ConnorSalak Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 I won't complain about the game itself as I'm quite enjoying it, however: Why is BW "damaging" the community of players (who pay!) by not initiating the transfer or merger process RIGHT NOW?! The population on many servers "on the brink" of collapse or those that formerly were light/standard but had a healthy population to play and enjoy the game is totally left in uncertainty on how things will go on. My Server (Rubat Crystal, RP-PVE) which once was listed above average (according to statistics) and has a very nice community (decent pop, no trolling) is now in steady decline on both sides and the GTN (as a marker) is getting emptier and emptier. More and more people are leaving to other servers (or quit?). This actually happened AFTER the announcement of the coming transfers! Before that the community felt intact. What is BW's purpose in leaving us "alone"? Why don't they act? How long will it take for us to enjoy the game like it could be enjoyed? If this server is supposed to die (as it seems to be), then please BW make (Legacy-)Transfers available right now or just merge the servers as they are supposed to be!!! Many of us invested so much time in this game (having 4LVL 50 Characters in my legacy myself), we won't simply leave our legacy and our accustomed community behind and start over on another "presumably better" (and who knows that?) server. PLEASE Bioware act now! We need information, we need certainty, we need facts, we need your action! (As I'd say in German: Nägel mit Köpfen machen!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zyriak Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Well, transfers start on Tuesday so i think that you have your answer no? Zyriak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdgiasyui Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Well, transfers start on Tuesday so i think that you have your answer no? Zyriak You mean Tuesday, sometime in 2019.Sorry im just getting so frustrating, i do love the game.But its way easier to find warm dino crap, then find one singel player to do a heroic.Its really sad and pathetic. If they the servers haven't merged when next week is over, im goin to unsub, all because frustration of ghost servers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpienne Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 (edited) They are starting server transfers next Tuesday June 12th, 2012. TL;DR VERSION Release of character transfer is June 12th. http://www.swtor.com/transfer will open then. Will have a FAQ with details forthcoming.You can not transfer where ever you want. BW is trying to direct the population to and from certain servers.Transfers will be from a selected group of origin servers to a selected group of destination servers. Each origin server will have one and only one destination server throughout the process, but many origin servers may be directed to the same destination server.Very few origin servers will be transferring to an existing high-pop server.Your only choice at this time is to transfer to the one single destination server that is paired with your origin server or staying on your current origin server. If you don't like this, you can wait til the future when there may be more permissive paid transfers available.Will be a gradual process. Limit to how many characters can be moved daily. Process will take a few hours after queuing for transfer.Each origin server will go to one and only one destination server and the option to transfer to that one and only one destination server will be open for "as long as needed" so that everyone from that server who wants to move to the one and only one destination server will have the option to move and plenty of time to do it. They will give "plenty of advanced notice" if they are going to stop the free transfers to the designated destination server. This means that you and EVERYONE on your server will only have the option to go to one destination server so you're still going to be with the same folks from your current server IF you choose to take the free transfer.Free transfers will be between the same server types/languages/regions. That means transfers are only within one server type (from a RP-PvP server to another RP-PvP server; from a PvE server to another PvE server, and so on). Cannot provide details of origin/destination pairs ahead of time. When one destination server fills up, then they will set a new destination server for the next origin server. Will adapt to population movements as they occur.If you have a legacy on both servers, the higher level legacy will take precedence, but you will keep all unlocks of both legacies.You will have the option to transfer all of your characters from the origin server to the one and only one destination server assigned to you.Guild will not transfer as a whole. You'll have to disband your guild on your old origin server and reform the guild on the new destination server (4 characters, 5k credits). Take all items and credits out of the guild bank, it will not transfer. Contact Customer Service to re-establish the Guild Bank and Guild Bank tabs.If your character-legacy-guild name conflicts with an existing name on the destination server, you will have to change your name (the first person on the destination server with the name "gets" it.) You will have to rename your Legacy, regardless, but you can pick the same name as you originally had (if it's free, if not you'll have to pick a new name).There may be an option to pay for transfer to where ever you want down the road, after the free transfers are settled. Future versions of character transfer may allow more options for destination servers and may require a fee. No time frame on when that will occur. WHAT THEY SAID http://www.swtor.com/blog/character-transfer-server-populations-and-you Character Transfer, Server Populations and You In a previous Community Q&A we talked about character transfers, and announced that they were coming in early summer. Character transfers are a complex process, but we're almost ready to go. Starting next week on June 12th, 2012, we’re allowing character transfers to occur between selected servers in order to provide a better gameplay experience for our players by ensuring population balance across the service. Game Update 1.3 is focused around group content, with the Group Finder designed to help you enjoy Flashpoints, Operations and Heroic Missions in groups. However, we know that a Group Finder can only work when there is a large pool of players to draw from on a server. That's why the new Character Transfer Service is important: it will improve the overall player experience by facilitating maximized server populations across the service. How will it work? Initially we considered allowing players to transfer to any server they wished, or to a variety of different servers. However, on a massive scale, this free-for-all approach causes potential problems. Players who are anxious to ensure they end up on a heavily populated server will naturally flock to what is perceived as the 'biggest' server, potentially over-populating that server. This eventually leads to the exact situation we're trying to move away from. Our aim is to maximize server population across the entire service and to enhance the gameplay experience for our players. Therefore, we made the decision to strictly limit the initial phase of the Character Transfer Service to only allow transfers from selected groups of origin servers (where you're moving a character from) to selected individual destination servers (where you choose to move a character to) based on the player populations of the origin and destination servers. In some cases, a large number of origin servers will be eligible to move to a single destination server. In others, very few origin servers will be transferring to existing high population destination servers. Remember, the goal here is to push almost every destination server to an active population that's higher. This process will be gradual and staged over time. Despite huge improvements being made to the Character Transfer Service by our server team, there are millions of characters to be moved and there is a limit to how many can be moved daily. We want your character to be transferred as quickly as possible, but we will need you to be patient as the process completes. Once your transfer starts we estimate it will complete in a few hours, but with the potential volume of transfers occurring, you may find your character is queued for transfer for a while as we deal with the high volume. We're sure many of you are interested to learn which servers are eligible for outgoing transfers and which servers are eligible to receive transfers. However, because the process will be gradual, we cannot provide that information in advance. Depending on the number of characters transferred, the destination and origin servers eligible for transfer may be altered during the process. We don't want to promise a destination in case it may change. Listings will become available as servers become eligible for transfer. We can tell you that all server types and languages will be respected. You will not find your PvE characters transferred to a PvP server, or vice versa! There are also some restrictions to this character transfer process , which will be more fully detailed in a forthcoming FAQ. For those who have unlocked Legacy abilities, your Legacy will be transferred to your new server and your unlocks will be available there too. If you have already unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, the higher level Legacy will take precedence. For guild members and masters, you will not be able to transfer your guild as a whole to your new server; instead you will need to reform it. If you have a guild bank, it will be re-granted to your new guild on your destination server by Customer Service. This is not an automatic process and you will have to contact Customer Service directly. If your transferred character’s name conflicts with an existing name on a destination server, you will be asked to rename your character. In the case of Legacy names, unless you have unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, you will need to rename your Legacy upon transfer (although you may pick the same Legacy name as on your origin server, if available). The next step We believe that by carefully allowing character transfer between select origin and destination servers, players will have a healthier gameplay experience. With the Group Finder available in Game Update 1.3, we intend for players to be able to easily assemble full groups for all sorts of content. We understand that some of you may be looking to consolidate characters from a variety of origin servers onto one server, and others may be anxious to move to a specific server to be with friends. With the restrictions of this initial service, that may not be possible. We still believe that you will enjoy playing on a higher population server and hope you'll take advantage of the service, but you won't be forced to transfer. Future versions of the Character Transfer Service may allow more options in your choice of destination servers and may require a transfer fee. While we do not have a scheduled time frame for the launch of such a service, we are committed to making improvements to the Character Transfer Service over time to provide players with a great gameplay experience. Stay tuned to http://www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com for more details! Summary We've been working as fast as we can to create a viable Character Transfer Service and we appreciate your patience as we've worked to create it. The good news is that the wait is almost over. We're in the final stretch of testing the service, and our release is now June 12th, 2012. Game Update 1.3 will be along not too long afterwards. We hope that the character transfer and the Group Finder will help everyone experience the full array of content available in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. These are additional clarification posts from the Dev Tracker http://www.swtor.com/community/devtracker.php -We'll be providing a list of origin servers and destination servers. Each origin server will have one destination server, and players can elect to transfer their characters from the origin server to the destination. Our goal is to have destination servers with a much higher active player population, so we'll be monitoring the process and adding new origin and destination pairs as necessary to reach that goal. -We haven't finalized the initial list of origin and destination servers. We know everyone is eager to see them, and we will provide them when we're able - we don't want to provide a list and then have to change it. -Right now, we're just talking about the free character transfers - like it mentions in the blog, more options may become available in the future, but that's all we've said as of now. -What we're saying here is that we're unable to provide the origins and destinations in advance because those lists may change internally as we watch the response to transfers. We'll be monitoring populations and how many players are transferring, which will inform our decisions about further origin and destination servers. We won't be changing the destination on you once it's announced, we just don't want to announce a pair too early. -Many guild leaders have contacted us with their concerns about coordinating their guild members in preparation for the free character transfer service and I wanted to take some time to explain how this process will work. 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. Please note that we will not be dividing the population of an origin server onto multiple destination servers for this free character transfer process. Additionally, players need not worry about rushing to transfer as free character transfers between selected servers will remain available for as long as it is needed to help balance server populations naturally. Rest assured that if we ever decide to stop this free character transfer service, players will be given plenty of advanced notice. -Our overall goal is that destination servers will have a higher active population than origin servers that are able to transfer to them -As mentioned in the blog post, we will be maintaining server types. So it will be RP-PvP to RP-PvP. -We do have more information about character transfers coming, and we'll post a detailed FAQ that will answer many specific questions. As for being concerned about not being able to transfer to the same server as your son during free transfers, you don't have anything to worry about. Each server that becomes eligible for transfers will have just one destination server, and you'll be able to move all your characters from your origin server to that destination server. We'll announce these servers at the start of the program and then will add more as the program continues (and you'll be able to see all the information on http://www.swtor.com/transfer starting on the 12th), and we'll make sure to let everyone know what servers are available and when. -On Tuesday (the 12th), we'll be starting the free character transfer service - if your server becomes eligible for transfer, you'll be able to move all your characters to the selected destination server free of charge. -If your server becomes eligible for free character transfers, you'll be able to move all your characters from that server onto the destination server. -We do have more information about character transfers coming, and we'll post a detailed FAQ that will answer many specific questions. As for being concerned about not being able to transfer to the same server as your son during free transfers, you don't have anything to worry about. Each server that becomes eligible for transfers will have just one destination server, and you'll be able to move all your characters from your origin server to that destination server. We'll announce these servers at the start of the program and then will add more as the program continues (and you'll be able to see all the information on http://www.swtor.com/transfer starting on the 12th), and we'll make sure to let everyone know what servers are available and when. -On Tuesday (the 12th), we'll be starting the free character transfer service - if your server becomes eligible for transfer, you'll be able to move all your characters to the selected destination server free of charge. -If your server becomes eligible for free character transfers, you'll be able to move all your characters from that server onto the destination server. -There will be a full FAQ published on Tuesday to answer most of your questions, but I wanted to go ahead and answer these two. 1. Due to a variety of factors (including the naming and re-naming process after transferring characters), this was deemed to be the most efficient method in assuring that Guilds retain their Guild Banks on the new server. 2. Yes, you will have to:Remove all items & credits from the Guild Bank. Disband the Guild. Transfer to the new server and reform the Guild. Contact Customer Service to re-establish the Guild Bank and Guild Bank tabs. Hopefully that answers your question. -"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. Please note that we will not be dividing the population of an origin server onto multiple destination servers for this free character transfer process." With this information, you can see that you do not need to transfer at the same exact time. -"Additionally, players need not worry about rushing to transfer as free character transfers between selected servers will remain available for as long as it is needed to help balance server populations naturally. Rest assured that if we ever decide to stop this free character transfer service, players will be given plenty of advanced notice." Edited June 8, 2012 by Scorpienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnorSalak Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Thanks for the very comprehensive reply/information Scorpienne! Guess that it's possible that Sanctum might be the destination for us Rubats then... ...So if you're still recruiting then (I just read your guild outline)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpienne Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Thanks for the very comprehensive reply/information Scorpienne! Guess that it's possible that Sanctum might be the destination for us Rubats then... ...So if you're still recruiting then (I just read your guild outline)... No worries - I'm just trying to encourage the spread of real information - not misinformation. It's entirely possible that Sanctum *and* RC end up on Lord Lardass.... we just don't know! :-) The Thirteenth Legion is still openly accepting new members. Paige Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageYo Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 You think it is soo easy to write the code/script that allows players to transfer servers?? Stop with these threads, BW is obviously not happy with the situation either, you think they don't release the char transfer option on purpose just to make you mad or something? Obviously not cause they do loose money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellvaan Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 (edited) Greetings everyone! Since we have a few threads on the various topics regarding Server Population and suggestions for it, we are going to close this thread and ask that you please continue your discussion here: Server PopulationServer MergesCharacter Transfer, Server Populations and You You can find more information regarding responses from the Community Team in regards to questions in the Developer Tracker as well as this post: In a previous Community Q&A we talked about character transfers, and announced that they were coming in early summer. Character transfers are a complex process, but we're almost ready to go. Starting next week on June 12th, 2012, we’re allowing character transfers to occur between selected servers in order to provide a better gameplay experience for our players by ensuring population balance across the service. Read More A compilation of questions and answers from the Community Team on this topic can be found below: General I have a question: How will we be affected (if any) if say we are on an origin server, but have no desire to move, either because we like small servers, or we just don't want to deal with the xfer process? You are not required to move when transfers become available; it's your choice if you'd like to stay on your server. ---- My question is, can all of my 8 characters that are on one server move or only one of them? If your server becomes eligible for free character transfers, you'll be able to move all your characters from that server onto the destination server. ----- Joveth, what is the plan for RP servers ? Will we be allowed transfers from RP-PvP to PvP servers ? Hi Rogoo, As mentioned in the blog post, we will be maintaining server types. So it will be RP-PvP to RP-PvP. ----- OK, I see one big, big problem. Let me quote the article: "We're sure many of you are interested to learn which servers are eligible for outgoing transfers and which servers are eligible to receive transfers. However, because the process will be gradual, we cannot provide that information in advance. Depending on the number of characters transferred, the destination and origin servers eligible for transfer may be altered during the process. We don't want to promise a destination in case it may change." What I interpret this to mean, is there's no guarantee my guildmates will end up transfered to the same server as me (I'm the GM of a guild on Kinrath Spider) I'd love to get clarification on this It looks like this line is causing a little bit of confusion. Hopefully I can help clear that up! What we're saying here is that we're unable to provide the origins and destinations in advance because those lists may change internally as we watch the response to transfers. We'll be monitoring populations and how many players are transferring, which will inform our decisions about further origin and destination servers. We won't be changing the destination on you once it's announced, we just don't want to announce a pair too early. Guilds This is a good thing definitely. Only problem I foresee is that a guild of people who want to stay together happens to be on one of the origin servers. They allow us to move to a destination server for a day... two days... a week... whatever their timeframe is. But then that opportunity is limited in time and/or the destination server changes suddenly without warning and we still have half of our guild trying to transfer off the origin server or we have a couple integral members on vacation for the week and completely miss being able to transfer. Suddenly we either have to choose to keep the whole guild on a suddenly dead server or screw over a chunk of our guild members and leave without warning to them. Like I said this transfer is definitely a very good thing and happy it is sooner then later. But not having some sort of guild transfer function could be problematic. Many guild leaders have contacted us with their concerns about coordinating their guild members in preparation for the free character transfer service and I wanted to take some time to explain how this process will work. 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. Please note that we will not be dividing the population of an origin server onto multiple destination servers for this free character transfer process. Additionally, players need not worry about rushing to transfer as free character transfers between selected servers will remain available for as long as it is needed to help balance server populations naturally. Rest assured that if we ever decide to stop this free character transfer service, players will be given plenty of advanced notice. We hope that this clarifies any confusion. ---- The only question/suggestion that I have Is why doesn't the guild bank move with the guild leader when they transfer? GM has unlimited access anyway, so if they wanted to ninja it they could anyway. I don't understand the reasoning behind needing to put a ticket in for the guild bank. Also do we need to move all items out of the guild bank before the move and the ticket will only revive the slots the guild has purchased or will the ticket move all items and money from one guild bank to the new server? There will be a full FAQ published on Tuesday to answer most of your questions, but I wanted to go ahead and answer these two. 1. Due to a variety of factors (including the naming and re-naming process after transferring characters), this was deemed to be the most efficient method in assuring that Guilds retain their Guild Banks on the new server. 2. Yes, you will have to: Remove all items & credits from the Guild Bank.Disband the Guild.Transfer to the new server and reform the Guild.Contact Customer Service to re-establish the Guild Bank and Guild Bank tabs. Hopefully that answers your question. Thank you to everyone who gave such constructive replies! We always love to see it! Thank you for your patience! Edited June 9, 2012 by Ellvaan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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