Time for PvE-RP server merge

[Bragi]

I think itmay be time to merge all the PvE-RP servers into one. I play on Estrael and it is a ghost town. luckily I have found a pretty active guild to join recently, but zone events pop very infrequently and every LFG I join is all from other shards...Seriously...I know merging gives the appearance of a dying population, but I think that it would make gameplay better for the ones who are loyal...

Just my 2 cents

Vecna of Estrael

[TheSiren]

I rolled on 6 servers when I first joined Rift, after bearing the brunt of merge after merge (and losing cool names I had used Early Access to get) in Warhammer Online. There gets to be a certain disconnect from the game when none of your characters are called the same thing and you're not playing with the same people anymore, and I didn't want that to happen here.

Well imagine my surprise when I reactivated the other day (I stopped playing Rift last June). 5 out of 6 of the servers I rolled on have now become "trial servers," my 50 cleric, etc. are now trapped in Sanctum, and here we go all over again.

I realize Trion has dodged the bad press the words "server merger" bring by doing it this way, but official mergers would have been better.

SOE uses time /played to determine who gets to keep names when servers merge. Here, I automatically lose out just because someone else rolled the name on my forced-destination server sometime before I got there. Also, in official mergers, whole guilds are moved, instead of people's characters being left behind without a trace. If they come back, how will I even know now?

And the worst part is, server # 6, PvP-RP Sunrest, is OMG empty. I was literally the only one in Meridian, or out in the wilds last night, everywhere I went. /Whos showed only me. How freaking depressing.

Does anyone even play this game anymore? I'll bet Rift could easily get by with 6 or 7 servers tops. And the resultant communities would be healthier for it. But please-- this time, just do across-the-board mergers. Give active accounts the name priority and if both are active, give time /played the priority, but quit leaving us here stranded without a trace.

Not even a mention from a single Trion dev or GM about any of the servers I'm locked on. You'd think these days, where basically every MMORPG (but WoW, and they could definitely survive a shutdown of half their US servers which never go beyond light load) winds up merging and shutting down servers eventually, mergers wouldn't be a big deal but just an accepted practice. Once the hype machines die down, a certain segment of the gaming population gets bored and/or moves on. That's the way it goes.

[Traciatim]

There are only 3 PVE-RP shards:

1) Faeblight, spends 45% of it's time in low status
2) Estrael, Spends 100% of its' time in low status
3) Shadefallen, Spends 100% of it's time in low status.

If you want a a PVE-RP server with more people just do what the others did and move to Faeblight. Convince others to go as well and organize the merge yourself. If everyone that's left on Estrael and Shadefallen moved over to Faeblight you'd probably have a pretty bumping server most of the time.

[Jarlyn]

I dont understand why people are asking for server merges when you have the option to change. Rift gave you this option to use to your benefit. These forums crack me up.

[Skidrow Bro]

I dont understand why people are asking for server merges when you have the option to change. Rift gave you this option to use to your benefit. These forums crack me up.

Because players just keep bouncing around giving this illusion that some servers are active

[Bragi]

I agree with the name situation..I played WAR as well as DDO, and I lost names, or had them hypenated..was dumb...I want to keep my character names, that is why I rolled on an RP server..usually an older crowd, people who get name references and you don't have names like (badass, killbill, etc..).

I like the idea of the merge because it will make things on the servers more active. To me, it appears that invasions and zone events are based on the amount of people logged in. I don't see many at all anymore. And, I do not want to transfer by myself..I want the people I know, and have on my friends list to be there...I started running with a guild a few weeks ago. I did not join them, but raided with them, t2's etc...Then during the week of X-Mas, when i was working 12 hour days and could not play, poof..they were gone. I have no idea where...So I joined up with another guild of really cool people. Don't know yet if we are planning on moving, but I have several friends in other guilds who may not..so I won't see them in game anymore...

Just consolidate...it makes sense

[Bragi]

Nad I have been a consistent player since Beta 2, so am not trolling and trying to stir things up...I like this game, and will hopefully play it for a while more...

[Scormus]

I play on Estrael, and always find people around to play with, zone events happen quite often in my experience, etc, etc. So I'm voting "No" on this idea. If my wife and I wanted to play on Faeblight, we would be. Those who want a more active PvE-RP server to play on should feel free to move to Faeblight themselves, but don't force a merge on those of us who are happy where we are.

[Celebrath]

I dont understand why people are asking for server merges when you have the option to change. Rift gave you this option to use to your benefit. These forums crack me up.

Guys like you crack me up. You make it seem like it's some age-old tradition for an mmo population to do some global search for player infrastructure. You don't get it because you probably exclusively play your mmos solo or queue pvp. The truth is, people aren't necessarily mentally inferior because they CAN'T do the forum research to find the next shard they'll be transferring from in 2 weeks; they're just as apt to not bother because there's as much reason to not care.

For some people, the game isn't good enough to ignore the fact that it's full of indifferent, organic bots transferring hither and tither completely disconnected from the population they need to keep the wheels turning.

[Bragi]

Wow..I didn't say all that...it just would be nice to have an active server at all times, not just from 6-11 EST..Nothing during the afternoons or late at night...and to be honest, I don't enjoy PvP. I do not like the cross server PUGs and to level a lower character, I have to run the same quests over and over and over again...I For every decent PUG I am in, I have to abandon 2 others becuase of zergs, sucky tanks wearing paper mache armor or if i am not in line as a healer, the healer gets us wiped or you wait an hour for one to come aboard or a slot to open....

Like I said, I just joined a larger guild, so these problems may alleviate themselves... but it would be nice seeing 50-100 toons in Meridian like it was 3 months ago...

[Mayuko]

All the servers need to be merged, not just PvE-RP. Fact is, half the shards there are in total are virtually empty or filled with bots.

Zone events and invasions are indeed triggered by the amount of people on a shard, which is calculated every couple hours. When you have a dead server, it breaks the way the game is intended to work.

Those against it probably just want to retain their internet video game character names, or prefer a single player game that costs 15 bucks a month for some bizarre reason.

[the_real_seebs]

Wow..I didn't say all that...it just would be nice to have an active server at all times, not just from 6-11 EST.

Welcome to MMOs.

A server that's not pretty dead outside of peak times is too busy to let you in during peak times.

[Traciatim]

Welcome to MMOs.

A server that's not pretty dead outside of peak times is too busy to let you in during peak times.

That's not true at all. I would be willing to bet Deepwood and Seastone have more people online during their worst time than any of the 1.0 rated servers on their peaks. Deepwood and Seastone are by no means even near full.

[Stormytime]

I dont understand why people are asking for server merges when you have the option to change. Rift gave you this option to use to your benefit. These forums crack me up.

One reason is that some guild people wish to keep their groups together.
Any guild move requires coordination and forces everyone to choose for themselves.
Some people don't get the message in time, or decide to go to another server all together. So guilds lose numbers that way.

Therefore, some guilds stay put and hope that either they won't be moved at all, or maybe that they will be moved as a group next time.

I'm not here to argue about whether it's a good or bad reason. Just a reply.

[Bragi]

I totally fall into that category Stormy...The guild I started was down to 2 active member about a month ago..I hesitated in merging or just abandoning my friend until it got to the point where i was not even really playing anymore..or at least looking forward to a night off work to play Rift...Now, since I chose to go ahead and join a new one..I am having fun...But, when I log on and people are doing things, I would love invasions or even a somewhat full Auction House, or people putting together pick up raids or t2's in Meridian..as it is..there is nothing in the AH and with other guilds jumping ship, it is down to my new one and maybe 2 others that have most of the population....

I wanted to do an EI raid rift and there were literally 12 level 50's around at 10pm EST last night...

It is just my opinion that merging would reinvigorate the game, at least for me...