Free Character Transfers Now Available On Select Servers

[danpen]

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Thank you for telling me ok.

[Satans_Puppet]

That seriously missed my point. I too am on a low pop server. Why are they monitoring rated WZs instead of finishing what they started?

 

Folks will tell you that teh 'dev team' is dealing with that. I'm sorry but it should be all hands on deck for the server transfers and this "Monitoring" the destination servers over the weekend is a little bit silly considering the amount of servers left to go.

 

Why didn't they monitor server numbers before? Give active players the priority and then add additional space for the number they think might return. Since the transfer news we've gone from 15 - 20 people on REP fleet a night to at least 30 which has been the highest its been in months! Server wide there was 98.

 

They should have monitored the figures before they embarked on this and lets face it we've been kicking and screaming enough about this for them to take the time to check the figures before they implemented it.

 

Now some of us are the neglected 18% because someone didn't do the math. Plus the way it's all kind "Oh well, no more transfers till next week because we're testing the server loads" - Ummmmm what does that mean for us? Because we weren't lucky enough to get picked out of the hat first does that mean we'll just get shoved on a new destination server meaning that we'll be Medium Pop and not one of these SUPER servers? Really?

 

I don't mind it but once again it's the way it's been handled. "Hey guys, we're really sorry but due to the demand of server transfers and reports of increasing queues we're going to need to monitor the destination servers over the weekend and finalise any remaining transfer that occur over that period.

 

We are truly sorry but you're not forgotten. This exercise is to ensure we can build the stable community you deserve as adventurers in The Old Republic Galaxy. For those of you who are left out in the cold we'll be creating something special for you, it could come in the form of an exclusive vanity pet or a social item but it will be exclusive to those transfers that have had to be put on hold"

 

Gestures!! Gestures and a bit of humanity Although I'm gonna give the community reps a hug since you know... I was raging yesterday from the revelation and the fact that WZ's on my server were unbalanced due to the low pop. It will be fixed but I do hope we make it on to the larger servers rather than running the risk of a Medium Pop server going belly up again...

[bloomfireblade]

The initial character transfer service is now available, allowing qualifying characters to be transferred at no charge from selected origin servers to selected destination servers. This character transfer service will be available as long as is required to help maintain population balance across the service and create a better overall gameplay experience. Select servers will be eligible for free character transfers based on the player populations of the origin and destination servers.

 

Read More

 

the so called "Character Transfer" is useless

hopefully when you pay for a character transfer this will be a good feature but as it is now useless

[DarthMondo]

Just settled down for some nice pvp on my server Luka Sene...Only 17 people on fleet.

Logged out and off to play some Tera or something else.

Can someone remind me what i am paying for please?

 

You know what? I am so desperate to get off this ghost town just charge my account a fee and move me off this dead ship before i explode!!

Edited June 16, 2012 by DarthMondo

[Sultan]

Oh well after being upset for being one of the last 2 east coast pvp servers not to make it our guild just went ahead and did some ops, did some pvp and had a blast. Mind you there was more people then usual on fleet, 30, we made the most of it and just had fun. Hopefully we aren't ignored again on Monday. Edited June 16, 2012 by Sultan

[Danakar]

After having transferred 7 out of 8 characters from Trask Ulgo to The Progenitor, I apparently have a ghost-character or something as it lists me as having 8 on The Progenitor. But logging in I still have the initial 7 characters there and 1 that I could not transfer because the system thinks there are 8 there.

 

I noticed this when I first started transfers in that it always listed 1 more character on the destination server than there was in reality.

 

So much for a transfer system. Allowed to transfer my 8 characters, but not being allowed to tranfer my 8th character because the system is borked up and thinks there are already 8 on the destination server.

 

Combined with the fact that I was forced to change the name of my favorite character *AND* my Legacy name (!!), you can imagine that this was the final straw for me. I chose my Legacy name for a reason and was a pre-order subscriber!

[IrishKevin]

The fact that I am on a dead server with 2 level 50's and can't transfer them they my friends server because appeartly my server does not meet thre requirments.

 

Then a server whith another toon opens transfers and say iI can transfer my level 4 off they a random server......................Yeah because making a level 4 char took me forever .

 

Fair enough I understand not wanting us they transfer all they the same server but you could of atleast wrote a bit of code that checked they see where your chars are on the server list and allowed them servers they be open for the rest of your toons.

 

and don't tell me it would be hard it simple code using the list function and checking they see if you have toons in them servers codes already there with the server browser showing you how many toons you have in each server.

 

that plus a simple if else statment and your done. now if you want them not they abuse that system you put a condtion ontop

 

 

If toon on server AND Level > 30 then

Open server transfer

 

Else no transfer open.

 

 

I mean I was hoping they atleast get one of my level 50 chars over they a server with my friends but instead I have 2 choices either create a new toon or transfer my level 4 char over....................*** was the point. You made it sound like we where going they get a choice to join friends but that was lies its your choice not out choice.

 

 

they make matters worse I am on the republic sider on my server at 2pm and guess how many in the fleet ME ME ME only the dam person on the fleet..

Edited June 16, 2012 by IrishKevin

[Shekin]

After having transferred 7 out of 8 characters from Trask Ulgo to The Progenitor, I apparently have a ghost-character or something as it lists me as having 8 on The Progenitor. But logging in I still have the initial 7 characters there and 1 that I could not transfer because the system thinks there are 8 there.

 

I noticed this when I first started transfers in that it always listed 1 more character on the destination server than there was in reality.

 

So much for a transfer system. Allowed to transfer my 8 characters, but not being allowed to tranfer my 8th character because the system is borked up and thinks there are already 8 on the destination server.

 

Combined with the fact that I was forced to change the name of my favorite character *AND* my Legacy name (!!), you can imagine that this was the final straw for me. I chose my Legacy name for a reason and was a pre-order subscriber!

 

theres apparently a workaround for that.. create then delete a character on progenitor

[Danakar]

theres apparently a workaround for that.. create then delete a character on progenitor

 

I'll give it a try, if only to get all my characters in the same spot before my subscription runs out; thanks.

[Shekin]

I'll give it a try, if only to get all my characters in the same spot before my subscription runs out; thanks.

 

Well this is what they've been telling people to do on twitter anyway

And you're welcome

[Woobies]

According to an email I received in response to my unsubbing:

 

"We understand that many players are anxious to transfer their characters to another server and we appreciate that some of you may be concerned that your server has not yet been listed as an Origin server for the Free Character Transfer Service. However it is important to remember that the transfer process is being rolled out gradually, over time. We will be monitoring server populations, and making additional servers eligible for free character transfers as necessary. We recommend visiting http://www.swtor.com/transfer daily, as we will be opening up new character transfer options regularly."

 

So now I am confused over what they are monitoring over the weekend. Are the monitoring the destination servers for possible overpopulation or the remaining 18% of untransferred origin servers to see if they still need to be transferred?

[IrishKevin]

I think they need they merge some servers the fact that I am logged on at peak time and most are LIGHT should be a sign that they have too many running merge a few. The only reason I want out of my server is because I am the only one in Fleet most days ..............it's like I have a server on my own I go they a planet I see me and if I am lucky another person.

 

I am paying for an MMO experince not a single player experince with the chance of interacting with people

[NajeeSensei]

According to an email I received in response to my unsubbing:

 

"We understand that many players are anxious to transfer their characters to another server and we appreciate that some of you may be concerned that your server has not yet been listed as an Origin server for the Free Character Transfer Service. However it is important to remember that the transfer process is being rolled out gradually, over time. We will be monitoring server populations, and making additional servers eligible for free character transfers as necessary. We recommend visiting http://www.swtor.com/transfer daily, as we will be opening up new character transfer options regularly."

 

So now I am confused over what they are monitoring over the weekend. Are the monitoring the destination servers for possible overpopulation or the remaining 18% of untransferred origin servers to see if they still need to be transferred?

 

Overpopulation. Something will be done to every server. In the case of my server (Mind Trick PVE East Coast), I am sure they don't know whether to make it an Origin Server or a Destination server and will be watching the population of The Shadowlands over the weekend to see if we need to be a Destination or not.

[Clonecak]

As simply as possible ...

 

1. They're trying to make the destination servers as full as possible

 

2. A *lot* more people will be transferring over the weekend, because they only play on the weekend.

 

3. They didn't transfer many low-pop servers because it's easier to "top off" a server with low-pop servers.

 

4. They can't do this topping off until they see just how many people will actually transfer this weekend.

 

It's not about fairness, it's about achieving the best long-term results for the game.

 

It might also be about faction balance, though that's only my hope.[/quote

 

Let them top off the servers. See how things go.. when all of this is done and EA has to report another loss of subscriptions. Let em have their hallmark created holiday and when it is all done at least a part of that 20% will be gone. This will save allot of time for them to monitor servera as populations continue to drop. There were many options rather than transfer 10 servers to one.

[Teefal]

Why? Their stated goal was to make several servers with healthy populations? Is a full server a healthy one? I don't think so since that makes for a queue and doesn't allow any head room for new players or returnees. They could have left themselves enough room to either fit the remainder in or make more healthy servers.

 

Full now (when everyone's transferring) will be almost- full when pops settle and people start playing at scattered times.. The more they can cram into each server now, the better the long-term pops moving forward.

Edited June 16, 2012 by Teefal

[whosuwookie]

Well I guess I need to transfer because there are 8 people on the whole server but my guild went to a server that is not taking any more, i get a choice of one server... should of thought about transfering guilds to servers not just players!! This Blows not sure how much longer i'll be around.

[Beewine]

As far as I can Tell this is merely a method to kill a server... I'm on Rubat Crystal and it had a low population... Now today on 6/16/12 I've traveled to several planets and seen almost no one. At this time of morning I am the ONLY ONE ON REPUBLIC FLEET! pretransfer it was around 25-40 players at the this time of day. Rubat Crystal is now Dead.... GTC is empty.

 

I have several real life friends in game We made a guild. To move we will suffer the following draw backs.

 

Guild will break and have to reform. Guild bank will have to be distributed to various folks (*pack your bags and move*) we have to rely on Customer service to make this reformation happen.

 

The most critical and important to me is my character names! I will probably lose some of them ! With our group of players someone will suffer... I find it unlikely all my names will stay the same, one of my friends or I might even lose my Legacy name.

 

As far as Bioware is concerned they are giving us a Benefit but hey all I see is the disadvantage to us. If we move will Bioware compensate us for their administrative decision?

 

Bonus guilds that move with a guild bank slot? Bonus players with something... After all they are supposedly doing this for social reasons but the social groups that are there suffer the most...

 

I hope we can move to the same server, with our luck we will start out moving and get seperated ....

 

Hopefully all my toons can make it... I play all of my characters... If I get told I cam move only a couple of folks I am going to go postal on some Bioware service droid. But the is no joy in playing a MMO on a server that has only 18 people online.

Edited June 16, 2012 by Beewine

[Kimyrielle]

I think we were just part of the most botched and ill-designed attempt at a server merger in the history of MMOs. Whenever another game miscalculated the demand for servers and happened to have to do a merger down the road, they at least tried to keep the impact on players to an absolute minimum. Bioware, however, did no such thing. Like with an actual merger we have no choice where we are going - staying behind on an already low-population server where a mass exodus of players happens on top of it is really not a viable alternative. The server transfer isn't a 'choice' when the alternative is staying and playing on a graveyard server. To me, calling this 'complimentary server transfers' instead of 'server merger' is a badly disguised PR stunt that does really nothing else than enabling Bioware to raise their hand in innocence and saying "Hey, the bad stuff that happened to you isn't our fault, you pressed that "Transfer me!" button voluntarily!!"

 

And bad stuff, there is plenty.

 

- Other games tried to make as few active players lose their names as possible, by prioritizing active subscriptions over canceled ones, or allowing high level characters to win a name collision over unused L1 name reserves etc. Bioware obviously didn't give a rat's behind about people losing their names at all. If your name is taken on the destination server, you lose yours.

 

- Bioware didn't care about players having MORE than eight characters across multiple servers that might have to transfer to the same destination server, resulting in not enough room available for everyone and leaving the player with the grim task to cull their characters. In a game that claimed to be oh-so alt friendly!

 

- There was no support for moving guilds at all. Like with characters, guilds lost their names all over the place. Since guild memberships didn't transfer either, their members had to run around like lost chicken on the destination server, trying to find their guild mates again.

 

ALL of the above could have been addressed. The name issue could have quite easily solved by allowing white spaces in character names, so players could have at least picked an actual family name and kept their first names instead of losing them entirely. Or *gasp* they could have adapted such esoteric features like name@handle, which Cryptic Studios used to all but eliminate the fight for names in MMOs entirely.

 

But Bioware chose the easy way out: Handing the problem and the resulting grief to the players instead of trying to minimize the damage.

 

Moving my characters to the assigned destination server would cost me ALL but ONE of character names and I'd have no room for at least 3 characters on the destination server. So right now I am sad, disappointed, frustrated and angry. Because none of this would have needed to happen, had Bioware done this halfway properly.

 

To add insult to injury, BIoware obviously plans to actually charge me for finding a new home for my remaining characters, who don't have room on the official destination server. So I'd have to shell over them more money to remedy the mess THEY caused. Awesome move guys! Not.

Edited June 16, 2012 by Kimyrielle

[TheRealPyxx]

I originally had 3 servers, 2 of which I had 3 different 50s on. I had a 50 Powertech on my 1st server, in which got transferred to my other Server Canderous Ordo. So I got lucky. However, I have a 50 Gunslinger and a 50 Guardian, both on Namadii Corridor, Their destination server is Harbinger? Anyways, "If" I chose to leave them on Namadii Corridor would they get deleted? Or Would I have to take the destination server choice until options for paid character transfers open up??

 

I have already read the FAQs for this. But it does not answer my questions.

 

I would like to have all my 50s on the same server. And personally I would rather have them on an East Coast server and not a split of East and West coast servers. Is there not a way to be able to keep all of our 50s together since we've worked so hard on them?? Preferably on Canderous Ordo.

 

Dev response would be appreciative.

Edited June 16, 2012 by TheRealPyxx

[Kaphik]

I feel duped by BioWare with the server transfers. Yes, I believe they were absolutely vital for many, if not most servers. However, I think we got fooled because the word "transfer" was used when the real word should have been "merge". In a few months time I think most of the origin servers now will be totally gone.

 

The redistribution of population will make patch 1.3 a success, and that's important for the game as well as the perception of the game. Since BW is not allowing cross-server grouping yet the servers have to have a very healthy population in order for LFG and ranked warzones to work. If they didn't work out, more players would quit which creates the perception of failure. It's no secret that people compare MMO populations to WoW's and anything under a million is abject failure even if nothing could be further from the truth. BioWare has to make 1.3 work, and now I think it will.

 

My problem is with the way these merges, and that's what I will call them, have not been communicated as such. If BW had come out and said, "Hey, guys, we really need to consolidate servers in the best interests of all of us" there would be a PR hit, but I think many people would have understood. No one on very low pop servers has an issue, but there were many origin servers who had about the same population as their destination servers. Those servers are now gutted wastelands. Many guilds are completely ruined, and many others have to not only re-establish themselves and their reputation on a new server but change their name. That affects a lot outside the game, such as guild websites. It's not fun to transfer, especially when forced to, but to be given the illusion that it is a choice is even worse.

 

In the end this whole merge will probably work out for the best. BioWare never stopped touting the importance and identity of the Legacy system, and now a whole lot of people have to lose the name they had, track down their friends and acquaintances again, reset their UIs, deal with new lag and high loading times again, etc., etc. Being able to get groups and find new people and guilds to play with just may be worth it. I just wish there would have been a bit more honestly regarding their intentions.

 

I have about 60 days left in my subscription, and I am hoping that I will continue playing beyond that point. Let's see how this all shakes out.

[Woobies]

As simply as possible ...

 

1. They're trying to make the destination servers as full as possible

 

2. A *lot* more people will be transferring over the weekend, because they only play on the weekend.

 

3. They didn't transfer many low-pop servers because it's easier to "top off" a server with low-pop servers.

 

4. They can't do this topping off until they see just how many people will actually transfer this weekend.

 

It's not about fairness, it's about achieving the best long-term results for the game.

 

It might also be about faction balance, though that's only my hope.[/quote

 

Let them top off the servers. See how things go.. when all of this is done and EA has to report another loss of subscriptions. Let em have their hallmark created holiday and when it is all done at least a part of that 20% will be gone. This will save allot of time for them to monitor servera as populations continue to drop. There were many options rather than transfer 10 servers to one.

 

Then why can't Bioware come out and say something like:

 

Hey folks, we know that everyone is looking forwarded to playing on healthy pop servers and while we have been able to complete transfers for 82% of the servers, we are going to have to put the remaining transfers on hold until the middle of next week. We understand this is disappointing news but we after transferring so many people, we really need to take a step back and see how the populations are doing on the destination servers. We will be monitoring the destination servers over the weekend as people log in to complete their transfers and then on Monday, we will start mapping out which servers we will be able to transfer the remaining 18%. Some of the things we will be looking at include queue times and faction balance. We appreciate your patience and ask that you be patient for a little longer so we can ensure that we are working toward providing a quality game experience for everyone. Our goal is to restart server transfers by next Wednesday. We will be sure to keep you posted on how things are going and any new developments that may arise.

 

And maybe throw the untransferred a bone like:

 

For those of you still waiting for transfers, we have a special event planned. At 1 pm CST on Saturday and at 3 pm CST on Sunday, some of our more well known developers will be logging onto the servers that have not been transferred and queuing for pvp. So if you want to get your frustrations out, log into your server, queue up for pvp and have some fun with the developers.

 

It is not necessarily about giving the customer what they want as much as it is about making the customer feel like you care. That involves acknowledging the concerns of the customer, communicating with the customer and addressing those concerns even if you can't give the customer what they want. It's about communicating with the customer and keeping the customer informed as well as giving them some reasonable expectations so they know their concerns or problems are being addressed in some way and admitting your mistakes. It's called "We Care" customer service. If customers feel you care, even when they don't get what they want when they want it, they will still be your customers because they know you care.

 

It's not the wait for my turn to transfer that has me upset. It is the poor manner in which this has been handled on a customer service level by Bioware that has me wanting to unsub. The lack of information and response to questions, the cold "this is just the way it is" nature of the few responses and postings there have been, the lack of acknowledgment of the issues and perceptions of unfairness created and I really could go on for a while but will stop. I just don't believe Bioware cares and that may not be the case but based on their handling of this situation, I don't believe they care about their player base or about me as a customer. If I believed they cared, I would have absolutely no problem waiting for my servers turn to transfer.

[xandax]

<snip>

So now I am confused over what they are monitoring over the weekend. Are the monitoring the destination servers for possible overpopulation or the remaining 18% of untransferred origin servers to see if they still need to be transferred?

 

There's nothing they can monitor over the weekend that will give any long term insight that will be valid a week down the line and which couldn't already have been deduced by checking the long term population trends.

It's code for them not wanting to work weekends.

Edited June 16, 2012 by xandax

[invulnerableking]

Wow. All the hate for a service the strong majority of people desired. It is funny to me that people are more bent on keeping their character names, then playing with a massive community. Just goes to show you Bioware, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Haters going to hate. That being said, it is in my opinion that Bioware has done an astounding job with these transfers. If you choose not to transfer, then you cannot hold them responsible. Great job. I went from Ven Zallow to Jung Ma, and it has been great. Thanks for this.

[CrunkShizzle]

i think its funny

 

people complained about there servers being dead,bioware does something to help that.now people are back complaining again

 

bioware just cant win

Edited June 16, 2012 by CrunkShizzle

[solikepoison]

So speaking in terms of just NA servers, there are currently almost 120 servers on the list, and you've got 4 of them open for transfer? I know this is just the initial group, but seriously give SOME of us some hope for this game. Of the 120 or so servers, 115 of them show LIGHT always. I expect much more from this. I really hope you guys know what you're doing

 

I guess it takes time, sad FIREAXAN SHARK has a total of 80 players, 40 rep and 40 empire, havent seen warzones for 3 weeks straight.... oh well. Guess ill never see another warzone on our server or group up for social points.

i know It's complementary transfers, but at this moment im willing to pay to transfer away from the my empty server..