Yes they are coming: the World Mergers. Players going inactive means many servers are slowly dying out, which is bad news for active players. Luckily Kabam has come up with a solution: Merge a few relatively inactive worlds into one more active one. But this will of course have some consequences, especially for players playing in multiple worlds. I do not have all information yet, but Kabam has made an excellent post on the forum with a lot of useful information. For completeness I have copied the contents of that post below, and will amend any info I find that is not in there.

I urge all players, but especially those with multiple worlds to read it carefully and start preparing! Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll try to answer. The forums are of course also a good source for additional info, so check them out as well!

The following list are worlds that are confirmed to be merging with each other. Part of this information is taken from this website (hob-assist.com/), which also has timers running down showing when exactly each merge will take lace! Be sure to check them out! Merger list and Kabam info below the fold:

1,2	201
3,4,5	202
6,16	206
7,17	207
10,2	208
8,18	211
9,19	214
11,12,28	204
13,14,15	205
21,26	213
22,27	212
23,30,39	215
24,25,29	203
31,50,54,56	233
32,38,40	223
34,68	244
33,53,44	222
36,69	225
42,46	221
45,52	231
47,48,49	232
51,67,92	234
55,57,58	235
62,63,64	241
66,94	243
71,72,73	242
74,81,82	245
96,97,98	252
80,83,84	254
88,91,95	255
99,100,103	256
101,102,116	261
106,107,110	262
104,105,109	263
111,112,113	264
114,115,119	265

Dear Community of Middle-earth,

It’s January 2015 and that means World Merges for The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth! Forge new friendships and compete against even more players to dominate the Middle-earth map.

NOTE: Not all Worlds will be eligible right away. Eligible Worlds will receive more information regarding official World Merge details via in-game Messaging as we approach the Merging Period.

What are World Merges?
A World Merge will take two or more Worlds (servers) and combine them into one new World.

For those of you with only one World active on your Kabam ID, or only one Kabam ID out of a group of Worlds selected to be merged, this will be a simple and straightforward process. Your Kingdom will carry over to the new Worlds with only a few small changes.

Special rules will take place if you have a Kingdom on at least two of the merging Worlds. You will need to select which Kingdom you want to continue with and be merged into your other Kingdoms on a new World.

See below for a list of items that will be merged into the new World if you have a Kingdom on one or more of the Merging Worlds.

What Will Be Merged?

• All Troops and Might
• Inventory Items
• All Gear Pieces
• Resources
• Gems

What Will NOT Be Merged?

• Conquered Tiles
• Battle Reports
• Active Alliance Bosses
• All In-Game Messages
• Bookmarks
• Event Center Leaderboards
• Hero Assignments
• Ignore List

If you have more than one Kingdom on a group of Worlds set to be merged, then you will have to choose which Kingdom to continue with as your primary Kingdom.

For example, on your Kabam ID you have Kingdoms on World X and on World Y, and these Worlds have been selected to be merged into new World Z. Because you have a Kingdom on two or more Worlds merging together, you must decide which Kingdom to carry over.

Your chosen account will carry over the following:

• Cities and Building Levels
• Researches
• Heroes
• Player Name and City Name (Your Username will have your original World Number appended to it. Renaming items will be provided)
• Level & Experience
• Campaign Progress & Score
• Honor Points
• Moon Rune
• Quest Progress
• All Time Might Gain and Troops Killed Leaderboard
• Tutorial Progress
• Temporary and Permanent Buffs
• Protection Rune Status will be increased by an additional 24 Hours
• Log-in Calendar Progress
• Marches & Occupied Tiles will be reset
• Dwarf Picks & Stamina
• Active Buildings, Trainings & Researches will be terminated and resources restored
• Your Daily Free Token

Following Rules apply to Alliances:

• All existing Alliances will be moved to the new world as long as an existing member of the Alliance merges too
• If the Regent of the Alliance does not merge during the scheduled time frame, the Vice Regent will automatically be promoted to Regent
• All related statistics will be carried over too. (Alliance Points, Buffs, Level, Experience, etc.)
• The Alliance Name will have the original world number attached to it
• Diplomacy will be cleared
• Alliance Boss rewards will be reset

Planned Schedule (dates subject to change pending app submission approval)
January 15 or sooner – Release of update v12.1
January 18 – Mandatory upgrade to v12.1
January 26 – First batch of World Merges (starting with the oldest Worlds first)
January 29 – Second batch of Worlds Merges
February 2 – Third batch of World Merges
February 5- Fourth batch of World Merges
February 9 – Fifth batch of World Merges

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Q: How will you deal with duplicate names from the World merge?
A: When the merge happens, players will have their World number appended to their Player and City name. Please rename your Player or City Name as soon as possible as it will be on a first come first serve basis. Naming Items will be provided as part of a World Merge Welcome Package

Q: What if the Regent and Vice Regent do not merge? Who becomes the Regent of the Alliance?
A: If there are no Regent or Vice Regent, an Officer will be appointed. If there are no Officers, the Member with the highest Might in the Alliance will become the new Regent.

Q: Regarding Leaderboards, what will be merged from my Kingdoms?
A: Might Leaderboards will be merged from all Kingdoms, but Troops Killed and Might Gained Leaderboards will only be applied from the chosen Kingdom.

Q: What happens to the Camps and Marches I have existing during the merge?
A: All Marches and Camps will be reset on the chosen Kingdom and Resources will be lost.

Q: Will I lose my progress on Building, Training, Researching, and etc?
A: The progress will be stopped but the Resources used will be refunded to the Kingdom.

Q: If I do not have Lake-town in my chosen Kingdom, will I still get my Pearls merged?
A: No. Also, Pearls will also exhibit the chosen Kingdom’s limit. Pearls will not exceed the chosen Kingdom’s capacity.

Q: Will I lose my other Kingdom’s Gear if my chosen Kingdom already hit the Gear capacity limit?
A: No. You will be able to exceed your Gear capacity limitations during the merge; however, you will not be able to acquire new Gear until you go below your capacity limit.

Q: Do Gems embedded into my Gear carry over from my other Kingdoms?
A: Yes. They will still be embedded into the Gear that was merged.

Q: If I have the level specific Chests and free relocation Items on other Kingdoms, will they merge over to the chosen Kingdom?
A: No. Only level specific Chests and the free relocation Item on the chosen Kingdom will remain.

Q: Will the Calendar prizes change when Worlds merge?
A: Although possible, the Worlds that merge are usually similar in content and lifespan and should contain similar Calendar prizes even if it is different.

Q: Will my Gear stay equipped on my Heroes?
A: Yes. All Gear from your chosen Kingdom’s Heroes will remain equipped with the same attributes, upgrade level, and embedded Gems. Other equipped Gear from other merged Kingdoms will still carry over but will no longer be equipped.

Q: If I did not use my Daily Free Play for Galadriel’s Gift will it carry over?
A: Yes for the chosen Kingdom only.

Q: Will my City Guardian and Permanent Buffs be carried over from my other Kingdoms?
A: No, only your chosen Kingdom’s Buffs will be applied to the new merged World.

Q: If I have a 2 hour Protection Rune Buff active before the merge, will it carry over to the new World?
A: Yes, additionally 24 hours will be added to your existing 2 hour Protection Rune Buff status.