Seems like almost every server is low population. At Peak hours, there are not many people on any one server. Rift had this issue, and in the beginning, they shut down servers, and allowed people to merge to other servers. It's odd that it takes hours at lvl 50 for a PVP game to pop, as there is hardly anyone on the servers. They also need to implement CROSS REALM Ques. WOW did this, and was a huge success. For any new MMO not to include this off the bat, is beyond bizarre to me. I think Bioware is too focused on fixing bugs than getting these servers in line. Wish I never leveled on what is now a "Low POP" server, as most of the time I feel like this is a single player game.

 

Bioware, what say you?

Hello everyone,

 

This thread has been recreated because the previous version has exceeded our post threshold of 1,000 posts. Please continue to use this thread for any discussion related to whether or not there will be Server Merges.

 

A reminder that regardless of the topic, it is part of our Rules of Conduct that:

 

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For related discussions, please see the following threads:

 

• Daniel Erickson on Server Population.
  
• FREE Character Transfers are Coming!
  
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Please also see Dallas Dickinson's reply to the April 27th Community Q&A:

 

Arymono: When will character transfers be available for everybody?

 

Dallas Dickinson (Senior Producer, Live Services): We will be rolling out our Character Transfer Service in early summer. First we’ll have some targeted free transfers from/to specific servers, but that will be followed with a broader system where you can either take advantage of free promotional transfers to specific servers or paid transfers to the server of your choice. We know everyone has more questions about character transfer, and we’ll reveal more details closer to the launch date.

Thank you for understanding.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Yvin

WHy do they even bother leaving this thread open I wonder?

 

They straight up said they refuse to do a server merge. They wont do it.

 

Even though the issue is big enough that a news site for the game actually had to ASK them to get a response, they still don't think they have any issues.

 

Has a mod ever come on this thread and given an official response to server merges?

 

Have we ever gotten ANY official response to server merges?

 

Why is it so hard to COMMUNICATE with your player base?

 

It would be nice, if they don't think there is an issue, for them to come out and explain why they don't exactly - why they think it's okay that most warzones on my server start with 6 players, why the GTN on my server has hardly any thing on it, why finding groups is nigh impossible because there's hardly anyone around.

It would be nice, if they don't think there is an issue, for them to come out and explain why they don't exactly - why they think it's okay that most warzones on my server start with 6 players, why the GTN on my server has hardly any thing on it, why finding groups is nigh impossible because there's hardly anyone around.

 

I feel bad for you Europe folks (And not because my mother is british either )

 

You guys always have server pop problems, scheduled maintenance during peak hours, longer wait for game releases.

 

I am just shocked, like "*** Kitty" even that they can say with a straight face there aren't some issues with low population servers.

 

BioWare, seriously, I WANT to play your game. I LIKE playing SWTOR, but I cant fully enjoy it if nobody is on my server to play with!

Ok, just a warning im so *********** angry. ALLOW TRANSFER OR MERGE ALREADY. I'm so sick and tired of login into an empty server, where I see the same people PvP'ing. The same server that has 3 guilds that can even do 16 man raids, 2 of which can clear NMM and won't accept new players, because they are full and want to be that guild that pushing content on the server.

 

Its ******** that us players on smaller servers have to put up w/ this crap especially when a new content patch is coming out. Players on small servers are going to be left behind.

 

WAITING A MONTH+ IS UNACCEPTABLE BIOWARE.

Edited April 11, 2012 by NissiK

BW really dropped the ball when it came to server populations. I'm on a server that's considered midline for population and we hardly have anybody on. What's worse is BW seems to think things are just fine even though PVP queue pops are iffy at the 50 range, and finding anyone your level range for FP is downright impossible.

 

When server transfers come out sadly they will make a killing if they charge for it like other games do, because right now most servers have such a piss poor balance of population (let alone faction balance) that most people would be more than willing to pay money to get off to a more populated server.

This

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=3824665#post3824665

This person started a thread and it was closed before I could answer... and it was redirected here.

Quintan's Avatar

Quintan

Joined: Mar 2011

 

Your answer to server mergers | Today , 10:02 PM

 

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Straight from

 

http://www.darthhater.com/articles/s...ames-ohlen-and

 

Is there any discussion of merging servers or adding incentives to move players to low pop servers?

 

JO: No, we’re not going to. Merging servers is not something we are looking at. We have a very healthy game right now, so that is not something we are looking at in the near future. We're always going to look at ways to make sure a server is healthy. There are a whole bunch of different ways you can do that. We're discussing them. We want to make sure players feel like there are enough players on their server to play with.

 

So Re-roll or roll out.

 

Are you a politician, because your spin on that article is amazing. Not more than one paragraph above that James talks about how server transfers are more important than ever.

 

It isn't reroll or roll out.. It is transfers are coming.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Tahana

Transfers are going to destroy servers, every one will transfer to 2-3 heavy pop servers...

 

Yeah great idea!!! Hey as long as $$ is involved...

 

And what am I spinning? that's a direct quote.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Quintan

Transfers are going to destroy servers, every one will transfer to 2-3 heavy pop servers...

 

Yeah great idea!!! Hey as long as $$ is involved...

 

You have no clue how it will be rolled out.. You have no clue how the populations will be controlled. You have no clue how the transfer system will be structured. You have no clue if they will even charge for the service. Trion didn't, Bioware could very well make it a free service as well.

 

You are complaining just to complain. Transfers allow the player to make the choice. Forced mergers take control away. But my guess is that you'd find a way to complain if your ice cream was to cold.

Just like that "march update" that got pushed back a month and a half.

 

 

 

I guess I share the anger that so many people feel. SWTOR flopped, not because it was a bad game, but because of BW's continued ignorance and inaction.

 

Incredibly distraught about this game and all time/energy i dropped into it

 

 

Wont consider server merges but are making char transfers a top priority? LOL, doesn't that just replace one problem w/ another? Wouldn't you prefer to manipulate the player base on each individual server as a company as apposed to leaving it up to the individuals.

 

 

All we want is a player base to play with... 15 people on the fleet at prime time isnt cutting it.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Esential

The whiners whined at launch when lots of servers had queues. Bioware responded by raising server caps and adding servers. But, as always, the whining doesn't stop, it just finds a new direction.

 

Now, whiners whine about NOT having a server queue.

 

The silent majority on your *ALERT: sarcasm* "ghost server" */sarcasm* doesn't want a server merge, they're too busy NOT sitting around on the fleet twiddling their thumbs and spamming.

 

I have 3 Republic 50s on a decidedly Imp-heavy server that hovers between Light/Standard, and I have a Sith on The Fatman I've toyed with off and on for 3 months (he's on Voss). I've seen both "sides" of the coin.

 

Why isn't the Sith 50 after 3 months?

Because I'm not sitting in an "effing" queue, for one thing.

The fleet lags there.

General chat there is an abomination, and I'm not talking about just the fleet.

He's Sith, after all, they're the bad guys.

I'm too busy playing on my "ghost server" Republic characters.

 

Server merge? NO. Not needed. Quit crying.

 

Paid server transfers? I don't have a problem with this at all! I'll not begrudge someone from joining the "winning team" if they so desire, plus it generates a little extra revenue for Bioware. However, until they're available, a wise man in another thread offered these two options:

1) Reroll

2) Unsub

 

I, along with most of the "silent majority", don't give a rat's rectum which option you choose; as long as it means one less whiner whining about one less thing on the forums, we win.

Edited April 11, 2012 by MagicmanNC

Is there any discussion of merging servers or adding incentives to move players to low pop servers?

 

JO: No, we’re not going to. Merging servers is not something we are looking at. We have a very healthy game right now, so that is not something we are looking at in the near future. We're always going to look at ways to make sure a server is healthy. There are a whole bunch of different ways you can do that. We're discussing them. We want to make sure players feel like there are enough players on their server to play with.

 

So i guess it's game over now for alot of players on the dead servers.

And i think the future will be even more players leaving dead servers/game

because of this.

Transfers are going to destroy servers, every one will transfer to 2-3 heavy pop servers...

 

Yeah great idea!!! Hey as long as $$ is involved...

 

And what am I spinning? that's a direct quote.

 

Ppl are doing that now, but instead of getting to bring over their 50s and hard earned credits and legacy they are rerolling and starting over. I have done the reroll and leave my toons to rot on a dead server and it sucks. As a result of this I quit playing for away since I didn't really want to completely start over.

 

It might suck some for ppl that stay behind or dont want to have other merged onto their server but it really sucks fo all of the ppl that had the bad luck of picking a slow or dying server to start.

 

You go play on a server that has 5 to 9 ppl in fleet most of the day and tell me that servers shouldn't merge. Even with multiple servers using /create lfg to help find ppl to do things it isnext to impossilbe on the bottom 1/3rd or so of servers currently much less pvping that takes 30+ minutes to get a match only to have it time out in 120 seconds due to lack of players on 1 or both teams.

Its interesting when people complain about servers with "only" 20-40 chars on fleet. My server, The Kumumgah, havent reached 20 at fleet in weeks. This weekened there was at max 10-15 ! thats some kind of record. At a more normal day theres at most 8 on fleet. Many times theres like 2-4 !!!

 

Total 10 chars at lvl 50 online at the same time. Do you guys think its easy to setup a team and do some FP or OP? oh no.

Warzones? what is that? havnt played any the last month and Im in queue most of the time. People on this server cant get PvP gear at the moment since theres no activity.

 

Its VERY hard (impossible) to get high lvl gears without a group.

 

These treads have like 3000posts. Have bioware even replyed once? i know they read this so please give us an answere what and when we can expect some kind of solution.

 

Diablo III is around the corner. And its seems very nice. I think ill re-roll there instead.

 

And to you who says: re-roll on a new server and stop complain:

I havent played this kind of game before and didnt notice I had/COULD change server when creating a char. My bad I guess. But thats why im stuck at this server with many many played hours. And its seems like waste to change server and start over. But i guess thats the only way to be able to play again.

 

Just like that "march update" that got pushed back a month and a half.

 

 

 

I guess I share the anger that so many people feel. SWTOR flopped, not because it was a bad game, but because of BW's continued ignorance and inaction.

 

Incredibly distraught about this game and all time/energy i dropped into it

 

 

Wont consider server merges but are making char transfers a top priority? LOL, doesn't that just replace one problem w/ another? Wouldn't you prefer to manipulate the player base on each individual server as a company as apposed to leaving it up to the individuals.

 

 

All we want is a player base to play with... 15 people on the fleet at prime time isnt cutting it.

 

 

Its hard not to agree with some of that. It is so close to being a great game but the design gets in the way. I feel like I am learning how to play basketball again but I have been told I have to wear cleets or flip flops to play. I can tell it should be a great game but something is not right.

It would be nice, if they don't think there is an issue, for them to come out and explain why they don't exactly - why they think it's okay that most warzones on my server start with 6 players, why the GTN on my server has hardly any thing on it, why finding groups is nigh impossible because there's hardly anyone around.

 

You only get the que for a WZ once there are enough players to fill it. The reason why matches start with less than full is because people walked away from their computer and the que had to countdown. One the counter expires it goes back to the next person in line and sends them and invite, then they have to accept.

So blame the people on your server for not accepting the WZ invite.

You only get the que for a WZ once there are enough players to fill it. The reason why matches start with less than full is because people walked away from their computer and the que had to countdown. One the counter expires it goes back to the next person in line and sends them and invite, then they have to accept.

So blame the people on your server for not accepting the WZ invite.

 

You are missing the point. If there is not enough people on the server, the que dosen't drop anyone. I was on a low pop server (wasn't like that when I started), I waited in a que for WZ for ever and a day. I finished like 3-4 quests and still no invite. Finally gave up on WZ on that server.

 

This IS the reality for people on the "other" (not fatman) 70 some odd servers. No WZ.. No Heroics... No world PvP... etc. Not everyone wants to reroll on fatman and let their toons (that they spent hundreds of hours on) rot on low pop servers. For alot of people starting over again just isn't worth the hassle, and they quit.

Transfers are going to destroy servers, every one will transfer to 2-3 heavy pop servers...

 

Yeah great idea!!! Hey as long as $$ is involved...

 

And what am I spinning? that's a direct quote.

 

I have faith that BW isn't going to let happen what happened in Rift... Surely we won't see full open transfers available.

 

Transfers from/to certain servers, or better yet maybe they'll merge servers by population to try to even things out.

1. Charge a fee for a transfer

2. Only allow a single transfer.

 

This is why server mergers work and transfers dont:

 

What server should I transfer to?Fatman? That would be stupid. You think it is overloaded now, just wait if everyone can transfer to it.

No, a "medium" server, one slightly better than my perpetually light Naddist Rebels?

So instead of there being 4 people on Hoth on a Sunday, there would be 6? How is that better?

So I pick what I HOPE will be a good server, with decent pop levels, but not one that has too many people for the crappy server to handle. And then it turns out I was wrong. I was the only one to transfer to that server. Or every other person who transferred, picked that server?

Or will they select servers each person can transfer to? Ie characters on Naddist Rebels can transfer only to X or Y servers, but not to any of the others, etc.?

 

Just merge the servers and MORE IMPORTANTLY GET BETTER HARDWARE.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Drunkenpig

Why merge servers for free, if BW/EA can milk us some extra €€€ for upcoming server transfer services?

Why merge servers for free, if BW/EA can milk us some extra €€€ for upcoming server transfer services?

 

If they're smart, they'll offer them for free because they'll lose customers by trying to charge for it.

 

It is not the fault of the customers that Bioware opened far too many servers for the population of the game. This is especially true because guilds that had pre ordered were assigned specific servers. A lot of us got screwed on that deal.

I follow this thread as much as i can day by day.. just to see some news from BW or to read what ppl are saying about this matter..

 

Ppl that don't agree with server merges or they think that we complain for nothing.. they need to understand how hard it is to play on a low populated server.. with 50 ppl and i say the max i saw on my fleet,usually 30-40 on peak times (from my 1st re-roll) it isnt something that you would like also.. and it's very sad that neither BW or some ppl understand that..

 

The same thing that gives you the right to disagree with that is the same thing that gives us the right to want something like that.. because same as you we are paying for it.. if your answer to this is to unsub.. then my answer to that is that who told you that i dont like this game but only as a game? But since this isnt just a RPG game but a mmo, which the best part of an mmo is its social part.. (and on this part we are not satisfied).. isnt BW duty to keep customers satisfied when there are massive complains about it?

 

Atm i reached to a point that i have to reroll to Red Eclipse EU (my 2nd reroll) having 4 characters (still lvling on Red Eclipse) in 3 different servers.. not to say that i am having hard times to leave my half rakata dressed Sniper (rest Columi) on my last server..and i have to consider myself as lucky since i had the opportunity to see and gain gear from operations.. i dont want even to think how is for other ppl that dont even have this chance because of low populated servers..

 

Anyway something has to be done.. i dont know if it will be merges or chars transfers with $$ or free.. the only sure thing is that things are not as well as BW wants to think.. i wish there wont be a 3rd link when this thread will be full again with complains and there will be a solution soon.

I heard they are trying to do a cross server pvp 1.3. I guess it would help with pvp but on my server I never seen my server with more than 15 ppl on a fleet and I dont bother with heroics since im usually the only person on a planet. I quested on hoth for about a week and have only seen 2 ppl there. We havent ran into each other but it just says so at the top of my screen. Its kind of bad when final fantasy 11 servers are so much more populated.

I personally will not pay a single $1 to transfer to another server because BW opened with 100+ servers and now cant figure out why most are ghost towns. Either they can give free transfers, or literally just need to merge servers. Server merges are much better as it will "control" the move instead of letting people run where ever with no safe guards on population.