World Transfers

[Raffaella]

I often read that article and I realized that all the worlds move

....
We are updating all of our software to the latest and greatest versions and all of the worlds are moving to new top of the line hardware allowing for less interruptions of service and a smoother gameplay experience for us all. ....

then the generic reference to Article does not give me the chance to change my mind, and It needs detailed explanation

[Marancil]

I think you also wrong. waiting for an answare of a Community Manager.

I am not wrong and if you bothered to read the thread you would see that.

There is no NEW (Like old Laurelin and then a new Laurelin) server created, they will only be moved on to new hardware. That has no impact whatsoever on the accounts and characters you have on that server.

In terms of computer hardware and perhaps server operating system, yes the server will be new, but everything that is LOTRO and all that goes with it will be the same. No user interaction is needed if you are on one of the surviving servers, just as I said above and for the Account and Characters on that server.

[maartena]

I think you also wrong. waiting for an answare of a Community Manager.

If you are on a server that is closing, you will have to use the transfer system to transfer to a server that is not closing.
If you are on a server that is NOT closing, you will have the option for free transfers until October 1st if you CHOOSE to move to another server (e.g. Laurelin to Evernight), but it is purely optional. If you want to stay on the server you are on now, and that server isn't closing, there is nothing you have to do.

[Amrundir]

We are updating all of our software to the latest and greatest versions and all of the worlds are moving to new top of the line hardware allowing for less interruptions of service and a smoother gameplay experience for us all. ....

Server != World

It can sometimes be very confusing.

In terms of computer hardware and perhaps server operating system, yes the server will be new,

... on new locations. Currently all servers are located in a data center in (or near?) Bosten. New location for NA servers will be New Jersay, for EU servers Amsterdam.

[RJFerret]

Just like Turbine uses the word "level" to apply to character level as well as legendary item level and it's totally confusing to players, they also use the work "relic" to apply to various things...

Server is one such term.

If you are on a world that is remaining open, you do not need to do anything. If you have characters you haven't playing in over a year that have a generic name, you might want to log them in so someone who more actively plays doesn't take the name, or kindly not do that so incoming players could keep their name and if you ever log in your inactive character they'll be name-1 with a free rename in the alerts panel.

At some point in time Turbine will announce downtime to the game to upgrade hardware, this is when the game worlds will be shifted into new data-centers (New Jersey and Amsterdam). The game worlds (all of them, not just remaining open worlds) will then reside on new "servers". Players need not do anything but wait until Turbine announces the game is online and available to play again.

It sounds like confusion conflating the overlapping meaning of some of the terminology used.

This is the reason they chose to only close the smallest of servers, as most of the game-playing population is completely unaffected and need not do a thing.

[Mar-Evayave]

In our way of thinking, server means world. But in the technical meaning, server is just a mess of electronics in a big room.

The data that is the game worlds is NOT the same thing as the electronics.

The electronics are getting updated. We are getting rid of the old "server hardware" in favor of top-of-the-line "server hardware" -- all in regards to the electronics used. In this hardware update, we, the players, do absolutely nothing. It's all done behind the scenes with no involvement from us.

The server consolidation, worlds closing and transfers available, is about the game data. Some parts of this game data (the 19 closing worlds) will eventually become inaccessible. Players on those worlds will need to transfer off to one of the 10 surviving worlds. If you are already on one of those 10, then you can stay right where you are (unless you want to move to a different server).

So:
Electronics upgrade to new hardware: Players do nothing.
Server consolidation: Players may or may not do something, depending on where they are and what they want to do.

[Marancil]

, server is just a mess of electronics in a big room.

I get your point and why, but I strongly resent that...that...OVER simplification of the single most elaborated and developed piece of equipment created since the 60's... and the potential insult to thousands upon thousands of hardworking server administrators, including yours truly... dang...

A gif for our american friends

[maartena]

I wonder if Vyvyanne and/or Frelorn can give us a status update before the weekend hits.... It's been almost 2 weeks since the transfers were announced, and I am looking forward to moving my characters. I just want it over with now.

[RJFerret]

Hardly an update, but my perception...

Testing of items and house transfers, the first round of testing seemed to have lots of positive results. The biggest issue is some confirmation emails were delayed or didn't go through, but most testers were not impacted, and there were a lot of testers.

The next phase, testing moving a kin from BR to Palantir and back seems to not have gone nearly as smoothly, with various issues for most everyone, and far fewer testers compared to the easier previous round of testing since it's more effort and preparatory work to test this.

It sounds like the company's highest priority targets had been achieved, while the secondaries need more addressing before things can move forward. Since they have a track record of releasing things with issues, to clean up later, but in this case significant damage to relationships may occur, hopefully there'll be greater adjustments ahead of time. Note also in the podcast Vyvyanne mentioned that if needed the Oct. 1st deadline may be pushed back. So those who might want to be first to the party might want to grind some more slayer deeds for patience. ;-)

[Mar-Evayave]

I get your point and why, but I strongly resent that...that...OVER simplification of the single most elaborated and developed piece of equipment created since the 60's... and the potential insult to thousands upon thousands of hardworking server administrators, including yours truly... dang...

My dad and older brother are in that same business. My dad has been a network administrator for a few decades. I was deliberately putting it in over-simplified terms so that the Raffaella could understand (considering the trouble thus far in recognizing why he/she won't have to xfer off the 10 servers unless he/she wants to -- because the new hardware has little to do with the actual server consolidation).

[Montezuma's]

But in the technical meaning, server is just a mess of electronics in a big room.

physically server is relatively small plugin plate. Some five years ago Warcraft was selling out outdated server plates to fans as memorability item. They looked like big video cards.

[Fratonia]

Technically speaking a server is an entity that provides a service in contrast to a client which uses that service. The term "server" does not distinguish between hard and software so it can lead to confusion. It's the same issue with the term "lag" which just means "delay" but has no single technical meaning. Still it is widely used in this forum and leads to confusion every time. If one talks about the hardware he should say "hardware" instead of "server". The hardware could be as small as a cigarette packet or as big as a packing crate for example but this is really getting far off topic.

In our case it's the hardware that is upgraded to provide better performance. The software and user data are moved to the new hardware but remain intact so anyone on a world that remains open can continue playing like he always did. There is no need to transfer anything but you can if you want.

[DanteIL]

What exactly is "overflow" and how does it work? My storage on Landroval is pretty much maxxed out, so I assume that the stuff I have in my shared Vault and Wardrobe on Windfola will go into 'overflow' after the transfer if I don't have room on Landroval. How do I get access to it then? Buy more storage slots? Maybe it's just better to move as much as possible over to the individual character Vault and/or inventory bags before the transfer? That won't work for the Wardrobe though.

I'm glad to see, though, that shared tokens etc in the Barter Wallet (i.e., the 'green' things) will apparently simply get merged & added together after the transfer. That's nice.

[cdq1958]

The overflow works like this. Let us say you have characters on two worlds with 60 items in the shared storage and only 60 open slots. When you transfer them to one world, you may have 120 items in shared storage with 60 open slots, since the 60 slots is what you've opened on all available worlds. Opening the shared storage will show 120/60. You will be able to remove items from the shared storage but not put any into it until the total has been reduced to 59 or you buy unlocks for more open slots. Let us say you buy one more shared storage upgrade. You will now see 120/75 if you buy the unlock before moving things out.

Oh, if I'm not mistaken, stackable items will merge up to their maximum stack size; so items like that may result in fewer slots shown as overflow.

[Mar-Evayave]

physically server is relatively small plugin plate. Some five years ago Warcraft was selling out outdated server plates to fans as memorability item. They looked like big video cards.

Indeed. We've got a server in our basement. I don't look at it too much, but it doesn't take up a lot of space. Of course, we've only got one. The more servers you need to keep running, the more electronics you're gonna need.

[DanteIL]

The overflow works like this.

Ah thanks for the explanation. That make sense -- it's like 'one-way' storage. Could get annoying because I wouldn't be able to put anything else new in, but at least it sounds like I'll have (one-way) access to the transferred items.

Has anybody tested yet to see if duplicates of items automatically stack upon transfer or does any stacking have to be done manually? What about duplicates of 'unique' items -- e.g., the Festival maps (which I have stored in my Vault on both servers) -- in the case of a conflict like that, do they not transfer? (which would be okay, obviously, since I only need one, but I still wonder if they would cause some kind of problem)

[Fratonia]

Ah thanks for the explanation. That make sense -- it's like 'one-way' storage. Could get annoying because I wouldn't be able to put anything else new in, but at least it sounds like I'll have (one-way) access to the transferred items.

Has anybody tested yet to see if duplicates of items automatically stack upon transfer or does any stacking have to be done manually? What about duplicates of 'unique' items -- e.g., the Festival maps (which I have stored in my Vault on both servers) -- in the case of a conflict like that, do they not transfer? (which would be okay, obviously, since I only need one, but I still wonder if they would cause some kind of problem)

I don't know how unique items are handled but keep in mind that you can't put anything into shared storage until you are at or below max space even if the item in question would stack with something in shared storage. I found that out lately when I tried to put some reputation tokens back into my storage. I had like 75/60 used and tried to put 11 tokens on top of the already existing 53 tokens. Normally they would fit but in this case the game didn't allow it because storage was in overflow mode. So be careful what you remove from stacks. You may not be able to put it back.

[Galadhloth]

My experience in my (limited) testing on Bullroarer is that items do not stack automatically, in shared storage at least.

I transferred something like 15 copper ingots from Windfola and 40 copper ingots from Imladris. I had to take them out of shared storage and into my bag, at which point they stacked. Couldn't put them back into shared storage, since I had massive overflow (78/40 or something like that).

I think inventory management is going to be the biggest challenge for me through this whole process, but then again I am a packrat...

[Aiyah]

Sorry if this has been answered already. I didn't feel like reading 25 pages of the thread lol. Will we have the option to move some of our characters to one server and the rest to a different server? Or is it all toons + destiny/marks moved at the same time?

[RJFerret]

Sorry if this has been answered already. I didn't feel like reading 25 pages of the thread lol. Will we have the option to move some of our characters to one server and the rest to a different server? Or is it all toons + destiny/marks moved at the same time?

Individually, and shared account stuff is a separate checkbox too. Or you can check the "select all" box to do everything. Note recommended order if kin and house owner though.

[Aiyah]

Individually, and shared account stuff is a separate checkbox too. Or you can check the "select all" box to do everything. Note recommended order if kin and house owner though.

Thank you!

[cdq1958]

Ah thanks for the explanation. That make sense -- it's like 'one-way' storage. Could get annoying because I wouldn't be able to put anything else new in, but at least it sounds like I'll have (one-way) access to the transferred items.

Has anybody tested yet to see if duplicates of items automatically stack upon transfer or does any stacking have to be done manually? What about duplicates of 'unique' items -- e.g., the Festival maps (which I have stored in my Vault on both servers) -- in the case of a conflict like that, do they not transfer? (which would be okay, obviously, since I only need one, but I still wonder if they would cause some kind of problem)

If I do that manually, they'll stack up to the open slot cap. I may have been mistaken about that happening automatically on transfers, which makes sense for it to not happen automatically if there is any chance of data corruption or loss. I expect to do more of this when the next phase begins.

[Wirbel]

nvm.

Made a new topic.

[MessyR]

I have a question with regards to creeps. I have on Snowbourn got all my creep slots filled. Now as an EN EU player I can really only choose Evernight to play on, but again on Evernight I have my creep slots filled, what happens when snowy closes to my creeps? Can i transfer them to Evernight? and have 2 of each?

[RJFerret]

Can i trnasfer them to Evernight? and have 2 of each?

Yes, there'll be a little drop down arrow to select which you want to play.