Is milking money from server transfers bad business by blizzard?

[ManjiSanji]

Is it a good business move? Yes. They're making tons of money on it.

Do I like it? No. Clearly transfers shouldn't be free and/or unlimited, but it would be nice if time spent playing the game=limited number of free transfers.

$25 *per character* is outrageous, particularly for a subscription-based game and a service that is nearly entirely automated.
But as long as people keep paying for it, why bother stopping?

[haxs101]

No, because then everybody would be doing it, then it would cause problems, they have to have some kind of barrier. And that barrier happens to be money.

[Eats Compost]

No, because then everybody would be doing it, then it would cause problems, they have to have some kind of barrier. And that barrier happens to be money.

The barrier doesn't have to be such an absurd amount. They should allow multiple characters to be transferred at a discounted rate, or drop the price per transfer down to something like $10.

People saying that it has to cost money are missing the issue at hand; the problem isn't that it costs money. It's that it costs too much money.

[Karazee]

Blizzard charges ridiculous fees for server transfers.

$25 is hardly ridiculous.

Players face a huge price if they have to transfer their main and alts if their server is dead for example, horrible population imbalance etc.

Players never have to transfer. They can stay where they are or just reroll from scratch on a new server. Transferring, especially at the start of an xpac, is basically only about gold, especially now that mounts, pets, achievements are account wide.

Question is....especially that games like GW2 have free server transfers..... is the fact that blizzard still charges money for this just a greedy tactic on their part to suck every last bit of money they can before WOW dies?

I vote yes because other games have free transfers making blizzard look greedy. Discuss.

They're a business, and they're charging for a service that people are willing to pay for. They're hardly being greedy, and if anything, you look cheap much more than they look greedy.

[Asphyxiate9]

People would transfer completely off unbalanced servers making the issue even worse than it is. Unless they find a way to lower the prices and stop this issue I'm not with it.

[Eats Compost]

$25 is hardly ridiculous.

$25 is ridiculous. Half of the price of a new release game for a service that's trivial on Blizzard's part? Come on.

[grexly75]

Havent had a subscription since around middle of Firelands....

So you are not even playing the game, and yet here you are harping on about Blizz and their paid for server transfer set up. So why make a post about this when you are not even playing the game, why should you care about what Blizz does with their game.

[Seranthor]

Havent had a subscription since around middle of Firelands....

So the entire intent of your OP was what exactly? To bash or berate Blizzard?

[Tziva]

I don't have any issue with a company charging fees for optional services.

[Seranthor]

The barrier doesn't have to be such an absurd amount. They should allow multiple characters to be transferred at a discounted rate, or drop the price per transfer down to something like $10.

People saying that it has to cost money are missing the issue at hand; the problem isn't that it costs money. It's that it costs too much money.

Here's an idea, if you dont want to pay it and want to be on another server... reroll... the fact they offer it at all is a courtesy.

[Eats Compost]

Here's an idea, if you dont want to pay it and want to be on another server... reroll... the fact they offer it at all is a courtesy.

Never had a guild or friend group transfer servers, have you? There's a hell of a lot more reasons to transfer yourself rather than "Oh boy, I feel like a new server now". I've transferred several times but never because I wanted a change in scenery.

Stating rerolling as an option also completely misses the issue of whether or not the price level on transfers is appropriate.

[Darsithis]

How is charging fees for optional services greedy?

[Airwaves]

So many people fail to see that if they do free faction server Transfers that every single realm will be 99% one sided. There is more then just money making reasons behind making people pay for them. The price is there to deter people away from it yet give them the choice to pay if they really want to.

Nobody is forcing you to transfer.

[PetersenIII]

How is charging fees for optional services greedy?

Seriously? Seriously? So if your cable bill doubled that's not greedy behavior on behalf of the cable company?

[Eats Compost]

How is charging fees for optional services greedy?

Being optional doesn't justify the price level. Stop pretending that it does.

[Deleted]

So if a Server population has imbalance issues you would make it worst by leaving (Assuming you're on the lower ratio side) ?

Also, The cost is their to act a deterrent.

Remember on Gw2 when that guy server hopped like 40 times in 1 week to farm a rare mineral ? People would do they same,

Transfer to low server: Farm -> Transfer to Large Pop for larger AH and Raids etc etc.

Even if you limit it to a weekly or monthly thing, people will still do the above practice.

there is still a caple days of cooldown on ur next transfer to a difrend server so transfer and farm and do it again is just a waste of money


and i do think ppl whit a veteran account like 3 years old should get some discount for always suporting blizzard so u get like 40% off every transfer
for the new comers i would say 3 years and u get 40% after completeing the 3 years of playing

[grexly75]

The barrier doesn't have to be such an absurd amount. They should allow multiple characters to be transferred at a discounted rate, or drop the price per transfer down to something like $10.

People saying that it has to cost money are missing the issue at hand; the problem isn't that it costs money. It's that it costs too much money.

Well back during Vanilla there was no such thing as server transfers. So you were stuck on the server you first rolled a toon on, if you wanted to change server you had to roll a new toon. Server transfers came out during TBC to help alleviate problems with server imbalance and for those who wanted to join friends on other servers without having to reroll a new toon.

Why this thread about a service that has been around for ages will never know.

[Blockygame]

How is charging fees for optional services greedy?

It's not greedy, but you have to admit that the price point is a little overdue for a rethink, $25 USD is something I would never pay, even if circumstances dictated that I really needed to transfer (that's around $30 here).

Their whole automated service price points need a rethink to be perfectly honest, they are a tad on the expensive side. Chances are you'll only see a decrease when wow gets a little older and the automated services get used less and less.

[Tziva]

Being optional doesn't justify the price level. Stop pretending that it does.

Everyone draws the line for what is reasonable in a different spot. I don't really think a one time fee of $25 is that obscene, but of course I don't have a lot of similar services in other games to compare it to. In any case, it's like the price of eating out one night. It's probably not a hardship for anyone and even if it was, you still have the option of leveling up a new character or opting not to transfer.

I'm not saying it's a great deal, but it doesn't really seem high enough to get worked up over, either. The way you guys are talking, you make it sound like hundreds of dollars or something.

[iceberg265]

I am all for labeling Blizzard as greedy, because they are, but in this case I just can't. It would be kinda hypocritical while I'm sitting here waving my money at Bioware begging them to take my money so I can combine my legacies from two different servers.