Character Transfer, Server Populations and You

The glich had nothing to do with the reason they went slow. The only reason they went slow is to drag out this process for as long as possible, since while they are doing transfers they dont have to do anything else.

It really feels like we need to start setting the bar pretty low with this team. It's beginning to be the only way to avoid tremendous disappointment.

I really see no reason why the effects of these merges should range from so drastic to so small. It's pretty sad.

The Fatman shouldn't have been on the first round of transfers regardless of origin or destination. So many other servers that were truly hurting that could have used any type of boost.

ah ok, so you've shifted now from it being no fault of BWs to it being a combined effort lol.

I work as a database engineer (no, not for Bioware, no interest in living in Texas) and I can readily imagine all manner of scenarios that explain why transfers are happening slowly.

1. The Transfer Process Itself

I think BW has even confirmed this much - that the process itself is intensive and presents a strain on their systems. For this reason it is necessary to throttle how many origin/destination server pairs are opened up at any given point in time in order to avoid an unacceptable impact on the performance of the system otherwise. Remember that while these transfers are happening - and stop and consider the LARGE amount of data assocaited with our characters (which includes all of their story decision variables, companion data, etc.) - the system (especially the databases) needs to continue working for everyone who is playing the game and not transferring.

2. Server Populations Need To Be Watched

It isn't enough to look at the population of people playing right now, at least not without a major caveat to consider. Just because someone isn't playing now it doesn't automatically mean they won't in the future or won't transfer. Someone may only play a few hours a week, and when suddenly placed in a more populated environment may decide to start playing more. Because of this it is impossible to precisely predict how the transfers are going to impact the load on the destination servers. BW could perhaps go by subscription numbers, but that got us into the situation of having too many servers with too low a population and could very well not be a reliable measure either.

The ultimate objective here is to have the right number of servers of each type so they are all sustaining a healthy population to facilitate people finding groups, friends, and guilds. Too many in this context is equally undesirable as too few. Too many equates into queues or poor performance on the part of the hardware, while those on the too-low servers are clearly already familiar with those problems.

Because we're talking about doing X and then determining what to do next based on how the players react to it there needs to be enough time for the players to react to it. Rushing was what got us too many servers, the last thing we need is more rushing now.

Lastly if Bioware maintains a pace of 10 servers a day on average, and is aiming to reduce the number of servers in half (from 213 to 116 or 117) we're talking about 12 days to get everything done. If they do it 20 servers a day we're talking about 6 days. Honestly when trying to measure or observe how players react that isn't a lot of time to collect data on how people are reacting - it is still rather "fast" in that there isn't a lot of time to make observations on your data and thus make adjustments to it. As much as I'm sure everyone wants this process finished so we can enjoy the final result, some things cannot be rushed and be as good.

Don't believe me?

Try slow-cooking corn beef in a crockpot versus rapidly cooking it in a microwave and let me know which one tastes better

A compilation of questions and answers from the Community Team on this topic can be found below:

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This should be stickied, but unfortunately it will be passed over in this thread by the next ten proclamations declaring that they are just doing this on purpose to piss us off because its no more then a simple flip of a switch.

Thank you for posting it anyway.

Once again, you have no idea about anything here. How can you make that assertion? Because you, in your vast experience as a game developer, have that listed in your plan of action?

How do we know they are not using that particular server as the gauge for population size and therefore seek to max it out first? How do we know anything that would allow any of us to make such a random, uninformed statement as you have made?