FREE Character Transfers are Coming!

[Jonoku]

You will be paying to go to the server of your choice don't be fooled people. "Free" transfers will be limited to a list bioware will limit these transfers to. The fact that every sub isn't being offered free one time server transfer per character over xxlvl, is simply them telling me to cancel my subscription. The game is pretty damn good, dont get me wrong, but bioware must have thier head's up thier #*@, with GW2 and Diablo3 coming out it's gonna be very easy for those of us on the fence about staying and "dealing with" the server population issues to just cancel. Use your brain tho, it's called "spin" if you aren't media savy. By simply putting the word "free" out there in the article, that key word can be latched onto and argued by morons to divert the attention away from the subject matter, despite not arguing about what is actualy being given free.

 

Ya if I don't get the free transfer to transfer to the server I want then I'm just going to take a break from the game until something big happens in this game, my hopes are in GW2. I'm not paying for transfers, its bioware's fault population is dropping, BIOWARE'S FAULT.

[HeavensAgent]

Ya if I don't get the free transfer to transfer to the server I want then I'm just going to take a break from the game until something big happens in this game, my hopes are in GW2. I'm not paying for transfers, its bioware's fault population is dropping, BIOWARE'S FAULT.

But population is only marginally dropping, and at a much smaller rate than is expected in the industry from historical data. So ... you're actually stating Bioware is doing a good job.

[TheMunny]

"Early Summer?" Sorry, too little too late.

 

Yup, "early summer" means August lol. I will be looooooong gone by then.

[TheMunny]

You will be paying to go to the server of your choice don't be fooled people. "Free" transfers will be limited to a list bioware will limit these transfers to. The fact that every sub isn't being offered free one time server transfer per character over xxlvl, is simply them telling me to cancel my subscription. The game is pretty damn good, dont get me wrong, but bioware must have thier head's up thier #*@, with GW2 and Diablo3 coming out it's gonna be very easy for those of us on the fence about staying and "dealing with" the server population issues to just cancel. Use your brain tho, it's called "spin" if you aren't media savy. By simply putting the word "free" out there in the article, that key word can be latched onto and argued by morons to divert the attention away from the subject matter, despite not arguing about what is actualy being given free.

 

"is swtor the WoW killer"....."no, swtor is the swtor killer"

 

/Applaud!!!

 

Someone else actually gets 'it'. Buzz words such as 'Free!' is all the average consumer will get from that Statement lol. In 3 days they will be arguing over the "Free" portion and forget all about the real underlying issues....

[sidiouswumpscut]

But population is only marginally dropping, and at a much smaller rate than is expected in the industry from historical data. So ... you're actually stating Bioware is doing a good job.

 

My fellow citizens, there is no basis to these rumours of an alien attack, the missile silos are perfectly safe.....

 

My fellow subscribers, there is no basis to these rumours of low population servers, the game is perfectly fine.....

 

Funny how there are people in real life who fall for such simpleton propaganda, when all they have to do is look around themselves and use thier eyes, and not listen to the machine distorting reality....

[celebrei]

But population is only marginally dropping, and at a much smaller rate than is expected in the industry from historical data. So ... you're actually stating Bioware is doing a good job.

 

You're kidding right? Either you jest or ur a Bioware employee in disguise

[JeramieCrowe]

You're kidding right? Either you jest or ur a Bioware employee in disguise

 

So if you complain and use hyperbole and claim that subs are falling based on NOTHING empirical, you're cool, but if you state things exactly as they are objectively, without "interpreting", you're a BioWare employee.

 

Gotcha.

[celebrei]

The problem with the character transfer service is that it should have been present much much earlier like February since that was the starting month of the marginal drop in subscribers after the one month free game time upon purchase of SWTOR, TERA online will have these service READILY AVAILABLE AT LAUNCH while SWTOR pushing 5 months since rocket launch has yet to implement this service save for the one time free and convoluted Asia Pacific server transfers.

[Oofpez]

The problem with the character transfer service is that it should have been present much much earlier like February since that was the starting month of the marginal drop in subscribers after the one month free game time upon purchase of SWTOR, TERA online will have these service READILY AVAILABLE AT LAUNCH while SWTOR pushing 5 months since rocket launch has yet to implement this service save for the one time free and convoluted Asia Pacific server transfers.

 

Tera was released a year and a half ago. (well, a year and three months, but meh...) So they've had time to add character transfers and a LFG system, not to mention, they only have like 8 servers, so repetitive names aren't that much of a problem..

 

I'm glad that they're finally releasing character transfers, and that they'll be free (to a point). Hopefully, the free transfers will allow people on low pop servers to transfer to standard pop servers (because obviously, high and full servers should NOT be allowed to be transferred to). They should also allow free transferring off full servers (say, Fatman) to standard pop servers to alleviate some of that queue time (because there are many people who rerolled on Fatman).

 

After they roll out those transfers, they should start to close down some of the light dead servers (because yes, there are some out there) and merge them with the lower pop standard servers.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Oofpez

[HeavensAgent]

My fellow subscribers, there is no basis to these rumours of low population servers, the game is perfectly fine.....

 

Funny how there are people in real life who fall for such simpleton propaganda, when all they have to do is look around themselves and use thier eyes, and not listen to the machine distorting reality....

I'm not denying the population issues being experienced on empty servers. That said, there's no evidence that the game has experienced any substantial losses in player population since the launch-bubble burst. In fact, there is considerable evidence demonstrating that the population has remained fairly steady since that point, both presented by Bioware and collected independently by the player community.

 

If you wish to speak of "machines distorting reality," I'd recommend that you first find some way of verifying your own words. Mine are substantiated by numerous sources. Yours, however, are nothing more than baseless claims and beliefs.

Edited April 29, 2012 by HeavensAgent

[ekwalizer]

Free and paid for.

 

Does this mean free is from high to low pop servers, and paid for is going the other way? I hope not, and really can't understand why they don't just merge some servers. Surely character transfers will just exacerbate the problem on the low pop servers.

 

The Free moves will most likely be off of the lowest population servers, to a server list of BWs choice. You would pick the server, but likely from a list of available servers. If everyone on a low pop server gets a prompt to move, and they don't move - that's their fault/problem.

 

Paid moves most likely will be from servers that do not qualify for a free move, or for people on free move servers to non-listed destination servers associate with a free move.

[Pheroras]

any detail on the transfer of legacy with the character or not?

 

"if i had my way

i would move

to another lifetime

i'd quit my job

ride the train

through the misty nighttime..."

(just an old steely dan lyric that reminds me of witness relocation and character transfers, oddly enough)

[pahbi]

To little to late imo.

 

Early summer suggests this will be in sometime in late May or early June.

 

D3 will hit mid May, and Pandas will hit sometime mid summer to most likely.

 

By then, folks who have suffered months and months and months of what amounts to a single player version of SWTOR will likely just move on.

 

- P

[RickRedOne]

Not exact, no, but it does give you a BIG clue as to BioWare's stance on it, wouldn't you think? Why are people so afraid to extrapolate these days? To use their own powers of reason?

 

Reason on these forums? You have got to be kidding..

[RickRedOne]

active community?

 

i guess,but you arent going to find many servers with an active community when free transfers roll out.maybe on like 3 servers,but who wants to play an mmo with only a couple servers worth rolling on

 

i know i dont

 

Just how many servers do you play at one time?

[RickRedOne]

Dozen? Two-thirds of U.S. servers are at standard population at peak hours.

 

Are you saying that standard is good or bad?

 

Since only BW knows how many players make a server standard.

[RickRedOne]

You will be paying to go to the server of your choice don't be fooled people. "Free" transfers will be limited to a list bioware will limit these transfers to.

 

You mean just like WoW does?

[Barrakudah]

Early summer huh?

 

Just in time to cash in on summer break I guess. To bad many servers are on life support until then. I love the game but I hate logging in at prime time to see 30-40 in fleet, waiting an hour (or longer) for a WZ match, and an inactive/empty GTN. It's sucking the fun right out of the game....

[RickRedOne]

The problem with the character transfer service is that it should have been present much much earlier like February since that was the starting month of the marginal drop in subscribers after the one month free game time upon purchase of SWTOR, TERA online will have these service READILY AVAILABLE AT LAUNCH while SWTOR pushing 5 months since rocket launch has yet to implement this service save for the one time free and convoluted Asia Pacific server transfers.

Yes TERA will have transfers at NA Launch (the game has been around what over a year). But have you read what happens

Once the server populations stabilize, we'll place limits on the number of transfers, the level of your character, and how much gold you can take with you to your new server. We'll charge for server transfers you make for convenience reasons, but transfers made to balance server populations will always be free.

[Obiwansghost]

I see the transfers playing out the way they did with SWG. You will have a choice, but I guarantee it wont be to any of the servers that have a more than healthy population. I was on Starsider and wasn't able to transfer off for quite awhile after they were first made available. Remember, Bioware has the actual population numbers and it will be based off of that and not what the community says. I'm on Rubat Crystal, which is standard most of the time and I'm fine with that for now. Remember, standard does not equal empty.

[islander]

You mean just like WoW does?

 

WoW can afford to, that's the difference.

Most WoW servers have reasonably healthy populations, as bad as the game is. I'm not quite sure why they do, honestly.

 

I like this game 10 times better, but waiting 30 minutes for a warzone queue, and having 30-50 in fleet, I mean virtually no end game pve...it's just pathetic and slowly running me down.

 

D3 will be here in a couple weeks, that'll help a little, but I'd rather be enjoying my game here more. Starting over from scratch on a new server wont work for me. It's too expensive to level a character, especially if you do a good bulk of it by warzones. They don't pay you NEARLY enough to support training and item upgrades every few levels.

Edited April 29, 2012 by islander

[Pizzel]

They'll roll out transfers when they can. The have to expand upon the tech they put in place for the Asia-Pacific transfers in order to accommodate the load they expect in a general-use situation. They've still got plenty of time.[/

 

A lot of people's subs will b up at the 6 month mark or in June. Not sure what is plenty of time but 2 months won't help all those people who will unsub in that time. This should have been ready to roll out at 1.2.

 

Or cross server something should have made 1.2. It's amazing the lack of mmo features this game is lacking 5 months into release. It's downright inexcusable.

[LordOfThePeople]

"Early Summer?" Sorry, too little too late.

 

Agreed, too little too late

[HeavensAgent]

A lot of people's subs will b up at the 6 month mark or in June. Not sure what is plenty of time but 2 months won't help all those people who will unsub in that time. This should have been ready to roll out at 1.2.

They can't roll out what isn't ready. That's all there is to it.

 

A quick correction: they have 2.5-3 months before the 6-month cycle is up. Considering the tech is now proven, that could easily be enough time to get the hardware in place. Additionally, six-month subs represent a small percentage of the existing player base. 3-month recurring payments represented a much more substantial segment of the population, and the impact when it came time to renew those plans was minimal. There's little reason to believe that the 6-month mark will be any different.

Or cross server something should have made 1.2. It's amazing the lack of mmo features this game is lacking 5 months into release. It's downright inexcusable.

Considering cross-server anything is not a typical MMORPG feature, its absence shouldn't be surprising; many games are successful without any cross-server functionality. As to features common to the industry being absent, I will agree to a point. That said, most games lack a lot of core functionality until 1+ years after launch. For some of them to be absent a mere 5 months after launch is very understandable. Your perspectives and knowledge of past trends are extremely faulty.

[HeavensAgent]

Agreed, too little too late

Then why are you posting? Why not just cancel and be done with the game if you feel it's a failure?