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Character Transfer, Server Populations and You


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According to the transfer blog when people transfer if the name they have is taken they need to choose a new one.

Fine I can understand that....HOWEVER

 

There NEEDS to be a tool where you can check each of the servers you can free transfer too to see if your name and legacy name are available.

 

Its one thing to say if you transfer and someone has your name you lose but its another to make us play Russian roulette.

 

And no just trying to start a character on that server beforehand wouldn't work because you can't check if your legacy name is available.

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Seriously with the names??? I'd almost be willing to change my RL name to get my characters on a populated server. I guess you can't make everyone happy :confused:

 

In other news, Satan called and apparently an ice storm is scheduled to be hitting in his area on or around June 12, more to news to follow.

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Ok, I'm cautiously hopeful, although the way this sounds, it's extremely limiting in terms of choice.

 

Question 1: How much lead time will we have between the announcement of what servers are available for transfers and actual transfers? (Estimate is fine: minutes, hours, days....)

 

Question 2: How long of a window are we going to have? This is crucial for those of us who have guilds to move. (Again, I'll take a rough estimate, really....hours, days, weeks, months...)

 

Question 3: When are you going to put in transfers between server types? And will there be free ones if you've already moved once?

 

Because what's going to happen is my guild will be moving off our dead server, but if we get an option to be on the server we actually want to be with free transfers then we'll need to shift a second time. (We're on a pve and would like to go to Sanctum of the Exalted where some of us have rerolled.)

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lol...i think you would be happy that you are able to move to a high pop server...if you had played any other MMO it is done the same way when transfers/mergers happen. why is this a surprise to everyone?

 

*shrug* That's not the way they ever handled mergers in Age of Conan--and they did a lot of mergers. If you had an active account, your character names took priority over a younger character on the server into which you were merging, or a character on an account that hadn't been active in a while. I'm not saying BioWare should do the same thing with server transfers, but at the same time...they kind of should.

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You will not find your PvE characters transferred to a PvP server, or vice versa.

 

Joveth,

 

What about PvE to RP-PvE? Is that an option, since it's more or less in the same "family"?

 

Thanks,

 

-b

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And so it begins...ive been warning people about this for months now....maybee you shouldnt have listened to all the people who thought the fix for the problem was to re-roll....i await the 100s of posts from people crying that they cant bring all thier toons to the server of thier choosing.:p

 

When I rerolled it DID fix the game for me. I was also under no illusions about server transfers. Talk of them didn't exist when I rerolled for the 2nd time.

 

I was fully prepared to leave all that work behind when I rerolled. Since I arrived on my current server I find myself in better shape that I ever was on my original server, and that's due in part to the high level of population.

 

I don't wait for PvP queues.

I have access to all heroic missions on ALL planets because LFG requests fill within a minute or two.

Being a healer also gives me the perk of getting picked up for raids by a variety of the guilds that exist on the server.

 

Life is good, but it could be better.

 

Do I have to level up another scoundrel to 50, or can I just import him from my old server?

 

It's really what we're talking about here. Not having to repeat work and effort already accomplished. Nobody wants to leave that work behind when it can be consolidated.

 

I completely agree, getting players off ghost town servers with no work started elsewhere is really a good, first step.

 

But if you want to make the majority of the population happy, some thought has to be put in for players that thought rerolling was better than unsubbing. If they are excluded from this whole process, or made to pay....then it really sounds something like this:

 

'We thank you for remaining loyal to Star Wars: The Old Republic. We understand that consistent, paying customers like yourselves are what keep us in business. As a show of thanks, we demmand you give us more money for the privledge of moving your hard work into a single, central location. We understand that this situation was brought about in part because of our mismanagment and poor implementation, but since we have a obligation to our stock holders we ask that you bear the burden of cost in our restructuring.'

Edited by CompassRose
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*shrug* That's not the way they ever handled mergers in Age of Conan--and they did a lot of mergers. If you had an active account, your character names took priority over a younger character on the server into which you were merging, or a character on an account that hadn't been active in a while. I'm not saying BioWare should do the same thing with server transfers, but at the same time...they kind of should.

 

well if they did it that way,its the only one ive heard of...generally if your moving to a new server, you have to change...not the guy already there.

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Joveth we get how it is going to work, we're just looking for info on what the first 2-3 servers are going to be effected are. Even if you guys only know 1 server right now that is something for those people to start planing with.
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[...] Therefore, all guild members on the origin server will be eligible to transfer to the same destination server, ensuring that the guild has the opportunity to stay together. [...]

 

[...] Please note that we will not be dividing the population of an origin server onto multiple destination servers for this free character transfer process.

 

We hope that this clarifies any confusion.

Thanks for the clarification, Joveth, but what about our concerns regarding guild/character/legacy names? I know that we're not "forced" to transfer, but you'll agree that we want to be able to play with more people, so it could be considered that we can really be forced to do so if we want to keep playing. Knowing this, it's not good if you end losing any of your names because of a random policy even after having been here since the first day.

 

Cheers.

Edited by Lethemback
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I'm actually happy to hear the there won't be a choice in server transfer. This way, the entire community of a server will be moving to another one, not being fractured to multiple locations.

 

It will:

1) Ensure that all guild members will move to the same location (although not the most ideal way to transfer a guild)

2) Ensure that guilds with rivalries will be moving to the same server

3) Ensure the friends you've made in game will be on the same server

 

I just hope that the 60 active people on my server and I get the chance to move :p

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well if they did it that way,its the only one ive heard of...generally if your moving to a new server, you have to change...not the guy already there.

 

Well, like I said, they only did it with mergers, since you didn't have a choice about it. Actually, I can't remember how they handled it with transfers, but I think if the name you had was being held by somebody else on an account that hadn't been active in a very long time (say 6 months), your character name would take priority. Could be wrong on that, though.

 

Honestly, that's the only thing that makes sense to me. Screw the player who hasn't played in a long time and will probably never come back. Why does he get to keep an awesome name?

Edited by thewatcheruatu
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In order to ensure an optimal playing experience for every server, we’ll be offering direct transfers from one origin server to a pre-selected destination server. This means that the destination server will already be selected for the origin server.

 

So if i understand this correctly, each origin server can only transfer to ONE pre-selected destination server, so you can't really select where you want to transfer, the destination server is already pre-selected depending on your origin server.

 

Am i right about this or am i understanding it wrong ?

Edited by skepticck
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lol...i think you would be happy that you are able to move to a high pop server...if you had played any other MMO it is done the same way when transfers/mergers happen. why is this a surprise to everyone?

 

 

You really think its fair that a lvl 50 legacy can lose their name to a lvl 1 legacy? That isn't being handled poorly? How is the kool aid?

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In order to ensure an optimal playing experience for every server, we’ll be offering direct transfers from one origin server to a pre-selected destination server. This means that the destination server will already be selected for the origin server. As mentioned in our blog post, all server types and languages will be respected. You will not find your PvE characters transferred to a PvP server, or vice versa.

 

Therefore, all guild members on the origin server will be eligible to transfer to the same destination server, ensuring that the guild has the opportunity to stay together.

 

As we mentioned in our blog, the character transfer service will be made available gradually, starting with a small number of origin servers and adding more until all servers eligible for transfer are available in the service. We know everyone is excited for the opportunity to transfer their characters, but it is critical that we do this gradually to ensure both a smooth transfer as well as a great player experience on the destination servers.

 

Eligible servers will be listed as they become available for transfers at http://www.swtor.com/transfer, which will go live on Tuesday. This is to prevent potential server load issues.

 

Free character transfers between selected servers will remain available for as long as it is needed to help balance server populations naturally. Please note that we will not be dividing the population of an origin server onto multiple destination servers for this free character transfer process.

 

We hope that this clarifies any confusion. [/color]

 

That doesn't address A LOT of the questions and concerns that were shared throughout this thread.

 

What about duplicate guild names?

Guild names, guild banks, guild ranks, guild permissions, will all that be transferred in tact?

What about duplicate legacy and character names? Who gets to keep what?

And can we get a run-down of what legacies/characters in our guild will be forced to rename if we opt to move?

What about pre-launch servers who were here first? Are they destination servers? If not, why?

What about guild members who have characters on other servers, waiting to be transferred to our server?

All of the people who rolled another character on another server because of the low pop issue, what do they do?

Will we have any idea of projected server pop size and the differences of staying put vs. moving?

IOW, will this just be from one low pop server to a slightly bigger, but still low pop server?

What about solving the low server pop problem by thinking outside the paradigm?

What about a cross-server LFG tool for instanced content, including ops, flashpoints, and even PvP?

 

Honestly, this just feels like another bandaid attempting to cover a wound that's been hemorrhaging subscribers ever since 1.1.4, 1.1.5, and 1.2.

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Im seriously pissed we cannot move from PVP to PVE, seriously

 

I wanted to move my character that i have spend 6 months investing time in to play with a group of friends, now i cannot

 

Only option left to me is start again

 

Thanks Bioware

 

If you wanted to play on a PvE server you should have rolled on a PvE server. That is YOUR fault, not BW's. Sorry but there is no passing the buck for YOU rolling on a server type you didn't want to play on.

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Server merges would FORCE people to move.

 

Let's say I am on a medium or low pop server... but I like it. Then BW comes along and says 'hey, we are merging your server with another one. Unfortunately, your names have already been taken and you have to change them, along with your guild name. You have no choice in this matter.'

 

My response... /unsub.

Same here. I much prefer BW using transfers rather than using server mergers. With transfers, I have a choice; with server mergers, I wouldn't.

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So if i understand this correctly, each origin server can only transfer to ONE pre-selected destination server, so you can't really select where you want to transfer, the destination server is already pre-selected depending on your origin server.

 

Am i right about this or am i understanding it wrong ?

 

This is correct for the free character transfer service.

Edited by JovethGonzalez
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So if i understand this correctly, each origin server can only transfer to one pre-selected destination server, so you can't really select where you want to transfer, the destination server is already pre-selected depending on your origin server.

 

Am i right about this or am i understanding it wrong ?

 

Well, if that's the case (and upon re-reading this now that I have some time, this seems to be what it means), then I guess I can kiss all my Firaxan Shark characters goodbye, since I know Lord Adraas won't be a destination server.

 

Lame.

 

I suppose I'll be able to move them in the future . . . and have to pay to do so. No thanks, guys.

Edited by bawker
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Having to reform guilds and potentially losing your name is going to be a gamebreaker for many.

 

agreed. i was hoping that they woud,l open all new servers to populate and have a fair system for guild names, character names and legacy names.

 

if we get to choose from a list of destination servers, then we will prolly be stuck with low pop servers, sicne we can prolly put us east on one server and be okay (yes i think that many people have left) etc.

it woujld be nice to be able to check for a server that doesnt have an active character with your name on it so u can keep your name (since you are paying and they are not). this is certainkly true of legacy and guild names as well.

 

i know nothing is perfect or fair, but you dont need to be a programmer to design a system to implement, and unfortunatly, they were prolly thinking of how to make this easy to code as opposed to how to not screw over soem of their most loyal players.

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Hey Devs-

 

If 1.3 is focused around Group play, why the hell are you making it hard to move a GUILD, the only GROUPS some of us have been relying on for the past few months? I'm still holding on to a thin shred of hope that my server is targeted as a destination, because this seems like a bit much of a burden to shift onto your playerbase to rectify your post-launch kneejerk reaction to open way too many servers. Great option for you unguilded folks, but guilds are getting the shaft here.

 

I would have to agree. Making the process difficult for guilds seems very odd in a game that really needs improvements to guild systems in the first place. My second concern is that with all the focus on Legacy, and the connection you have between all your characters.... will there be a "Transfer Legacy" (All your characters) option? Would seem silly to undo all that by only allowing one/some of your characters to transfer if you wanted to. For many, not being able to take all your characters, and transfer with your guild will be a deal breaker.

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