In a recent Massively interview with Daniel Erickson, Erickson briefly discussed BioWare’s vision for the group finder tool and the company’s reasoning behind the same-server limitation.
This is what he said, according to Massively’s follow-up article:
When asked if the new group finder would be cross-server, Erickson replied that it would be single-server because “we are coming up on a huge move to servers with massively higher population caps than we have today.”
Now, this could mean a couple of things. Click “continue reading” to find out more.
The same-server vs. cross-server argument for a group finder tool in an MMO has been a hotly-debated subject for a while now. The fact is, many people are on both sides of the fence, and both sides have pretty good points. One has to wonder, when looking at a statement like the one made above, whether Erickson is simply using PR magic and spinning the issue into something more positive than it really is. Is he simply stating the equivalent of, “Just like any other MMO, we’re allowing transfers finally”, or is he hinting at something… larger, something actually unique?
The possibility of one or two mega-servers in SWTOR definitely has potential. It would make desolate planets not seem quite as desolate, and there really would be no need for a cross-sever group finder tool. Our fleets would be packed, and players may experience some lag, but with increased stability, it’s a possibility that may just be obtainable with current technology.
It’s difficult to say at this point what Erickson actually meant. We still don’t have details about which servers are involved in the transfers, and until we have more information, it’s difficulty to, well, say much of anything.
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