Greetings!
Since we launched Arcane Online, the players on Android and iOS could only see and access specific servers depending on their device OS.
Among the reasons is that the process for Apple to approve a new game version could take a week or more, and the time to release a new iOS game version up to 24h during a maintenance. This constraints can make it very difficult to operate an online game like Arcane Online, as MMORPGs do sometimes require critical bug fix (and we can’t keep the servers down for days :)).
Now it seems Apple has been improving their process in the past weeks/months, and it is getting faster to get approval and release the version to the public – we decided it was now time for Android and iOS players to be able to play together!
On Wed. 14th after the maintenance, this will lead to 2 major changes:
– All game servers will now be listed in a unique server list, accessible from both iOS and Android devices
– We will physically merge the 2 game servers located in Europe, Acheron (iOS) and Nergal (AOS), into a new game server: Balrog (iOS+AOS)
Please read our FAQ below which should answer most of your questions or concerns.
Note that we may edit the FAQ with new questions we receive or with topics we might have omitted.
1. GENERAL
What does it mean for me?
After the maintenance, all iOS and Android players will be able to play together! If you have a friend who is using a mobile device with a different operating system, you will now be able to enter and create a character on the same game server.
I have characters on both iOS and AOS servers, what will happen?
In case you have been using the same login account to create character(s) on both iOS and AOS servers, then you will ONLY be able to see your character(s) if you use the corresponding OS!
Example:
– You created character A on iOS and character B on Android using the same Google login
– After the maintenance, if you login with Google on a iOS device, you will see only character A. You will have to use a Android device to see character B!
However: if you didn’t use the same login account to create character(s) on each OS before the maintenance, then after the maintenance you will be able to see the character(s) whatever device you use!
Example:
– You created character A on iOS using Google but never created a character on Android with this account
– After the maintenance, if you login with Google on Android in the future, you will find character B!
Generally speaking, if you created characters on both OS using the same login, we may suggest to delete one if low level. In any case if any issue, please contact us so we can sort it out after the maintenance manually. 🙂
Which servers are being consolidated?
iOS server ‘Acheron ‘and AOS server ‘Nergal ‘will be merged. Following the merge, the new server will be renamed as ‘Balrog’.
Except ‘Acheron’ and ‘Nergal’, all other servers are not affected by the merge!
Why merging ‘Acheron’ and ‘Nergal’?
The population on ‘Acheron’ has been very low since we opened the game in the European region. As a comparison, Nergal has over 5 times more active players. Besides both servers opened on the same day, are located in the same data center in Germany, and set on the same time zone CET.
Both servers will benefit from the increased population, especially with the new expansion coming which will introduce instanced Guild Wars battle where many guilds can participate!
What will be the new ‘Balrog’ server time zone?
The new ‘Balrog’ server will keep the same time zone, with a server time set on CET (Central European Time, UTC+1).
When this is going to happen?
The merge will happen on Wednesday 2nd of November and is expected to last 4h (could be extended if needed during our tests. The schedule will be as follows:
- Wed. November 2nd, 00:30AM CST / 7:30AM CET: Close all iOS and AOS servers for the weekly maintenance and merge.
- Wed. November 2nd, 4:30AM CST / 11:30AM CET: Reopen all game servers with a unique list of 4 servers: Chaos, Draco, Werewolf and Balrog
FOR PLAYERS FROM ACHERON AND NERGAL ONLY (same rules than previous merges)
2. CHARACTERS
Will I keep my character name after the merge?
The server merge means that two characters with the same name can end up on one server.
In that scenario, the player with the highest level will keep his name while we will add the server name behind the name of the player with the lower level and send him a Codex of Name to change the name.
What about my character titles?
The titles obtained from Achievements, Quest, VIP will be preserved in the title list.
However the titles obtained from the Arena ranking and Hall of Fame will be reset during the merge and given after the first server daily reset, as only one player can get those. If you were using one of these titles prior to the merge, then you will have to choose another title after the merge until you obtain it again.
What about my mails?
All mails will be kept, but like any other maintenance, make sure you do not have mails about to expire.
What about my World Boss Legacy wings?
The Legacy Wings equipped by players will be kept.
It means after the merge there can be more than 10 Legacy wings for each class in the game world. However once they expire or return to the boss after a PK, the Legacy won’t drop until there is less than 10 in the world.
And what about all the other systems?
There will be no change to the Character status/stats/items/gear, Gold/Ruby, VIP, Avatar Collection, Mounts, Guardian, Constellations, Bestiary, Runic Altar, Battlegrounds, Storage, Auction House, Fund, Farm. You will just find all these as it was before the merge.
3. GUILDS
What happens to guilds during the merge?
Guild members, level and everything else will be transferred during the merge, so there is nothing to worry about here. But just keep in mind that some of your guild members may change their name after the merge.
What about guild names?
The same rules used for the character names will apply to guild names.
And the guild ranking?
The guild ranking will be updated after the merge with the new guild list.
Any other changes with the guilds?
Again, everything will be kept as it was prior to the merge; however the pending requests waiting for approval to join the guild will reset. If you have some pending requests, make sure to approve them before or ask the player to send the request again after the merge.
4. HALL OF FAME, DUELS & ARENA
What about the Duel Tournament?
The ranking and score in the Duel Tournament will reset, meaning for that week the overall ranking will be based on stats from Wednesday to Sunday.
However the Duel Class which is based on the accumulated score will be preserved.
And what about the Arena?
The Arena will completely reset after the merge as well, it means this week the Arena will be calculated only on the battles between Wednesday and Sunday midnight!
So what does it mean for the Hall of Fame?
The Hall of Fame ranking will then be calculated after the merge.
5. SIEGE WAR
What does it mean for the Siege War?
Since there is a guild owning the castle on each server at the moment, the Siege War will have to be reset after the merge.
It means once the merge is completed, no guild will be owning the Castle of Hilberk anymore, and as such won’t get the benefits until they take over the Castle again.
We already applied for the next Siege War, did we lose our points?
Applications from Monday till just before the merge will be kept, so no worries here.
However the two guilds currently owning the castle will have to apply after the merge is completed (and before Thursday midnight).
We are currently owning the castle, what about our Ruby rewards for the missing days?
We will send the Rubies that should have been received by mail. For the Guild members, since the guild leader has to allocate the rewards on a daily basis, we will distribute it evenly to all guild members. However if the guild leader contact us and give us the breakdown for the remaining days, we will distribute the rewards accordingly.
6. MISC
As you can imagine, a server merge is quite a complex process technically, and although everything has been well prepared, there could be some hiccups 🙂
We thus thank you in advance for your patience and understanding here.