LotRO to Merge Servers

For some time now, there has been a plan at LotRO to merge some of the servers.  Way back at the beginning of the year (or so), Vyvyanne (yes, the very same, former DDO producer) announced in her "Producer's Letter" that there was a plan.  At that time, no details were given; but now, we have some details.

And as you might expect, the formal announcement has generated a lot of buzz and the inevitable questions.  Follow along here, if you wish.  No list of which servers are closing, yet.

So, what do we know?  Well, we know:

• A list of impacted worlds (servers) is supposed to be presented on August 3rd (that would be next Monday [wrt this post date], for those of you playing at home).
• There will be a total of (5) servers in each "region" (of which, there are two:  US and EU).  Which means there are (19) servers closing (9 in the US, 10 in the EU).
• There will be (1) dedicated RP (that's "Roll Playing", for those of you in Rio Linda, CA) server in each region.  (RP servers have certain rules you must follow.  Do a forum/wiki search if you want to know specifics.)
• There will be (1) dedicated EN, DE (that's "German" [Deutsch]), and FR servers - it is unclear if that is "one of each per region" or not.
• There will be free transfers from closing servers to non-closing servers (for a set period of time), BUT - you cannot 'cross-transfer'.  That is, you cannot transfer a toon on a closing EU server to a non-closing US server*.
• All your stuffs will transfer with you (read the various posts for more details).
• Naming conflicts will be resolved by adding a "-1" (etc.) to transferring toons (i.e. if the name already exists on an active account on the server one is transferring to, the active account keeps the name, the transferring accounts get 'numbered').  You will also get a free renaming token.
• If you have, say, 4 toon slots available to you, and you end up with, say, 6 toons on a non-closing server (whether they were all transferred or a mix of existing and transferred), then 2 toons will be "unavailable" until you increase your slots†.

And there's actually a lot more that we know, but that's a decent list that, I think, covers most of the basics.  If you are in a "kinship" (guild), it is highly recommended that the kin-leader transfer first, as all guild-related stuff (housing, etc.) will transfer with them.  So if you were to decide to go to "Brandywine"††, but the kin-leader went to "Crickhollow"††, then your 'old' kinship will be established on "Crickhollow"†† (and naming conflicts apply here, too, except you'll need to contact a GM[?] to rename your kinship).

I'm still hoping the two servers I have toons on will not be closing.  But we'll know in a few days.

...in theory.


-----
* The reason stated is that the EU servers will be (are?) physically located in the EU and that there are slight differences in them, making it "not technically possible**".  I'm given to understand it has always been this way, including "now".  However, you can - and always have been able to - create a toon on any given server in either region (that is, a US player can create a toon on an EU server, and vice versa).

** In my experience, this is rarely the actual case, but rather, "it's too much work to make it possible".  But there are times when it really is "technically impossible".

† They are considering increasing everyone's current slot count by 2.  They have also stated that slots will be going on sale (but I do not know the timeline for the sale).

†† Server names given for example purposes ONLY.  Who knows which ones are actually non-closing?  Except it is known that "Brandywine" is the largest server (population-wise), by far, so it will not be closing.  ...Or so they say.