First merge occurs usually 6+ months after its release. After 2.5 years of playing my server got 3rd merge. While first and 2nd merge are usually neccessary, 3rd one pretty much made whole cluster as 1 server, which makes cross server events pointless, as you are fighting within your own server anyway. And those few server events that had z server ranking with relatively few participants = easy to get top place (banner event, wheel of fortune, etc) just got a huge nerf due to merging with another 10+ servers. Unless some of those servers OP is talking about ( I assume it was a merge of 3-4 x 5servers into 1 big server made of those 15-20) were literally dead (which i doubt), only benefit of that merge is konoha world tree lv6 reward and login rewards during first week of merge. I wont refer to new players, as it can be both positive and negative depending on relations, so il just skip this partt.

With such merge they should also consider cluster merge, so spacetime and other activities arent limited to 1 server. However this might be even more drastic change, depending how it's handled.

Ah, and again to OP:

them asking us if we want it 1)wouldnt matter and 2) wouldnt happen anymore. Once they asked this about few features thinking they will get a feedback which supports their intent (cross swb, 13-14runestones) it backfired really hard for them. So they wont ask for it, just implement it anyway, whether we want it or not.

I usually side with the community with this kind of stuff but the community has generated crappy complaints and posts in recent times. Yea, there's a lot of things to complain about in this game, a lot of things i can pick out myself but server merges? really? y'all are complaining about server merges? Oasis is not obligated to take your opinion on whether or not you already have your friends on your server or whether or you not you WOULD LIKE a merge. It's by NEED basis.

It's not the game's fault that there are only 2 groups left on your server, thats on the players. if you dont like 2 groups, then stop super group merging. It's not like you are adjusting your xgnw chances in doing that. the same group will always win cross server war. Server merge was the best thing that happened to my server. bunch of 300k+ including myself found new interest in the game. we went from 2 groups pre-merge to 6 groups competitively fighting in war.

They aren't merging just to merge, they merge because your activity rates are dookie after official closed down and a manifesto was sent around. people quit, servers are becoming less active than the specific quota. just because the time span between 2nd and 3rd merge has been slight, it doesn't warrant you to complain about it.

I can say im disappointed in the forum community, actually let me rephrase. i always have been disappointed with the people active in forums.

You could have complained about the level 13/14 rune addition or how the new refines are about to come out. Or how we still get a bunch of medium refine runes from events like lucky bag and we seriously dont need those type of runes anymore. maybe could have contributed to the translation forum posts ? But no, we are complaining that oasis is making our servers more active by adding more players and thus *e to the mix.

Imagine an ambassador asking a server strong power if they would like a server merge: "my server may need it, but no i disagree because i dont want to lose my strong power title". thats one of the least * responses an ambassador could get if they asked for opinions, believe me ive heard worse.

This may be true but oasis isn't forcing a whale to recharge any amount. its their wallet, their account, their choice. server merge doesnt come with a requirement to boost how much someone recharges. if the issue is that the whale is recharging a little too much then thats honestly on them, they're problem for wanting to increase their spending. ya feel?