NC announced they will be merging 18 servers down to 7 due to declining population (the other servers will remain as they are). Like many MMO’s, server population is critical for some of the content and systems (these 18 servers fell below those internal numbers). The mergers will happen during the regular maintenance on January 17th.
No matter how you slice it, this isn’t a good sign for a just launched game. Yes, they may have provisioned more servers to ensure a smoother launch, BUT it’s still a sizable consolidation (18 to 7 with just 3 that have remained populated enough to avoid this first merger; one of those non-merging servers is the one where most western players are on).
It is becoming clearer that Throne and Liberty isn’t going to be a hugely successful followup in the Lineage series (management were probably aware of this potential years ago once they rebranded the game from Lineage Eternal to Project TL in 2017). I also suspect the still grindy nature of the game (even though many veteran Lineage/Lineage 2 players perspective is it’s not grindy enough), is going to also make this a niche title in the west (it’s going to be enjoyed primarily by those who do like grindy KMMO’s and guild related PvP activities).
I guess NC’s next step will be critical to whether or not it is able to sustain the post-merge population (as another server merge taking place within 3 months post-merge will definitely not be a good sign).
