The entire point of the F2P transition was to see if a new and viable growth model could address those concerns. In NA and Europe they clearly did, as anyone on the servers can attest.

Those servers had just been through mergers and were already at healthy population levels as a result when FTP started. The server I was on before coming to gav daragon was in a pretty dire situation before they merged with a few other servers. That merger fixed their problems, not ftp. If they were going to do mergers with APAC servers it should have been done back then rather than the 'wait and see' approach which pretty much killed off the apac servers.

Well done! I've signed it days ago and am proud the APAC community is rallying around this issue.

Wont help the situation. Even if the sigs get up to the thousands i doubt it will make ea/bioware reverse their decision.

Makes more sense from their perspective.

The rot has set in, Name hijacking has begun, some lowlifes are harvesting names of people on Dalbora fleet and creating armies of alts on Harbinger with FTP accounts so that the people being transferred will have to pick a new name (or possibly pay them to delete their alt so that they can keep their name, that hasn't happened yet but I have seen this kind of character name blackmail in other games when they did server merges.)

Who really cares that much about an ingame name :s wow seriously....

That's still higher than what you ever see on gav daragon. I know it sucks that things have been ok on dalborra and it's being ruined now. I feel for you guys but spare a thought for players on the other 2 australian servers. It sucks never being able to get a pop with group finder and having to wait an hour or more to get any pvp, even during busier times. Bioware can't leave our 2 servers dwindling and they sure as heck won't pay to just keep one server running, even if it's had 2 other servers merged in to it. They won't keep 3 servers going if one is ok and the other 2 are stuggling and they won't keep things open just for one.

Wow your right, why on earth would I be pissed that the majority of us on the one good server are being punished for a handful

Here is the fundamental problem with the petition: EA has determined that the current population does not warrant continued local investment.

 

Marshalling said population base to directly request that investment does not actually do anything that would alter the logic that went into the decision.

 

Now, if you could somehow demonstrate to EA that there is a larger base of potential players they have missed and can easily tap to increase revenue flow you might have something...

 

In reality, you guys are coming over to the NA servers or unsubbing.

 

I cannot really see any other viable option at this point as I doubt EA is going to reverse course on this one.

^ THIS !!! Couldnt of put it better buddy.

 

Honestly?

My IQ is 150, I am the first graduate to earn an MA from my institution in the last decade with a perfect 4.0, have numerous institutional-level award winning pieces of research, literally earned every single academic honor offered within my department and university, and have earned a fully funded ride to finish out my Doctorate while I work on publishing independent research.

 

So, I would infer that I am slightly above the curve of "stupid."

 

Thanks for asking though, but, this is relevant to the discussion how?

because if you truly have an IQ of 150 and are in the MENSA club then you wouldn't be wasting your time posting constant drivel that only infuriates and upsets those that actually come here to make a point?

I'm from the Gav D by the way, not the biggest of servers but up until recently we've had dedicated progression teams on rep and imp and been working our way through content. We even gave tips to Dulfy about the Xeno Boss, to which we were extremely grateful for her guide. I seriously doubt that the Asia Pacific Servers are that unprofitable and if they are now well its EA's fault that it is. The population issue was brought up months and months ago. Something should have been done there and then, merged the APAC servers, people would have been upset, gotten over it and continued playing and it would have been REALLY IMPORTANT to have had a single super APAC server when they went free to play so people could have seen how interesting the game was. Having said that, they didn't. So like you keep saying Icehawk whats done is done.

I must say I"m a little curious about what your doctorates entail, I was almost wondering if you were the sort of journalist that runs up to a burning house to find the poor family that escaped with their lives, then push the camera in their face and ask them, so now that you've lost everything, your pet, your possessions your home, How do you feel right now that you know you're most likely going to be living on the street and rummaging through bins because you weren't insured? Then again a high level of IQ might possibly explain your entire lack of empathy.

At any rate, EA ran the APAC servers into the ground themselves through inaction. The APAC community has offered not only to pay for the cost of a mega server (which surely cannot be that expensive.) but we are also willing to try and push the game out more than EA ever bothered with. To which EA has said Sorry we're forcing you all onto servers because we can. thxkbai

I will definetly be unsubscribing if I'm forced onto North American servers. I tried out the free weekend just before the rakghoul event because I heard they had australian servers for the game. I imagine there are alot of other people playing for the same reason, because less lag. SWTOR is a mediocre MMO, and while I've had fun playing it its not something I am going to miss in any major way apart from all the effort I've put into my characters which means that Ontop of All our effort to gear up we are going to all be reset to a certain level with the new patch, our communities will be torn up and pushed onto american communities, we will lose character names, and we will lose that ping that made playing the game bearable. What exactly is there to keep me playing the game at this point? the only thing that has kept me playing this game, the friends I've made. Most of them are going to give up when we get pushed to america so why should I bother, this is what EA needs to answer if they want to keep me as a subscriber WHICH IS THE POINT OF THIS THREAD.

Constantly beating people on the head with the bleeding obvious Icehawk endears you to no one and if you are the kinds of people I can look forward to meeting on the american servers I'm more tempted to unsubscribe anyway. Just remember though, that when they came for the APAC Servers you did nothing, when they finally went for the EU servers you did nothing, and then they will come for your american servers. Have fun playing a game thats you know is going to end so only putting more effort into is futile and pointless by your words apparently.

EDIT: can we please have those saying that character names aren't important please freely and willfully give up their names to those that might have their name when the server merges happen? I'm sure those that are willing to continue to subscribe will be greatly appreciative of your generosity seeing character names do not matter to you in the slightest.

Who really cares that much about an ingame name :s wow seriously....

I do...

Its my identity in game how people know me, a rep I have built.

Sorry you fail to understand that

do u have a common sense?

u do realize players live in different time zone , right?

so u wont get much boost at ur peak time.

Have you been on the NA server when its their off peak? its actually quite good.

^ THIS !!! Couldnt of put it better buddy.

I've read most of your replies.

I agree, you really couldn't have put it better.

Not even close.

The trade-off EA has given us is population vs performance. People's loyalties are with both and that's why we want a merger!

Planetside 2 is F2P and has localised servers! I don't think the APAC servers are running at a loss but they are taking an opportunity to sacrifice the quality of our performance (ping/latency) to cost cut and increase revenues.

A lot of us have played on US servers, if if you do anything that requires quick reactions, you're already 1/3 - 1/5 of a second behind the reaction time an American player will have. Plus increased lag spikes and Harbinger's regular problems.

 

We're not "Chicken Littles", we just aren't gullible fanboys with rosé coloured glasses who welcome an obvious degradation in service quality.

Not quite.

Look up the definition of a "milisecond", and equate the differential between what US players are getting (~30-60) and what most of us would get (~140-200). That's a difference of ~110-140 miliseconds.

That is an increase in lag of .11 - .14 seconds for most of APAC players. Let's not exaggerate here. And yeah, I know some of you have bad internet connections or are located in geographic regions that will compound this greatly with an extra ~50-100 milisecond of lage. But again, nowhere close to "1/3 - 1/5 of a second."

Honestly?

My IQ is 150, I am the first graduate to earn an MA from my institution in the last decade with a perfect 4.0, have numerous institutional-level award winning pieces of research, literally earned every single academic honor offered within my department and university, and have earned a fully funded ride to finish out my Doctorate while I work on publishing independent research.

 

So, I would infer that I am slightly above the curve of "stupid."

 

Thanks for asking though, but, this is relevant to the discussion how?

I'm freaking Einstein reincarnated with Sir Isaac Newton's brain stitched in for good measure. See, we can all make unreasonable claims on the internet. FWIW, 150 isn't that great. Mine's 154 and I've been an Undergrad for 7 years because I get bored and change degrees frequently.

But quite frankly, no one here really cares what you have to say. Most of APAC just want to whine somewhere about the decision and are looking for support, not logic. For someone so 'smart' you really don't understand that much. Reminds me of my numerous Comp. Science Lecturers that couldn't get an Overhead Projector working.

Most of the outrage here is that Bioware asked us APAC players what we wanted and the general consensus was a server merge to Dalborra (where I call home) which has a sustainable population but could always benefit from the extra population. The benefit most people wanted (especially the PvPers) was the maintain the low ping to which we have become accustomed to. Secondary benefits included the ability to maintain our identity as the APAC server and the lower population causing fewer name clashes.

Now the first thing I did when I heard about this was log onto the Harbinger and try to get my names. I got all my Grall* names below but was unable to get any of the others. I advised all my Guildies to do the same of which most could get 1 or 2 but often not their primary name. I understand that when the merger actually happens we may still get to keep some of the names and we will lose some depending on a number of factors.

We then began to level to 10 so we could reserve the guild names. During that time I found the general play lag to be bearable. I found a lot more missed GCDs (from maybe 1 in 100 to about 5 in a hundred) but otherwise it seemed fairly playable. I know that once we have moved and are working on "progression level" content that might change and I dread to think of the PvPers in my guild. Interrupting with a 20-40ms ping is vastly easier than interrupting with a 200-300ms ping. This will be amplified by the increased value of Alacrity which will lower the 'interrupt window'.

Anyway, what it really comes down to is BW asked us what we wanted and gave us something completely different. If you go to an Ice Cream Parlour and ask for Chocolate, you'd be annoyed if they give you Vanilla because its more cost effective. Same deal here.

I do...

Its my identity in game how people know me, a rep I have built.

Sorry you fail to understand that

Well maybe you should....IDK go outside perhaps?

Thank you for agreeing with my underlying logic, I honestly felt I was talking to someone who was towing the academic/corporate line.

Honestly?

My IQ is 150, I am the first graduate to earn an MA from my institution in the last decade with a perfect 4.0, have numerous institutional-level award winning pieces of research, literally earned every single academic honor offered within my department and university, and have earned a fully funded ride to finish out my Doctorate while I work on publishing independent research.

 

So, I would infer that I am slightly above the curve of "stupid."

 

Thanks for asking though, but, this is relevant to the discussion how?

I was inferring that you are, in fact, not that stupid. Hubris aside, you have demonstrated that.

I also happen to think that EA would be the kind of company to kick up a stink about a small retreat from a market place, likely to generate some local political discourse so they can get some incentives to come in and faff about the place. That's what big companies do when it won't make headlines the world over or they think they have a sizeable backing.

I do...

Its my identity in game how people know me, a rep I have built.

Sorry you fail to understand that

Hahaha you must certainly feel accomplished. Losing your in game name is probably the least significant thing about this whole server merger.

I have a fast internet speed and quit wow because my main was a rogue and could not backstab moving targets. It looked like I was behind them on my pc, but I was not on the server due to lag.

These small things make it impossible to be competitive on any sort of decent level.

Why are the same people posting over and over trying to say having lag is fine? It clearly is not. Trolls I guess.

I've read most of your replies.

 

I agree, you really couldn't have put it better.

 

Not even close.

Thanks friend! i understand you're angry so i won't take offense

Im just happy to soon be on a server with players.

Well maybe you should....IDK go outside perhaps?

Your wit astounds me.

I must say I find it quite amusing that most of the posters defending the merger are not affected by it while most of the players angered over the announcement are in fact affected by it. Really says something.

It's the same three posters since the announcement came through.

People need to ignore their futile attempts at agitation.

Hahaha you must certainly feel accomplished. Losing your in game name is probably the least significant thing about this whole server merger.

Your name is the one and only thing you have in this game that is unique to you. I see the value in that.

Thanks friend! i understand you're angry so i won't take offense

Im just happy to soon be on a server with players.

I'm actually quite far from angry. Slightly upset (but mainly at losing friends to this merger), but angry is such an incredible stretch. Hence, your understanding is invalid.

because if you truly have an IQ of 150 and are in the MENSA club then you wouldn't be wasting your time posting constant drivel that only infuriates and upsets those that actually come here to make a point?

Honestly, I am not a MENSA member and never thought to apply for an application. Nor really do I care to. The point, quite frankly, was to demonstrate to that previous poster the pointlessness in attempting to engage in ad hominems, especially after such a well constructed and rather amenable discussion.

I must say I"m a little curious about what your doctorates entail, I was almost wondering if you were the sort of journalist that runs up to a burning house to find the poor family that escaped with their lives, then push the camera in their face and ask them, so now that you've lost everything, your pet, your possessions your home, How do you feel right now that you know you're most likely going to be living on the street and rummaging through bins because you weren't insured? Then again a high level of IQ might possibly explain your entire lack of empathy.

Nothing quite so dramatic; I received my Bachelors in History and Secondary Education with an extension for Special Education Grades 5-12, and received accreditation from the New York State Department of Education. Moved into the Master's program for History with the full intention of moving on to a Doctorate as the High School educational system lacks a certain degree of challenge.

My Doctorate is a PhD in History, with a content specialization in Colonial and Early American History while my principle research focuses on redressing some of the historiographic issues centered around the personal and political character of George Washington during his tenure as a client under the patronage of Colonel Thomas Fairfax and Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie before the onset of the French-Indian Wars. If you are actually interested I would recommend taking a look at John Ferling's The Ascent of George Washingotn(2009) or taking a look at my Master's Thesis, it is on file at my previous University and I would be more than happy to link you to their library website. (Though I am unsure if they have digitized copies as of yet)

Constantly beating people on the head with the bleeding obvious Icehawk endears you to no one and if you are the kinds of people I can look forward to meeting on the american servers I'm more tempted to unsubscribe anyway. Just remember though, that when they came for the APAC Servers you did nothing, when they finally went for the EU servers you did nothing, and then they will come for your american servers. Have fun playing a game thats you know is going to end so only putting more effort into is futile and pointless by your words apparently.

Actually, I have been rather outspoken about Bioware and EA's transition to this new model over the last few months, to no avail. The best thing I can actually do to make Bioware take notice is to maintain my sub and try to convince some of my friends to pick it up. Other than that, not much I or you can do that Bioware or EA will actually respond to unfortunately.

And yes, it will end eventually.

The lesson is to drop the vitriol and the rage, enjoy it while you can, and once it is gone move on and keep some fond memories of the friends you met and the good times you had.

Or you can continuously rage on the forums, to each his own.

Either way, I will continue to point out that there is a reason, other than the "evilness of EA," behind what happened.

The trade-off EA has given us is population vs performance. People's loyalties are with both and that's why we want a merger!

 

Planetside 2 is F2P and has localised servers! I don't think the APAC servers are running at a loss but they are taking an opportunity to sacrifice the quality of our performance (ping/latency) to cost cut and increase revenues.

Now you're getting it!

EA is a buisness..they need to make money!

They may have the biggest scumbag reputation amongst the gaming community but they know how to nickle and dime us better than any other publisher

Your name is the one and only thing you have in this game that is unique to you. I see the value in that.

+1. Much agreement.