My thoughts since the list merge

Before the server list merge happened i was one of the european players that was very vocal about having a sever list merge and i just thought that it would be nice to give an insight into how the list merge has affected my gameplay experience since it has happened.

At first i was a bit worried [as were many others] who thought that many players would leave their home servers for the more populated ones such as Freedom or Virtue but so far this hasnt been the case. A lot of us has made new alts over on the [old] NA severs but still continue to play on the [old] EU ones.
I must say that i was suprised by the number of people that were coming over to Union [sadly i cannot speak for defiant since i havent played much on there last few weeks] with both new alts and established characters.

Of course with new players coming over to the Union server it did bring some obstacles. The main one that strikes out to me and other people are that the NA players are used to using the /help channel for just general talking and looking for teams, this is different to a lot of us since the /help channel was almost dead pre-merge since we use global channels for way of communication.
With that being said it didnt take long for a few nice people [Lady Arete for example] to guide people to the channels that Union tends to use [sals badgehunters/Union chat/Union Taskforce etc] and now the channels have been more alive than ever.

It has been a really nice and enjoyable experience not only playing with other players again but also just having a genuine laugh with them too. Even when i have played on the NA servers i have been teaming with people that i have no idea who they are and feeling like i am once again a newb which can only be a good thing in my opinion!

Basically what i am trying to say is that the influx of new players to play with has been a breath of fresh air for myself and motivated me to try out new things within the game [new alt elec/dev blaster which is the best char ever! LOVE mines!] such as powersets i have never dreamed of using before, TFs i have never done [sewer trial/eden] and logging on to the game and end up talking to people via Union Chat for a good hour before i even kill anything!

*raises glass* Heres hoping that this new feeling to the game lasts!

I'm quite happy with how it turned out as well.
Activity has gone up which is always a good thing. Allows us to get more teams to play different kinds of content more easily.

As for that fear the EU servers would just somehow magically run empty, I've been saying this all along from way ahead of the merge:
Some people will want to try the other servers for any of a number of reasons.
For instance, you're on EU and have friends on the US side or vice versa, you're just curious about how they play on the other side of the ocean or for years you've already missed most of the action because you have a job with shifts that forces you to sleep through your own primetime or whatever.
Fact of the matter is these reasons apply fairly equally to the entire playerbase, both on EU and US side.
On average it will apply to about the same share of players on both sides.

Now, don't argue the number 'cause I'm just gonna make up a completely random number for illustration sake: let's say this applies to 5% of the playerbase - 5% of the US want to check out EU for whatever reason and vice versa...
There are exceptions, but for most US/NA players german and french speaking servers aren't a hugely viable option, which leaves them with Defiant and Union to pick from.

The result: 5% of the combined playerbases of 11 servers check out any one or both of 2 servers and 5% of the combined playerbases of 2 servers check out any one or multiple of 11 servers.
Granted, once you figure out you like US servers you may roll on several and a US player is done with visiting 2 which may further affect actual playtime per server etc, but roughly at the basis it works like this.

And we're seeing the result of that. I imagine on US servers the difference in activity isn't going to be hugely impressive (as a small share of less servers coming to visit makes less of an impact on their higher absolute numbers) and it may only be really substantially noticable outside of the US primetime, but on the EU side (Defiant in my case) I see a clear overall activity increase throughout nearly the entire day except the really early US morning. When even west coast passes the 4 am or so the difference with before gets negligible for some hours, but other than I see an overall activity increase.

It never was rocket science.

I'm happy to be able to play back on the EU side as well. Was fed up with all my alts on Virtue for a bit and had a flash of inspiration last night as to what to play next, so now I have a Dual Blade/Elec Brute working through Praetoria on Union.

-Raises glass-

It's great to be able to hop between servers and enjoy meeting new people and hang out with them. Of course, they are also welcome to come around and meet us, too.

Defiant has been nothing but nice to me, I've enjoyed playing on it. (And will continue to do so!)

It’s been a mixed bag for me.

On the one hand, it has been fun rolling up new alts on different servers although the only one I’ve seriously tried so far has been Virtue. The old NA servers do feel more populated and it’s felt like old times running around seeing other heroes flying or superspeeding past me. I’ve already met a few nice people and being blind invited to a SG brought a flash of nostalgia I’ve not felt for a long time (I declined).

I’ve also noticed a few new people turning up on global channels although I do think the several hour time difference is noticeable. There’s been ups and downs and a few very raw moments but on the whole people have been pleasant and it feels like a global community at last. I have however had to strip the Help channel out of my tabs now due to a constant stream of chatter that we never had before the merge. It’s nice that people are talking but it feels like the wrong channel for it.

On the downside, I have almost become a hermit from global channels now. Since the rename I have come to loathe and detest seeing my global, its corrupted form serving as a bitter reminder of how EU loyalty is rewarded. Call it a poor choice when I did my rename if you like but that name that comes up whenever I speak is not mine. I hate it with a passion and would do virtually anything to change it again.

If it wasn’t for the global issue, I’d be in seventh heaven. Instead, it feels more like Eighth Circle.

I did get to meet EU_Damz. So it's all be the bestests evar! :_
On the other hand, i'm always on at a time where i can't get a pl.. sigh.
It's been fun, both union and defiant's chat channels are filled with cool ppl that chat and are very helpful. I like the silly chat and the info that flies through those channels.

Join union.. join defiant.. run and be free.

The ounly douwnside sou far has been peouple putting Us after their Os in wourds. I'm toutally starting tou get the hang ouf it nouw, though.

If anyone wishes to come to Defiant we'll make you very welcome! join Defiant Events EU and we'll all be happy to see you. (just make sure you speak the Queens English please. )

I've been meaning to make something on the EU servers but I just haven't gotten around to it. I have seen a few EU players on Virtue though.

I made a support type character in Defiant and have been trying to fit in play time on weekend afternoons which by my estimate ought to be Euro prime time.

Good fun running on some smaller lowbie teams on Onion last night. At one stage our 3 man team made up 75% of the population of Nova Praetoria, which was kinda eerie since Union was ranked #3 in terms of server population at the time (around 21:00 bst). Then we joined with another team and the pair of Brutes we had got constantly outlived by the two stalkers we joined (we were SKing up)

And the Us -> EU Character Transfers got fixed yesterday too. Yaay!! I've also moved one character to Union, although it wasn't the level 50 Fort/Widow I'd planned to since I gave the DB/Elec Brute I had rolled there the same name. So now I've slightly stuck myself.

I'll still move her across this evening once I've thought of a new name for her and checked it on Union so I can get into some iTrials with her (and sob as my softcap is made a mockery of).

Global Server Access = Excellent and very overdue idea I've argued for myself on many occasions.

How it was handled = A demoralising customer service failure.


EDIT: What Scarlet Shocker said.