f13.net forums - Server Merge Information and FAQ

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April 24, 2024, 08:52:58 PM

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Server Merge Information
As announced a few weeks ago, we will merge the Age of Conan servers before the Christmas Holidays. Today we want to give you some detailed information about how these merges will happen and what this will mean for you, the players.

We will be spreading the server merges over the next few weeks so not all the servers will be merged at the exact same time. It is important to us to ensure that the merge process goes as smooth as possible. Therefore it is vital that we spread out the work rather than doing these complicated processes all at the same time in order to minimize possible risks.

The first servers that will be merged are the US servers ‘Bloodspire’ and ‘Hyperborea’. The list of servers for the next merges will be published shortly.

It is important to know that during the time servers will be merged, all servers of the same territory (US or EU) will not be available. This means that during this week's downtime - where the two above mentioned servers are merged - all US servers will be unavailable. The exact duration of such a downtime will be announced soon but we do expect them to be longer than the usual update downtime.

When the merge process is complete we will be giving all active subscribers an appropriate amount of free game-time to compensate for the additional downtime required for the merges. The details of this will be communicated once the merge process is complete.

It’s important for us to ensure the best game-play experience for you all, and more healthy populations on each and every server will make sure we maintain healthy communities for the game in the future.

Once the merges are complete we will be offering a free one-use character transfer option for all characters so that if you wish to join a different community after the merge than the one you were allocated you are free to do so. This transfer will be free of charge and can be used once per character and will be available from your billing pages.

Also after the merges are complete we will be opening up new ‘fresh start’ servers in both the US and EU territories. One each for PVE and PVP rulesets. Transfer will not be allowed to these servers after the merges. These new servers are designed to allow players to start afresh in a totally new environment should they wish to do so and forge a new community instead of joining one of the newly merged ones.

We will have a 'Server Merge FAQ' ready for you tomorrow which should answer most of your questions on the topic.

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Server Merge FAQ
This FAQ should answer most of the questions on the topic of the planned server merges. As soon as additional information will be available, we will add it to this FAQ.

When will the server merges happen?

We will start merging the first servers in the first week of December.

Will all servers be merged at the same time?

No. We will do this over a certain period of time to ensure everything will run smoothly. Which merges will be happening at what time will be communicated some days ahead of course.

Which servers will be merged?

The final list of servers that will be merged will be available very soon. As of now, we will merge the two US servers ‘Bloodspire’ and ‘Hyperborea’ in the first week of December.

Also after all the merges are complete we will be opening up new ‘fresh start’ servers in both the US and EU territories. One each for PVE and PVP rulesets. Transfer will not be allowed to these servers after the merges. These new servers are designed to allow players to start afresh in a totally new environment should they wish to do so and forge a new community instead of joining one of the newly merged ones.

What happens if several characters with the same name end up on the same server?

This depends on the following aspects and rules:

* Is the character on a still active account?
* If several characters of the same name are all from active accounts, the one with the higher level will keep his name.
* If merged characters have the same level, the one from an account which is registered on a longer time base will keep the name (so 3 month recurring over 1 month recurring).
* If characters are from accounts with the same subscription recurring time, the last login will decide which one keeps the name.

The other(s) will be prompted a message at the first attempt to log in with that character stating that a new name must be given to this character.

What happens if two guilds with the same name end up on the same server?

The server of origin will be added to the guild name so all guilds will keep their name but with the name of the server they originated from. A guild has of course the possibility to get their guild name changed again by sending an in-game petition.

What is happening with guild cities when guilds are moved to another server?

Guild cities will be moved to the same playfield and spot they have been before. When necessary a new instance will be created. So every merged guild will have access to the same guild city on the new server.

And what will happen with guild battlekeeps?

Since build spots for battlekeeps are limited on each server, all build spots will be cleared and guilds will be reimbursed the resources for their battlekeep. This is to make sure that the guild get the needed resources again and every guild gets the same chance. Detailed information about how guild leaders need to request the resource reimbursement will follow soon.

Will there be a possibility to transfer single characters to another server?

Yes. The option to transfer characters to another server will be available after all server merges have been completed. Every character will be eligible for one free transfer and this offer will be valid for one month after the final server merges have been completed. This transfer will be free of charge and can be used once per character and will be available from your billing pages.

Can a character be transferred from one server ruleset to another (e.g. from a PvE server to a PvP server)?

Yes, that will be possible.

Can a character be transferred from one language server to another (e.g. from a German server to a Spanish server)?

Yes, this will also be possible.

Can a character be transferred from an US server to an EU server or vice versa?

No, characters will only be able to be transferred to another server in the same territory (US or EU).

Will it be possible for whole guilds to be transferred to another server after the merge including taking with them their guild city and/or guild battlekeep?

No. Every member of a guild will have to be moved to a new server with the single character transfer option described above. Guild cities and battlekeeps will only be moved or reimbursed with the server merges.

__________________

Funcom Oliver 'Tarib' Kunz
Senior Community Manager

Big news is free character transfer will be available to everyone right after the mergers. And you will be able to transfer a char from a PvE to a PvP server.
That is awesome. Unfair, but awesome.

I got a chuckle out of all servers having to come down for a merge to occur and that they'll do it in several waves. It's like Funcom doesn't want people playing AoC anymore.

That will happen between 5 and 9am. Not exactly peak hours.
And given that they sure want people to play their game you one can only guess there's a good technical reason for this.

Seriously, seems to me like no one with an active subscription complained about this.

Actually, they REALLY want you to play their game.
Do you know what does it mean to offer free character transfer to everybody?

It means you can reactivate your account and take your highest character on ANY server and transfer it to whatever your other friends are, or just go to a PVP server without having had to endure the ganking of the lower levels.

Best "Come back!" promotion ever I'd say if coupled with the classic "free 7 days complimentary reactivation" program who will more likely happen as soon as the mergers are complete.

I got the new computers up and running, was curious about giving this game a whirl. It sounds fun defending and attacking a city/keep, but if I don't have a guild is it going to suck?

Jimbo,

you just touched the Achilles' heel of Age of Conan.

Thing is, to siege or be sieged it's not enough to be in a guild. It has to be a LARGE and COMMITTED guild.

Explanation:

- There are 8 Battlekeeps in each Age of Conan server, the only structure you can conquer and siege and they are in non-instanced open to everyone zones.
- To be able to claim a Battlekeep you have to have a Tier 3 Guild City (which is NOT attackable, destoryable, or conquerable. They are in instances so there's no limit to how many guild cities a server can have)
- To build a T3 guild city you have to gather a bazillion resources, which whill take a LOOONG and BORING time even with a large guild where everyone takes 1 hour a day of pure gathering.

- Finally, when you have your T3 city you can go siege a Battlekeep, something you can't do before reaching T3.

The thing is, as soon as you are T3 you can lay as many sieges as you want, which is pretty fun, without losing nothing (other than your pride if you keep getting crushed). But without that T3 city you are basically out of the meaningful PVP part.

Now that is easy to fix, as you only need to join an existing, stable guild that most likely has a T3 guild city. But as a guildless player, or with your small friends and family guild, you won't ever partecipate in a siege (unless invited, but that requires social interactions which could more easily lead to joining a guild).

What Funcom did really wrong is NOT thinking about smaller guilds. Actually they promised two things pre-launch: Battlekeeps and Towers. Battlekeeps were supposed for larger guilds and were the most coveted and prestigious PvP goal (they provide huge buff to PVP damage mitigation, actually). Towers were supposed to be smaller objectives conquerable by smaller guilds. Now for some reasons Towers were cut and while it's easy to expect something like that in the future they are not anounced in any of the upcoming patches yet.

That's why I keep saying that PvE players will find in Conan a great game starting from February 2009 while PvP ones will have to wait until Q3 2009 at best. Because doesn't matter how good the PvP combat in AoC is, it still lacks so many features and goals. Actually, so far combat is the only thing done damn right PvP-wise. Great, awesome start, but not enough.

Europe merger will be tomorrow.

The great part is the free character transfer coming with it, including free transfer from PvE to PvP server (STRONGLY reccomended).

Let's get this done, so they can finally focus on PvP content.

It went snooth enough.

Servers are PACKED (of course). 4 instances of Keshatta at noon.
Free character transfer will be enabled next week.

New content patch, maybe, next week too.