As far as I read the hydra update could be launched any time now. The merge is in 2 weeks. MIght be the opposite, what have you read or heard ?Can you explain ?
Does it make sense to say "we're carrying you now" after such an event (monsters)?
Does it make sense to have monsters when we are recuperating from a merge, doing relocations and upgrading mines ? Neither seems to make sense ?
How about making Chinese announcement?
Do we have a Chinese community?
Will there be an email or something from GF prior to the merge where we have to pick the server we want to go to? Will we wake up on the 12th and be in the server we selected?
Why can't en.Alpha and en.Pi be target servers for merges? I like playing on servers without bonuses and I like to have at least one account on a server with the old layout. And perhaps besides Alpha en Pi there can be two servers with bonuses, one for builders and one for fighters? So four servers in total, like the current planning.
Same same.. be nice if we could get a 15min head start given we're gonna spawn in on different wonder layouts.. meaning we're gonna have more moving to do then most.. if you already got a nice spot and are on a new server and get there while there is room.. you're already set.
Lol, no.
what server are you on new or old? and exactly how many people do you think can flood in on 15 min head start?
I don't think it's unreasonable.Sure it is unreasonable.
Legacy layout players are just as able to plan their moves as the new layout players.
It's funny how you didn't answer my question but I know the answer anyway.
Let me explain something to you.
If you are currently happy with your islands on a new server, or heck at least have the right wonder makeup you could potentially merge in and not need to do a damn thing assuming there is room on the target islands.
Where as most legacy players even if they like their location and wonder on the current server is going to be throw into a different wonder layout.
meaning few if any will get to keep their current wonder setup, necessitating a much MUCH higher probability that they need to move just to keep the setup they had.
I don't think asking for 15mins to let legacy players merge in is asking that much..
Or would you be open to having all towns randomized? I bet not.. prove me wrong.
Can we NOT merge, please like seriously, this is a terrible idea.
you can always pull out the "we listened to our players" and cancel this mess and unwanted merge, to make people blush at seeing that ikariam cares for their opinion
You have exact statistics about how many players do not want the merge? Or you base it only on your and some other personal opinion?
I do not.
Let's count, actually make a poll and let's see for real
For the record im actually looking forward to the merger, it's going to be disruptive
but it also offers opportunity and more neighbors at least for a while.
I had expected US Beta to merge at some point with Alpha so this is not a surprise the only
question was when? I didn't expect to be land rushing on a new server but honestly thats
a better solution then previous mergers where the host server residents got upset
they didn't get a chance to move around, on the other hand going from an old server
means a different wonder layout and while Im not complainging that I can finally have
forge that isn't sulfur it does mean rebuilding my booster building.. but I can accept that.
A token to switch booster building type would be cool though not gonna lie.
Perhaps server resource bonuses are needed for players to reach maximum levels of most buildings, but I don't think every player has the goal to upgrade all buildings to maximum levels.
And with settings 1 and 4 looking most attractive for most players (I guess), I'm afraid the servers with settings 2 and 3 will suffer from a shortage of players, leading to a new merge in a few years.
How about making Chinese announcement?
Do we have a Chinese community?
But we had Chinese players
Display MoreIt's funny how you didn't answer my question but I know the answer anyway.
Let me explain something to you.
If you are currently happy with your islands on a new server, or heck at least have the right wonder makeup you could potentially merge in and not need to do a damn thing assuming there is room on the target islands.
Where as most legacy players even if they like their location and wonder on the current server is going to be throw into a different wonder layout.
meaning few if any will get to keep their current wonder setup, necessitating a much MUCH higher probability that they need to move just to keep the setup they had.
I don't think asking for 15mins to let legacy players merge in is asking that much..
Or would you be open to having all towns randomized? I bet not.. prove me wrong.
I did not answer to that part of the question because it is irrelevant.
Since you are so keen to know, I can tell you that the correct answer is both.
On my legacy layout account, I have to move from sulphur forges and marble poseidons to wine forges and wine poseidons. So, the entire account moves.
On my new layout account, I have to move from marble forges and marble poseidons to wine forges and wine poseidons. So, the entire account moves.
Please do explain why my legacy layout account is deserving of a headstart when both of the accounts need to move in their entirety. It's the same thing, except only legacy layout portion is affecting you and you fail to consider other scenarios. Yeah, the very thing you attempt to blame me for on the grounds of the question 
This is why I said legacy layout players are just as able to plan their moves, and are in the same situation. It is a faulty generalisation that new layout players get to stay put and don't need to move.
Some don't, some do, but who cares as long as your situation gets an advantage right.
Edit: Sorry, skimmed the last sentence.
Randomising spots on entry is a great idea, I do in fact support it.
Randomness is often fair.
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Display MoreThis merge seems like a prank... They should start the islands at level 10 or level 20 mines/mills or give significant level time reduction.
It will take over a year of time leveling to even get to the same sawmill levels(50+) I have currently on Alpha/Beta (US). To even produce enough wine to keep my population from leaving is over a week of leveling assuming I am online to level the vineyard immediately after it upgrades, not including supplying wine to other towns.
Real excited to hardly play the game for 6 months trying to get level 45 townhalls happy again on new islands...
The Pangaia servers use the EN subdomain so I will presume all of those servers will be merged too under the EN umbrella?
I dug up an old post. Here's what Festival of Worlds does.
- 1000 satisfaction in all towns.
- +2% speed for merchant ships
- Expansion time for resource mines amounts to a max. of 12 hours.
This 1000 satisfation is a joke, compared to the 6000+ citizens towns.
I assume that we will lose all the CTs, wine income will also be a joke if starting from L1, so to keep up the population in the first days will be close to impossible.
Plan accordingly now, your resources will carry over. Have at least a million wine in each town and you will be fine.
True... that is a good option.
But you know, it is quire hard to gather millions of wines in just two week from 3 wine-towns that are producing EXACLTY what all the towns consume in total 
So, I'll just gather resources in one town to transform them in wine, after the merge.
Are donations from an island that I moved my cities from and now I have no cities on that island going to be added as donation tokens after the merge?
Last time around it worked off your Donation Score.
Display MoreI did not answer to that part of the question because it is irrelevant.
Since you are so keen to know, I can tell you that the correct answer is both.
On my legacy layout account, I have to move from sulphur forges and marble poseidons to wine forges and wine poseidons. So, the entire account moves.
On my new layout account, I have to move from marble forges and marble poseidons to wine forges and wine poseidons. So, the entire account moves.
It is relevant because someone from a perspective of new layout don't see the disadvantage.
Please do explain why my legacy layout account is deserving of a headstart when both of the accounts need to move in their entirety. It's the same thing, except only legacy layout portion is affecting you and you fail to consider other scenarios. Yeah, the very thing you attempt to blame me for on the grounds of the question
I already explained it to you in the last post.. did you read it? those on old layouts are mucH MUCH more likely not only to want to move but to NEED to move because while your NEW layout towns might WANT to move.. the odds someone on an old layout will NEED to move even if they want to just keep the wonder layout they had, forget non sulfur forge, even if you want to keep your sulfur forge guess what? many wonders are different on all islands ALL ISLANDS, this ain't just about sulfur forge.
Display MoreThis is why I said legacy layout players are just as able to plan their moves, and are in the same situation. It is a faulty generalisation that new layout players get to stay put and don't need to move.
Some don't, some do, but who cares as long as your situation gets an advantage right.
Edit: Sorry, skimmed the last sentence.
Randomising spots on entry is a great idea, I do in fact support it.
Randomness is often fair.
NO it's not a generalization.. if you are happy on your new server layout and are able to merge in before room runs out on your target islands you have NOTHING to do.
Old server players will have to move even if they're currently happy with their island locations and merge in while there is room, IF they want to keep their wonder layout because most if not all islands have different wonders then what they had on the old server, not just forge.
I honestly can not explain this to you any more plainly, please go compare maps ffs.
old server players had better make an account on the new layout severs to scout because otherwise you'll be looking for a spot AFTER the merger and you're even further behind the 8ball.
Surprised you support randomization but im okay with that.. then everyone is on equal footing and will have to move so at least we found some common ground there.
Where I personally play or you play should not be relevant for the points we make. Surely we are able to have discussions without inserting our personal interests into it, as the topic is essentially fairness of some players getting earlier access than others.
The main point is that Gameforge explicitly granting legacy layout players first grabs is unfair. It would similarly be unfair that new layout players got first picks, or smaller players, or larger players, or ambrosia players, or free to play players. It does not change the argument what portion of the playerbase it is. Granted the ambrosia example is bit here and there, I guess you could make it a paid option.. but please no.
You brought up the randomizing on launch, and I do think this is a great idea. It further levels the playing field and I am in full support.
In fact, this idea would set the stage to be so fair that any advantages any players had would be removed, one example below.
There undeniably are players that don't necessarily need to move, and players that currently overtake locations they want to go to, just to make the merging process faster and more reliable.
You don't fix this issue by giving a portion of the playerbase (in your example, legacy layout players) the first call. You would fix this by randomization, which I agree with as stated above.
It would be plain favouritism to give first grabs to anyone.
I tried to highlight this by bringing up my own situation (which should be unnecessary; remove the person from the argument) by explaining that both my legacy and new layout accounts have to undergo a complete move. You would implement early access for my legacy layout account on the basis of it being a legacy account, not on the basis of it having more workload. Both need to move entirely, that remains equal.
Old server players will have to move even if they're currently happy with their island locations and merge in while there is room, IF they want to keep their wonder layout because most if not all islands have different wonders then what they had on the old server, not just forge.
.
I agree, this is completely true. They have collectively more moving to do, but should we just toss and forget about others that have moving to do? It is unreasonable.
What I disagree with is solving this by early access, because it still remains unfair favouritism. This is clearly seen by any two players having to do an equal amount of moving around, but your solution of legacy early access would only affect one without the other.
You had the perfect solution yourself, randomizing the spots. I will rally for this right next to you.
15mins is not that huge of an advantage anyone not ready and waiting would not even be able to capitalize on it.. and I suspect the number of people at their computers the second merger starts will be small.
where you play can affect your point of view.
A rich man and a poor man both have equal views on minimum wage without bias?
Old layout players have more at stake in this merger, and you already admitted as such but still you don't see how this can affect someones point of view on it.
maybe they could randomize the wonders instead of the towns that way people would still have their towns in the same locations and material type but everyone is going into it completely blind on wonders.
I don't think they will do this though.
Old layout players have more at stake in this merger, and you already admitted as such but still you don't see how this can affect someones point of view on it.
I don't think you are being very objective.
I don't deny the presence of a balance issue, I just disagree that "fixing" it is done by replacing it with another balance issue. Seriously, the spot randomization suggestion was fair, root for that.
Your entire baseline is that a new layout player is already in the spots and can get there faster, yet you want a headstart into the merger to get there faster yourself. How is this a fix, and not just turning it upside down?
I oppose this idea because it is unfair. I support the idea of randomizing spots on launch, because it is fair - it affects everyone equally. It does not give a benefit to any part of the playerbase. You yourself proposed this as an alternative, why do we have to cling onto the unbalanced one you tried shipping alongside with it.
It just really falls apart if you are being objective:
A player from a legacy map wants to move 12 towns.
A player from a new map wants to move 12 towns.
For some reason, the first one should get free reigns in picking theirs, while the other races with everyone else. I do not think this is complicated.
The only difference between these players is that one plays legacy, other plays new. There is no fairness, it's just fugazi because alpha good.
You can even further test the reliability of this method if you apply it to a demographic of players that is not one of your own.
I present thee:
Zephyros is arguably the most multi-cultural server in the .en community. Thus, we can assume that the players on Zephyros have the most varying timezones and availability. To acommodate this, we should have zephyros.en players get a headstart.
You won't like this version, because it is not fair. It is not fair, no matter what portion of the playerbase gets shipped as the shining pony to get the handout.
I don't think they will do this though.
Oh yeah, nothing will change.
the fairness was that a player from a new map who moves nothing loses nothing, they just might not better their position.
Even if you would LIKE to move you will lose nothing assuming you merge in fast enough to keep your town locations.
a player from an old map loses their wonders by default.. so they're already at a disadvantage all else being equal.
You act like 15mins is cutting off your left testicle.. Whoa the drama.
I'll go for randomization.. but honest I don't see GF doing any of the things i've spoke of, not the head start, not the randomization, i doubt they do anything.
It's more a you and me discussion.. but we're just chasing our tails here.
It's fine I've played this game for long enough.. I will have my way in the end.. You can bank on that.
