issue making servers feel dead?
 
 
Yup, I'll just sit here in the back....
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
That's a good question.  I think I heard something about an overall character limit across all servers, but I don't recall what it is.  I suppose we'd get immediately rolled to that for all the people that have multiple characters across servers.  Vaguely, was it 20?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
1 RP server
1 PVP server
1 PVE server. 
 
instances with pop. caps for open world zones with the ability to "go to" the instance of a group member. 
 
Everyones happy?
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Probably won't ever be happy with no RP-PVP server.  Was a thorn in my side since the beginning.  At this point, well, I won't go into that.
----
			I think it is apparent at this point that they do not care to listen to the dwindling player-base. 	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I think it is apparent at this point that they do not care to listen to the dwindling player-base. 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I think it is apparent at this point that they do not care to listen to the dwindling player-base. 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
And you'd be wrong.
 
They just came out and said on Tuesday that "they hear us, they love us and they're working on it."
 
I feel your frustration. I really do. If you just want people to talk to, make a little alt on Evindra. We ain't the busiest or the most hardcore - but we'll give you plenty of people to talk to and share the game with, until such a time as the future plans come to fruition.
 
Seriously. If you're enjoying everything BUT the lack of people, come visit for a while. You're mains will be there when the merges (or whatever) go live!
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
We as the playerbase have been complaining about empty servers for weeks now. We have been saying that players are leaving in droves and that if nothing is done soon that it will be too late. Now I know that for my guild it is too late. People became so upset at the lack of response or even acknowledgement to the issue that they left the game.
 
Sure they have said they are now aware of the issue, however for many it is far too little far too late. They should have said something weeks ago. I would be interested to know how long it is going to take them to come up with a solution. Saying "We are aware of it" am afraid does not cut it. What is to say that it wont take them 3 months to sort out the issue ? I mean we already are seeing a massively reduced playerbase.
----
			
Too late is about right. Another sub pay date slips by.
 
Ask those 13 players on Rowsdower at Prime Time.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 I don't know what else to say.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I'm sure you'll think of something :)
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
And you'd be wrong.
 
They just came out and said on Tuesday that "they hear us, they love us and they're working on it."
 
I feel your frustration. I really do. If you just want people to talk to, make a little alt on Evindra. We ain't the busiest or the most hardcore - but we'll give you plenty of people to talk to and share the game with, until such a time as the future plans come to fruition.
 
Seriously. If you're enjoying everything BUT the lack of people, come visit for a while. You're mains will be there when the merges (or whatever) go live!
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I do enjoy the thought of a more populated server but I cannot get into the whole role playing thing.   Thanks for the response though!
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Too late is about right. Another sub pay date slips by.
 
Ask those 13 players on Rowsdower at Prime Time.
----
			
Who brings up 50 players, if your server has less than 50, you get them all.
 
/who a brings up 50 aXXX named players
/who b brings up 50 bXXX named players
 
For you Sweetie I will check tonight's count.	
----