@gravelhs4562 Please don't resurrect old threads, it is against the forum rules. This thread will now be locked.

@genuine-heather Huh. Server merged right after completing a fleet, and the loot was still in place, albeit
without the swirlies above it.

Just realized that this was a necroed post. oops

@gravelhs4562
What, do you expect to stay on a server solo?

2 years passed and it's still happening... Today me and my crew spent good amount of time fighting word event and at the very end, when we finally defeat the last ship and the skull speach ended, we get into server merge and lost all the loot, everything for nothing, whole time on that lost. Hate merging, don't need that when doing pve, useless when looking for pvp (as I can easily change servers and at the time when it happens the most there is no point in serching for pvp anyway). Dissapointed, and ended up quitting the game by 4 people (good that one of us didn't spent yet 50 pounds on coins for new ship looks as planned). We will still play from time to time probably but this experience keep me away from investing big amounts of time or money on this game

Been caught out many times with this. doing a skelly fort. boat sinks on the way back server merges and then it's gone.

@knifelife I like it.

@genuine-heather Maybe they should introduce a time limit before you can be merged. Maybe like you won’t be merged for 2 hours if you join a session then if it merges you it won’t do it again for another 2 or 3.

@knifelife I got merged twice this playing session alone. It's pretty routine for this time of day (5AM EST). I like to play sometimes to unwind after a gig.

@genuine-heather I personally have never had a server merge in all my time playing. But I do spend most of my time off the ship jumping from island to island to get supplies or just generally falling over board.

I doubt that’s the reason but it could be a possibility.

Just got screwed by migration...again. I wasn't going to try. Really, I had no intention of ever going after those damned ships again. But as I was cruising by on my way to a bounty, I couldn't help notice the ships had spawned. There they were, just circling, taunting me. For all I knew, maybe I'd only have a couple ships to sink to win. And Keep Haul Fort was just a stone's throw away. I could grab a rowboat, load it with gunpowder...and...well, you get the idea. The temptation was too great. So I pulled in, gathered a ton of supplies, all the gunpowder I could find, loaded up the rowboat, docked it to my sloop...and bam. Merged.

I know this has been addressed and hopefully a solution will be released in the next update, but this is truly maddening and decidedly unfun. Please please please fix this. Please. Fix it. Please.

@foxdodge said in Server Merges - We're Done:

I can also confirm that if you never touch the anchor, except to raise it at the beginning of a session, you will still get a server merge.

Thanks for that confirmation.

It sounds like the consensus is that the only way to prevent a server migration is to have a member of the crew off the ship. But is that also a myth? Has anyone had an experience that refutes this? If there's a way to prevent an untimely server merge I'm all for trying it, but I don't want to waste a whole session only to have it happen again.

I can also confirm that if you never touch the anchor, except to raise it at the beginning of a session, you will still get a server merge.

Just a quick one on the whole "anchor thing", I never use mine and the merge still happens. For me it seems to occur MOST just as I get to the top of the ladder when climbing back on to my ship (solo slooper) OR everytime just as the last skelly ship sinks.
So frustrating after you sink a handful of skelly ships and then, suddenly, BAM, the loots all gone or doesn't even have time to float up.
I don't bother any more. :-(

@s0nicbob Not as critical as losing treasure but I had a Pig Crate disappear during a migration three days ago. I had put it down on a beach while I fought off skeletons and it disappeared with the migration. Please make sure the fix includes all the different items in the vicinity of players, not just the more valuable ones. Cheers.

@s0nicbob Thank you for that update, Bob. Much appreciated.

Hey @Genuine-Heather, sorry to hear your recent experiences with this. I wanted to drop in here and give a little update to what the team are working on in this area.

We are continuing to tackle the issues we've had raised with Server Migration frustrating players more recently by blocking/preventing progress in the game. With Festival of the Damned we made some improvements to how treasure was collected in the vicinity of players and resolved issues picking up your treasure if migrated while in the water.

With Shrouded Spoils we have further fixes coming to prevent the floating sky-treasures while migrating when treasure is floating up from the deep, in addition to Fort vault door improvements to prevent treasure getting stuck behind closed doors.

Server Migration is an essential tool in keeping our servers populated with the right amount of players to encounter, however we are working hard to ensure that this experience becomes as seamless as possible to how players play. We know we aren't hitting the mark here yet, however are activeley prioritising this work on the team.

Once we have these recent issues cleared up, we'll review what further improvements are required here to ensure we hit the right experience for everyone.

@pdt-mindstream said in Server Merges - We're Done:

Arrrghh! So sorry this is still happening. I thought (hoped) such issues may have been fixed with their recent attempt to do so. :/

@PersonalC0ffee I think I can sum up my main dispute with what you're saying (and perhaps explain the heart of what @Genuine-Heather is saying):
This current system of merging servers causes more harm than good. Trading the absolute disruption and demolition of a player/crew's gaming session in order to maintain server population is not a favourable trade-off.
Yes, the idea holds merit and would be wonderful if it didn't cause these types of (very seriously game-ruining) issues.
If the server mergers have to come with these disappointing scenarios, I'd vote to not have it at all.

And 15 minutes is no time for fair warning while doing something such as the ship battles, honestly (although, I understand your intentions with that idea and appreciate it).

Ideally, they can fix these issues around merges costing players their earned in-game rewards.

Good points. Now that you mention it, I think the 15 minute warning would be fair if (and only if) the merge could be prevented somehow. While having time to "wrap things up" would be helpful to a degree, it's not so helpful if you're stocking up for the skeleton ships on the other side of the world. If we received a 15 minute warning with the option to avoid the merge, that would be fine.

Arrrghh! So sorry this is still happening. I thought (hoped) such issues may have been fixed with their recent attempt to do so. :/

@PersonalC0ffee I think I can sum up my main dispute with what you're saying (and perhaps explain the heart of what @Genuine-Heather is saying):
This current system of merging servers causes more harm than good. Trading the absolute disruption and demolition of a player/crew's gaming session in order to maintain server population is not a favourable trade-off.
Yes, the idea holds merit and would be wonderful if it didn't cause these types of (very seriously game-ruining) issues.
If the server mergers have to come with these disappointing scenarios, I'd vote to not have it at all.

And 15 minutes is no time for fair warning while doing something such as the ship battles, honestly (although, I understand your intentions with that idea and appreciate it).

Ideally, they can fix these issues around merges costing players their earned in-game rewards.

@personalc0ffee said in Server Merges - We're Done:

The anchor thing has no verifiable source or data. It's hearsay and nothing more. I have been merged sailing or dropping anchor; it doesn't matter.

I'm pretty sure @Murkrage is the correct one. All members must be present on the ship at the same time for long enough for the merge to happen so if you don't want merged, stay off the ship.

I definitely have been merged in the middle of fighting skellies on an island. Having said that, I have mostly been merged once I make contact with my ship. Mostly. Not always though.

Once I was merged and my treasure map reset. I had a 5 X map, two chests were already dug up but still on the island. Once merged, my two chests returned to their buried state as if I hadn't dug them up. So I had to start over, but at least I didn't lose them altogether.

Now, last night I had a one X map and had it dug up, but merged and my chest disappeared and my map disappeared from my inventory, probably because I had already dug up the chest but hadn't taken it on board my ship. Turns out my ship was sunk anyway so I would've had to mermaid and then sail back to that island. The merging spawned me somewhere else and I sailed back to the isalnd where my chest was, but it was gone, as was my map.

Regardless, not being on board ship doesn't guarantee you won't be merged.

@x-n7-117-x That exact thing has happened to us, as well. This last time, it happened so fast the treasure didn't even spawn. Ugh!

@genuine-heather My fiancee and I experienced it as well. As soon as we finished the battle we pulled up and dropped anchor (big mistake; thankfully we have learned from that) and we merged. Whilst we could still see the loot floating to the surface the problem was that it didn't stop floating and we could do nothing but watch it float into the sky and out of our reach.

@personalc0ffee said in Server Merges - We're Done:

I say you're getting an unfair advantage because you technically are. You're the only one there, you have no one to hunt you.

I think that's faulty logic on several counts. For one, during the early hours when these merges usually take place, there simply aren't as many people playing. Continually trying to cram people together becomes excessively disruptive at this point. It's not necessary.

Two, your statement assumes that every ship is hunting players. We know that's not the case. What if I'm merged onto a server where everyone's in a big happy alliance? That's far more of an advantage than simply staying on an empty server.

Finally, this also assumes you're on an empty server for the majority of the time, which is just not the case. Everyone starts the game on occupied servers, so only over time does the player count gradually taper off. That's not even taking into account the arrival of new players on the server. So in practical terms, this "unfair advantage" you claim would happen without merges simply isn't possible.

I do not think you will see this option, nor do I want one.

I want the option and I don't think it's at all unreasonable to believe it could be added in the future. Ultimately it will be up to Rare, but I think it would solve several issues with one easy option. Players who want maximum interaction with other players at all times can leave it on. Players who are more involved in the game world and would like their environment to remain more consistent can turn it off. Either way, players will come and go. Most players wouldn't even see a difference, since the majority of players play during peak hours. Even with the merge option off, new players could still pop up on your server at any time. You simply wouldn't be merged away from the game world you've invested so much time in.

This idea wouldn't in any way "defeat the purpose of the shared world." It preserves the shared world design philosophy. It simply provides more player options. Nobody would be able to choose to have a world to themselves. You enter the game with other ships on the server. New ships can always arrive at any time. You just wouldn't get forcibly removed from that server. That's not an unreasonable thing.

@genuine-heather sorry this is still happening to you. I know it is very frustrating as my crew and I have been there. Do not give up. Report it. I remember when you detailed server merge issues in the past.

Back then @S0nicbob mentioned changes that were coming to help relieve server merge issues. He mentioned scenarios merging treasure near volcanoes. Perhaps they can make sure the treasure here is not lost in the same way.

Here was his post back then:

@s0nicbob said in Still not liking server merges.:

Totally fair comment @personalc0ffee, we can do better here with our responces to these topics.
We've heard you and we'll improve this moving forward.

As per my linked post, our next update brings a number of improvements to Server Migration. It's an integral part of the Sea of Thieves experience and we need to ensure it is helping keeping players together while not negativeley affecting the experience.

~ Floating Treasure - We have fixed the issue that prevented players from interacting with floating treasure after migration, this should allow players to safely migrate after defeating a skeleton ship encounter without the concern of missing their rewards.
~ Skeleton Ship Encounters - While the Skeleton Ship Encounter is active, migration is activeley blocked for a significantly wider range to prevent players migrating when peeling off to stock up.
~ Migrating treasure - With the addition of Volcanos we've seen more players leaving treasure on beaches while they fleed to their ships for cover. If your crew is migrated while in this scenario we will be migrating treasure in a significantly wider range now.

We are constantly reviewing the performance of Server migration and identifying areas we can improve the experience for players while ensuring we are keeping our servers busy. We have some further improvements planned for Server Migration, look forward to sharing our plans on this soon.

It would also be nice to have official confirmation on what may delay a merge if anything actually will to solve the anchor and other rumored methods debate.

@personalc0ffee said in Server Merges - We're Done:

@genuine-heather said in Server Merges - We're Done:

This is a much larger issue for those of us who play during non-peak hours, when servers are more likely to become empty. I've had so many bad experiences with merges, I'm of the opinion they should be made optional under normal circumstances. Naturally, there could be exceptions made for technical reasons. But overall I don't find they enhance my gameplay at all, but rather detract from the experience and create all kinds of frustrating experiences. There's got to be a better way.

Server merging is to the user benefit to get more ships. Allowing people to stay on empty servers gives them advantage to farm with no hostiles.

I disagree. I understand the intent, but in practice I find it more disruptive than helpful. I'm not saying I want to be on empty servers all the time. But think it through. When we start a session, we're presumably placed on a server with several other ships. So we play a few hours, and some or all of those players eventually log off. That's just to be expected. We've put in the time and deserve to keep our place on that server.

If other players start new sessions and wind up on our server, that's fine. Why should we be dragged away from the game we're playing? In those early hours, far fewer people are playing the game. I've experienced multiple merges within a very short span of time during those hours, and it's incredibly annoying (if not actually game-breaking, as it clearly can be). It's absurd and accomplishes nothing. I think it's a bit silly to suggest staying on a server gives us some unfair advantage.

Just let us play, and put players starting new games on occupied servers. Don't remove us from the environment we've been playing in without our consent. If we want to be merged, give us that option. Make it a tick box in our preferences. But don't force it upon us.

A server merge should be mandatory but it should warn you 15 min before the merge happens. That way you can make informed decisions.

That's a start and would be very helpful in any event. But it doesn't go far enough. I want an option to allow or disallow merges. New ships could still join. Merges for technical issues could still happen. But the absurdity of being yanked away from our gameplay and dumped into another server would mercifully end.