Why I won't transfer servers - Character Attachment

I just want to state flat out why none of the carrots they have offered to get me to move servers will work. I don't want to make this a complaining thread, because I have been a supporter of TOR from beta, and while it pains me to say it, will probably stop playing.

It all boils down to the one factor in why I would continue to play an MMO over any other game. My attachment to my characters.

Sure, TOR doesn't have a ton of customization options, custom housing, etc... but what it does have let me create my identity. My name was first and foremost, I rushed to get to the server assigned to me so I could forge that identity. I worked hard to unlock my legacy name. It is WHAT I AM in this game. Otherwise I am just some random toon.

Now with the 15>1 server ratio of mergers, I looked at my destination and all my names are taken except one. Legacy is likely gone too.

So to paraphrase the bard, is a toon, by any other name, just as sweet? Not to me.

So what are my choices? Lose everything I built and move? Or die at the eventual forced server merges?

Sure, TOR didn't handle names well, I get that. Not everyone understands the GENIUS that Cryptic came up with for Champions and STO. If our Legacy name was our identity, merges would be easier to handle. Sure, there might be 1000 Shaydes, but only one with my surname is me. This is nothing but woulda-shoulda-coulda.

Should TOR at least give us a destination choice? Absolutely. Let me find a server that I can get a few characters transferred to intact. That will improve things. Or how about giving us a couple more destination servers? There are queues now, why not open a couple more and give us better options?

I just had to get this out. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that share my viewpoint. I know most of my guild leadership isn't moving for this VERY REASON. No free pet, or speeder, or other nonsense is going to do.

If we leave we lose our identity. That is all we truly have.

So you know ... there is no point in resisting. Staying on an origin server will only delay the inevitable until you get merged. That said, you MAY, get merged to a different server than your current destination, or they MAY open up transfers to any server of your choice .... so you MAY get lucky.

Still, your characters are going to leave their current server one way or another, sooner or later. If your name is too popular, chances are youre screwed either way. May as well transfer and get you perks now.

I get the felling something is going to happen by the 30th when these perks expire.

Took ball, went home

I thought OG was also playing on The Shadowlands Republic.

Oh and Intrepid and Pre-CU SWG forever!

They should at least give us more options to move to. Hell, if I could pick the server I would pay to transfer, especially if I could keep my identity.

My identity is all I have in this game. If that is gone, I have nothing.

Well, hopefully they do open up multiple server destinations so people can get lucky enough to snag "Edward" of the Legacy "Cullen" before other people can.

That's a lot of typing to say that you won't move because of a name change but, regardless of that ...
I can almost admire your passion about the game and yet part of me thinks you're being foolish.

I had to change 5 of 8 names along with my legacy name. All five I managed to keep relatively the same by opting for one with a ' placed in the name at a syllable junction. ie. Bytor became By'tor. As for my legacy name, that previously had an apostrophe in it because the version without it was not available on my original server.

But in the end, the combination of the two names, with or without an apostrophe here or there, is still me and it's doubtful someone with a similar legacy name has character names similar to mine.

I might possibly understand better if this game promoted FAR more roleplaying than it does. But, at the end of the day, my guildmates know who I am and the rest on the server I'm unconcerned with.

Your mileage obviously varies.
But to me, who I am on the outside of a game defines who I am in-game. Whether I was Sam in AC2, Joe in SWG, Adam in WoW or Rob in TOR (all example names), my characters are simply going to be reflections of me and no matter what the devs do, they can't take that away.

But, if it's going to be the final straw for you, best of luck in your next gaming venture.

When you start taking moral stands over the names of make believe characters in video games its time to say goodnight.

Part of your issue is very possibly the use of very common names.

i dont think it's far reaching to say that the name 'Shayde' is not terribly original, and I can see if being used up on most servers within the first 30 minutes of launch

that said... I do feel bad your name is taken, but I have to agree with others in expressing disbelief that you would quit over something as minor as a namechange.

I'm right there with you. I only got to keep *one* name when I transferred my herd from Sanctum to Ebon Hawk.

But you know what... I'm a roleplayer. I've played absolutely fantastic pen and paper games with the crappiest rules sets available. I've loved games that have the most wretched graphics ever. What goes on in my brain >>> what goes on on my tabletop, in my LARP, or in my computer.

Change my name? Fine. I really liked that one. I've been using it for 4+ years in other games, LARPs, and table top games. Improvise, adapt, overcome. I'm creative enough to look at this as a golden opportunity to get out of the rut and to do something new and different. I'm trying a new take on things that I've never done before.

Great roleplayers are fantatically creative.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Today is a good day to die... and to be reborn as something new and different... and maybe *better*!


Step into that alternate dimension where things turned out a bit differently than they did last time. Worked for a lot of the movies/books/comic book heroes we loved. I mean, if the whole cosmology of Marvel and DC can change and re-invent itself every few years, so can we. And they're doing a lot more than just name changes, sometimes they change the fundamental *being* of a character (see for example, the new Spiderman reboot).

Don't let foolish consistency, your comfortable rut, hobble you and keep you from doing something you enjoy. Be big-minded. Use that RP imagination-mind-spirit-soul thing you got deep inside that makes you so passionate.

Paige