The Aion team is planning to merge serves on July 7th, with free character transfers coming on July 8th!

Great news for Aion fans who felt that their servers were getting just a little bit too quiet. In just a short week and a half, the Aion team is finally planning to implement server merges on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010, with many "time zone specific" servers getting melded together to form two official West Coast servers (one will consist of a Siel + Ariel merge, the other a merge of Vaizel, Kaisinel, Yustiel and Fregion), two official East Coast servers (one consisting of Israphel + Lumiel + Maruchtan, while the other consisting of Zikel + Triniel + Azphel + Meslamtaeda) and one official Oceanic server (Nezekan, which will not be merging).

In addition to this, the Aion team also plans to open up character transfers the day after, where players will be able to transfer around to any of the servers, for free, up until August 18th. So if you were planning to find a new home amongst all of these server merges, then July 8th to August 18th is definitely a time for you to spring that plan into action! You can read the official server transfer and server merge FAQ here, or you can check it all out after the jump.

Q: When will the server merges happen?
A: The server merges will happen on Wednesday, July 7 2010.
 
Q: What servers will be merged?
A: The following list is how the new servers will look for NA Territories:

North America
 New Siel (West Coast)
      Siel & Ariel
 New Vaizel Server (West Coast)
      Vaizel, Kaisinel, Yustiel & Fregion
 New Israphel Server (East Coast)
      Israphel, Lumiel & Marchutan
 New Zikel Server (East Coast)
      Zikel, Triniel, Azphel & Meslamtaeda
 New Nezekan Server (Oceanic)
      No Change

Europe
 New Spatalos Server (ENG)
      Spatalos & Gorgos
 New Telemachus Server (ENG)
      Telemachus & Castor
 New Perento Server (ENG)
      Perento, Kahrun & Kalil
 New Kromede Server (GER)
      Kromede & Votan
 New Thor Server (GER)
      Thor & Nerthus
 New Balder Server (GER)
      Balder& Lephar
 New Urtem Server (FRA)
      Urtem & Vidar
 New Suthran Server (FRA)
      Suthran, Arbolu & Deltras


Q: Will I be able to keep all of my items, equipment and Kinah?
A: Yes, everything on your characters will transfer with you, including items, equipment and Kinah.
 
Q: What if I have items in the legion warehouse or on the broker?
A: Items in the Legion warehouse will be transferred with the Legion Brigade General to his/her new server.  Items you have on the broker will be transferred to the broker on your new server.
 
Q: What will happen to my legion?
A: Your legion will stay formed through the Legion Brigade General.  All characters in the legion will remain so on the new server.
 
Q: What happens if I am merged onto a server where someone already has my name?
A: There is a set of defining criteria that will determine who gets a name in the event of a name conflict.  To prevent abuse of this system, we will be releasing details of the name conflict resolution once the merges have begun.  If you did not get to keep your name after the merge, your character name will be changed to a combination of letters & numbers and you will receive a free name change coupon inserted into your inventory when you log in post merge.
 
Q: How will I know if one of my friends had to rename their character after the merge?
A: We currently keep track of character name changes via the Shadow Court Archives. You will be able to track your friend’s name change here as well.
 
Q: What happens if two Legions with the same name end up on the same server?
A: Similar to character name change conflicts, there are specific criteria that define who will get the Legion name in the event of a name conflict. To prevent abuse of this system, we will be releasing details of the Legion name conflict resolution once the merges have begun.  If your Legion did not get to keep their original name after the merge, your legion name will be changed to a combination of letters & numbers.  Additionally, the Legion Brigade General will receive a free Legion name change coupon inserted into his/her inventory when they log in post merge.

Q: What happens to my Elyos character if I already have an Asmodian on the new server (or vice versa)?
A: After the merge, we will be having a period of time where both Asmodian and Elyos characters on a single account are playable on the same server.  This is being done to ensure all players can find the appropriate homes for their characters.  We will be offering free unlimited transfers for characters from July 8th through August 18th and encourage all players to make use of this service to get their characters settled into the right server homes.  At a date in the future, we will be turning race restriction back on and you will no longer be able to play both races on one server.  At this point, any accounts that have a race conflict on a server will be asked to choose a playable race for that server, and the opposing race (not chosen) will be unplayable until they are transferred to a non-race conflicting server.

 Q: Does this mean that I can take advantage of my ability to access both factions during the timeframe that race conflict prevention is disabled?
A: While the race conflict settings are disabled, our GM’s will be actively monitoring the game for players that are using this advantage to progress faster than normal.

Q: What happens to my account warehouse if I have opposing races merged onto the same server?
A: If you have both races on a single server after the merge; each race will have separate account warehouses.  (Asmodian and Elyos characters never share account warehouses)
 
Q: What will happen to my fortress?
A: All Abyss Fortresses’ ownerships will be reset during the merge.
 
Q: What will happen to my AP points?
A: Characters will keep their AP points.
 
Q: What will happen to my abyss rank?
A: Abyss Ranks will be recalculated 24 hours after the server merges happen, taking into account a character’s current AP on the new, merged server. This means that if you were of Army Governor rank on your old server, but merged with another server whose Army Governor was higher in AP than you, you will no longer be an Army Governor.
 
Q: What server am I going to?
A: Please see the list of servers that will be merged above.
 
Q: I would rather go to a different server. What can I do?
A: We would encourage you to give your new server some time and explore it to see if it is a good home for you.  If it is not, we will be offering free server transfers from July 8th through August 18th.  During this period, you are welcome to transfer as many characters as you wish to new server homes.