World Transfers

[Vampire83]

We don't need to move all characters to the same server but if we want to then yes, we will have to unlock more slots. I will have to delete some characters to make room if I'm forced to move from my home server to another with existing characters.

Funny...that won't be possible for EU players with language prefs

[siipperi]

Yup, this was my feeling too - Evernight, as the long term recommended server, is likely to stay, and Snowbourn's population is also rather sizeable already - but having to take on all of those from the other servers, even with the move to Amsterdam, is going to make things rather laggy, particularly in the tiny Osgiliath PvMP map.

I seriously doubt there will be any problems population wise, all EU servers are small compared to Brandywine. Most DE servers for example can sadly be labeled as dead.

[Curuer_Bauglir]

If I have to transfer, I would be curious to check out Landroval and give RP a try, although the RP vs. non-RP cold war being referenced here does scare me a bit and make me worry I would considered a troll for not knowing the exact procedure. Is there any place that lists the RP guidelines for LOTRO?

[Fratonia]

I do think Kickman77 has some good points too.. I assumed that bank slots n such, things you already spent tp for would just transfer with the toons?

They do and the shared storage is account wide. The problem Kickman pointed out is that you have toons on server A which use let's say 50/60 slots and you have toons on server B that use 40/60 slots. Now you transfer your characters and shared storage from server B to server A which results in 90/60 items in shared storage.

A question I have is how will my lag scenario look once the EU servers move to Amsterdam? I am one of the ones in the US who just picked the suggested server, not knowing it was an EU server. Where is it located now and how will the far distance impact people like me? I'm on Evernight which I think has a good chance of sticking around.

You will experience higher packet latency. I would say ~70ms because that is the time it takes the packets to cross the Atlantic Ocean. At least this is the time my packets take from the node in Hamburg to the node in New York.

[Marancil]

If I have to transfer, I would be curious to check out Landroval and give RP a try, although the RP vs. non-RP cold war being referenced here does scare me a bit and make me worry I would considered a troll for not knowing the exact procedure. Is there any place that lists the RP guidelines for LOTRO?

In regards to RP I looked up the subject quickly in a recent conversation and RP is "supported" according to Turbine. If I end up on an RP server I will obviously ignore the RP rules I do not wish to adhere to.

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...les-and-Policy

[cdq1958]

I think it would be hard for anyone in the US to accurately say how it will work out, but your best bet would probably be to ask any EU friends you might have. They've been dealing with this exact situation ever since Codemasters returned control of the EU servers to Turbine.

As an example, I have a number of friends from the EU (as well as Asia, Australia, South America, etc). I don't really know what their latency is, but at the same time they seem able to play the game as well as I can. My guess would be that your connection strength won't take a huge hit unless you already have a slow internet connection (the way I do -- I get about 3 megs per second).

My main kin on Nimrodel has Aussies (usage not exclusive of others in the East Asia/West Pac area) and Europeans among the membership roster. Interestingly enough, I suspect my EU friends to get better NA pings from the move to NJ, though they'll likely have 100ms or so times (they're still more than 3000 miles away from NYC and, hmm, NYC is closer to SF and LA than Boston is, and that's still 2000 miles). My AU/NZ friends have 200ms and higher pings routinely. I'm not sure what the move to NJ will do for them. For instance, Boston, MA is about 1500 miles from me. I get upper 40s at best and 50s/60s millisecond ping times typically. NJ will be 300 miles closer, and since my current routing sends me through NYC, the NYC to Boston hop adds about 10 ms to my pings. So, I'm expecting 40s pings from the move.

I'm pretty sure there is a major trans-Atlantic cable that comes into NYC. Given that there will be this 300 mile shorter route and better connectivity to that backbone, I expect the EU folk who continue to play on NA servers will get at least 10ms shaved off their pings, and maybe more. South Americans likely enter the US in Miami. NYC is about 300 miles closer to Miami, so I expect them to get at least 10ms shaved off their pings, too.

[Elwha]

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping, the "age" of the account would be the crucial factor.

It's not too late to make this change. +1

Don't let trolls make trash accounts in attempt to steal a transferring account character name.

[Namesse]

In regards to RP I looked up the subject quickly in a recent conversation and RP is "supported" according to Turbine. If I end up on an RP server I will obviously ignore the RP rules I do not wish to adhere to.

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...les-and-Policy

I think if you just let others do their thing you'll be ok.

[Bel-Astarte]

If I have to transfer, I would be curious to check out Landroval and give RP a try, although the RP vs. non-RP cold war being referenced here does scare me a bit and make me worry I would considered a troll for not knowing the exact procedure. Is there any place that lists the RP guidelines for LOTRO?

As a non-rper on Landy, I would say please don't worry about it. I've found folks to be kind and accomadating, as long as you don't start griefing the folks who are enjoying a little RP.

[Gardiaah]

They do and the shared storage is account wide. The problem Kickman pointed out is that you have toons on server A which use let's say 50/60 slots and you have toons on server B that use 40/60 slots. Now you transfer your characters and shared storage from server B to server A which results in 90/60 items in shared storage.




You will experience higher packet latency. I would say ~70ms because that is the time it takes the packets to cross the Atlantic Ocean. At least this is the time my packets take from the node in Hamburg to the node in New York.

Thanks for the info =) appreciate it and it makes sense

[lockecd]

Sadly we do not see cross region transfers ever being a thing that we can offer. This is due to the original regions being set up in two different account systems, which allowed duplicate character IDs to be created. The transfer of a character to a world on which it might share an ID with another character can result in the loss of all character data. This is not a situation we want to see happen, especially to some of the oldest characters on the servers.

This to me is not fare in no way. I do understand the conflict. How ever I am sure if you and the team think about it that there is a work around as to let Eu transfer to a Eu server and visa versa Before the rest of us are transferred. This is really sad !

[Fumanciu]

Wait, so we won't be able to transfer from a closing server to a 'remaining' server from the 3rd of August but only later?
If yes, will it be before September?

[cdq1958]

They do and the shared storage is account wide. The problem Kickman pointed out is that you have toons on server A which use let's say 50/60 slots and you have toons on server B that use 40/60 slots. Now you transfer your characters and shared storage from server B to server A which results in 90/60 items in shared storage.




You will experience higher packet latency. I would say ~70ms because that is the time it takes the packets to cross the Atlantic Ocean. At least this is the time my packets take from the node in Hamburg to the node in New York.

However, that that scenario, unless every item in each server's shared storage is unique, stacking should help. Otherwise, there will be overflow, and that's why I made a large number of storage alts.

Default open character slots, though, I think should be doubled from 2/3/5/7 to 4/6/10/14 and if you've bought some, have those doubled, too, up to the cap. If you need more than that, well, you have choices.

[I went through another game's consolidation like this, though that one had several rounds going from 100 or so servers to 16, if I am remembering correctly. I had to do a bit of renaming and open character slots, with money, to get the ability to play all of the ones that I'd made. There were no issues, for me, with respect to character storage, both personal and shared at the time. Also, at that time, that game did not have housing dirt-side; though it does now.]

[Curuer_Bauglir]

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but I know literally nothing about computer servers. I may have already read the answer to this question and not even known due to my computer ignorance. How do Asia, Africa, Australia, South America etc. factor into the EU vs. NA server distinction? I only ask because I live in the US and play on a NA server, but many of my kinmates are from overseas, so I wonder if we will be able to keep our kinship together after the closings.

[Almagnus1]

Sadly we do not see cross region transfers ever being a thing that we can offer. This is due to the original regions being set up in two different account systems, which allowed duplicate character IDs to be created. The transfer of a character to a world on which it might share an ID with another character can result in the loss of all character data. This is not a situation we want to see happen, especially to some of the oldest characters on the servers.

How feasible is it to assign everyone new account numbers, so that EU and NA don't clash?

If there's a concern (like loss of data, or just generally too high risk), can you go into some of the technical details so some of us have a better understanding of why you are so hesitant to make EU and NA compatible?

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but I know literally nothing about computer servers. I may have already read the answer to this question and not even known due to my computer ignorance. How do Asia, Africa, Australia, South America etc. factor into the EU vs. NA server distinction? I only ask because I live in the US and play on a NA server, but many of my kinmates are from overseas, so I wonder if we will be able to keep our kinship together after the closings.

At one point, there were so many Aussies and Kiwis on E that it was the unofficial oceanic server.

Server location doesn't mean squat when it comes to who can log into it, as evident by the Russian population of Brandywine.

[Namesse]

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but I know literally nothing about computer servers. I may have already read the answer to this question and not even known due to my computer ignorance. How do Asia, Africa, Australia, South America etc. factor into the EU vs. NA server distinction? I only ask because I live in the US and play on a NA server, but many of my kinmates are from overseas, so I wonder if we will be able to keep our kinship together after the closings.

The kinship stays together when the individuals follow the kin leader to the new server. If someone chooses to go elsewhere, then they've chosen to strike out on their own.

[Laire]

If I have to transfer, I would be curious to check out Landroval and give RP a try, although the RP vs. non-RP cold war being referenced here does scare me a bit and make me worry I would considered a troll for not knowing the exact procedure. Is there any place that lists the RP guidelines for LOTRO?

They're completely exaggerating. There are a ton of non RPers and RPers on Landroval who play together just fine.

Don't jump around obnoxiously on people trying to RP and don't spam emotes on people who are trying to RP. Basically courteous behavior, really. It's very easy NOT to troll RPers. :P You really have to go out of your way to do it.

[Seffrid]

This shouldn't be a store purchase, in my opinion. If people are being forced to move to another server where they will need to purchase something to play something they've already purchased, that's terrible. The best way to circumvent it is to give people 'x' amount of extra char slots for free and call it a casualty of business operation.

Agreed.

I have 11 characters on Withywindle plus a number of characters on Laurelin (5, I think). I assume Laurelin will be remaining, and that Withywindle will close. It would appear that if I transfer from Withywindle to another server (not Laurelin) I will only have the default slots on that server - would that be 6? I'd then either have to pay a second time for the slots those extra characters have already paid for, or split my "party" and move 5 of them to a different server. Even if I have any extra slots on Laurelin, the character names are mainly duplicated between the servers and I'd not want to have to change any, yet the number of servers being retained is so small I might not have any choice - especially as the EU players are even more restricted in this respect because of the French and German language servers. In any event, I wouldn't want to split my characters between different servers, they are my "party" and are mutually self-sufficient in terms of tradeskills etc.

If I have paid for 11 slots on Withywindle, then I should be entitled to access all 11 characters on the destination server of my choice, without any extra payment. If that means moving all of them to Laurelin and having say 16 slots in total (say I have 5 existing characters there plus 11 incoming), or moving all 11 characters to a different server and having 11 slots there, then that is how it should work. It's the same method that SOE applied when doing server mergers in EQ2 and I see no reason why it can't be done here. Under no circumstances should I have to pay extra to access characters which I am being forced to move. If I've paid once for the extra slots, I should not have to pay a second time for them.

The same principle should apply to both character slots and shared vault slots: what has been paid for on the closing server should be automatically applied on the destination server (in addition to any existing characters and shared vault slots on the destination server).

Lastly, can we please be told now which servers are affected. It is immensely frustrating to be told all the details of the transfer arrangements except the most important one - which servers are affected.

[Curuer_Bauglir]

The kinship stays together when the individuals follow the kin leader to the new server. If someone chooses to go elsewhere, then they've chosen to strike out on their own.

Thank you for clearing that up. I thought I read somewhere that the physical server locations were being moved and someone in Europe could no longer access the North American servers(and vice versa) after the move. That's why I was curious where the other 4 habitable continents fell in the NA vs. EU classification. There has been so much misinformation since the initial announcement that servers would be closing, I probably would've been better off reading nothing at all until today.

[bucko39]

This shouldn't be a store purchase, in my opinion. If people are being forced to move to another server where they will need to purchase something to play something they've already purchased, that's terrible. The best way to circumvent it is to give people 'x' amount of extra char slots for free and call it a casualty of business operation.

I also agree with this.
It just makes sense.
Now, the real question is will Turbine do it?

[Padhril]

They're completely exaggerating. There are a ton of non RPers and RPers on Landroval who play together just fine.

Don't jump around obnoxiously on people trying to RP and don't spam emotes on people who are trying to RP. Basically courteous behavior, really. It's very easy NOT to troll RPers. :P You really have to go out of your way to do it.

Same on Laurelin. I don't actually RP myself except for occasional short interactions (meeting someone in the world who has the RP tag on etc., greeting them in /say and in-character dialogue). I'm on the server I because enjoy the atmosphere and the lore affinity. I've never seen RP'ers complain about anyone else not RP-ing, and there is no "war" - as long as someone doesn't obnoxiously disturb those who do. There have been one or two high-profile cases of that sort, like one person who had some grudge against RP'ers and took every opportunity to troll them, but that's obvious, intentional trolling, not someone making an innocent mistake. The only rules people can run up against easily without realising are the naming rules. They are available in character creation, but not everyone reads.

Treat RP you see in the game world just like you would treat people interacting in the real world - I assume you'd be unlikely to insert yourself into a group having a discussion in a public place and /roar incessantly, so just stay with that in the game.

[Almagnus1]

Thank you for clearing that up. I thought I read somewhere that the physical server locations were being moved and someone in Europe could no longer access the North American servers(and vice versa) after the move. That's why I was curious where the other 4 habitable continents fell in the NA vs. EU classification. There has been so much misinformation since the initial announcement that servers would be closing, I probably would've been better off reading nothing at all until today.

You can thank some of the other 6k+ post posters for that one.....

[gk11]

Agreed.

I have 11 characters on Withywindle plus a number of characters on Laurelin (5, I think). I assume Laurelin will be remaining, and that Withywindle will close. It would appear that if I transfer from Withywindle to another server (not Laurelin) I will only have the default slots on that server - would that be 6? I'd then either have to pay a second time for the slots those extra characters have already paid for, or split my "party" and move 5 of them to a different server. Even if I have any extra slots on Laurelin, the character names are mainly duplicated between the servers and I'd not want to have to change any, yet the number of servers being retained is so small I might not have any choice - especially as the EU players are even more restricted in this respect because of the French and German language servers. In any event, I wouldn't want to split my characters between different servers, they are my "party" and are mutually self-sufficient in terms of tradeskills etc.

If I have paid for 11 slots on Withywindle, then I should be entitled to access all 11 characters on the destination server of my choice, without any extra payment. If that means moving all of them to Laurelin and having say 16 slots in total (say I have 5 existing characters there plus 11 incoming), or moving all 11 characters to a different server and having 11 slots there, then that is how it should work. It's the same method that SOE applied when doing server mergers in EQ2 and I see no reason why it can't be done here. Under no circumstances should I have to pay extra to access characters which I am being forced to move. If I've paid once for the extra slots, I should not have to pay a second time for them.

The same principle should apply to both character slots and shared vault slots: what has been paid for on the closing server should be automatically applied on the destination server (in addition to any existing characters and shared vault slots on the destination server).

Lastly, can we please be told now which servers are affected. It is immensely frustrating to be told all the details of the transfer arrangements except the most important one - which servers are affected.

All the Characterslots you bought in the past are accountbound not serverbound. You have paid for the slots not the Chars. I know this sucks but if you buy a bookshelf for 20 books, you can still have more but not all in the same shelf. If you need more space than you would have to buy an extra shelf there too. But than again you could transfer just as many as you have space to one server and the rest to another.

[FyreBrand]

Could we please have a massively-discounted store sale on character slots and new shared storage slots?

If this can be put on the planning table, I'd love to see it stay available through a lot of the transfer period.

I agree. I'm not super happy at the prospect I need to spend a ton of cash just to move my characters. I think it should be included as part of the parcel Turbine has to deal with for merging servers, but I can deal with meeting half way and share the expense, but it shouldn't be put entirely on the player. Turbine is asking a lot of their players here.

This shouldn't be a store purchase, in my opinion. If people are being forced to move to another server where they will need to purchase something to play something they've already purchased, that's terrible. The best way to circumvent it is to give people 'x' amount of extra char slots for free and call it a casualty of business operation.

I don't think it should be a store purchase either. I think we should be able to make any character created before this announcement, but I'm also willing to give a little. But I agree, Turbine should suck up the character slots.

I'm puzzled why you need to put all your toons on 1 server when you are split across multiple servers now. Is it that you really do actively play all characters on all the NA servers and are unwilling to toss a few?

I have a few toons scattered about different servers, none high level, and they'll be going to other servers than where my maxed toons will end up; if I need to make room and drop a few, I will (after stripping them of gold and other goodies).

I'm puzzled why Turbine is closing servers and putting the entire burden on their customer base. They want consolidation and I'm willing to put up with the hassle, even the name loss, but they should take on a larger part of that burden and the larger part they could shoulder are the character slots.

When I made characters on other servers, it was a long time ago in another time and the game was very different. I don't want characters on separate servers anymore with split Mithril Coin resources and perks.

If they're not going to offer free slots, then please provide 1 slot per 2 purchased and put new slots on deep discount in the store.

[Mar-Evayave]

Thank you for clearing that up. I thought I read somewhere that the physical server locations were being moved and someone in Europe could no longer access the North American servers(and vice versa) after the move. That's why I was curious where the other 4 habitable continents fell in the NA vs. EU classification. There has been so much misinformation since the initial announcement that servers would be closing, I probably would've been better off reading nothing at all until today.

The physical locations of the servers are moving. All are currently in Boston, MA, USA. Now the US servers will be in New Jersey and the EU servers will be in Amsterdam.

The only effect this will have is your ping times (connection speed on the internet to the game servers). This change will not prevent you from playing on any of the servers, you just may experience higher ping times.

Other regions (South America, Asia, Australia, etc) come into play because of how far they are. They've never had their own servers (the way the NA and EU folks have) and so have always had to deal with international connections, and thus typically higher ping times. So, for example, if Bob lives in the US but plays on an EU server, he may want to know how badly his connection ping times will be affected once the EU servers move to Amsterdam. The best way to find out will be to ask his friends from Asia, Australia, etc. how their ping times are, and compare their personal connection speeds to that.