New 64-bit Game Worlds Arrive July 15th!
- Thread starter Cordovan
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erethizon1
Well-known member
I too am disappointed. I had no idea where any of the old servers were and doubt most people picked servers based on location and ping. The result is that each server has people that play in each time zone. You take away all the non-Americans and the American servers will be dead for most of the evening and early morning hours in the USA. Most of the people that I play with when it is dark outside are from the other side of the world because those people were not encouraged to join a different server that was just for them.
erethizon1
Well-known member
No, you don't. Currently every server has a good mix of people from every location because no one was encouraged to segregate based on location in the world. Sure, you can live in Europe and pick an American server, but then you won't have many Europeans to play with when Americans are asleep. You can pick the European server, but you won't have many Americans to play with when Europeans are asleep. You can't pick a server that has a good mix of both, the way you currently can, because we are being strongly encouraged to segregate based on location when we were not before.
DDO Gaming
Well-known member
erethizon1
Well-known member
Does that mean there is going to be something done to prevent it? It seems like many people have the plan of making characters on July 9th to take as many character names as they can without actually doing the transfer at that time. Some of these people are likely to take a name on multiple servers just in case they decide to transfer there, and will probably never delete the character once they decide not to occupy that server. So name sniping is almost certainly going to be a thing unless they do something to prevent it.
If names are important (and they appear to be to a lot of people) there should probably be a way to prevent people from making new characters on July 9th. If you want a name, transfer the character that has that name. The main reason I hear why Americans don't want to make Cormyr their server of choice (even though it is already up and running and has a good sized population) is because of all the name sniping that has already taken place.
Kimbere
Well-known member
@Cordovan Actually, Severlin did state that you could pack your main toons that have the important stuff and just do a basic transfer on the others in the livestream at the 46m 45s mark.
He probably shouldn't have phrased it that way (or even said it at all to avoid confusion).
46:45 uh you'll need to pack your individual toons although honestly I think realistically once you pack and unpack
46:52 and get all your pets and mounts and your m your your best person with the
46:57 most complete monster manual and your account storage you'll probably just transfer the others uh you'll just lose
47:04 those extras that don't transfer now essentially
That's where the confusion is coming from I think.
Owlbear
Well-known member
I don't think it's that confusing? The pack transfer system is the most advanced and brings everything with the character. If you pack transfer your mains you'll have pretty much transferred the most important things. So you could in theory use the old transfer method for additional toons that don't need to bring over all the additional things of the pack transfer system. But if you want to be sure to transfer everything of all your characters use the pack system for all of them.
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Matuse
Join Date: February 2006
4. obtain a spreadsheet and decide where each character will be dumped. You'll need to start this immediately
I already maintain multiple spreadsheets for keeping track of characters - tomes, past lives, gear, etc. This is just one more column.
Kimbere
Well-known member
Personally, no I didn't think it was that confusing either. But when Sev first said that, I did a quick double-take and rewound it to make sure I heard him correctly.
That aside, I can see how it might confuse other people.
Greatpumpkin
Active member
Unfortunately, this scenario is already happening .....
liosliante
Well-known member
The "-1 name fix" isn’t just a poor solution—it ends up punishing loyal players.
If I’ve played a character named “Thorgar” for 10+ years, and someone makes a level 1 placeholder on a new server just to reserve the name, I shouldn’t be the one who gets renamed to “Thorgar-1”. But that’s already bad enough—what’s worse is that I then have to spend DDO Points to change it if I don’t want to live with the "-1".
Why are we being forced to pay to fix a problem that isn’t our fault?
This encourages unhealthy behavior like name sniping, forces players to preemptively squat their own names across servers, and creates a terrible experience for those simply trying to move their characters.
Please consider implementing proper name priority for transfers—or at the very least, allow one free rename when this issue occurs. Anything else just feels like a cash grab on top of a design flaw.
If I’ve played a character named “Thorgar” for 10+ years, and someone makes a level 1 placeholder on a new server just to reserve the name, I shouldn’t be the one who gets renamed to “Thorgar-1”. But that’s already bad enough—what’s worse is that I then have to spend DDO Points to change it if I don’t want to live with the "-1".
Why are we being forced to pay to fix a problem that isn’t our fault?
This encourages unhealthy behavior like name sniping, forces players to preemptively squat their own names across servers, and creates a terrible experience for those simply trying to move their characters.
Please consider implementing proper name priority for transfers—or at the very least, allow one free rename when this issue occurs. Anything else just feels like a cash grab on top of a design flaw.
rabidfox
The People's Champion
"If your character or guild’s name is already present on your destination world, then you will receive a –1, -2, -3 or further adjustment to your name. If you experience a character rename, a free rename is available to your character. Log that character into your game world and type /changename (newname) into chat."
Right from https://www.ddo.com/news/ddo-server-transfers-2025 It's fully free and they put in the write up.
liosliante
Well-known member
I checked with ChatGPT and yes—you're right: if your character is renamed with "-1" during the transfer, you do get one free name change. You can use the /changename command afterward to claim the name you want (assuming it's available). So at least in that sense, the system gives you a way to fix it.
That said, I still think it's not an ideal solution. If a player is transferring their long-standing main and someone else happened to grab that name first with a level 1 placeholder, the original player ends up in second place. Sure, the free rename helps—but it doesn’t guarantee you’ll get your name back if someone else already has it. That’s the real issue.
It would be more fair if transferred characters had priority on names they've already been using—not just a consolation rename after the fact.
liosliante
Well-known member
I’m personally against this change.
There are several problems that make this transition more frustrating than exciting. First, the character name issue—having to risk losing the identity of a character you’ve built over years, and relying on placeholder protections or hoping someone else hasn’t sniped your name—is just not acceptable in a game where name and legacy matter.
Second, the complexity of the transfer process is overwhelming. Packing, unpacking, managing character slots across accounts, planning migrations manually—it feels like a logistical nightmare, especially for veteran players with large rosters.
And finally, I have to say it: there's a clear imbalance between the US and EU player experience. Many EU players feel like second-class citizens in this process, with less communication, less presence from the devs in their time zones, and now a late rollout of new servers. I really hate to say it, but it does feel like a kind of regional discrimination.
I wish this could have been handled with more transparency, more fairness, and better planning. Right now, it feels rushed—and unfortunately, divisive.
There are several problems that make this transition more frustrating than exciting. First, the character name issue—having to risk losing the identity of a character you’ve built over years, and relying on placeholder protections or hoping someone else hasn’t sniped your name—is just not acceptable in a game where name and legacy matter.
Second, the complexity of the transfer process is overwhelming. Packing, unpacking, managing character slots across accounts, planning migrations manually—it feels like a logistical nightmare, especially for veteran players with large rosters.
And finally, I have to say it: there's a clear imbalance between the US and EU player experience. Many EU players feel like second-class citizens in this process, with less communication, less presence from the devs in their time zones, and now a late rollout of new servers. I really hate to say it, but it does feel like a kind of regional discrimination.
I wish this could have been handled with more transparency, more fairness, and better planning. Right now, it feels rushed—and unfortunately, divisive.
svenofnein
Well-known member
So, if you want a free name change on a character - make a new character with that name first then transfer over the one you want the name change on.
Smokewolf
An Excited Member
Which is why I raised the point... There is still time to avoid disaster.
We should get a clarification from SSG on the need to pack or not on secondary characters.
The real question for me is does the pack/unpack process generate a log that they can follow on their end to troubleshoot issues?
If so then I'm going to pack/unpack every toon I move. If not then some of the first lifers can just go without the extra work.
I'm currently taking a very cutthroat approach to all the alts I created on HCL's and transferred over. Similarly I'm trashing most of the low level gear that is not rare because even if it is very convenient in the first 5-9 levels it's not worth the effort to maintain given that a lot of it is easily craftable.
The real question for me is does the pack/unpack process generate a log that they can follow on their end to troubleshoot issues?
If so then I'm going to pack/unpack every toon I move. If not then some of the first lifers can just go without the extra work.
I'm currently taking a very cutthroat approach to all the alts I created on HCL's and transferred over. Similarly I'm trashing most of the low level gear that is not rare because even if it is very convenient in the first 5-9 levels it's not worth the effort to maintain given that a lot of it is easily craftable.
Greatpumpkin
Active member
After reading this, at first I thought, 'he has a point', which morphed into 'how incredibly selfish.'
DDO is a business. Yes, it's a game we enjoy, but, it's a business. It makes business sense to DDO to consolidate resources in Vegas. They have enough Europe/West Asia business to justify a EU server, so they established one. How about Australia? The Far East? Alaska? Hawaii? What about them? Not enough for their own server. The new servers at a major IT hub, those folks might see a slight improvement though.
Choices have to be made, DDO made them. Some people won, others lost. If you feel like you're losing something, you have a hard decision to make.
(disclaimer: Being in Alaska, and seeing 200-400+ ping regularly, I like the game enough that I adapted. Others can too. It's just a choice.)
liosliante
Well-known member
Thank you for your thoughts—I get where you're coming from. Yes, DDO is a business, and infrastructure decisions are based on cost-efficiency and user distribution. But acknowledging that reality doesn't mean we can't also talk about the player experience.
When people express concerns about regional disparities, it's not selfish—it's about fairness. It's not just ping or server proximity. It's also about communication timing, representation, and rollout priority. Europe had to wait longer for clarity, and many feel like an afterthought in the process.
I’m not demanding a server just for me—I’m asking for equal treatment and recognition of legitimate concerns. Just because others deal with high ping or worse conditions doesn’t mean those issues aren’t worth mentioning. That’s how we improve things.
If the goal is to make DDO better for everyone, we should be open to criticism, not label it selfishness.
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