Megaservers

[Rumze]

Wildstar will be merging servers into two pvp and two pve servers . They ve said that they will be adding an rp chat for roleplayers as well

[PinkRose]

Ouch.
Does this mean the game isn't doing well?

[DaMoose]

Look at me! I remembered to look at the forums AGAIN! I'm getting better at this!

I'm at work at the moment, so all kinds of things are jumbling through my head right now. So if this seems a bit scattered, sorry about that!

Anyway, yeah it's a scary idea, Mega Servers in relation to the RP community. As it stands, the band aid they're putting on this for RPers (I honestly couldn't think of a better term, sorry if Band Aid was mean spirited) is a specific RP chat channel. Personally, I don't think that's enough.

But then, I'm gun shy. RPers can get the ass end of the stick quite a bit in MMOs, so many of us are worried when things like this happen in a game we love. Developers always say they will be there for the RP community still. How often does that happen though?

You'll honestly get a hundred different answers from a hundred different people.

For me though? I have yet to experience something like this ending well for an RP community. In recent memory, it hurt things with the people I ran with on GW2. So the idea of this coming in is nothing less than terrifying for what this will mean for the future of the community that has been built on Evindra. We are, for the most part, a civil and fun group out there.

A big reason we are this, on this little server of ours, is because we don't have an influx of griefers at the moment. Not being yelled at for our hobby. Rarely do you get someone screaming "lol" while they hop on the table in front of you and a friend as you're just trying to have a conversation. (Except in Mooseport. Random dancing is encouraged.)

I put a post on the main forums for this discussion, I didn't send red flags with it. I just asked we give it a chance. I expressed my hope that the devs will continue to listen as the RP tag is lifted from our home. And I honestly will try to make this work. But in the interest of honesty, I'll continue with how I actually feel. Something I left out of that post.

I don't think this will work out. I think Carbine will try. But I think any attempt will be for nothing if this goes through as they are planning right now. I believe we will soon hear things like "Well the community needs to report people more." I see excuses rising from this in the interest of subscription numbers. I believe RP policies will become more relaxed. And I believe that in the end it will drive away the majority of RPers. Groups will remain, but it will never be the same for us.

That's just what I think about this from an RP perspective. For the game as a whole, I think this will be very good for it. I think this will greatly benefit open world PvP on the PvP realms and the PvE community with finding groups. I think this will make the game last a long timeand help it obtain a massive success.

Just not for the RP community.

-That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.-

[Gith]

I could use an easier time to find a group to actually do some PvE content.

Sucks that the game is not doing well enough to maintain all the servers. The game truly is amazing it is just made for not so casual players and you need to have a committed and somewhat large group of people to make progress in PvE content.

[Miiko]

I do wish they'd do like GW2 at least and let us still have our servers within the mega servers, so we wouldn't risk losing our names. GW2 has also adjusted it so that people of the same server end up with each other first much of the time, which allows all the RPers on TC to still have an more RP-centric community, while being a part of the megaserver as well. I'll still RP anytime and all the time I want to, but then I also kiss women in public IRL, so I'm used to ignoring the ignorant. I do hope it doesn't obliterate our community, though I also suspect it'll hurt it.

Then again, maybe we'll get more Dominion people to RP. Considering how negligible Dommie population is on our server, it could actually enhance theirs.

[Jasyn]

I do wish they'd do like GW2 at least and let us still have our servers within the mega servers, so we wouldn't risk losing our names. GW2 has also adjusted it so that people of the same server end up with each other first much of the time, which allows all the RPers on TC to still have an more RP-centric community, while being a part of the megaserver as well. I'll still RP anytime and all the time I want to, but then I also kiss women in public IRL, so I'm used to ignoring the ignorant. I do hope it doesn't obliterate our community, though I also suspect it'll hurt it.

A bit off topic, but when GW2 first released their anti-overflow megaserver technology back in April, it worked horribly (it should have kept more RP'ers together, but players were being forced to use workarounds because it wasn't happening as organically as advertised) and absolutely diluted the vibrant RP community that existed on Tarnished Coast.  I do hope they've tweaked the algorithm to the point that it's better now because that was one of a number of updates made in April that pushed me away from a game that I was otherwise still enjoying.

That said, it was a more innovative alternative to the merge.  And if memory serves, GW2 also already possessed the technology to have identically named characters on one server because they used a unique account ID name to differentiate them and link all of the characters on your account they way they do.

[Alys]

That said, it was a more innovative alternative to the merge.  And if memory serves, GW2 also already possessed the technology to have identically named characters on one server because they used a unique account ID name to differentiate them and link all of the characters on your account they way they do.

With Guild Wars 2, I believe that character names must be unique across the whole game already, so merging servers did not cause such an issue. Since you could have 19 characters including spaces, it was not hard to manage uniqueness.

I have been seeing mentions of WildStar adding surnames in order to avoid name conflict during the coming server merges, but have not found anything concrete on the subject.

[Jasyn]

With Guild Wars 2, I believe that character names must be unique across the whole game already, so merging servers did not cause such an issue. Since you could have 19 characters including spaces, it was not hard to manage uniqueness.

I have been seeing mentions of WildStar adding surnames in order to avoid name conflict during the coming server merges, but have not found anything concrete on the subject.

Honestly, I wish this was today's standard (allowing spaces/surnames) for both the issue of uniqueness and avoidance of server merge name collisions and the drama that comes with it when faced with the possibility of losing your name.

[DaMoose]

That said, it was a more innovative alternative to the merge.  And if memory serves, GW2 also already possessed the technology to have identically named characters on one server because they used a unique account ID name to differentiate them and link all of the characters on your account they way they do.

With Guild Wars 2, I believe that character names must be unique across the whole game already, so merging servers did not cause such an issue. Since you could have 19 characters including spaces, it was not hard to manage uniqueness.

I have been seeing mentions of WildStar adding surnames in order to avoid name conflict during the coming server merges, but have not found anything concrete on the subject.

Just wanted to pop back in here after seeing this and say yes, it 100% confirmed concrete set in stone that when mega server hits, or maybe a bit before that, every character currently created will be flagged for a name change.

When that happens, it will be a full name change. New first, new last, and a million fan boys clamoring to be the first to get Malcolm Reynolds for their Spellslinger.

"Along with the Megaservers, we will introduce character last names. Each characters will have a unique name comprised of a first name (this is your existing character name) and a last name separated by a space. In the character select screen, you will have to choose a last name before entering the game. You will be limited to a total 30 characters including the space."

https://support.wildstar-online.com/entries/98036173

It doesn't get into it on the FAQ, but in the mega server thread on the Wildstar forums, and on Twitter, they've said you will be changing first and last name. So you won't just be picking one and then stuck with something weird as a first name.

And if it does come up, the official Pappylicious lore suggestion for last names for Mechari and Granok, who do not actually have surnames, would be to use a title. For example, DaMoose becomes Mayor DaMoose (not my idea, that's housing zone talking there). He did continue by expressing hope that the players will get creative with their own titles. I'll see if I can find the tweet for a source.

Hope that all helps!

[Alys]

Thanks, Moo-... I mean, Your Honor.

I think all my characters will be okay, though I will have to give some thought to Pukka. Her name was perfect.

I suppose I will also have to think of a name for a chua, since I heard we will get more character slots when we only have... I'm sorry, but now I'm always going to be reading Mayor McMoose, no matter what your character is actually called.

[Gith]

I have a free server switch on my account now. Where are people moving to?

[Alys]

I don't think there is any reason to move. I assume the free server switch is so you can pick PvE or PvP before the megaservers condense to one of each.

[DaMoose]

I have a free server switch on my account now. Where are people moving to?

At the moment I'm (and a lot of folks) chilling with the people on Evindra. But yeah, two realms per data center will be the new normal for the game soon. One PvP, one PvE. So pretty soon we'll all be in one big world.