THE FOLLOWING IS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PLAYERS CURRENTLY PLAYING ON SHARD LIVE-2.
We are currently working on the next Foxhole update (Update 43) and are also working on plans to merge the LIVE-1 and LIVE-2 shards as the recent player population spike begins to settle.
At the conclusion of the current war on LIVE-2, the following will happen:
LIVE-2 will remain in Resistance Phase for 1-3 days. If the overall player population is high enough, we will schedule another war on LIVE-2. If the player growth continues to settle, LIVE-2 will be suspended for the time being. UPDATE: Due to player demand, a new war will be started on LIVE-2 on Saturday at 12PM EDT
If LIVE-2 is suspended, all LIVE-2 players may join LIVE-1 to play the remainder of War #73, but keep in mind that player profiles will not immediately be merged. UPDATE: LIVE-2 will not be suspended yet and will remain active at least until the end of the next war.
When Update 43 is rolled out to the live environment (ETA 2 weeks), all player profiles across all shards will be merged. This means that all XP, Levels, Ranks, and Commends earned in LIVE-2 will be added to profiles in LIVE-1.
After Update 43, player profile progression will always be shared across all Live shards moving forward. This means that if multiple shards become active again in the future, we won't have to go through another merging process since the profiles will be shared.
EDIT: To clarify, the goal of merging the servers is to reunite the userbase into a single world and also to ensure that players can be participating in a full and active war. We have no issue at all keeping both shards up as long as there is player demand.