Put Server transfers on the CM

[TrixxieTriss]

Put Server transfers on the CM like you can with appearance and renames.

[xordevoreaux]

When you select a toon and server to transfer, several checks are made, including how recently you transferred the toon in question in the past, the age of the server you're transferring to, etc. etc.

 

How would you go from the code behind the interface that double-checks that a potential transfer is valid that's on the web site to similar code in game?

 

It's not just a matter of tossing a token on the CM.

[SteveTheCynic]

It's not just a matter of tossing a token on the CM.

It might be, but not the way you think.

 

I can see it working like this:

* If the character you are trying to transfer has the token in his inventory, the web interface takes the token instead of CCs.

* If not, the web system takes CCs, just like it does now.

 

This allows me to buy a token and give it to a friend who (a) is subscribed and (b) can't afford the CCs to transfer *now*, so we can transfer together.

 

I'm a bit meh about the idea, but if they made it work like I described, why not?

[xordevoreaux]

It might be, but not the way you think.

 

I can see it working like this:

* If the character you are trying to transfer has the token in his inventory, the web interface takes the token instead of CCs.

* If not, the web system takes CCs, just like it does now.

 

This allows me to buy a token and give it to a friend who (a) is subscribed and (b) can't afford the CCs to transfer *now*, so we can transfer together.

 

I'm a bit meh about the idea, but if they made it work like I described, why not?

 

I'm ambivalent about the idea of a token on the cm for transfers. Just saying we need to recognize there's more of a technical challenge involved than there would be, say, tossing a new armor set on the CM, since there's a daemon or chron job in the back end assessing the database that determines validity for a transfer, and that routine's initiated from the web at the moment.

 

I'm just pointing out the OP is in fact asking for more engineering at the moment than she realizes. If EA can do it, great. Motivated to do it, no idea.

[SteveTheCynic]

I'm ambivalent about the idea of a token on the cm for transfers. Just saying we need to recognize there's more of a technical challenge involved than there would be, say, tossing a new armor set on the CM, since there's a daemon or chron job in the back end assessing the database that determines validity for a transfer, and that routine's initiated from the web at the moment.

 

I'm just pointing out the OP is in fact asking for more engineering at the moment than she realizes. If EA can do it, great. Motivated to do it, no idea.

For sure. My point was that there's no need for in-game code to do it. In-game, the object would do NOTHING except take up inventory space.

[DefenderTwo]

Wouldn't it be easier to keep it the way it is?

[xordevoreaux]

Wouldn't it be easier to keep it the way it is?

 

Yes, but easy is not always the best path to the best outcome.

[SteveTheCynic]

Wouldn't it be easier to keep it the way it is?

It would, but that's *always* the case. (It's easy to keep things the way they are: just do nothing.)

 

The interesting question is, "Is it worth spending the effort to add this feature?". In this case, I'm in two minds. It does add *something*, but it doesn't add *much*, and I'm not convinced it would add enough to be worth it.

[ultimarb]

would be great to be able to buy one via gtn for credits. credit and cc shrink. win win for all

the item should just add your transferable character at the homepage plus one.

[SteveTheCynic]

would be great to be able to buy one via gtn for credits. credit and cc shrink. win win for all

the item should just add your transferable character at the homepage plus one.

Buying it via the GTN is only a small credit sink, since 94% of the credits you pay go to the player who's selling the item.

 

Important point: every single item you see on the GTN is there because a *player* put it there.(1) Not one was put there by some automatic SWTOR system.

 

(1) This isn't necessarily true in all MMORPGs. There's a rather tangled system for class changes in Allods Online, and it involves winning the auction for an item on their Auction House - those items are placed there by the system. However, SWTOR's GTN is entirely player-driven.

[ultimarb]

Buying it via the GTN is only a small credit sink, since 94% of the credits you pay go to the player who's selling the item.

 

Important point: every single item you see on the GTN is there because a *player* put it there.(1) Not one was put there by some automatic SWTOR system.

 

(1) This isn't necessarily true in all MMORPGs. There's a rather tangled system for class changes in Allods Online, and it involves winning the auction for an item on their Auction House - those items are placed there by the system. However, SWTOR's GTN is entirely player-driven.

 

They increased the taxes lately to 8%.

Doesn't sound much but with those prices for 1000k CC Items at the gtn atm it could be a formidable credit shrink.

[Andryah]

Yeah.. as a wealthy player... anything that can be sold on the CM and in turn resold to players in game sounds good to me.

 

HOWEVER.... it's not synonymous with leveling tokens (which actually work in game to auto-level) ..... and I also understand that they never set up any form of handshaking from inside the game to outside the game to support this request. As such... if there was a token.. guess what... players would apply it to their account and then find out they can't use it because if violates one or more validation checks on the website (which is where the actual transfer transaction takes place.....not in game). YES...you use CCs to buy a transfer... but you do so on the SWTOR web site... not in game.

 

It's not worth the effort to flesh this out, in my view, to serve a small minority of players in the wider player base.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Andryah

[CyorReco]

I've been wanting this for a while, to move several toons from SF to SS. I would like to see transfer tokens in the cartel market sold in multipacks say 3 to 5 transfer tokens per pack in order to transfer multiple characters to a new server at a slightly reduced rate. Right now anyone wanting to change their home server has to pay a prohibitive price to move over multiple toons.

 

I don't think it's coincidence that the current 1,000cc price is the same for character rename, since previously people we're using the 90cc transfer feature as a cheap work around to rename characters.

However, at the very least the devs should permanently reduce the transfer cost to 500cc, it would still cost 1,000cc (=500cc X 2 that's total cost for transfer from then back to your server) to rename a character that way, thus negating the workaround.

[SteveTheCynic]

I've been wanting this for a while, to move several toons from SF to SS. I would like to see transfer tokens in the cartel market sold in multipacks say 3 to 5 transfer tokens per pack in order to transfer multiple characters to a new server at a slightly reduced rate. Right now anyone wanting to change their home server has to pay a prohibitive price to move over multiple toons.

I see no reason why a "bulk discount" would have to be done via the CM. It's surely simpler to add support for that to the website than it is to build a whole pile of infrastructure to support it in-game.

 

Example: currently we select one character and a destination server. A modification to allow us to select several characters rather than just one and then charge CCs at a discountable rate depending on the number of characters being transferred would achieve the result you seem to be seeking.

[CyorReco]

I see no reason why a "bulk discount" would have to be done via the CM. It's surely simpler to add support for that to the website than it is to build a whole pile of infrastructure to support it in-game.

 

Example: currently we select one character and a destination server. A modification to allow us to select several characters rather than just one and then charge CCs at a discountable rate depending on the number of characters being transferred would achieve the result you seem to be seeking.

 

I can see a few reasons why it should be done in the CM.

 

1. I can give tokens to a friend whom I wish to play the game with me on another server. I cannot do that with the method you described.

 

2. If i buy these in bulk and then change my mind about how many character transfers I decided to make, then I can always sell the extra tokens on the gtn for credits. My method gives the player more flexibility.

 

3. From a developer standpoint you could create a transfer token with a different cooldown (longer or shorter than 30 days) specifically on the token consumption. Depending whether you wanted to encourage sales of the bulk pack by making the cooldown a shorter than 30 day duration specifically for the character it is consumed on... or discourage character churning between servers by making the cooldown a longer than 30 day duration..Or just leave it at 30 days, whatever fits the needs of the business.

 

Besides there's already tokens for master datacron and outlander to name a few. So I am dubious of the assertion that it will require anything more that modest addition to the existing infrastructure. Or that coding it will be much greater that adding code and changing the existing web page interface.

 

Currently, you can acquire a free transfer by being the referred, so for example you consume a transfer token and then it adds a transfer to your account just like referral perks does now.

 

Ultimately, I would happy either way whether done in the CM or directly via the web interface over the present state of things.

Edited September 21, 2018 by CyorReco