World Transfers

[forwarden]

ok now that we have the secord lot of dates in for the closing world next week is it at all possible to have move info ie

How many of the closing worlds are going to be transfered onto the old server right now
And when will the new hardware be up for the remaining closing worlds to transfer over

Has it stands right now if turbine was going to transfer 2 worlds ever 2 weeks snowbourn would be tranferring in 15 weeks time which would be the start of 2016

[Solstyce]

From Frelorn:

World transfers off of Gilrain will be available on September 28th and Riddermark will be available on September 29th!


Smart to do it one day apart, the biggest strain on the system is probably on day 1. But now we know: I'll be on Arkenstone September 29th!

So if we are moving on the 29th, how many days total are we going to have for transferring to another server? or are they going to shut it down again after two days. Also, I searched the forums and can't find where Frelorn posted this.

[Aedelric2]

So if we are moving on the 29th, how many days total are we going to have for transferring to another server? or are they going to shut it down again after two days. Also, I searched the forums and can't find where Frelorn posted this.

Under Announcements https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...sfers-Opening!

[cdq1958]

So if we are moving on the 29th, how many days total are we going to have for transferring to another server? or are they going to shut it down again after two days. Also, I searched the forums and can't find where Frelorn posted this.

Outside of the glitch with them opening copies for the PPPP, the transfers from closing worlds should be open indefinitely. In other words, I don't expect Elendilmir and Estel's transfers to be turned off, outside of bugs/gremlins, until the game is shut for good. I think we shall see things speed up some once the next set's data is analyzed. If separating openings by a day or two helps with the peak load, they may go to weekly openings for the next following set or two. Since AC has already moved to the new datacenter, we should see progress on that aspect, too; though I also suspect LotRO will move last.

[Solstyce]

Under Announcements https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...sfers-Opening!

Thank you!

[maartena]

So if we are moving on the 29th, how many days total are we going to have for transferring to another server? or are they going to shut it down again after two days. Also, I searched the forums and can't find where Frelorn posted this.

It should remain open indefinitely. It's certainly possible transfers will be closed again for a short period if any problems need to be resolved, but they will always reopen again. This is "the" transfer schedule so to speak, unless they encounter issues they will be open forever.

[maartena]

Has it stands right now if turbine was going to transfer 2 worlds ever 2 weeks snowbourn would be tranferring in 15 weeks time which would be the start of 2016

My guess is that they will up the speed. They already separated EU and US by one day as to not tax the system too much, which is a smart move. I wouldn't be surprised that once one or two more weeks go by, they will do 4 servers a week instead of two, and open one up on monday-tuesday-wednesday-thursday, leaving friday to let things calm down and the weekend for those who plan for weekend transfers, or something like that.

Either way, I am not going to make a speculative schedule again.

[Aedelric2]

Either way, I am not going to make a speculative schedule again.

Lol.

Sorry to go a bit off topic. Awhile back there was a discussion about the order in which players should transfer (kin leaders, house owners, shared storage, left overs), and I couldn't find the information I was looking for. Aside from being kin less, have there been any negative side effects associated with using the option to transfer everything at once? Also, how does manually following the above order affect transfer times (i.e. do you have to wait for an email in between selecting each option)?

[cdq1958]

Lol.

Sorry to go a bit off topic. Awhile back there was a discussion about the order in which players should transfer (kin leaders, house owners, shared storage, left overs), and I couldn't find the information I was looking for. Aside from being kin less, have there been any negative side effects associated with using the option to transfer everything at once? Also, how does manually following the above order affect transfer times (i.e. do you have to wait for an email in between selecting each option)?

The answers to that question depend on your circumstances. For me, for characters that are not kin leaders nor house owners, could be transferred to different servers. You have to pick one, though, to send shared stuff. Most of these I simply used 'Select All' and waited. I did four rounds of transfers off Elendilmir this way, for I have multiple accounts to manage. When the time comes for the 'mains' that are in kins and own houses, though; I'll be doing more preparatory work and will use the recommended order of transferring them. It will take longer that way simply due to the fact moving them will require extra steps. The transfer time is going to be variable because the load is going to be variable. The very first and last transfer took minutes. The middle ones took hours.

One thing to remember is that each time you do a transfer, your account will be locked for a period of time. Unless things change, you may be locked out of the forums for up to 6 hours, in my case, where the lockout time seems to be based on a 'worst case seen to date' mechanism. That last transfer locked me out much longer than the actual transfer took.

Yes, I'd wait for the email the first time to be safe, especially when the service is under heavy load. There is a risk if you don't wait. On the other hand, emails sometimes don't get delivered, so you may feel the need to try to check on it before you get an email. I will wait up to 8 hours on that email, unless it is bedtime anyway.

[Aedelric2]

I will wait up to 8 hours on that email, unless it is bedtime anyway.

Yeah this definitely seems like something to do just before going to bed or work in the morning. Thanks for the reply.

[maartena]

Lol.

Sorry to go a bit off topic. Awhile back there was a discussion about the order in which players should transfer (kin leaders, house owners, shared storage, left overs), and I couldn't find the information I was looking for. Aside from being kin less, have there been any negative side effects associated with using the option to transfer everything at once? Also, how does manually following the above order affect transfer times (i.e. do you have to wait for an email in between selecting each option)?

It is recommended to move in the following order:

1) Kinship leader + shared items. (This will disband the kin, sell the kinship house, move everything over to the new server)
2) Personal House owner. (If that is the kinship leader, disregard).
3) Your other kinship member characters. And basically everything else.

Since the kinship leader move COULD take several hours, it is important to notify the kinship that your kinship members don't move immediately after you have initiated the kinship leader move. Since you can no longer email your previous kinship on the old server with a "I'm here, it is safe" message, I have come up with a way to "message" the kinship by creating a level 1 character that I will DELETE as soon as I deem it safe to transfer, which will be as soon as the kinship has moved.

Basically, I will instruct my kinship that day with: "Add character (Name) to friends list. If you can add it, wait till it is GONE from your friends lists before you move. If you cannot add it, it has been deleted and you can safely move to the new server. I have already created this character, and will communicate it to the kin as soon as they enable transfers and disable character creation. Hopefully my cunning plan will work.

I am also NOT planning to move my second account until a day or so later, so I always have an account with which to log on to the game. It has characters on both Riddermark and Arkenstone.

I'd say I am prepared..... hopefully nothing will go wrong.

[Saerafin]

I just spent about 15 mins scanning this thread quickly for a mention of what I'm about to ask, but I only saw one that went unresolved somewhere near page 70-something.

Basically, opening servers one (or two) at a time from smallest population to largest puts the former at priority for taking already used names. Example: Joeblow exists on Landy, E, and Dwarrow. Joeblow on Landy hasn't been played in 2 years. On E, he's a 6th level mule that hasn't been touched for 6 months. On Dwarrow, he's a lvl 97 active player. In the end, if JB on E wants the name, he's going to get it. To heck with the vet on Dwarrow.

Ideally, the process should be fixed and tested to verify it's working correctly, and then ALL servers open at once. First come first served. Not first given the opportunity always wins over those who follow.

Is there discussion of this elsewhere already?

[Beaniemooch]

I just spent about 15 mins scanning this thread quickly for a mention of what I'm about to ask, but I only saw one that went unresolved somewhere near page 70-something.

Basically, opening servers one (or two) at a time from smallest population to largest puts the former at priority for taking already used names. Example: Joeblow exists on Landy, E, and Dwarrow. Joeblow on Landy hasn't been played in 2 years. On E, he's a 6th level mule that hasn't been touched for 6 months. On Dwarrow, he's a lvl 97 active player. In the end, if JB on E wants the name, he's going to get it. To heck with the vet on Dwarrow.

Ideally, the process should be fixed and tested to verify it's working correctly, and then ALL servers open at once. First come first served. Not first given the opportunity always wins over those who follow.

Is there discussion of this elsewhere already?

It's been discussed over and over in naming issue threads and transfer threads, but the answer isn't going to please you. Turbine isn't changing the way they're doing it. Your hypothesis is correct - the lvl 6 mule would get the name.

[Saerafin]

Wow, that's a bit... messed up. Thanks for the speedy response.

[Jurny]

I just spent about 15 mins scanning this thread quickly for a mention of what I'm about to ask, but I only saw one that went unresolved somewhere near page 70-something.

Basically, opening servers one (or two) at a time from smallest population to largest puts the former at priority for taking already used names. Example: Joeblow exists on Landy, E, and Dwarrow. Joeblow on Landy hasn't been played in 2 years. On E, he's a 6th level mule that hasn't been touched for 6 months. On Dwarrow, he's a lvl 97 active player. In the end, if JB on E wants the name, he's going to get it. To heck with the vet on Dwarrow.

Ideally, the process should be fixed and tested to verify it's working correctly, and then ALL servers open at once. First come first served. Not first given the opportunity always wins over those who follow.

Is there discussion of this elsewhere already?

This topic has been discussed repeatedly, but I do agree with you in the unfairness of the naming policy. I think when people heard the whole plan and once it sank in, some people if not most seemed ok with it, well not really. The problem I see with it now though is that they are only transferring 2 servers at a time. It sure does seem less fair to those having to wait in line to transfer and more in favor of those transferring first. I won't speculate, there is way to much of that going on in this thread already, but I doubt they will change it now, since some of the servers have already begun the transferring process.

[lambowolf]

Turbine continues its policy of keeping majority of people wholly uniformed of their intentions.

I feel happy for those on Gilrain and Riddermark. But the rest of you... We will get to you. Just be patient.

Two weeks between the first two and the second two...

Should we expect 2 weeks between EACH new two????

Sorry, there is no reason not to release a tentative schedule of ALL the servers instead of keeping a majority of people in the dark.

Which is my biggest criticism of Turbine through this whole process.

I already hear the comments about to come:

TURBINE WILL NEED TO MONITOR THE SITUATION AND THERE COULD UNFORESEEN PROBLEMS WHICH WILL FORCE TURBINE
TO ADJUST THEIR SCHEDULE.

My response. FINE! If a problem arises and need to reschedule. Again, fine! Adjust the schedule as you feel you need too.

Again, key word being TENTATIVE.

I would much rather be annoyed about having the schedule pushed back instead of being totally ANNOYED by being kept in the dark.

I am not questioning how hard and difficult this task that Turbine has placed in front of them. I'm not questioning the work effort of the Turbine
staff of getting this done smoothly. With the exception of keeping the LOTRO populace informed. I go back to that problem on that Friday a few weeks ago
where they keep everyone in the dark that day which lead into the weekend as well.

I have worked customer service for my of my career. One rule, don't leave your clients in the position where they are not well informed which
will lead them to make assumptions with little data. The reason being is they will be more frustrated if their assumption turns out not to be
accurate. Also, you will make many feel like you will be calling them stupid because the action taken should have been the most obvious.


Great line from Babylon 5 about patience:

Cmdr. Susan Ivanova: [referring to an earlier statement of G'Kar] I thought your patience is infinite.
G'Kar: Since space and time are curved the infinite sooner or later bends back upon itself and ends up where it began. And so have I.

[YamydeAragon]

World transfers off of Gilrain will be available on September 28th and Riddermark will be available on September 29th!

Isn't that too far spread from the 1st worlds opened to transfer? At that speed we will finish the transfers on December 2016 or worst January 2017.

[slayer7800]

I just spent about 15 mins scanning this thread quickly for a mention of what I'm about to ask, but I only saw one that went unresolved somewhere near page 70-something.

Basically, opening servers one (or two) at a time from smallest population to largest puts the former at priority for taking already used names. Example: Joeblow exists on Landy, E, and Dwarrow. Joeblow on Landy hasn't been played in 2 years. On E, he's a 6th level mule that hasn't been touched for 6 months. On Dwarrow, he's a lvl 97 active player. In the end, if JB on E wants the name, he's going to get it. To heck with the vet on Dwarrow.

Ideally, the process should be fixed and tested to verify it's working correctly, and then ALL servers open at once. First come first served. Not first given the opportunity always wins over those who follow.

Is there discussion of this elsewhere already?

I transferred 18 characters from E to Landy and got all but 3 names. It will be interesting to see how much worse naming conflicts become as more servers are opened to transfers. The problem I am having with the 3 -1 players I have is that it is quite difficult to find alternative names. For example, I was trying to get a variant of Kali (not a name I had before) so I did a search for similar names. I tried 10 variants and every single one was taken so I gave up and kept my -1 for now. I then logged in and right in front of me was another character - level 100 - with a variant I hadn't tried.

I hope when this is all over - they consider doing a character name purge for inactive players. Then at least people could get a decent rename. Otherwise, I will be sticking with the -1s.

[Aedelric2]

Turbine continues its policy of keeping majority of people wholly uniformed of their intentions.

I feel happy for those on Gilrain and Riddermark. But the rest of you... We will get to you. Just be patient.

Two weeks between the first two and the second two...

Should we expect 2 weeks between EACH new two????

Sorry, there is no reason not to release a tentative schedule of ALL the servers instead of keeping a majority of people in the dark.

Which is my biggest criticism of Turbine through this whole process.

I already hear the comments about to come:

TURBINE WILL NEED TO MONITOR THE SITUATION AND THERE COULD UNFORESEEN PROBLEMS WHICH WILL FORCE TURBINE
TO ADJUST THEIR SCHEDULE.

My response. FINE! If a problem arises and need to reschedule. Again, fine! Adjust the schedule as you feel you need too.

Again, key word being TENTATIVE.

I would much rather be annoyed about having the schedule pushed back instead of being totally ANNOYED by being kept in the dark.

I am not questioning how hard and difficult this task that Turbine has placed in front of them. I'm not questioning the work effort of the Turbine
staff of getting this done smoothly. With the exception of keeping the LOTRO populace informed. I go back to that problem on that Friday a few weeks ago
where they keep everyone in the dark that day which lead into the weekend as well.

I have worked customer service for my of my career. One rule, don't leave your clients in the position where they are not well informed which
will lead them to make assumptions with little data. The reason being is they will be more frustrated if their assumption turns out not to be
accurate. Also, you will make many feel like you will be calling them stupid because the action taken should have been the most obvious.

This was my part of my point back in post #2000. Honestly, I don't think Turbine knows what their schedule is other than to be done before 2016.

[maartena]

I just spent about 15 mins scanning this thread quickly for a mention of what I'm about to ask, but I only saw one that went unresolved somewhere near page 70-something.

Basically, opening servers one (or two) at a time from smallest population to largest puts the former at priority for taking already used names. Example: Joeblow exists on Landy, E, and Dwarrow. Joeblow on Landy hasn't been played in 2 years. On E, he's a 6th level mule that hasn't been touched for 6 months. On Dwarrow, he's a lvl 97 active player. In the end, if JB on E wants the name, he's going to get it. To heck with the vet on Dwarrow.

Ideally, the process should be fixed and tested to verify it's working correctly, and then ALL servers open at once. First come first served. Not first given the opportunity always wins over those who follow.

Is there discussion of this elsewhere already?

Yeah, naming discussions have been done, and about 20 horses have been beat to death, and some are still whipping the dead horses to see if they can get their way. I understand your concern, and yes people on servers scheduled for later do run a risk of losing names.

In your example, where JoeBlow exists on Landroval, Elendilmir and Dwarrowdelf, JoeBlow would only lose the name if Landroval MUST be the target server at all cost. In your example, the name seems to be available (at least, you didn't mention otherwise) on the other 4 servers that are available for transfer. So a decision has to be made whether the NAME or LANDROVAL is more important then the other. If the name is more important, you do have 4 more servers to choose from to try and claim the name.

Now, obviously Elendilmir transferred first, and Joeblow there will indeed have first picks on the name. (Although not entirely true, as there was a 2-day period where transfers between the 5 servers was possible, which is how I claimed my main name on Arkenstone, by creating the name on Crickhollow and transferring it over). But that Joeblow doesn't have to move to Landroval, could pick a different server, could remain inactive, or isn't even moved at ALL because the owner doesn't have enough slots, and that character will stay behind till he does, or its mule-good will be moved to a different toon.

It is true that those at the back of line have a slightly smaller chance on getting the names, but you could have taken action in the last 10 months to ensure that your name was available. You could have created the name on other servers, including Riddermark for instance, and transfer when the time comes. There is no saying if the 6-month-inactive on Elendilmir actually BECAME active, just to transfer, and if he doesn't before September 29th, you can beat him to the punch by claiming the name with a Riddermark created toon.

Now on you suggestion "everyone at once, take a number in the queue", that probably won't have worked. With only 2 servers transferring, the strain on the transfer system was such that in the first 2 days, a transfer took 4+ hours. Change that to "everyone at once, and queue up", you could be looking at 2 DAYS of waiting (while not being able to log in) with 19 servers getting in the action all at once.

It would also be unfavorable depending on time zone. Traditionally speaking, events on Lotro servers have always started at two times: 1) At server reset, which is 3AM EST (12 AM PST, 9 AM CET), or 2) At 10 AM EST (7 AM PST, 4 PM CET) when festivals usually start. In both cases the US east coast would be screwed. Most people won't stay up till 3 AM to transfer their characters (where midnight PST or morning CET might be easier to manage), and in the case of day time starts at 10 AM most will be at school or work, where PST users can quickly sneak in their transfer to the queue at 7 AM and CET will just be getting off of work/school and can do it when they come home, before the US east coast even hit lunch.

Okay, I hear you say..... "lets change it to a better time for EST". But why is EST more important than any other time zone? Why would EU players, Australian players, PST players, Russian players have to adjust to a time that is "most favorable for EST"? So there will be lots of discussions surrounding that issue. To me, it would make sense to do it in the morning, like they have been. But unless you schedule a day off of work or school in the east coast, you will most likely lose your names.

Second, an "everyone at once" might mean so much strain on the system that it will fail. When iOS 9 was released last week it put such a strain on Apple's servers many couldn't download it. Players could be DDoS-ing the server by simply being part of overloading it with too many users. At the same time, those who still want to play might not even be ABLE to play because of the mass onslaught of transfers. That scenario is a huge mess waiting to happen. It is much better to stagger the transfers as they have been now.

I do agree that it is getting annoying to keep waiting and waiting and waiting..... but the all at once solution really doesn't solve anything, you could still lose your name by simply being in the wrong time zone.

Last but not least however, some of the primary decisions such as naming conflicts, and that they will stagger the servers to be allowed to transfer, have pretty much been set in stone. They may add more servers at a quicker pace when the transfers are going well, but each server allowed to transfer will be a busier/more populated one than the previous one, so the strain on the system will increase over time.

[maartena]

Isn't that too far spread from the 1st worlds opened to transfer? At that speed we will finish the transfers on December 2016 or worst January 2017.

They may increase the frequency with which they add servers. Now it's Monday and Tuesday, but it could be Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in a week or two, and maybe even Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday a few weeks later, if things seem to go well and have smoothened out.

It could also be that that the transfer system is among the first to be placed on new hardware.

[Amrundir]

Sorry, there is no reason not to release a tentative schedule of ALL the servers instead of keeping a majority of people in the dark.

Here it is:

next week: Riddermark and Gilrain
then: Firefoot and Eldar
followed by: Nimrodel and Anduin
later: Windfola and Morthond
after this: Imladris and Maiar
at a later date: Dwarrowdelf and Vanyar
next two: Silverlode and Withywindle
not to forget: Vilya and Snowbourn
finally: Meneldor

[mistrel1970]

The issue is indeed that you can't compare a video game company to an ISP. It would be comparing a local doctor's office to the emergency services present at a hospital.

I do not deny your points, but you have to agree with me that Turbine is indeed offering a year around service, so it is indeed comparable in that respect. A service they can only provide customer service for in a very narrow window. People pay for that service, so my points stand

I am in full agreement with maartena on this. Nowadays, an ISP is a utility service provider, just like power, water or phone utilities. For some, internet service can even be more essential than a phone. A game, on the other hand, is usually considered a luxury service, as in non-essential. I really do not see much comparison in that regard

I have worked for a regional telecom/ISP for 12 years now, some of that time on the residential support side, but the majority of the time has been in the business tech support side. Normally during weekdays, we have about 35 reps working over the course of the day. Holidays or weekends, we have 6 total for the day.

Turbine/Lotro, as a non-essential service, works during normal business hours for the country and region they are located, which is the eastern time zone of the United States. They follow the holiday schedule of that country and region as well, so it is reasonable to say that they will have a shorter week during the Thanksgiving holiday period.

[HeirOfNumenor]

Here it is:

next week: Riddermark and Gilrain
then: Firefoot and Eldar
followed by: Nimrodel and Anduin
later: Windfola and Morthond
after this: Imladris and Maiar
at a later date: Dwarrowdelf and Vanyar
next two: Silverlode and Withywindle
not to forget: Vilya and Snowbourn
finally: Meneldor

Two Thumbs up

[maartena]

Here it is:

next week: Riddermark and Gilrain
then: Firefoot and Eldar - soon.
followed by: Nimrodel and Anduin - soonish.
later: Windfola and Morthond - soonerish.
after this: Imladris and Maiar - some time after soonish.
at a later date: Dwarrowdelf and Vanyar - as soon as soonerish is done.
next two: Silverlode and Withywindle - certainly not much longer then soon.
not to forget: Vilya and Snowbourn - slightly longer than soonerish.
finally: Meneldor- the least soon, but still soonish.

I have added some Turbine-style time lines, so you know EXACTLY when it happens.