[bangstaggerthud] Ugh... they got me...

... but it was worth it.

Yeah my global got changed. I've had it since like day 5 or something. Long time and I was attached to it. It got changed.

Let's put that in context for a moment. We, in the EU, we got what we wanted. We've *******, moaned, whined, slated the Devs and griped generally cuz we got the end of the stick you wouldn't give to your best mate.

They listened.

We got what so many of us wanted.

What's even better is that many of our transatlantic colleagues are coming here to join us. This is a really exciting moment in the history of the game. We should celebrate. The cost of a change of our login name or global is very small and the benefits of the global server access are far greater for us in the EU than for our NA friends.

Could Paragon have handled this more sensitively? Surely they could, but ultimately it is what it is and here's something I genuinely believe:

I believe that the Devs and CCs of Paragon Studios had to fight a very big fight with the bean counters of NCSoft to make this happen. This took the money men a lot of convincing to make happen because their argument would simply be "where's the profit?"

But you know what? War Witch promised us a year or more back that she would make this happen. She did - and for that she and the entire dev & CC team should seriously get some praise and props for this. The EU get like 120+ FREE character slots - and we're already making use of them. The US get 48 if they wanna be adventurous.

We all win and inevitably there would be a price to pay in doing this. We in the EU are the little cousin so we will be the ones to take a bit of a hit when it comes to a choice but think of this this way - on a new server, with your account it's day one. If you'd bought the game today and chosen that name and it was taken you'd find one that wasn't. Our characters have not changed. Nor have we as players. We continued to be identified by those we want to associate with. Some adjustments must be made but they are minor in the grand scheme of things.

Many of you know I tell it like I see it and if I think the Devs drop the ball I don't mince my words expressing my opinion. I'm not mincing my words here either and I'm saying this loud and clear:

War Witch and the Dev Team - I spent a long time doubting you on this but in truth I am truly truly moved because you made this happen and I thank all of you who had a part in making this possible.

Thankyou from @Riffster

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

*Applaud*
Yes, finally we are one. Thank you War Witch and everyone who made this happen.

It did come at a little cost to those globals, account names and global channels that was affected. (Some maybe due to griefing)
Some of us (like me) were our own enemies accountwise and felt it.

But finally the lists are merged, we are one community. It felt good standing in Atlas Park and welcome new entrepid explorers and to help them find likeminded players. (Mostly by announcing the 4 main channels of Union).

Thank you for integrating the entire community into one community.

I really enjoyed being able to access Union Chat again, there was some great chat going on.


Now fix the Server Transfer issue so I can stick a US character or two back on Onion and we'll be set.

Well said "young" man

My main home will still be Defiant but it is nice to be able to take part in events on all servers.

Sorry Riff, me and you get on in game and teamed many a time, but I am one of those that never wanted this to happen.

I have been affected by this none the less and like others have been left with a bad taste in my mouth. I say others Riff because last night when I was on there was quite a fair bit of american bashing going on by people who feel the same as I do and I even heard instances of people crossing over to american server just to create trouble. I do not condone these actions and therefore am taking a break from the game lest I be dragged into something that could end badly for me as I take things quite personally and when I argue I normally don't give a damn who I upset but later regret it.

I feel this could have been handled a lot better with a lot more time and effort put into it, there was a summer time date put onto this, that would have given time to get a more appropriate method in, but for some reason they rushed it forward?

For some they play the game for PvP or RP, new content, I solely played this game due to the fantastic community we had made on Defiant that now feels a shell of what it was, it is going be hard for those that stay with Defiant to rebuild what it once was, down to nicknames we used to give one another, to knowing who you want on your TF or the ones you usually avoid.

I wholeheartedly agree, this list merge was a fantastic idea and dare I say it will sustain the global (or was EU) community in the 4 servers.

I understand the significance of everyones loss at their identity but why are some people changing from "Fred" to "MegaManZero" or "GreenBlur" to "Jon" for example.

Why can't you add a "." and save your name? It is what x2/x3/etc accounts do.

Fury

I see it this way:

The Global Server Access probably had to happen.

There is not much won by doing it compared to not doing it considering how the game stands right now. Sure, we get a few things, but the game is largely unaffected. The servers and development would probably cost just as much without server list merge as with.

So I think the difference is something in the future. Some nifty coming feature that requires all servers to be in the same list. Maybe a cross-server teaming feature, perhaps? If that is the reason, well, then it had to happen.

If it isn't... well, even if I wasn't affected, I think this was completely unnecessary. I would rather have seen the development time spent on this to be spent on, for instance, removing the SG member limit, or just increase the possible number of slots on each server. Because I won't have much use for the 132 extra character slots on the servers that I will not visit. Heck, I haven't even filled Union yet! I'm happier about the Animal Pack and the Vanguard Pack than I am about the server list merge, and I'm still one of those lucky not affected.

Then consider those that were affected and lost a global that they've had for years in return for 132 slots they will not use because their home is Defiant.

So no, I'm not celebrating. Not yet. When the future feature that requires a Global Server Access arrives and it proves awesome, then I will celebrate.

Yeah, sorry Riff, I'm going to fall into the dissenting crowd as well, here, although not so much for WHAT they did but HOW they did it.

I'm a fan of the list merge, been shouting for it myself, and Rosie has already been testing the waters on Freedom.

The whole mess with the Globals though, that was a farce and downright insulting to the EU players who have been here a long time.

I've still yet to see any redname post as to exactly why it had to be the EU players that had to lose the globals and not the US players? I'm thoroughly fed up with people saying that it was so the "least amount" of people were affected, cos that's just so much horse manure. It's simple maths, if 500 people in the EU had to change their globals cos of a clash, that means there were exactly 500 people in the US with the same global, so why did they not have to change?

And still no response as to why veteran status wasn't discussed as an option? And why Inactive accounts were included over long term players in the EU.

The whole thing has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and I wasn't affected by a global name change, although due to a system setting ****-up, the Rogues Radio has had it's name changed as well.

It could have been delayed a month or two more so better methods were sorted out.

I appreciate what you're trying to say, the Rednames were asked for this and they delivered. Well, done, applause and all that, but next time, don't screw over long term players for the sake of players who have left and "may" come back.

I did look into all the factors when they announced GSA, my views arn't blinded by the fact I lost my global, but this was what I came up with for my personal gameplay:-

Pro's
1) Extra Character slots with new servers.
2) Chance of more players on Defiant.
3) Only 1 more thing now that the Dev's could shaft the EU with.
4) More servers for me to play on.

Con's
1) Loosing my Global
2) Chance of extra players being minimal for someone like me who plays EU primetime, which is almost opposite to NA time.
3) Extra character slots on other servers don't benefit me as I still haven't filled my home server and hadn't even dreamt of hitting the other EU english speaking server.
4) Extra servers to play on, again my timezone would mean the other servers would pretty much have the same population as my home server at the times I play.

as you can see all of the pro's went out of the window apart from the shafting.

I tentatively agree with the OP. I am pleased to have global access at last, even if it is something I feel should have been done many years ago when our community support and marketing was nuked from orbit. For a long time, I have argued for merging the lists so to see that day finally here is a relief.

However, the implementation and communication surrounding it has been a disaster and has served to turn what should have been a joyous occasion into a frustrating event that can be summed up in a word that rhymes with ‘Bustercluck’. Ever since I started in the EU five years ago, I’ve seen the community treated like second class subscribers, always lower in priority than the US servers even though we pay the same fee. We get no publicity, no official player meets, no boxes in our shops (despite promises) and we regularly would lose our test server the moment any closed testing was needed. The way this merger was handled just reinforced that opinion.

The global rename, although I was ok with it at first, has now deeply saddened me as it was entirely at the cost of EU subscribers. Although our protestations got trials excluded, the fact that a two week old subscription in the US could gazump a long term, many year veteran in the EU showed where the company’s loyalty truly lies. Ditto for global channels which, in the first announcement, hadn’t even been considered, despite them being a focal point for many parts of the community. Sure, we do benefit the most from the merger but its implementation was a customer service failure on many levels.

With a game as old as this, not pissing off your loyal player base is as important as gaining new players. A global name purge could have been performed but apparently players who left four years ago are a higher priority than those who have been here since the inception of the game and supported it through thick and thin. The changes will inevitably inconvenience someone but why the loyal customers and not those who left years ago and might never come back?

Supposedly, we were going to get a reactivation weekend to sort out our US accounts before the merge but that seems to have been reversed for some unknown reason. Oh and the whole business of ‘dropping letters’ in a clash worked so well too didn’t it?

So no, I’m not happy. Glad to finally have the access we should have had years ago and I am grateful to those who made it happen but very bitter about how the EU has been treated once again. A pyrrhic victory all round.

Ya'll may wanna check this out...
https://forumarchive.cityofheroes.dev/topic/3637916#comment-3637916

Globally @NCShafted
(N.B. That is not my current game global obviously.)

Have anyone seen the influx of all these new cool Americans that will flood our servers and fill them with them with life?