The lack of real expansions and sluggish content update cadences have really hurt this game in the long run. Satele Shan is dying. Primetime window gets smaller and smaller and ranked PvP won't pop generally until it's almost ET evening hours. Even SF is very quiet until ET evening hours.

This is also another Shadowlands vs. Jedi Covenent situation. Two same servers competing for the exact same demographic. There is no reason to have 2 separate servers keeping the vast majority who do the same things away from each other.

I think the reasoning that keeping 2 servers due to "technical limitations" is a cop out, too. This game has bled out so much of its population that it frankly only needs 1 server, and you guys certainly have the hardware and knowledge to maintain that for the rest who play this game on a regular basis. The server won't be overbloated, that's for sure.

Please merge the servers. You're doing what little players remain a disservice by not doing so.

You know how you got one of them things that pushes waste out? You're about to get another one. Look out! Incoming!

Is this where we get the popcorn?

Please merge the servers. You're doing what little players remain a disservice by not doing so.

And when they're merged, and nothing changes... then what?

If they do it, they do it, but there's no magic in a merge at this point.

Hah, and what gives you the technical qualifications to say whether they can handle it all on one server?

I remember the last merger, and the servers were having a rough time handling it for the first couple weeks.

It's summer, populations are lower, and it's still more crowded than I like.

Go start whining about cross server queues instead, then you won't disrupt the rest of us. Again.

Hah, and what gives you the technical qualifications to say whether they can handle it all on one server?

 

I remember the last merger, and the servers were having a rough time handling it for the first couple weeks.

 

It's summer, populations are lower, and it's still more crowded than I like.

 

Go start whining about cross server queues instead, then you won't disrupt the rest of us. Again.

This^^ 100% I do NOT want another merge and we don't need one.

You don't speak for me OP. Another merge would be a disservice to me.

This^^ 100% I do NOT want another merge and we don't need one.

This.

People complained about dead servers.

So we went from 17 servers to 5.

People are now complaining about dead servers.

Maybe we'll go from 5 to 1.

People will then... [guess]

Merges don't matter now. Content does.

I'm starting to wonder if their current server system can even carry everyone from two servers. We have massive lag issues every time there is a content update which attracts more than the usual amount of people around.

Maybe it's just a coincidence but it really has been quite alarming.

Please merge the servers.

No amount of server merging is going to save this game's population if people have no fun doing what this game is offering and keep investing time (and money) into it.

No amount of server merging is going to save this game's population if people have no fun doing what this game is offering and keep investing time (and money) into it.

Or have already walked away.

New content is what will bring people back to the game. Not mergers. People are walking away because there's nothing for them to do.

I don't think there's any reason for players to be inconvenienced again, and possibly lose more strongholds and names, to accommodate GF pops. I'm not in favor of any mergers and think that having two NA servers is better.

This^^ 100% I do NOT want another merge and we don't need one.

 

You don't speak for me OP. Another merge would be a disservice to me.

This!

No. Just no more server merges.

Think past group-finder pops. Even with the population falling below the post-merger highs, there is still noticeable lag on the more popular planets (like Tatooine) and problems completing pve content because too many people are going for the same resources.

It's not a lack of players that makes the pops slow, it's the lack of any reason to do group content. The rewards are small, the content is old, and in some cases the community is unwelcoming to new players so of course new players won't become regular users of the queue's.

Merging will do nothing for the group finder pops, and will only inconvenience everyone else.

Don't ask for mergers - ask for more content

No. Just no more server merges.

Haha, I love all the faces

I wouldn't judge server health based on how the ranked PvP queue pops in particular. People don't play ranked PvP because of the toxicity of the community there, not due to a lack of server population. Why would anyone want to sign up for a bunch of PvP arenas where the whole time you'll get yelled at, insulted, threatened, and told to kill yourself if you're not 100% perfect from the start? No thanks. You can't blame server depopulation for people not wanting to touch ranked PvP with a 50 foot pole.

As for the other queues, as previous posters have stated, there's only so many times you can play through the same flashpoints and operations before you are just bored of them. I'm still a subscriber, but I rarely queue for anything anymore. Most of the content in this game is 4-6 years old. I've done it hundreds of times. I don't have interest in repeating it forever.

The lack of real expansions and sluggish content update cadences have really hurt this game in the long run. Satele Shan is dying. Primetime window gets smaller and smaller and ranked PvP won't pop generally until it's almost ET evening hours. Even SF is very quiet until ET evening hours.

 

This is also another Shadowlands vs. Jedi Covenent situation. Two same servers competing for the exact same demographic. There is no reason to have 2 separate servers keeping the vast majority who do the same things away from each other.

 

I think the reasoning that keeping 2 servers due to "technical limitations" is a cop out, too. This game has bled out so much of its population that it frankly only needs 1 server, and you guys certainly have the hardware and knowledge to maintain that for the rest who play this game on a regular basis. The server won't be overbloated, that's for sure.

 

Please merge the servers. You're doing what little players remain a disservice by not doing so.

I predicted at the last mergers they would need to look at doing it again in 9 months.

I’ve also been saying since March that prime time would start shrinking in July because outside of primetime was already shrinking in February-March

I said 2 months ago that outside of primetime was nearly a ghost town

But...

I was shouted down as per usual, told to play in prime time (which I mostly was, including rolling on a EU server)

I was told APAC players didnt count so my opinion didn’t matter.

I was told primetime was great and everything was ok

But...

I said, people who play in the middle of primetime would be the last to feel it

I said people who play when I do are the “canaries in the mine” for what’s going to happen in the future

I warned this was going to happen

But...

As usual I got trolled by a certain somebody from EU. I think we all know who I mean (starts with an “O”). Telling me I should stop playing because I’m in APAC.

Lastly...

The writings been on the wall for this for 5 months, I’ve been keeping relatively neutral as to when or if mergers should happen.

I don’t think they need to be done tomorrow or next week, but Bioware need to have a plan in place and a timetable ready to do this before it goes too far. If they take too long to do it this time, like they did last time, it will be more detrimental. The plan should also allow for it to be implemented faster if populations drop faster than they forecasted for their own internal roadmap (loose term).

My concern is they won’t do anything till the next expansion because they will say they are worried about the server being overloaded for the expansion.

As much as I wish that we could have two full servers for the next expansion, I think it’s wishful thinking. They would have to do something better than they’ve done in the last 4 years to make that happen and with EAware not supporting the game, there is little hope they can get the money, talent and resources needed to pull a proverbial Pog out of the hat.

Mergers are a decisive topic and divide the community like nothing else does. Both sides are passionate and both sides make good points as to why they want them or don’t.

As a group player, I need more people, so I’m always going to be in favour of mergers when populations drop so much that it’s difficult to do group content.

But I also understand why people who don’t do group content won’t want to merge. It’s a big upheaval and can be traumatic for some. It’s for that reason I think Bioware should have just made the one server to start with. Then all of that merger angst would have been over last merge with one big pull of the bandaid. Now we will have to go through it all again and reopen a wound that had mostly healed.

It was a bad idea to move the west coast server to the east coast, but it was a worse idea to then still have 2 servers that were located in the same location, which essentially split the same population in 2. It only ever made sense to have 2 servers if they were split geographically.

If the populations of both servers keep declining at this steady rate and we have no more self inflicted Bio-blunders (ie conquest or major patch releases that are broken-massively bugged) that make a bunch of people leave in one go, then I would say they will need to merge around November-January. That’s “if” the new expansion isn’t due till this time next year (which is likely when it will be, if at all). But, “if” for some miraculous reason the expansion will be ready in Jan-February, IMO, they should hold off. If not, then I would say that should be when mergers should probably happen.

Bioware in the meantime could start making it easier to move servers with discounted transfers again, 90cc.

I might be a bit biased towards cheap transfers because I’ve wanted this for awhile since I needed to start playing in the EU to get enough peoplemto play with.

Maybe if they introduced them again, people could follow the primetimes for each server and move as needed. So depending on your time you login, you could start in the EU primetime, when it slows, move to the East coast primetime, when it slows, move to the dwindling west coast prime time (mostly SS). That way you could essentially play all day if you so chose (except west coast players who are on the wrong end of the planet’s rotation).

There are a lot of “ifs and buts” to be considered with mergers. Only Bioware know their internal road map for content release and can also see population trends. Hopefully they do have a plan in place already for mergers for when they are actually needed and they won’t wait till it’s too late and then spend 6-12 months working on a plan (like last time). IMO, that would finish burying the game for good.

 

Merges don't matter now. Content does.

It’s a chicken and egg situation or a self fulfilling prophecy.

The lack of content reduces populations, if they won’t or can’t release enough new content, then more people leave.

We end up with snow ball effect that speeds up and gets even faster when Bioware self inflict a wound (shoot themselves in both feet, ie conquest).

So you end up with two problems, low population which means group players need mergers and lack of content which continues to make more people leave.

You are partially correct, we do need more meaningful (quality) and bug free content. That would slow the population decline dramatically and hold off mergers. But it’s not the only thing they could do to bring people back or slow it down.

Freeing up or easing up on the grind would certainly help. Making the game more Alt friendly and putting some incentives in for people to do old content again. ie playing the lower pvp brackets or redoing planet story arcs or allowing people to complete the last 2 expansions in groups group play and not solo.

Tweaking-altering the conquest system a little bit more to make it Alt friendly would be the first step.

The second step (for me) would be incentives to play lowbie pvp.

The third step would be allowing planetary are missions to be redone and having incentives for them.

The Fourth step is make steps 2 and 3 have conquest incentives associated with them.

Fifth step would be to ease up on the gear grind and adjust the RNG drops so that more-better gear drops more frequently, especially at tier 4 (which is a disgrace)

There are so many things with minimal effort that Bioware could start to do that would help alleviate this player bleed, while they try and get more content out. But if they ignore the players who are giving them feed back, people will keep leaving.

Eventually they are left with only one recourse if they want group content to be playable in the game, and that would be mergers.

Bioware are their own worst enemy most of the time. They tell us what we should like and draw a line in the sand they won’t cross, even when people start leaving because of it. They continue to shoot off parts of their own body, feet, fingers, hands and arms. But I’m sure the first thing they shot off were their ears. Hopefully they haven’t gone completely blind as well and they will “see” what’s happening. (Anyone know a good eye surgeon )

I really wish Bioware would have listened “properly” to all the feed back on conquest, then we wouldn’t have seen so many people leave over it. I fear it may even be too late to get some back, even if they made conquest the way most people wanted/want it. At some point, people just lose any remaining confidence in them and say “enough is enough”.

Merging servers does nothing to address the reasons people are leaving the game or not playing as much, and would only serve to alienate more players.

Of course there were more players nine and three months ago, because...drumroll...there was NEW CONTENT released then. People showed up for Copero and the United Forces promotion. They showed up again for Nathema. They haven't stuck around because there's no new content.

Others have spoken much more knowledgeably than I on how conquest changes have harmed their guilds and made it much more difficult to meet goals for guild ship unlocks, etc.

Others have also spoken about how toxic attitudes of some players keep them away from group content, or how they prefer to only play with friends or guilds they know.

None of that will be fixed by forcing players into a merge and causing them to lose names and more strongholds.

Merging servers does nothing to address the reasons people are leaving the game or not playing as much, and would only serve to alienate more players.

 

Of course there were more players nine and three months ago, because...drumroll...there was NEW CONTENT released then. People showed up for Copero and the United Forces promotion. They showed up again for Nathema. They haven't stuck around because there's no new content.

 

Others have spoken much more knowledgeably than I on how conquest changes have harmed their guilds and made it much more difficult to meet goals for guild ship unlocks, etc.

 

Others have also spoken about how toxic attitudes of some players keep them away from group content, or how they prefer to only play with friends or guilds they know.

 

None of that will be fixed by forcing players into a merge and causing them to lose names and more strongholds.

All good points. With no easy answer because Bioware just can’t or won’t employ more people to make content making faster and better.

At some point there is a tipping scale and they need to decide how they want the game to continue on. Wether it’s merging servers and pissing of people or not merging and pissing off people.

It really is a bad situation of Biowares own making and could have been avoided many times.