It's Time For Free Server Transfers and Faction Changes.

[Maximus345]

You could have summed this wall of text up by simply saying "I want to be able to do something but don't want to have to pay for it." Optional services are optional, therefore it makes sense there are fees attached to them. I've used both, and wasn't bothered by the cost in the slightest.

Also, you are not psychic, you have no idea whether or not Connected Realms will fail. Hyperbole like that doesn't help you make your point. At all.

This.

Also, Blizzard is a business. The optional services are making them money, at least some of which goes towards maintaining the game and paying their employees. Sure, some of that money goes into the pockets of their rich higher-up boss guys, but that's capitalism for ya. They're allowed to do that and will probably continue to do so as long as we players pay for the services.

Also, free transfers would destroy any remaining traces of community that the servers have. That cool guild you joined last week? They all transferred and left you behind. That blood elf pally that tanked your 5-mans? He's a dwarf now. The guys who buy all your overpriced stuff in the AH? Transferred.

[Louis CK]

This.

Also, Blizzard is a business. The optional services are making them money, at least some of which goes towards maintaining the game and paying their employees. Sure, some of that money goes into the pockets of their rich higher-up boss guys, but that's capitalism for ya. They're allowed to do that and will probably continue to do so as long as we players pay for the services.

Also, free transfers would destroy any remaining traces of community that the servers have. That cool guild you joined last week? They all transferred and left you behind. That blood elf pally that tanked your 5-mans? He's a dwarf now. The guys who buy all your overpriced stuff in the AH? Transferred.

Funny that you're the only one they left behind. =P

[Deleted]

Also, free transfers would destroy any remaining traces of community that the servers have.

how does that follow?

Thats nonsense.

Whats the difference if u pay for xfer or its free to how the communnity effected?... either way players r leaving.

Like i said above, if they want to stop people xferring too much then they should put restrictions on how often ur allowed to xfer. Right now u can xfer as often as u like if u have the cash to do so... that my friend is more likely to effect communites. Free xfers with restrictions on how often u can xfer will have far less effect on communities... 1 free xfer every 6months maybe for example?

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

What a brain dead arguement, it costs blizz nothing for server transfers, but they make too much money off of people.

They offer an optional service that people partake in.. they aren't doing anything wrong. Its basically like souvenirs at the Zoo or anywhere else. You don't need them, but people still buy the shit out of them.

[Desh]

Realms are a retarded idea anyway. The best world system of any MMO I have ever played is from RuneScape. Those who have played know the system I am talking about.

[Pann]

Like i said above, if they want to stop people xferring too much then they should put restrictions on how often ur allowed to xfer. Right now u can xfer as often as u like if u have the cash to do so... that my friend is more likely to effect communites. Free xfers with restrictions on how often u can xfer will have far less effect on communities... 1 free xfer every 6months maybe for example?

I have a little chuckle every time someone trots out the fee is to stop people abusing transfers line, Blizzard will allow as many transfers as a player can afford and keep collecting your money until it runs out. I would wager that the bank would put a stop to it thinking that it was a series of fraudulent transactions before Blizzard.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

how does that follow?

Thats nonsense.

Whats the difference if u pay for xfer or its free to how the communnity effected?... either way players r leaving.

Like i said above, if they want to stop people xferring too much then they should put restrictions on how often ur allowed to xfer. Right now u can xfer as often as u like if u have the cash to do so... that my friend is more likely to effect communites. Free xfers with restrictions on how often u can xfer will have far less effect on communities... 1 free xfer every 6months maybe for example?

So you have 10 toons on X server and its dead and you want off.... are you telling me you will just use a free xfer on one toon, and pay for the other 9? Doubt it..

[Deleted]

So you have 10 toons on X server and its dead and you want off.... are you telling me you will just use a free xfer on one toon, and pay for the other 9? Doubt it..

u dont have to be Einstein to work out that 1 free xfer PER TOON would work fine... i didnt say 1 xfer per account

[rebecca191]

I'd rather see a deal where if we buy a server transfer we get a reduced cost for additional characters transferred at the same time.

[Deleted]

I'd rather see a deal where if we buy a server transfer we get a reduced cost for additional characters transferred at the same time.

i completely agree that this offer would work very well too... but they will never do it all the time they make a fortune out of their players.

[Rosencrantz]

I agree entirely. The coming server merges will not fix my main issue, that being I am over PvP servers. World pvp has long been dead, ever since the introduction of flying mounts, and the phasing has made it beyond pointless. People gank when they have opportunity, then phase to a friend's server to avoid retribution. It's really just a big fat mess of imbalance now. I have become a carebear, apparently. A carebear that USED to be able to camp people until they logged, but now can't even get people back, lol.

Now mind you, the server transfer service especially should not be made free. MMOs suffer when people abuse transfers and server hop (anyone who played GW2 at launch understands EXACTLY why a transfer fee is needed to prevent abuse) but allowing someone a free transfer every couple of years or after they reactivate an account after a long break really isn't absurd.

[Ellixen]

Been 3 weeks since patch 5.4 and connected realms are still not a reality. Blizz said in either 5.1 or 5.2 - no more cueing in bgs with groups of more than 5, ever play a regular bg - every horde team is premade - <5 per cue is not a reality. Blizz said in patch 5.3 - healers will be equal in bgs with the new cue a role of a bg system yet another Blizz feature that doesn't work. Connected realms will be a reality, but it may not occuer until the next xpac.

??? I'm sorry i didn't realize that my server boulderfist was indeed NOT connected with bloodscalp... oh wait it is... hmm, darn blizz for not connecting servers.. arrgg, oh wait...

edit: and yes i'm made alliance toons on bloodscalp just to send my heirlooms from my horde toons on boulderfist woo woo!

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

u dont have to be Einstein to work out that 1 free xfer PER TOON would work fine... i didnt say 1 xfer per account

You didn't specify. I still disagree. They are talking about fixing things. I would prefer server merges to be honest.

[Chingylol]

It already failed before it came out?
Who said they link dead realms with dead realms, U can expect activity again.
They will just increase the amount of servers linked if its needed.

The feedback from the first connected realms for Bloodscalp and Boulderfist hasn't been positive for the players there. Go look at their WoW forums on the main site. The alliance cities are still empty.

[Stacie]

Lower the cost but not free, Although i think most gold farmers / Chinese gold hackers have given up on WoW now. (the reason why it should not be free IMO)

But i think Faction transfer or at least the Sex/Looks Change should go down to the same price as a name change and perhaps name change cost halved.

[Ellixen]

The feedback from the first connected realms for Bloodscalp and Boulderfist hasn't been positive for the players there. Go look at their WoW forums on the main site. The alliance cities are still empty.

that's because those are horde dominated servers, blizz already said they won't do faction balance because people will still transfer and make it unbalanced again therefore requiring connected realms to be disconnected and reconnected with a different realm of opposite proportions which would just suck for everyone who's already established with xrealm guilds ect...


The horde cities are packed

[Holtzmann]

The feedback from the first connected realms for Bloodscalp and Boulderfist hasn't been positive for the players there. Go look at their WoW forums on the main site. The alliance cities are still empty.

Well, yes. When you connect only two low-population servers known for having rather few Alliance you can probably expect things won't change much for them. Boulderfist and Bloodscalp are the testbed for the technology on live, they're not an example of how things are going to work out. Once Connected Realms is rolled out to more servers, we'll see how well it fixes stuff. Right now it's a proof of concept.

Coincidentally, I was looking at the Boulderfist and Bloodscalp realm forums today. I didn't find a lot of feedback at all. Mostly people complaining about having to go through two maintenances in a row while Blizzard connected their realms. Let's wait until they expand the system to a level we can actually see any results before passing judgment in either direction, okay?

[bionics]

I agree, but they are making way too much money from server transfers & faction changes. It's like pocket money for them, but it's still a huge amount.

I bet a days worth of paid character services paid for Hearthstone :P

What if we... organized a mass boycott of server transfers and faction changes? Surely that would change the mighty Blizzard's mind? /sarcasm

[Mortal Strike]

I think it's time Blizzard gave out free server transfers and faction changes as part of it's subscription. I think the service should be one free faction change or server transfer per toon per year. If you wished to do either more often then you would pay.

Here's the main reasons I think this should be done:

1. The game is almost ten years old. People should not be expected to be stuck on the same servers forever unless they pay or re roll. Things change and people should be able to move to other servers more freely.

Why not? You make a "should" conclusion but have no support for it. Time isn't a sufficient reason because time isn't a negative factor.

2. Dead servers. There is many many dead servers, there is no way a player could know or expect a server they play on would go dead. It's not there fault it has done so and this would give them the chance to escape the dead server. World of Warcraft is a mmo and on many of it's servers it's feeling less and less like that and more and more like a bad single player game.

Connected Realms will fix it.

3. Broken factions. There is servers where you have a near 100 to 1 faction balance. No one should be expected to pay to leave that. It's not a lot of fun to play on a server where your faction is out numbered in a huge manner.

So the vastly outnumbered faction is going to transfer where? Yep, they're going to go to a realm where THEIR faction is dominant. What evidence do I have to support this? That's what's happening already. People are paying to transfer to the most populated, one-sided realms: Mal'Ganis, Illidan, Stormrage... Nobody is paying to transfer to Stonemaul: a low pop even-faction pvp server. There's no evidence to support that people are going to go there for free.

4. People would come back to play. There is a decent amount of people that have left the game due to the fact either the server they play on is dead or the faction they belong to is dead. If you gave those people a chance to come back and play on a server that was better suited to them, they would take it and subs would increase.

You have no evidence to support your conclusions that anyone would come back and play. You have no evidence to support your contention that a "decent amount of people" have left because of dead server or faction. You only make assumptions. Assumptions aren't good enough. You need empirical data.

[The Stormbringer]

One free character service every three months would be pretty awesome, in my opinion. I wouldn't think more than that is necessary, though.