We're Merging Servers!

08.28.17:

ATTENTION: To Transfer Your Account:
If you live in the APAC region and received an email from us regarding transferring your account, a response is required by end of today (Monday, August 8) 22:00 PT (01:00 ET). If you did not receive an email, you are ineligible to transfer your account.

08.18.17:

Will accounts be transferred or duplicated to another server?
First we will focus on Australia, New Zealand, and Asia looking at players who are physically close to a different server cluster, who now may have too much latency when connected to NA. This will not happen overnight, as some of you have heard from our Customer Service representatives. We promise to take every request seriously — we want to make it happen. Second, we will look at players in EU, Africa, and other remote parts of the world who no longer want to remain on NA. We want you to keep playing no matter the server, so please bear with us.

08.16.17:

What can you tell us about the new hardware?
The new server does not use our current server hardware (see below for what is happening with the existing East and West servers). It’s a brand-new networking setup that should increase connection stability.

Will you return to East/West servers if this doesn't work?
Yes. While NA East and NA West will not be available to players on Wednesday, we are not taking them offline. They are remaining online as our backup plan in case of emergency. If at any point during the process the NA Central server becomes completely unstable, we can switch back to the existing two servers until we can fix the issue. Our goal is to maintain as much uptime and quality play as possible on NA Central, so we will carefully monitor performance. We don’t want to leave you hanging or dealing with extended outages, so every effort is made to keep our downtime as short as possible in the coming weeks.

Will accounts be transferred or duplicated to another server?
We will share more information soon on our transfer programs, but all transfers will be one-way to the destination with no account duplication. Your entire account will be moved as part of the transfer and this is a one-way ticket. You may only return to North American servers through starting an entirely new account. Our immediate focus is on our players who are closer to a regional server they are currently not using. For example, players in Australia or New Zealand may want to transfer to the APAC server; or players who live in EU countries might want to join the much closer EU server.

How will tanks that are not available on other servers be handled?
This will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and we will make every effort to produce an exact copy of your account details in the new server location. We will provide appropriate compensation if there is not an exact match for a tank.

Will there be any compensation for the server merge or for filling out the survey?
We really appreciate the time players take to send us logs: we know it’s extra work, but it’s a big help! So we will be giving any player who completes our survey a free Day ofPremium time, 3x Personal Reserves of +100%Crew XP (2 hours), and 3x Personal Reserves of +100%Free XP (2 hours) to thank you for helping us monitor the server merge. Of course if there is any significant downtime we will offer all players additional compensation as per our usual policies.

Will players need to download a patch or will they need to do anything specific to change to the new server?
We will patch on August 16 to update your client with the new Americas Central server address. At the same time, we will make the NA East and NA West options temporarily unavailable so all players will join just one server.

Will the Global Map be shut down for any duration due to the server merge?
The Clan Wars Global Map will be frozen on August 16 while server is merged. The freeze may last longer if server issues persist. We will keep you up to date in the forum section as well.

Will this impact other games?
No. This server merge will only impact World of Tanks PC.

Why Chicago for the new server location?
Our server operations teams evaluated many locations in NA and did months of testing server response times, regional infrastructure, and performed simulations on all parts of the region. In the end, we were most satisfied with the performance of this location, and believe it be the best option to centralize a single Americas server.

08.15.17:

Why are we doing this merge, what is the benefit for players?
The goal for merging our servers into the new NA Central location is to improve our matchmaking times for all players by having them join a single queue. This also will help to combine all eligible players for special modes like Ranked Battles, Clan activities, and the upcoming Grand Battles (30v30), 9.20 Update, which includes huge balance changes, great new modes, a new tank line, and more.

Will this specifically fix the server lag? If not, when is the server lag fix?
The current plan is to finish the server merge, and focus on stabilizing the regional connections that are going to be impacted by this shift in location. Our server operations team is working daily to optimize our network connections, and improve routing by working with our partners such as Level3, Telia, and Comcast. Engineers will be monitoring performance for the entire region, including North and South America. Server lag has been an ongoing issue we will work to resolve as we focus on NA Central stability. There is no ETA for this to be 100% fixed, but we’re committed to improving the situation for users who have lag and freezing issues.

When will the server lag get better?
We will post frequent updates here. For the next week we will post here daily, and any time emergencies or big changes arise. To help us debug issues on a personal level, there will  be a survey with instructions on how to send us logs and information about your situation. The more info we can gather, the faster we can stabilize the server! We will keep you posted here each week with a report from our development team about progress. Check back here to read updates, and ask questions in our dedicated forums.

Why is my ping worse?
When we move the server, the networking connections across NA will be updated. At first you may see higher ping inside the game client.  But our priority is optimizing the connections and minimizing any packet loss. Players may see higher ping values in-game, but if there is a stable connection, your gameplay experience should not be degraded. We know that merge issues won’t resolve overnight, but we’re committed to monitoring and optimizing for as long as it takes. Stay tuned for updates in this section, and specifically this thread.

How will this affect LATAM players?
For any player, there is the potential to have a slower connection based on their distance and routing to our servers. We will be optimizing our connections to all locations, and it’s very important to provide a playable experience to players on the NA server. The best thing any player can do is fill out our survey if they are having difficulty with connection or gameplay quality. This includes tankers from Latin America, so there will be a survey with instructions on how to send us logs and information if your connection to World of Tanks has changed significantly.

Can I transfer servers if my ping gets worse?
We are working on a customer support plan to allow users to transfer servers. More information to follow shortly on this topic, and we will update this thread with links and details this week.