Server Merges - We're Done

@genuine-heather I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. I too have been the victim of these bad mergers. I hope rare realizes the chaos and anger this is causing and put it at the very top of the to do list.

I can only advise you not to drop anchor if you do not want the servers to be combined at the moment.
The server is consolidated if there is no one on your server except for you, you are anchored and all the crew members are on the ship.

I am sure that the developers already know about the problem. And it seems they have even changed something in the forts of the skeletons so that the loot does not disappear (I read it in some patchnock. I don’t remember now)

@a-smollett said in Server Merges - We're Done:

I can only advise you not to drop anchor if you do not want the servers to be combined at the moment. The server is consolidated if there is no one on your server except for you, you are anchored and all the crew members are on the ship.

Is this really true? It's funny, after all the times this has happened, all the times we've complained about it, all the times we've reported it...nobody, and I mean nobody has ever made this suggestion. We had no clue a server merge wouldn't happen if you weren't anchored. If what you say is true, that simple bit of knowledge could have saved us countless hours of frustration.

In this case, when the captain's ship sank, we were moving at a pretty good clip towards it. Not wanting to sail past the loot and risk losing track of it, we immediately dropped anchor. Within seconds of that ship sinking, we were merged. Bam. Everything gone.

I'm stunned and disappointed that nobody from Rare ever bothered to mention this in any of their correspondence with my crew. Essentially, all they told us was (paraphrasing), "Yes, that's how it works. Sorry. We'll forward your issue to development." Then they marked the case closed. If someone had bothered to mention that you could completely avoid server merges by simply never dropping anchor...

I hope this is true. We'll certainly try it next time. Of course, it's not a true solution because sometimes dropping anchor is necessary. But in those moments when we absolutely, positively don't want to be merged, it would be nice to have that option.

Anyway, thank you for mentioning this.

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

@a-smollett It happens while sailing too. The main variable for it happening is whether or not all the crew members are aboard the ship.

In other words, to sort of counter this annoying behaviour: just jump in the water the moment the ship starts sinking @Genuine-Heather!

More good advice. We'll try anything. Again, not a real fix...but maybe we'd bother trying again if we have some way of avoiding the game-ruining merge at the end. This is not a fun end to a session.

The don't drop anchor is kinda of an insider thing, I have know about it since since a couple of week after launch, an have been telling players I meet in-game that little trick.

Some has come back(sailed together) an told me they tried it out.
Where they didn't drop anchor for the whole night, ended up on a "empty" server, finish up there voyage/fort/skelly ship
an then drop anchor just to test out if they would get migrated an if I had told them a old ghost story or if I was speaking the truth.

@greencamillion1

that is just half a meassure tbh.
It's one thing i used/think of all the time aswell. Dont drop anchor! But thing is it can even happen with anchor up.

We had it happen at skelly captain loot aswell. Imagine all these lovely treasure next to your ship. Only being able to look at it, not possible to touch or grab. And then get merged into the new spawned skelly waves. Its fun. All happened without anchor drop.

So yes NOT dropping anchor might work but its not 100%.

I believe there is a fix incoming that increases the migrating area around your ship so that any loot within the new Increased zone will travel with you to the new server.

I actually had a good experience with a server merge a few days back. The last patch fixed a lot of issues with server merging and I hope they'll make it even better for other scenarios.

@d3adst1ck said in Server Merges - We're Done:

The issue here is that they were merged between the time the captain ship sank and when the loot appeared. Likely because once the ship sank, the encounter ended and therefore so did the migration protection.

Exactly this.

@genuine-heather This exact thing has happened to me the past 3 skeleton fleets I have done. Except I'll see the loot but just be unable to pick it up out of the water. Last night the unobtainable loot started floating too. I hate it because skeleton fleets are the most enjoyable way to make loot in this game. I am no longer doing skellie ships until this issue is resolved, happening way too often now.

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.

@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.

@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:

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.

@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!

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.

@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.

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

@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.

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.

@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.