[2022] [Notice] Return to Aeternum Server Merge Update

Greetings Adventurers,

In order to stand by the expectations created by our original statement that Return to Aeternum Worlds would be considered Fresh Start Worlds after they were open to the public, we are merging Return to Aeternum Worlds with Fresh Start Worlds.

Our initial goal with the Return to Aeternum worlds was to evaluate them separately from non-event Fresh Start worlds in the case of merges. However, by stating that we were treating Return to Aeternum Worlds the same as the other Fresh Start Worlds, we set expectations for them to be merged with Fresh Start Worlds due to previous wording in our FAQ. Moving forward, we will clearly indicate the intended route for event worlds.

We have been closely monitoring the economies of Fresh Start Worlds, Return to Aeternum Worlds, and Legacy Worlds. Fresh Start Worlds and Return to Aeternum Worlds have some economic differences but we have found that the average coin per character and average progression on each character for Return to Aeternum Worlds tracks closer to Fresh Start Worlds than to the current state of Legacy Worlds. In fact, the average character on a Return to Aeternum World has 35% less coin than the average character on a Fresh Start World. The wealthiest 10% of users on Return to Aeternum Worlds have an average of 60% less coin than the wealthiest 10% of users on Fresh Start Worlds. After the event period for Return to Aeternum ended, there was a significant slowdown in the economies of these worlds, so while they may have been ahead initially per character based on November 2nd to November 16th, in the weeks since this has adjusted to no longer be the case. In short, the average user coming from a Return to Aeternum World with these merges has less coin than the average user on their destination Fresh Start World.

Due to this and other internal measurements of the economies and character progression we want to move forward with honoring the time spent on these characters by merging Return to Aeternum characters into Fresh Start Worlds rather than Legacy Worlds.

We are aware of concerns around potential toxicity that exists in any world merge. We expect players to abide by our Code of Conduct. Those who do not will be actioned upon appropriately and we ask for you to continue to report anyone who violates them.

The following worlds will be merged on 2022-12-15T07:00:00Z in your local time zone, which will require a 2.5 hour downtime for the world that’s being merged. We will also be taking down the servers that are being merged for 60 minutes on 2022-12-10T08:01:00Z in your local time zone to apply special in-game messaging and blocks for events like wars and invasions.

Central Europe

• Dracul will be merging into Gawain.

US East

• Death will be merging into Devourer.

US West

• Titan will be merging into Isabella Yonas.

South America

• Overlord will be merging into Gaea.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Greetings Adventurers,

After monitoring the latest performance and health metrics of these worlds, we’ve decided to adjust our initial plans and merge Titan into Yonas for the long-term health of both worlds. This will not impact the timing stated above.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.