[Discussion] Merging 9 servers into 5

I only skimmed through it, so I didn't see everything. This isn't actually too bad of an idea.

I voted no, because it would be a very complicated and confusing system. If all the wilds were to be kept, it would be hectic. I can see all the residences being put together, but I feel like there would be a ton of work and very little result. The chat problem could be overcome with adding a chat channel for every server, which you could connect to from any server. We would have a system like /ps that displays all of the channels. You could also merge the supporter channels and moderator channels all into one. Then there would be a little GUI that could turn all of the channels on or off by clicking on them.
As for the amount of players newbies see on, you could just merge the /who from all servers and also the tab button.
With the lower operation cost, I do not know if Aikar actually has 10 machines running at any given time, but I suspect not. I believe he probably combines processing power between them all. The servers would be working just as hard and using the same amount of power as long as there were the same number of players online at a given time.
I personally think the best way to go about the whole 80x80 residences is to move all if the 60x60 residences to the center of the 80x80 residences. This may be a lot of work also, and it possibly would be better to have that as a senior staff service and to have the new town be /newtown or something of the sort.

So with this you propose that it's pretty much 10 worlds on 1 server, for example: SMP1 and 2 become merged, to visit SMP2's wild you simply type, /wild smp2 or /wild 2?

More like it will be in the same world, just 2 spawns with "East" and "West"

I say yes because frankly there is no reason to have it all spread out. Having it all on 5 or less would be very beneficial.
And if a total reset was to happen, I'd love it! I'm not sentimental at all.
However, I suppose that some people would want to move their reses, which is ok I guess with WE.

Anyways, the special.emc.gs is a great idea in itself.

No never! :O But yeah, that's the general idea

I have thought about this in the past and I think even suggested it along the way, for the same reasons you pointed out here Alex, too many servers too quick and now empty or at least it feels that way at times.

Problems that I see with this is, the outpost that ppl have built mor than anything.

Residences can be copied and pasted easy enough with (W-E) but out post are another thing.

I have built a few and while I am happy enough to lose some, their are others I would like moved to the new server if that where to happen. Or at least the ability to build new with out being killed by mobs until they where built, copy paste would be better though.

As for making a new path to it through the nether that would not be too much trouble a few days work rather then months of rebuilding the whole thing.

A lot of world editing.

A new town map could be set up, and res's slowly moved to it with access to old world's to use out post's / grinders until everything is moved into the new maps.

Post on the website what is happening with a form for players to fill in giving details of their res number and any bases / grinders that they have and want moving with co-ordinates.

Suitable locations can then be found in the new world for them to have their bases moved to with a few new tools as compensation for digging new links to them from spawn.

Might also be an opportunity for some to have their res moved closer to their friends res, or further apart

I also think if this is going to happen then it should happen sooner rather then later.

I honestly would preffer that Utopia town not be merged with another servers town due to the residence size difference, though if you increase the res size to 80 by 80, that size difference will be less I guess...

There would be no merging with Utopia, just rebranding it as a "special" server IMO right now it's a waste of resources compared to the amount of players on it at any given time

I voted no.
Reason being, Ive seen it said a few times by Aikar... His goal is to "grow Empire Minecraft into the Largest Minecraft server."
If this was achieved, and i believe it can be, then we would just need those servers back again.

The focus is being put into attracting more people to fill the servers than reducing the capacity we have.

Adding an events server may be good, but making Utopia an events server would lead to lag/crashes/crowding and is not what most supporters want, and Utopia is mainly supposed to be a supporter server (perk).

If you want lag/crashes/crowding, there are other options.

Can't wait for that poll.
But over DT,
Depends on how long this would take

I also think it might be worth looking at putting new players onto a new map to save moving their residences at a later date if that was an option.

As far as merging worlds, I see that the easiest beginning is to make a single 'wastelands' for all servers, with no end world to it. This would bring lots of people together and not be very hard to pull off, since people know that the wastes get reset anyway.

I like the idea of cross server chat channels. Mods already have a channel like that, and it's really great.

At times, my chat scrolls up the page so quickly that I can not play at all and follow along. I think there will be lots of other people who notice this once it takes effect, and will want to switch back to a less busy channel.

The bungee system that is already in place could allow for multiple town worlds on a single server as well as frontier and everything else. At the moment, keeping things spread out takes advantage of the existing hardware. So it can be a little abstract to think of merging servers vs merging worlds.

I already use all of the servers, I frequently jump around to meet with people and visit outposts and help with projects. I know that others do as well. The grouped server chat would be enough, and the addition of /v being cross server would be a nice way to bring it all together.

I think the Frontier worlds are still off limits for any reset, so no need to get up at arms about that.

Hm.
Interesting way to change it.
However, the Smp numbers would seriously have to go.
Just 1, 2, and 3. (each having 3 of the nine "integrated")
So it'd separate but connected at the same time.

Lag and crashing could be a thing (although, I haven't noticed it when events are being held?) however it would still remain a supporter server, as only they could claim residences and visit the wild. Regular players are still allowed on it today, they just aren't in high numbers

I feel like the Wiki navigation should be done first, can you allow us to sort of rank updates as we would personally like them released?

the problem with having a single Wastelands is that means fewer resources to collect. expanding it out so it's bigger just means you have to travel further and further out to find a particular biome.

i don't know the number of players EMC has currently but if I were to make a suggestion it would be to find out what that number is, find out what your goal is for players per server and then use math to determine how many servers we actually need right now. then account for some growth in there and then make a decision whether we need less servers or not.

i honestly think the way things are now is pretty okay. i mean i know smp8 and smp9 are fairly busy and i know some choose smp6/smp7 specifically because they are less busy and they like that.

maybe a suggestion could be that if a player has built up a res on a specific smp and they find it's not busy enough for them or it's too busy, they could purchase the ability to have their res moved to another smp and then staff could worldedit it over to another smp?

I don't really like this idea too much maybe if the servers could become one but still in some way stay separate, like maybe making it so there's another chat instead of your basic res/local/global add another called something different that combined the chat of all the servers

I wouldn't change size,(maybe just a little) it would just be reset more frequently once it starts to get destroyed. It would be better that way anyhow because players are once again building outposts and thinking that it will be around for a while, when it could be reset with just a few days notice. I think it could bring people together. It would definitely make it easier to find someone to go mining with. As it is now, I rarely see more than 3 people in any server wastelands at any one time because it is spread out over 10 servers.

Staff is still trying to figure out exactly how to arrange the new chat system, so constructive comments are very welcome.

I would like to see the ability to add or exclude any chat channel you wish from your list, but there is a lot of concern that this would be far too complex for new players. Maybe have a simple chat menu and an advanced settings menu? Might take a while to work out the details through trial and error. In the end, it's going to be as close as possible to what the community wants.