Server merge

In general, server merges in MMOs combine the population of multiple servers to a single one. The reasons vary. For example, the game operator wants to ensure that the server population is sufficient for a cooperative gameplay, or it might be motivated by the need to consolidate costs or upgrade to a new technology or hardware.

In the decades of DDO's operation, several server merges and transfers have happened.

Transfer and merge to 64-bit servers (2025)

A major server merge process is scheduled to begin in early July when three new 64-bit servers, Moonsea, Shadowdale and Thrane, will open for character transfer. The intention is that DDO's population is transferred to these servers and Cormyr, and as such the existing 32-bit servers will be switching to a "ghost world" state, where questing and the Auction House is unavailable, after 31st August 2025 (following a closure of unspecified duration), before shutting down entirely in 2027. As part of the transfer focus, a new option is due to be introduced to allow transfer of server-based data during this process.

See DDO Server Transfers 2025 for details.

Server merge discussion in 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by (executive producer) Severlin on November 10, 2015 We plan on revisiting the idea of server merges after we've moved to the new datacenter which is slated for in sometime in the new year. We want to make sure we have lag under control before we concentrate the players. We recently made some fairly large changes to help combat lag, particularly in the Storm Horns and other places where monsters can use persistent AoE effects. We haven't heard any feedback that lag is reduced, but the nature of that beast is that we only hear about it when lag is bad. There are some obstacles to overcome, like making sure shared storage and guild move over and players have good tools to deal with name collisions for both characters and guilds. Sev~

European character transfer in 2009

Upon closure of European servers operated by Codemasters, European players were offered free character transfer to any existing North American servers.

Server merge in 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quarion on July 23, 2007 : We have some very important news for our players regarding Dungeons and Dragons Online™: Stormreach™ (DDO). Dungeons & Dragons® has always been about having a good time with a party of your friends. With DDO, we bring that experience to life online for the first time, and appreciate all the time you, the players, spend inside Stormreach fulfilling the promise of D&D®. Over the last few months we have seen an increase in the number of players asking us to make it easier to find groups. Since grouping is such a core part of the DDO experience we looked at a variety of ways to make the grouping process easier for players of all levels. Various options were considered, but the best way to make a change that improves the situation for everyone is to concentrate active players on a smaller number of servers. To this end we have developed a plan to merge the game’s servers which will greatly improve player experience across the board while also improving the performance of the game by upgrading to a stronger infrastructure on the back end. We want to thank you for all of your patience as we implement these changes to the game. New Server Details We'll be combining the source servers on the left into the destination servers on the right. Mabar becomes Argonnessen Fernia becomes Ghallanda Lhazaar becomes Ghallanda Aerenal becomes Sarlona Adar becomes Sarlona Aundair becomes Khyber Riedra becomes Khyber Xoriat becomes Thelanis Tharashk becomes Thelanis Before we get started with the complete server merge, we are planning to run a public preview on Risia. On Wednesday, July 25th, we will be bringing Risia up with the Mabar/Argonnessen server merge and we'd love it if you'd hop onto Risia and help us confirm everything is operating as expected. Any players that have created a character on Mabar or Argonnessen before July 23rd are invited to participate in the merge preview. Once we have completed the merge preview and evaluated the results we expect to begin merging the main servers starting the following week. The process of merging the servers will be divided into two downtimes. Khyber, Aundair, Riedra, Thelanis, Xoriat, and Tharashk will be offline on Thursday, August 2nd, between 2am and 7pm EDT. Around 7pm, Khyber and Thelanis will come back online and contain all of the merged characters and data from their respective servers. On Monday, August 6th, Fernia, Ghallanda, Argonnessen, Lhazaar, Adar, Sarlona, Aerenal, and Mabar will be offline from 2am until approximately 7pm EDT. At about 7pm, Argonnessen, Ghallanda and Sarlona will come back online and will contain all of the merged characters and data from their respective servers. When all service resumes on August 6th, the DDO servers will be: Argonnessen, Ghallanda, Sarlona, Khyber, and Thelanis. On August 13th, all servers will be offline from approximately 7am until 1pm EDT, for server maintenance and optimization after the merge.