@Devs: Please allow us to travel at will between servers.

[Nix]

I have kinda scanned through these 11 pages, and I can see how a system would be kinda cool... but to be honest I am so glad that it's not. I love the fact that servers are separate @_@. I have a few deeply personal reasons for enjoying this (such as - avoiding a stalker!), but it's relieving for me to know that if there's a bunch of asshats on ServerA and I transfer to ServerB, then I am 99% sure I will never bump into them ever again... unless by some sad twist of fate they also transfer at some point in the future.

Content finder is cool (I'm not sure if I'll ever use it or not), but as I said - I love the fact that servers are separate entities and that we can't travel between them freely.

[Vilhem]

Nixy, you've been absent X3 Missu

[Sakasa]

Well for one our accounts are not just the name with the attached character but data with many customized options attached to it such as achievements, items in storage, quest completions, places explored etc. So the exchange of data is not as easy as lumping the lot together and pushing it over because certain functions may or may not activate and then any loose data will act corrupted if not adapted exactly as the functions wishes for them to be formatted and could make account access impossible given a specific chain of events (Those that had to manually change your update version manually in the client know exactly what I mean). In the event that this happens or is capable of happening they would have to have steps to rebuild the data to insert it. This becomes a task when a function is added after the structure is secured which is why Everquest, WoW, and FFXI would initially have a charge but after streamlining it keeping it as a small profit maker wouldn't hurt.

Now on cross server content that wouldn't matter because the instance takes what it needs of your character and leaves the rest on the server and then adds the changes back when you leave the instance. That is different then dragging everything you did with you into the instance which is a much bigger chunk of data and variables.

On your Funcom argument while they would say it is easy now that would be after they built the tools and functions from the ground up which was less then easy with the many delays they had mostly due to lay offs as evidence. So its expense is man hours which one could express in a dollar amount which brings me back to the fact they had lay offs most likely to save money more so then they didn't like those employees. On the structures Bioware development team said the same thing about the shards but alot of work went into making them function correctly with out people getting stuck in shards not loaded and removing the possible abuse of things like World Bosses which had long timers that each shard has to be responsible for holding. Implementation of even a simple idea once a prototype is pass its proof of concept is not simple java virtual machine is a fine example as it came along way to what it is now.

But lets get technical for this system to work they would have to make an independent data server that stores our account specifics so that data that is "us" could freely travel from server to server with the "9 sec" load time you mentioned before and have our inventory and stored inventory easily accessed with as little delay as possible even if everyone on the entire servers base access their data at the same time. But server raid content restrictions (timer, loot ability,etc.) and content accessibility (level check,key item possession, CS progression) would also have to check back to the data server. While I do understand your idea there will be alot of data transfer independently of people actually switching servers in general to make the process as a whole smooth. Which wouldn't be as easy as attaching some code here change some server rules here and expanding bandwidth. And sure you could have alot of it client side but as we all know our dedicated core of code diggers are a problem with that as while some are trust worthy it only takes one person to modify values in one way or another to abuse that system to make that idea not valid as given enough time any encryption could be broken because we access the tools that decrypt when we login so that point of reference is massively different then a puzzle to a key that you have no idea which door it opens.

Eve is a fine example of server cluster design because their server structure inter-dependency is literally nets of servers that can at any time can be stopped restarted and initialized with out effecting any other and the data that is there such as items stored in space stations can be backup and tracked easily. All these are not by happenstance but design which is rarely discuss in the technical aspect I assume because the development team chooses to be close lipped about it. So the fact that ARR made it to alpha just would make this more of a time sync then a functional objective. If ARR wanted to still have the open consistent world but if they wanted and are willing to make it like monster hunter or DnD Online it would be exactly what your suggesting and would be able to require few man hour as the free to play models the system uses across the board is proof that they pay for themselves quickly.

[Nix]

Nixy, you've been absent X3 Missu

I missutuuuu Vil! Sorry I've been away! Slaving hardcore making stuffed animals XD (I wish I was kidding!) - my Dad flies from the UK to the States on sunday to visit so I'm haulin' ass and trying to get the house re-arranged for his visit lol ;~;. wtb strong mans for moving furniture preez!

[Vilhem]

I missutuuuu Vil! Sorry I've been away! Slaving hardcore making stuffed animals XD (I wish I was kidding!) - my Dad flies from the UK to the States on sunday to visit so I'm haulin' ass and trying to get the house re-arranged for his visit lol ;~;. wtb strong mans for moving furniture preez!

I can send you Thancred to help '-' if you can pry him out of the Miqo'te thread!

[Nix]

I can send you Thancred to help '-' if you can pry him out of the Miqo'te thread!

*rolls up sleeves* I'm brave for my thancredz

[Azzi]

Going back to the OP, I think this is a nice idea.

One of the problems players are facing come the launch of ARR is what server to choose. As it’s been confirmed that we are getting regional servers, people are going to want to go to a server where they get the best connection. But if many linkshells are similar to the one I belong to, we have players from all over the world which means it’s likely we will all get split up. We could stay together but some will suffer a server with a less-than-optimal connection. The OP’s idea would resolve this problem.

There are other benefits to name a few; if a certain server is having problems, you can still play by moving to another server. You’re not limited to having to wait for the problem with your server to be fixed before you can play. If you’re wanting to farm a particular mob but all the reasonable farm locations are taken, jump on another server and check again there. You discover an old friend is playing the game but is on a different server... not a problem.

To resolve possible economy problems, only allow players to buy and sell from their home server as someone mentioned in an earlier post.

The only major problem I can see with this is the community becomes one massive group in comparison to many smaller tightly knit groups. You wouldn’t have the choice of going to a smaller or larger populated server (which ever you prefer) as they are all interconnected.

All technical jargon aside and whether this can or cannot be done at this stage of the development, we know SE are implementing something similar for grouping players for instanced dungeons and the like. Maybe there’s going to be more to it that they haven’t told us yet. But who knows.

[ZakarnRosewood]

They wont do this and i dont want it. They already stated they want to keep the 1.0 players seperate from all the new characters that will be created upon ARR's release. Complain all you want, they wont change it.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

They wont do this and i dont want it. They already stated they want to keep the 1.0 players seperate from all the new characters that will be created upon ARR's release. Complain all you want, they wont change it.

What complain exactly?

[Alhanelem]

They wont do this and i dont want it. They already stated they want to keep the 1.0 players seperate from all the new characters that will be created upon ARR's release. Complain all you want, they wont change it.

That's not really what he's complaining about.