EQLive server mergers

[Alkiera]

From the EQLive website

Server Merges

On March 22, 2005, we will begin the process of merging some of the EverQuest servers.  As we have seen from the recent success of the Zek merger, combining some of the EQ worlds is beneficial for players’ experience.  In fact, we have been pleasantly surprised to find that the new Zek server now has a higher population than the four combined servers had prior to that merger.  We hope that by merging some of our lower population servers with a higher population server, we will continue to enhance your gameplay experience

Merging Servers

On March 22nd, Antonius Bayle will merge with Kane Bayle and will retain the name Antonius Bayle.

On March 23rd, Bristlebane will merge with Solusek Ro and will retain the name Bristlebane.

We understand that server identity is important to our customers and we will be integrating server titles into the title system to allow you to display your server of origin, should you desire to do so.

Unutilized Character Purge

Immediately preceding the merger, all characters below level 10 that have not been logged in for over six months will be deleted from each of the merging servers and will not be available after the server merge.  If you have a character on any of the servers being merged that is below level 10 and has not been logged in for more than six months, you will need to log that character in prior to the scheduled merge date for the relevant server.

Shared Banks on Merging Servers

If you have characters on two servers which are being merged together, you will need to clean out the shared bank on one of those servers. After the merge, only one shared bank will be available on each merged server.

Character Limitations

If you have more than eight characters in total on two servers being merged together, only the first eight characters (in alphabetical order) will be displayed after the merge.  Characters other than the eight displayed characters will not be available for selection until currently displayed characters are deleted.  All characters from both servers will remain on your account provided that the character was not below level 10 and had not been logged in within the last six months.

Corpses

Prior to the scheduled merge date for your server(s), please be sure that you clear any unclaimed character corpses from the world.  Character corpses will not be transferred to the newly-merged server.  Once the merger is complete, all corpses on the servers affected by a merge will have been purged.

Duplicate Character Names

It is possible that characters on servers affected by the merge will have duplicate names. In the event that characters on the new, combined server do share a name, the character with the most played time will be entitled to keep the name. All other characters will have the letter X appended to their name and will be eligible for a name change.  Characters can use the in-game /changename command to request a new name.  The new name is subject to the conditions set forth in our naming policy which can be found here: Naming Policy.

LDoN Leader Boards

After each merge is completed, as characters log into their newly-combined server, the leader board will be re-populated with standings. Although your points will be unaffected by the transfer, your standing may have changed based on the new, combined population totals.

Complimentary Character Move

Shortly after each merger is complete, we will allow all customers affected by a merge a one-time, complimentary character move to the server of their choice.  For each customer with an account on a newly-merged server who request such a move, all characters associated with that customer’s account will be transferred to the selected server.  All characters will bring their items with them in the transfer.

Seems they are combining a low pop server with a higher pop one.  I know Bristlebane was a high-pop server, that's where I spent most of my time playing.  Apparently it's gone down some, tho, if they're merging more people into it.

Guess the decline of the EQLive behemoth has begun.

Alkiera

[MaceVanHoffen]

Seems they are combining a low pop server with a higher pop one.  I know Bristlebane was a high-pop server, that's where I spent most of my time playing.  Apparently it's gone down some, tho, if they're merging more people into it.

Wow, I was a Bristlebane player as well ... small world.

As much as I hated EQ when I quit, this makes me a little nostalgic.  I spent so much time playing that concrete, real-world evidence (as opposed to punditry) that the game is in decline makes me miss the good old days.

[HaemishM]

Interesting, but you'll be able to tell the EQLive behemoth is really falling when non-speciality servers are contracted. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Bayle was the Euro server, the Zeks were special rules. Were Bristlebane and Sol Ro regular servers? If so, that is big deal, though if it had been more than 2, it would have been bigger.

[shiznitz]

I see the SolRo+Bristlebane move as testing the waters. More are inevitable in 2005.

[jpark]

I am not sure what they are thinking.  The idea is fine - the execution could make current sub problems worse.

It is fair to say that folks in EQ take great pride in their characters.  These mergers will result in folks getting an "X" placed at the end of their name if their is an existing character slot with the same name that has more play time.

I see a lot of people becoming very pissed off.

[shiznitz]

Agreed, hence the babystep only 1normal server for now.

[WindupAtheist]

In other news, UO opened a new American shard a month or two ago.   :-D

[Strazos]

I am not sure what they are thinking.  The idea is fine - the execution could make current sub problems worse.

It is fair to say that folks in EQ take great pride in their characters.  These mergers will result in folks getting an "X" placed at the end of their name if their is an existing character slot with the same name that has more play time.

I see a lot of people becoming very pissed off.

They wouldn't have a problem if they could come up with a real, unique name, rather than ripping one from somewhere, or using a combanation of words.

[Sky]

They wouldn't have a problem if they could come up with a real, unique name, rather than ripping one from somewhere, or using a combanation of words.

Guesstimate 3000 subs per server times 8 characters per sub....

Sure. Picking a name that doesn't match 24,000 others is EASY. 

[Alkiera]

They wouldn't have a problem if they could come up with a real, unique name, rather than ripping one from somewhere, or using a combanation of words.

Guesstimate 3000 subs per server times 8 characters per sub....

Sure. Picking a name that doesn't match 24,000 others is EASY. 

Um, when I left last year, there were probably 3k people on simulataneous on Bristlebane.  Obviously, that's gone down, since they're merging people onto it... but yeah, if you don't already have a fairly unique name(alkiera is almost never taken), getting a lame one past the massive bulk of existing character names and NPC names is a challenge.

Alkiera

[jpark]

I am not sure what they are thinking.  The idea is fine - the execution could make current sub problems worse.

It is fair to say that folks in EQ take great pride in their characters.  These mergers will result in folks getting an "X" placed at the end of their name if their is an existing character slot with the same name that has more play time.

I see a lot of people becoming very pissed off.

They wouldn't have a problem if they could come up with a real, unique name, rather than ripping one from somewhere, or using a combanation of words.

C'mon you know how old this game is - lots of name variants have been tried.  It is hard to come up with a name that you can even pronounce that has not been taken already. 

[Big Gulp]

Guesstimate 3000 subs per server times 8 characters per sub....

Sure. Picking a name that doesn't match 24,000 others is EASY. 

It wouldn't be a problem if they'd followed the standard fantasy convention of adding unneccesary apostrophes and umlauts.

n00b.

[MaceVanHoffen]

It wouldn't be a problem if they'd followed the standard fantasy convention of adding unneccesary apostrophes and umlauts.

Bi'g G-ulp, you have a good point.

[SuperPopTart]

I think EQ has actually needed more server merges and/or splits for a very long time. At least pre WoW. The server population has dropped in my opinion, considerably and this is very long overdue. I am just hoping it goes well and with minimal problems. I have a tiny Enchanter on Sol Ro.


And as a side note, the Guides and GM's have actually been reasonably vigilant and efficient when dealing with names that have an X on the end. Often times it's only a matter of hours or a day when a name has their X removed.

[Tebonas]

It actually makes sense, Solusek Ro having a mostly GMT playerbase, and Bristlebane having its prime in the US timeslot. That, and my buddies that still play Everquest tend to complain the hardships of finding groups during the day, guess they really lost quite some peoples. Of course, they hate that the new server is called Bristlebane and not Solusek Ro, cause "its harder to pronounce Bristlebane when you rant about Everquest in a drunken stupor".

[Alkiera]

It actually makes sense, Solusek Ro having a mostly GMT playerbase, and Bristlebane having its prime in the US timeslot. That, and my buddies that still play Everquest tend to complain the hardships of finding groups during the day, guess they really lost quite some peoples. Of course, they hate that the new server is called Bristlebane and not Solusek Ro, cause "its harder to pronounce Bristlebane when you rant about Everquest in a drunken stupor".

Heh.  Wait till they discover why our pet name for the server is 'Bristlebroke'.  8)  Lets just say they may get plenty of time to practice their pronunciation...

Alkiera

[Strazos]

I am not sure what they are thinking.  The idea is fine - the execution could make current sub problems worse.

It is fair to say that folks in EQ take great pride in their characters.  These mergers will result in folks getting an "X" placed at the end of their name if their is an existing character slot with the same name that has more play time.

I see a lot of people becoming very pissed off.

They wouldn't have a problem if they could come up with a real, unique name, rather than ripping one from somewhere, or using a combanation of words.

C'mon you know how old this game is - lots of name variants have been tried.  It is hard to come up with a name that you can even pronounce that has not been taken already. 

I have never had a problem coming up with a name in any game....Something I learned from DnD (I think) is that if you take a random bunch of letters, lets say...
iosvd

Add appropriate vowels...

Ionsavad

There ya have it, unique name in under 10 seconds.

Some of the names I have used (may or may not have used above method):

Strazos
Tizor
Perinod
Austerina
Tarban

Uhm...I know there are a bunch of others that I cannot think of. In CoH it's actually a lot easier to come up with names, since they don't have to sound like normal "Names."

[Furiously]

Wonder what they are doing with the server hardware.

[TheWalrus]

They could make an assload of money with the old "Dollar a Hit" fair scheme.

[Miasma]

It has got to be some very old hardware, I doubt you could buy it anymore so they will probably cannibalize the parts to keep the other servers running.

I went over to the EQlive boards expecting to see a lot of doom and end of the world type threads, instead I found calm, rational people saying things like "Sometimes you have to prune a tree for it to grow again". Maybe it just looks so orderly and reasonable now that I've injured myself reading the WoW boards. Oh, and apparently Brenlo developed a sense of humor.