Reviving The Game

Nature_God - Sanctuary

Psh, typical people saying ''This game is dying'' when its just your own opinion. In my opinion its not dying. So the truth is still unknown, unless PWE company says is it dying or not. They have other games to work on, that were here before PWI. And not all games are perfect, every game has its bugs and glitches.

Apostasy - Raging Tide

Nature_God - Sanctuary wrote: »

Psh, typical people saying ''This game is dying'' when its just your own opinion. In my opinion its not dying. So the truth is still unknown, unless PWE company says is it dying or not. They have other games to work on, that were here before PWI. And not all games are perfect, every game has its bugs and glitches.

Then you have not been playing this game long enough. "Game is dying" definite fact if you have simply observed the populations over the past 2 years or more. "Game is dead" not yet, but it sure seems PWE is pushing it in that way more and more with every update.

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver

Nature_God - Sanctuary wrote: »

Psh, typical people saying ''This game is dying'' when its just your own opinion. In my opinion its not dying. So the truth is still unknown, unless PWE company says is it dying or not. They have other games to work on, that were here before PWI. And not all games are perfect, every game has its bugs and glitches.

1.8m active players in 2010 compared to 800k in 2012 and around 500k in Q1 2013 - I am unsure if the figures are for PWE/I as a whole or merely for the Chinese version, can't seem to find that out after trawling the net for a bit. I'd say that constitutes as "dying" not dead but definitely on life support. It saddens me though because the game still has awesome potential, hence why I returned after a lengthy time away

Article here
Article also here

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

GlenRoss - Archosaur wrote: »

Janus I'm bored with the handwaving, rationalization and misdirection.

Simply this: Evidence has been presented of the mood of the players. No counter-evidence has been presented, just one man's claim that it's out there somewhere.

Show it or all you have is a rant. The ball's in your court. ("Nuh-uh" will not suffice as an effective rebuttal.)

Done wasting time with this silliness. I'm satisfied that people can see the difference in the two sides of the argument.

Bye lack of substance guy. b:bye

Posts like this one below regularly go ignored, you need to make up garbage like you're in some type of consensus.. embellishing support and nitpicking against the active playerbase are no surprise to me in this debate:

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I decided not to vote on the poll as I am in 2 minds as to whether it would help.

I started the month after game launch, starter cities were mobbed, lots of people playing, there was a camaraderie, that we were all embarking on this fantastic adventure and making friends to level with wasn't all that difficult. It was all about the journey. It took me 3 years to get my main toon to level 100 and it was fun all the way. Yeah sure it was a slog some times, they don't call it grinding for nothing but you still had a sense of achievement once you got there. I never set foot in a FC till I was 96.

Back then it was about the adventure, there was no packs, no FC, no BHs, people were WC wanting to help noobs with FBs for free. Gold was 140k and most things/gear was achievable if you put in the time and effort.

Then came FC and packs and lots of stuff in cash shop, gold at 2m+ on most servers and everything decent priced beyond the reach of the average gamer that either doesn't have credit cards or quite frankly doesn't want to spend the price of a family home on a F2P game. Everything is at a price now and most people don't have the cash to meet that price.

Its lost the spirit of the game, its all about the end game, the end gears, the Love up downs at 800m, the endless array of packs. Its become the Las Vegas of MMOs. We'd be just as well sitting playing bingo. Its not longer about the adventure, the journey and all about the destination.

Nerfing FC doesn't help that as it doesn't address what's really wrong with the game. Greed controls this game, people don't want to do anything for free anymore, no incentive to help the noobs other than for a price.

What the game lacks is NEW people coming to the game, new people don't know about FC, don't know about hypers or power levelling, all that restricting FC will achieve is making starting cities even more desolate as no new ALTS will be created afterall not many high end players want to go back to taking 3 years to level a player because its all about the destination.

I feel this is hugely down to PWE, they cater too much to the end game achievers, the cash players, there is little or no incentive for new players to come here and less and less incentive for non cash players to stay other than habit or long standing friendships.

Look at the game list up top of website and count how many titles are in there, back when I started this was the flagship game in with around 1 or 2 other games still in beta. Now PWI is 4th in a list of 15 titles, one of which is based on a popular SCIFI movie/tv franchise. What entices any new player to pick PWI over the other titles?

Looking at the even bigger picture PC/Laptop sales are in rapid decline, have been since the advent of netbooks/tablets. I work in I.T sales and very few people buy new laptops and even less desktops which is rapidly becoming obsolete outside of business purchases. Everything is tablets and smartphones now. Why hasn't PWE/PWI invested in this area? Oh hold on 1 recently released trading card game. Well that is pretty late to an over saturated party. Even the leading MMO has a mobile companion app in the works after they lost 10% (around 800k) of their player base in as many months.

There are too many things to address I fear in effort to stem/stop the decline and lots of it outwith the makers control but they could start with better marketing/advertising outwith Facebook, better instances for low levels with better rewards, high level instances non soloable so people team up more, rewards for mentoring low levels (restricted by IP address so people don't get rewarded for helping Alts) Mobile companion apps that link to the game in some way, less cash shop items, tackling inflation (long over due) restricting packs. You need to have something in place that entices NEW people and nerfing FC isn't going to do it. It needs to stop being about the destination and more about the journey again.

But then if you think PWI is anything but an afterthought you'd be silly really!

---

Selak - Dreamweaver wrote: »

The will of the remaining player base is a better statement JanusZeal and this is certainly does not represent the will of the potential or past player base which is the group whose opinions you seem to dismiss as not important and yet are so sorely needed to repopulate the servers.

This is the reason some of us object to your biased posts.

A simple suggestion that has been dismissed many times such as wider media exposure is an example of one way to improve this games player base.
Here in Australia the game is never mentioned in PC gaming shows on TV, why god knows but it would gain players instantly.

Most of the people asking for small in-game or out of game changes are not doing this to disadvantage the remaining player base but with the aim of repopulating the servers so we all have more friends to play with therefore more fun.

Some constructive suggestions from someone who seems to know this game such as yourself, would go a lot further towards your credibility, rather that just criticism about current suggestions for improved game play and player retention rates without real justification.

In simple terms the player base, who does not play this game, is bigger that the group who do,
therefore if you want the game to grow then logicaly you want their opinions more than the current player base.

Think about it please.

It would in fact disadvantage those who want to experience endgame content like they can now, the way they are pushed to in PWI by both the existing player base and by Wanmei. The justification has been laid out numerous times, this is an experiment that's for a private server, not PWI. The belief that it repopulates servers is merely a presumption that assumes the best case result with the lowest odds. Of course, I await a response that quotes a random forum member who makes post saying "game was repopulated during short period hypers in FF was restricted" and that will be considered "proof" to these few people. b:chuckle It's been iterated here numerous times by other posters (that went ignored) that it disadvantages existing players who are either new or people who have high levels already and want to powerlevel, say, a buff alt or just another person to collect BH rewards. If what you're looking for is an alternative, I've already suggested it -- give better rewards for mid and low level quests. That's all they can do. Banning hypers and FF for low levels isn't this magic bullet that will repopulate the game. It's accomplishment is going to be pissing off the player base that currently plays so these few people can be satisfied they were able to **** with the active populace before the game goes kaput.

pyrovida

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Its lost the spirit of the game, its all about the end game, the end gears, the Love up downs at 800m, the endless array of packs. Its become the Las Vegas of MMOs. We'd be just as well sitting playing bingo. Its not longer about the adventure, the journey and all about the destination.

Nerfing FC doesn't help that as it doesn't address what's really wrong with the game. Greed controls this game, people don't want to do anything for free anymore, no incentive to help the noobs other than for a price.

What the game lacks is NEW people coming to the game, new people don't know about FC, don't know about hypers or power levelling, all that restricting FC will achieve is making starting cities even more desolate as no new ALTS will be created afterall not many high end players want to go back to taking 3 years to level a player because its all about the destination.

I feel this is hugely down to PWE, they cater too much to the end game achievers, the cash players, there is little or no incentive for new players to come here and less and less incentive for non cash players to stay other than habit or long standing friendships.

I completely agree.

GlenRoss - Archosaur

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Bye lack of substance guy. b:bye

LoL at projecting your widely-known reputation. Nobody's buyin'.

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Bye lack of substance guy. b:bye

Posts like this one below regularly go ignored, you need to make up garbage like you're in some type of consensus.. embellishing support and nitpicking against the active playerbase are no surprise to me in this debate:

In which part was any of it nitpicking? which part was embellishing support? In part it agreed with your earlier posts that changing FC wouldn't achieve the desired effect. I think someone is disagreeing just to be seen to be knocking the consensus and you don't seem to have any as you say it "substance" other than to disagree and say YOU don't want it/YOU don't agree with it. I'm not merely agreeing with the consensus for the sake of it, I'm agreeing because its the truth.

I don't agree that is was garbage but then no doubt you'll say I am biased but in the debate there was valid points on what's wrong with the game or how to fix/change it for the better for attracting new players and perhaps retaining some of the existing player base. A fairer system wouldn't you agree?

Google "PWI player base" and there are pages and pages of sites explaining why the player base has dwindled and 90% of it is blamed on the pandering to end game players and their desire to get there quickly, it totally misses the point of what the game should be about. WC is littered with high end players moaning they are bored. Seriously if you are bored playing a game its time to stop playing it and go do something else.

Like Glen says you are clearly spoiling for an argument which I really can't be bothered giving you. I'm off to enjoy a spot of FC b:chuckle

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver wrote: »

In which part was any of it nitpicking? which part was embellishing support? In part it agreed with your earlier posts that changing FC wouldn't achieve the desired effect. I think someone is disagreeing just to be seen to be knocking the consensus and you don't seem to have any as you say it "substance" other than to disagree and say YOU don't want it/YOU don't agree with it. I'm not merely agreeing with the consensus for the sake of it, I'm agreeing because its the truth.

I don't agree that is was garbage but then no doubt you'll say I am biased but in the debate there was valid points on what's wrong with the game or how to fix/change it for the better for attracting new players and perhaps retaining some of the existing player base. A fairer system wouldn't you agree?

Google "PWI player base" and there are pages and pages of sites explaining why the player base has dwindled and 90% of it is blamed on the pandering to end game players and their desire to get there quickly, it totally misses the point of what the game should be about. WC is littered with high end players moaning they are bored. Seriously if you are bored playing a game its time to stop playing it and go do something else.

Like Glen says you are clearly spoiling for an argument which I really can't be bothered giving you. I'm off to enjoy a spot of FC b:chuckle

You should re-read the post, showing your post as well thought out and quoting it because it would be ignored isn't synonymous with spoiling for an argument.

GlenRoss - Archosaur wrote: »

LoL at projecting your widely-known reputation. Nobody's buyin'.

Says the guy who is fighting the uphill battle to convince the in-game populace they didn't hyper FF powerlevel and they should play your way. Cool that you evidently know my reputation.. who are you again?

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear wrote: »

You should re-read the post, I don't think showing your post as well thought out and quoting it because it would be ignored is synonymous with spoiling for an argument.

Sorry my mistake the "YOU" you were referring to wasn't me b:laugh ok carry on as you were.

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Sorry my mistake the "YOU" you were referring to wasn't me b:laugh ok carry on as you were.

I can see where you made that mistake, I think it was for my lack of being articulate there, it's all good. b:chuckle

Wadzio - Lost City

Wanna revive the game? Merge servers...

Nature_God - Sanctuary

Apostasy - Raging Tide wrote: »

Then you have not been playing this game long enough. "Game is dying" definite fact if you have simply observed the populations over the past 2 years or more. "Game is dead" not yet, but it sure seems PWE is pushing it in that way more and more with every update.

I joined PWI 4 years ago, so I think I've been playing long enough to know things. I haven't seen any changes past 4 years. Only that starting cities are mostly empty, but that is normal as bird has to leave its nest someday. But I see enough players still killing mobs, collecting mats etc. Game isn't dying at all.

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

Wadzio - Lost City wrote: »

Wanna revive the game? Merge servers...

I agree with merging the servers but let's face it, it won't revive the game, it'll just slow down it's death versus keeping servers that are consistently declining in pop (which happens to every MMO). What PWI has done to this game since only months from when it came out of OBT has shown it's a short term project. So why some believe these awful, topical remedies (targeting FF and hypers) are the fix-all for this game's problems which are numerous and encompassing, or even a Step 1 to that, is just embarrassing. b:scorn

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver

Wadzio - Lost City wrote: »

Wanna revive the game? Merge servers...

They merged the Euro servers a while back into Morai and having recently started a new toon there hoping to do more NW and TW (I'm UK based and NW & TW on DW is too late) I can conclude its way emptier than Dreamweaver is. It might help in the short term as the US servers are still reasonably populated but ultimately it doesn't address the fundamental flaws that persist.

Apostasy - Raging Tide

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver wrote: »

They merged the Euro servers a while back into Morai and having recently started a new toon there hoping to do more NW and TW (I'm UK based and NW & TW on DW is too late) I can conclude its way emptier than Dreamweaver is. It might help in the short term as the US servers are still reasonably populated but ultimately it doesn't address the fundamental flaws that persist.

There is no use in debating or even attempting to explain ways to revive the game, or what things will not work as being temporary bandaids...

those that know at least some things that need to be done, need no convincing as to how to revive the game for the long term, and are willing to face any consequences that we also know would come till a turn around did take place...

those that really aint got a clue, are far too willing to simply accept what has been done is done, and see no issue with just letting the game burn to the ground...

The fact that any of those people actually would agree to a server merge, in and of itself shows that they obviously see a decline in population...

The fact that they deny the measures that would need to be taken in order to make real fixes to pwi, in and of itself shows they do not give a b:fatb

noodlepunch

mofoisuisay wrote: »

Wouldn't it be nice to have people back in secret passage looking for BH29 squads, seeing people actually run BH39-69 with just squads of the levels that have the actual BH without help from a lvl 105 or 3, while it's faster, again it's not game play following them and picking up the odd coin here and there. The lack of lower lvl gears in AH is the direct result of the amount of BH's not being run as peeps are in FC buying heads, Maybe BAN the SALE of heads !!!!!

I think the need for lower level gear is non-existant. Dreamchaser gear lasts til at least level 60. Nothing is better than that gear and it's all handed to you for free. Ah and let's not forget that you can get high enough to use level 60 gear in a few days, so why would you bother looking for lower level gear?

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

Apostasy - Raging Tide wrote: »

There is no use in debating or even attempting to explain ways to revive the game, or what things will not work as being temporary bandaids...

those that know at least some things that need to be done, need no convincing as to how to revive the game for the long term, and are willing to face any consequences that we also know would come till a turn around did take place...

those that really aint got a clue, are far too willing to simply accept what has been done is done, and see no issue with just letting the game burn to the ground...

The fact that any of those people actually would agree to a server merge, in and of itself shows that they obviously see a decline in population...

The fact that they deny the measures that would need to be taken in order to make real fixes to pwi, in and of itself shows they do not give a b:fatb

Ahh, good ol' theory of "if you don't think my way, you don't give a ****".. bravo. f:brick

Keliska - Raging Tide

I would prefer the first option.

Hypers has some use prior to FC but, majority of the time it is more for FC.

Players can get get to 71 with no problem. 71+ It does get quite a bit more grindy. 10+/-% exp~

Maybe restrict it until lvl 70+.

SonofAnarchy - Dreamweaver

Apostasy - Raging Tide wrote: »

The fact that they deny the measures that would need to be taken in order to make real fixes to pwi, in and of itself shows they do not give a b:fatb

I don't think they necessarily don't give a **** (they being PWI/E/Beijing) afterall a large content update is looming I just think the focus has shifted, that's more to do with market trends and the shift to "pooh gaming" i.e angry birds, clash of clans etc. I know that doesnt help the likes of us who have been here from the start and invested a lot of time, effort and in some cases cash and still care! They really need to market the game more, but then why market this more than any of the other titles in the stable?

Selak - Dreamweaver

My brother who also plays has put it best,

Damn they are turning my game from a game of Chess, to a game of Checkers, just because most people are not smart enough to play Chess properly and without cheating.

What makes Chess so different than Checkers? The number of rules, the more complex play and longer average time achieve end game.

But since most people play Checkers in the world, we should force all the Chess players to make changes to the rules so that we then make Chess into Checkers.

This is the logic I seem to be hearing from most objecting to any changes which may improve the game play for the MMORPG player.

MMORPG becoming MMOFPS is whats happening here, and none of the changes alone can save this game,
but they may prevent this game from ending up like another game from PWEs stable, Heroes Of The Third Kingdom (HOTK) which I used to play till it was shutdown.

The current success of MMOFPS is well known in the commercial world, as is the short term profit cycle which dictates they also have a short life cycle due to lack of content and content delivery time during the short dev cycle.

Do not get me started about this Lol
One of my favorite FPS games had a planned 10 year dev cycle but it was released after 7 years due to commercial interests this meant lots of half done assets left in the game code.
The players realized this and made Mods which finished and enabled the missing content.

Why? Because the players really wanted the RPG bit in the game, while the production company wanted the coin from FPS, and assumed we would be happy with what they did.
This is the type of business miscalculation that has caused the premature deaths of many games.

I do notice that in my huge collection of defunct games I have sitting on my shelf its the MMORPGs which get the return play not the MMOFPS games.

A step in any direction is better than no step at all, even a step backwards is a lesson in what not to do next time, so no step is ever truly wasted, unless you are an idiot and forget you stepped. b:chuckle

Rewas - Lost City

There was a time, when people enjoyed the journey. There was a time, when effort made rewards more pleasant. But now it's all about instant noodles. b:bye

Elvenne - Raging Tide

lol FC changes wont fix this dead game only a Server Merge will. SERVER merge its the only thing every server has an extremely LOW population PK and Events would be much more active with SERVER merge.

#idiots #iloveMav #peoplerunningthisgamearestupid

Sister_Warui - Raging Tide

Elvenne - Raging Tide wrote: »

lol FC changes wont fix this dead game only a Server Merge will. SERVER merge its the only thing every server has an extremely LOW population PK and Events would be much more active with SERVER merge.

#idiots #iloveMav #peoplerunningthisgamearestupid

...I feel weird. But I agree with Elvenne 100% here.

OFate - Heavens Tear

Keliska - Raging Tide wrote: »

I would prefer the first option.

Hypers has some use prior to FC but, majority of the time it is more for FC.

Players can get get to 71 with no problem. 71+ It does get quite a bit more grindy. 10+/-% exp~

Maybe restrict it until lvl 70+.

Yes but then you have to try to find a FC group where the person is not a scammer. It seems more and more often in WC I read someone once again, paid and the person either booted them or they took payment from all and - force dc/ed for a very long period of time.

Apostasy - Raging Tide

Elvenne - Raging Tide wrote: »

lol FC changes wont fix this dead game only a Server Merge will. SERVER merge its the only thing every server has an extremely LOW population PK and Events would be much more active with SERVER merge.

#idiots #iloveMav #peoplerunningthisgamearestupid

Sister_Warui - Raging Tide wrote: »

...I feel weird. But I agree with Elvenne 100% here.

Whereas a server merge does help the overall population immediately, and thus would in fact buy us all at end game more time to enjoy the game... at some point, everyone will wonder why the merged servers look the same in 2 years from now (give or take a year) as they currently do. A server merge acts only as a temporary bandaid for only the current populations, nothing more, nothing less. So whereas I am for it currently... certain things need to be changed in order for the level 1-80+ areas to become populated and "new player friendly". Server merge or not, those changes need to be made. Either PWI becomes an RPG-type MMO, or it really does not have that much further to go before it becomes a perfect example of what not to do in designing and running an RPGMMO (although I would certainly state, it has already earned that title).

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

Apostasy - Raging Tide wrote: »

Whereas a server merge does help the overall population immediately, and thus would in fact buy us all at end game more time to enjoy the game... at some point, everyone will wonder why the merged servers look the same in 2 years from now (give or take a year) as they currently do. A server merge acts only as a temporary bandaid for only the current populations, nothing more, nothing less. So whereas I am for it currently... certain things need to be changed in order for the level 1-80+ areas to become populated and "new player friendly". Server merge or not, those changes need to be made. Either PWI becomes an RPG-type MMO, or it really does not have that much further to go before it becomes a perfect example of what not to do in designing and running an RPGMMO (although I would certainly state, it has already earned that title).

Developers of Wanmei and the publisher PWE all have other projects as well. It isn't horrifically detrimental to their business model to milk whatever little they can from Perfect World International while spending more time on newer games, then pulling the plug on this game when it represents too little profit margin.

A server merge is a must for this game, it will die out faster on more spread out servers that are emptier, but we don't know if making the code for it is far too much a hassle to be worth taking the developers' time / company's money when it may logically be more worthwhile to direct that labour toward newer projects, or simply an expense to run with no profit.

It's a very simple business decision, and rather than sit here and all on our own as players waste time making these idealistic/wishful thoughts concerning the longevity of the game, take it for what it is, use the same mentality as those who make the game, and enjoy it for as long as it's worth the time, then pull the plug. If PWI is indeed a short term project, which was basically proven in 2009 and doubly reaffirmed watching investment in PW Co quickly vacate, it is futile trying to implement essentially private server ideas upon a for-profit server when you don't control the profit model being employed. Substantially changing that model represents a risk that could easily wind up blowing up in their faces (a risk even a semi-sensible company that already has an established profit model wouldn't take -- they have shareholders to appease), so the safe thing to do is direct assets to this to milk it for the short term then divert assets elsewhere when the logical time comes.

Kniraven - Lost City

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Developers of Wanmei and the publisher PWE all have other projects as well. It isn't horrifically detrimental to their business model to milk whatever little they can from Perfect World International while spending more time on newer games, then pulling the plug on this game when it represents too little profit margin.

A server merge is a must for this game, it will die out faster on more spread out servers that are emptier, but we don't know if making the code for it is far too much a hassle to be worth taking the developers' time / company's money when it may logically be more worthwhile to direct that labour toward newer projects, or simply an expense to run with no profit.

It's a very simple business decision, and rather than sit here and all on our own as players waste time making these idealistic/wishful thoughts concerning the longevity of the game, take it for what it is, use the same mentality as those who make the game, and enjoy it for as long as it's worth the time, then pull the plug. If PWI is indeed a short term project, which was basically proven in 2009 and doubly reaffirmed watching investment in PW Co quickly vacate, it is futile trying to implement essentially private server ideas upon a for-profit server when you don't control the profit model being employed.

PWE is their Flagship title.
They have never had any game as popular as this one.
None of their games have ever had a stronger fan base or larger populace than this game has right now at this point in time (let alone when it was at it's peak).

Nothing you said in your entire post really has anything to do with this thread.

A server Merge would be good to inflate the current population on each server, however level limiting Hyper Experience Stones would also open the game back up to newer players looking for an MMO.

Sevchenko - Dreamweaver

Let this stuppid thread SINK b:angry

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

Kniraven - Lost City wrote: »

PWE is their Flagship title.
They have never had any game as popular as this one.
None of their games have ever had a stronger fan base or larger populace than this game has right now at this point in time (let alone when it was at it's peak).

Nothing you said in your entire post really has anything to do with this thread.

A server Merge would be good to inflate the current population on each server, however level limiting Hyper Experience Stones would also open the game back up to newer players looking for an MMO.

Wrong. New players not being able to hyper/hyper FF won't "open the game up to them" in any way, shape, or fashion that isn't open to them now. They will still push to experience endgame in the fastest manner possible and bypass as much content as the game allows them to, which won't change with limiting hypers and FF. Short sighted idealistic nonsense is short sighted.

SylenThunder - Twilight Temple

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Developers of Wanmei and the publisher PWE all have other projects as well. It isn't horrifically detrimental to their business model to milk whatever little they can from Perfect World International while spending more time on newer games, then pulling the plug on this game when it represents too little profit margin.

A server merge is a must for this game, it will die out faster on more spread out servers that are emptier, but we don't know if making the code for it is far too much a hassle to be worth taking the developers' time / company's money when it may logically be more worthwhile to direct that labour toward newer projects, or simply an expense to run with no profit.
...

With the way it's currently coded, there are only a couple of servers that could possibly be merged, but then you're going to run into some pretty big hardware limitations. Especially because two of them are arguably, the most populated servers currently in place.

With the developers, re-working the core engine and upgrading it, one can only hope that they will work on simplifying the multiple databases that your characters information is in. That way it will be easier to merge the databases that aren't currently shared.

Trying to merge the server that aren't currently shared would be more costly than it's worth by far. As previously stated, it would only provide a temporary boost in the population. There's still going to be the same issue with the decline is users.