Since PES is per server, then how do we get back onto the same server that our items are on?
TL;DRPersistence stays per server before server meshing, but items stowed in inventory can be carried to another server; no matchmaking changes are planned for this version, though crashed players get a reserved slot for a limited time.
Well, this is the very, very first part of the question is before server meshing is PES per server. And as I kind of touched on the previous answer, yes, persistent entity streaming is per server. But as you can take items out of the server database into your global database, and we made sure it's the same exact database, the same data structures, there will be more persistence. So you can take persistence from one server to another server by putting items into your inventory and then taking them out of the inventory into a new server. Your second question is, how do we get back onto the same server? For 3.18, we won't address any matchmaking changes. And it again comes back to we want to get at par with what we have so far before we start to adding the new features. Also, matchmaking changes will become a part of our server meshing work, which we will start, obviously, right after persistent entity streaming hits. So for the very first version of persistent entity streaming, you will just use the same matchmaking logic you have right now. That means if you start up your client, you get randomly matched to a server or a shard. I can use those terms interchangeable at the moment because they are pretty much the same thing. Obviously, it's the same as right now. You can play with your friends, so you would join the same instance. If you crash out of a game, we reserve the slot of your current shard. So that means if you crash out, you will be able to have, I think it's 10 minutes, to lock back in and get connected to that shard so you can recover anything. And as I said earlier, all items which you take into your inventory, that's what you will keep with you, which you can bring to any shard. So that is your way to basically make sure the stuff you want to really keep, you can keep by just putting it into your inventories.