Folks,
Okay, there’s been much commotion and concern about our server names, availability at CE/SE launch, etc. So, here’s the full scoop on what we are going to do and what we are not going to do.
First, we will take the number of servers up on CE launch from 10 to 15. While we still don’t think it is necessary (and I’ll explain in detail why), this additional number of servers tomorrow should alleviate some of the concerns being raised by the community. Here is the updated list:
Red Eye Mountain Core
Skull Throne Core
Badlands Core
Sylvania Core
Volkmar Core
Averheim Core
Azazel CoreHochland Open RvR
Wolfenburg Open RvR
Dark Crag Open RvR
Bechafen Open RvRPhoenix Throne Roleplay
Ostermark RoleplayChaos Wastes RP/Open RvR
Second, I’ll lay out the names of the servers that will be deployed as other servers of that type hit their population cap (more on this below). We will not list the names of all the servers we have for a number of reasons, including the fact that the names are irrelevant this far out as the type of server that name could be associated with could change based on player play patterns. For example, if Deathsword was listed as a “Core” server in a list but then is changed to an ”RP” server based on demand, it would create more confusion, not less.
Ulthuan Core
Vortex Core
Ungrim Core
Drachenfels Open RvR
Eerie Downs Open RvR
Tor Elyr Roleplay
Kazador RP/Open RvRIn terms of how our rollout plan looks like, here are some more details:
1) On day one, our population cap on each server will start at 1/3 of its total cap and then move up to ½ on a rolling basis. We can raise that number any time, no restart of the servers are necessary.
2) As a server approaches cap, we will either raise the cap again or deploy another server of that type. Deployment of a server takes only 30 minutes and our intention is that there are no server queues during the CE/SE period.
3) By day 2, we will raise the server cap of all servers to 2/3.
4) By day 3, we will raise the server cap of all servers to its full cap.
5) Each server’s cap is a bit soft and even our top cap is less than the servers can handle.
6) Depending on how many of our CE/SE players take advantage of the head start, we will add more servers as necessary throughout the entire process.
Once again, our plan (not our goal, but our plan) is to deploy servers as needed to *avoid* long server queues whether it is in the Head Start or beyond. Please keep in mind we needed to have some queuing in Open Beta so we could test the code before launch.
Here’s the list of the next servers of each type that are queued up so that guilds can start making their plans.
We will not open all the CE/SE servers at launch for a number of reasons, one of which is that doing so would be unfair to the SE players who might also want to come into a “fresh” server just like our CE people. We also will not open all the servers we have racked at SE launch as the same reasoning applies to people who didn’t pre-order the game. We will not open all our servers at launch as well since that could lead to servers with too few people in the beginning if people spread out too much.
If this plan doesn’t work, you can expect us to make changes on the fly and/or after launch including free transfers as necessary.
Mark
