FREE Character Transfers are Coming!

[Helistin]

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

 

Maybe he among others like the game but is tired of waiting for months for BW to fix the population issue they are responsible in the first place by opening way too many servers so the population spreads too thin.

[thomasgallant]

Maybe he among others like the game but is tired of waiting for months for BW to fix the population issue they are responsible in the first place by opening way too many servers so the population spreads too thin.

 

bioware opened to many servers..ya..but he could have a long time ago restarted on a more populated server..it isnt like the games servers lowered pop over night.. bioware is fixing the issue with free transfers.it just isnt tomorrow..either people wait patiently or they move along..

 

atleast bioware is addressing the issue

[celebrei]

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

 

Because there are players like others and me who initially liked the game only to see it fall rock bottom, and yes many like me have already unsubbed and merely running on the free time promo, but even if we leave we have the right to air our grievances and reasons for doing so to show everyone the true present situation of swtor: that people are frustrated with the low pop. faction imbalances, class imbalances, lack of substantial end game content and so forth, i really wanted this game to succeed for im an avid star wars fan but to continue playing with all its deficiencies as an mmo seems to be an exercise in masochism.

[Capthxc]

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

 

Because gamers are idiots. They will continue to throw money in the faces of those "evil" developers and publishers despite their opinion.

 

If you hate something don't pay for it. It really is that simple. It sends a bigger message to the development team than writing your opinion on a private board that isn't heavily moderated. But no. People that cry about ME3 will buy the DLC. People that hate SWTOR will still pay the subscription fee.

[TalkingDinosaur]

They arent giving us what we want.

 

What we want: Freedom to transfer our character from ANY server to ANY server.

 

What Bioware is giving us: conditionally free transfers.

 

It'll be largely unacceptable to most of my remaining guild. We're not going to move from a dead light server to a borderline dead 'standard' server, just because Bioware tells us that's where we have to go for free.

 

We're customers, and we have no shortage of choices. I'm not asking for free continual willy nilly transfers (although hey, Trion and NCSoft offer this), I am asking for UNCONDITIONALLY FREE first transfers for every character.

The free transfers to specific servers will be good because then we'll have populated servers. If it was FREE to ANY server then it would just be back to where it started. Players on high pop servers will relocate to lesser servers because they can't stand 15 min queue times and players on low pop servers will fill in their spots.

[TalkingDinosaur]

Because gamers are idiots. They will continue to throw money in the faces of those "evil" developers and publishers despite their opinion.

 

If you hate something don't pay for it. It really is that simple. It sends a bigger message to the development team than writing your opinion on a private board that isn't heavily moderated. But no. People that cry about ME3 will buy the DLC. People that hate SWTOR will still pay the subscription fee.

The /v/irgins need to do something with their welfare checks.

[Pizzel]

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.

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.

 

You seem to have a lot of excuses for Bioware and their shortcomings. Nitpicking about my anything comment does not help anyone.

 

The year is 2012. People want an MMO. Who cares about the exact month of 6 month cards. You helped my point. The masses are month to month and can cancel any day. Also I do not need to spell out the competition that is coming out.

 

Fact us Bioware is behind the times. That's it. The amount of threads wanting these features is climbing by the day.

 

Rift had a fraction of the budget for their game and had cross server LFG and transfers in the first 6 months. Bioware is on the clock and there is no denying it with a bunch of excuses defending their shortcomings.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Pizzel

[thomasgallant]

You seem to have a lot of excuses for Bioware and their shortcomings. Nitpicking about my anything comment does not help anyone.

 

The year is 2012. People want an MMO. Who cares about the exact month of 6 month cards. You helped my point. The masses are month to month and can cancel any day. Also I do not need to spell out the competition that is coming out.

 

Fact us Bioware is behind the times. That's it. The amount of threads wanting these features is climbing by the day.

 

Rift had a fraction of the budget for their game and had cross server LFG and transfers in the first 6 months. Bioware is on the clock and there is no denying it with a bunch of excuses defending their shortcomings.

 

the fact is.. alot of the features people whine for daily in the forums are coming....they have already said they are adding a lfg tool did they not? it just isnt coming fast enough for the complainers on the forums. they said they are adding a server transfer...for free no less...and people are complaining..

 

maybe the problem isnt biowares handling of the situation..but the players handling of the same.

[NinjaApacHe]

EARLY SUMMER??????? My sub ends june 20th, but it's 2 days that I lost inerest in logging in because of 20 peeps on my server. No WZs, no FPs, no nothing! GET THIS TRANSFERS FROM GHOST TOWNS NOW!!!!!

[Kurfer]

Why do I have a feeling this will be a half assed implementation? I have a feeling they will close like 5 servers and those of us that are on medium will still be SOL.

 

Also, the character transfers should NOT be character transfers...they should be legacy transfers meaning if they are part of my legacy family then they move together.

 

 

the fact is.. alot of the features people whine for daily in the forums are coming....they have already said they are adding a lfg tool did they not? it just isnt coming fast enough for the complainers on the forums. they said they are adding a server transfer...for free no less...and people are complaining..

 

maybe the problem isnt biowares handling of the situation..but the players handling of the same.

 

The whole issue here is that there is no excuse to implement standard MMO features 6 months after release in a game in 2012.

 

The fact that they are delayed shows they don't have the expertise to implement this feature and are struggling to do so.

 

I honestly think this game has exploited BW as a gimmick development company. They are good at making fancy decision based roleplaying games but you strip that element away and you're left with a poorly balanced clunky pile of dung.

 

The facts are simple. The development team responsible for this game are just not that good.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Kurfer

[NinjaApacHe]

Why do I have a feeling this will be a half assed implementation? I have a feeling they will close like 5 servers and those of us that are on medium will still be SOL.

 

Also, the character transfers should NOT be character transfers...they should be legacy transfers meaning if they are part of my legacy family then they move together.

 

This, absolutely! And they have to say now which servers are eligible for free transfers from/to, so that we can start rolling an alt there, sure that all our legacy/family will join soon.

 

Anyway I repeat: EARLY SUMMER IS FAR FAR AWAY!!!!

[HeavensAgent]

Because there are players like others and me who initially liked the game only to see it fall rock bottom, and yes many like me have already unsubbed and merely running on the free time promo, but even if we leave we have the right to air our grievances and reasons for doing so to show everyone the true present situation of swtor: that people are frustrated with the low pop. faction imbalances, class imbalances, lack of substantial end game content and so forth, i really wanted this game to succeed for im an avid star wars fan but to continue playing with all its deficiencies as an mmo seems to be an exercise in masochism.

I get that this is why you and others like you are posting. But Lord didn't do any of that. He simply said he was done. If he's already closed the book on the game, and doesn't care about it any more, then why not write it off?

[HeavensAgent]

You seem to have a lot of excuses for Bioware and their shortcomings. Nitpicking about my anything comment does not help anyone.

I wasn't "nitpicking" anything. I was simply pointing out that most games do not boast any cross-server mechanics, and as such it is not considered a typical MMORPG mechanic. I don't know what else you might have been insinuating, if anything; I try not to assume anything when the medium of communication is voiceless.

The year is 2012. People want an MMO. Who cares about the exact month of 6 month cards. You helped my point. The masses are month to month and can cancel any day. Also I do not need to spell out the competition that is coming out.

People can leave as desired, yes. But they haven't been. Most players realize that no game is fully polished and perfect at launch. It takes time for a game to achieve its mature state. As for the "competition," well, they're going to go through the same growing pains being experienced by SWTOR.

Fact us Bioware is behind the times. That's it. The amount of threads wanting these features is climbing by the day.

 

Rift had a fraction of the budget for their game and had cross server LFG and transfers in the first 6 months. Bioware is on the clock and there is no denying it with a bunch of excuses defending their shortcomings.

Bioware is no more "behind the times" than any other developer in the industry. If anything they're above the curve; to accomplish what they have in the time it's taken, in their first MMORPG title no less, is extremely impressive. You cite a comparison to Rift, but it's clear in doing so your biased in favor of that title. The cross-server LFG you claim to be so standard in the industry is, in actuality, not commonplace at all. Its usefulness is minimal at best, and there are many ways in which it can harm a title. You cite transfers are important, and on this one we agree. So does Bioware. They're getting the functionality out as quickly as possible. Whether you believe its arrival will be too late or not is irrelevant; it's already Bioware's top priority. Server transfers will be available when they can make it available, and nothing you do or say will speed it up.

 

If you're going to compare SWTOR to a game you viewed favorably that has been released far, far longer, you should expect that comparison to fall short. It always will. If you're unwilling to view SWTOR on its own merits, you might as well leave now because you'll never be happy with what they deliver.

[HeavensAgent]

EARLY SUMMER??????? My sub ends june 20th, but it's 2 days that I lost inerest in logging in because of 20 peeps on my server. No WZs, no FPs, no nothing! GET THIS TRANSFERS FROM GHOST TOWNS NOW!!!!!

They can't make it available now. The technology does not exist yet. Bioware has developed their transfer system, but they have to put the technology in place before they can actually offer transfers; they can't offer something that does not yet exist.

[sensiblepoast]

Paid transfers?

 

You mean pay bioware to so I can keep paying them? Lol. There's truly a sucker born every minute.

[HeavensAgent]

Why do I have a feeling this will be a half assed implementation? I have a feeling they will close like 5 servers and those of us that are on medium will still be SOL.

 

Also, the character transfers should NOT be character transfers...they should be legacy transfers meaning if they are part of my legacy family then they move together.

You would do well to pay attention to the progress being made by developers. If you did, you would know that the system does, in fact, transfer your entire Legacy.

The whole issue here is that there is no excuse to implement standard MMO features 6 months after release in a game in 2012.

 

The fact that they are delayed shows they don't have the expertise to implement this feature and are struggling to do so.

Are you kidding? Of course they lack the expertise. This is literally their first rodeo. They're catching on fast, but there's still a learning curve they have to master. If you expected differently, you were lying to yourself.

I honestly think this game has exploited BW as a gimmick development company. They are good at making fancy decision based roleplaying games but you strip that element away and you're left with a poorly balanced clunky pile of dung.

 

The facts are simple. The development team responsible for this game are just not that good.

They're very good, they're just inexperienced. They're picking things up fast, though. This was demonstrated with the insight they used in their long-term plans for the Item Modification System; the developers identified issues that would likely arise over the first several years, so that they could account for them in the initial planning stages. Thus far their predictions have proven accurate. No other development team in the entire industry has demonstrated this level of insight. Edited April 29, 2012 by HeavensAgent

[HeavensAgent]

Paid transfers?

 

You mean pay bioware to so I can keep paying them? Lol. There's truly a sucker born every minute.

Yes, but free transfers will be available as well.

[JeramieCrowe]

Yes, but free transfers will be available as well.

 

I wonder if these people even realize that most transfers offered by MMO developers are actually pay-to-use? *smh*

[Helistin]

I wonder if these people even realize that most transfers offered by MMO developers are actually pay-to-use? *smh*

 

Yeah but those games population isn't spread on bazillion servers and in the low populated ones you get to miss half of the content for months now because theres no people to do the content with.

[JeramieCrowe]

Yeah but those games population isn't spread on bazillion servers and in the low populated ones you get to miss half of the content for months now because theres no people to do the content with.

 

I understand it's frustrating being on one of the few (as in less than 40%) servers that have a low concurrent population. But using hyperbole to overstate the actual issue is not helping your position. Free transfers to more populated servers is coming. FREE.

 

And if it's to a "Standard" server.... let me put it this way: My server is a "Standard" server. Last night there were over 130 on the Fleet, over 60 on Taris. Last week I got a full 24-man together within 20 minutes on Tatooine THREE times in two days, and that's WITHOUT having to go to the Fleet and spam. Just Tatooine chat and the global LFG channel.

 

My point is, if the free transfer is to a "Standard", don't fret. Odds are it's a good place to go, and won't result in queue times, like would happen if people were allowed to freely move to a Heavy or Very Heavy. That's just jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

[Emdix]

The only thing Im gonna do about this is that I will enjoy those 30 days they gave me as much as I can and then Ill quit.I see no reason Why should I pay for this game if I cannot enjoy it on dead server and Im tired of waiting, also, because BioWare is too lazy to do something about it soon enough.

 

Trasnfer at early summer, what were You thinking BW? You really were not exping us to be happy about this, werent u ?

 

Reroll is not an option for me, I dont want to do all that stuff all over again.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Emdix

[Runeshard]

They arent giving us what we want.

 

What we want: Freedom to transfer our character from ANY server to ANY server.

 

What Bioware is giving us: conditionally free transfers.

 

It'll be largely unacceptable to most of my remaining guild. We're not going to move from a dead light server to a borderline dead 'standard' server, just because Bioware tells us that's where we have to go for free.

 

We're customers, and we have no shortage of choices. I'm not asking for free continual willy nilly transfers (although hey, Trion and NCSoft offer this), I am asking for UNCONDITIONALLY FREE first transfers for every character.

Has any game ever offered something like that? We don't know which servers will be allowed free, time limited transfers yet and we don't know what the cost will be once payed transfers are implemented, so all this "how dare they" and "oh-woe-is-me" is a bit premature. It was said that this will give players a chance to get to highly populated servers, so there's a ray of hope if you're on a low pop server atm.

 

For me, this is good news, once transfers are avalable, as well as additional character slots, I'm bringing all my imps to my rep server.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Runeshard

[Dalmorn]

Arymono: When will character transfers be available for everybody?

 

Dallas Dickinson (Senior Producer, Live Services): We will be rolling out our Character Transfer Service in early summer. First we’ll have some targeted free transfers from/to specific servers, but that will be followed with a broader system where you can either take advantage of free promotional transfers to specific servers or paid transfers to the server of your choice. We know everyone has more questions about character transfer, and we’ll reveal more details closer to the launch date.

 

With regards to the Free transfers, how much you want to make a bet EA/BW will disregard the players that stuck with this game, sucked it up and rerolled characters on more populated/active servers. What I mean by this is, come that day were you finally get that notice you are eligible for a free character transfer, your option for a new server is not a choice were your rerolled characters are located. Therefore, the free transfer is still really not an option if you want to put your low pop characters on the same server your rerolled mains are on. How's that for Legacy system huh?

 

I left Drooga's Pleasure Barge due to it being a relative ghost town of a server and went to the Jedi Covinent server. On Drooga's Pleasure Barge I left a lvl50 Trooper, lvl50 Sage and a lvl43 Smuggler behind. On Jedi Covinent I have a lvl50 Bounty Hunter, lvl39 Sith Warrior and a lvl38 Sith Sorcerer. Obviously I would like to have these toons from Drooga's Pleasure Barge moved to Jedi Covinent due to taking advantage of the Legacy System and the levels and unlocks I have already aquired.

 

However, I am pretty sure knowing EA/BWs track record, that Jedi Covinent will not even be one of the option/servers I could move my toons to for free.

 

Yeah, gut feeling knowing EA/BWs track record, the people that rerolled are more than likely going to have to pay for the transfers if they want to get there low pop toons on to the the same server they rerolled on. How much you want to make a bet that EA/BW will charge something absurd like $25 or up per character to transfer when Paid Character Transfers are an option, but hey, that is just speculation.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Dalmorn

[Emrill]

With regards to the Free transfers, how much you want to make a bet EA/BW will disregard the players that stuck with this game, sucked it up and rerolled characters on more populated/active servers. What I mean by this is, come that day were you finally get that notice you are eligible for a free character transfer, your option for a new server is not a choice were your rerolled characters are located. Therefore, the free transfer is still really not an option if you want to put your low pop characters on the same server your rerolled mains are on. How's that for Legacy system huh?

 

If you rerolled already and the character moves from your dead server chars are not to your current ones, it still may motivate you to play them again. If not you will have to wait for a more open transfer system. I myself have characters on three servers. Two are good populations but the one I have friends on and play the most is a dead server. I see people calling 20 people on the fleet dead. On mine I see 10-15 at peek. I could play on one of those other two servers and probably get all the groups I want, but it wouldn't be with the people I want to play with to do any raids. In time that opinion may change.

 

I still think the best solution is server merges where all your characters are moved from your dead server to a healthier population, and then open a paid service if people don't like where they were placed. The basic mechanics are the same as a server transfer. Just on a larger scale. It also ensures guild and groups can move together and not do something boneheaded like pick two different destination servers.

[JeramieCrowe]

I still think the best solution is server merges where all your characters are moved from your dead server to a healthier population, and then open a paid service if people don't like where they were placed. The basic mechanics are the same as a server transfer. Just on a larger scale. It also ensures guild and groups can move together and not do something boneheaded like pick two different destination servers.

 

Moving all characters from one server, then closing it down, is not a "server merge". It's a server transfer. A server merge doesn't involve moving anyone to another server. It involves meshing the economies, items, loot tables, players, etc. of two different servers into one. It's messy, buggy, convoluted, and outdated.

 

Server merges are not needed.