This argument is so flawed from a business perspective that it's painful to read. The reason Blizzard is so successful is that they bring in tons of new players and hook them alongside the legions of returning customers. Stagnating business by catering only to existing customers is a recipe for failure because eventually those players will leave for some reason. Had I not been able to be on a server with friends for 1-2 months, the game would not have been fun and would not have hooked me. Plus, this system would gut the entire RAF program, which I'm sure contributes mightily to the increase in subscribers.

Sorry if that is harsh, but there's no way a successful business can cater only to current clients. I unfortunately was on a medium pop server that is now on the current realm transfer list (and we have 800-1000 queues every evening now so it is warranted), so I'm hoping for some relief like everyone else.

"Maybe shutting servers off for new account creations would help limit over population."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've thought of suggesting this before but I don't think Blizz would go for it as it means new players would not be able to go on to servers where their friends are, and thus discourage them from playing.

I wonder if a "guild transfer" would work... where an entire guild can decide to move together to a low population realm

Thats the dumbest idea ever. I rectruit my friend to play....um, with me, that means on my server and you want him to sit somewhere else and play without his friends for a month or two first? Yeah thats no way to keep subscribers.

Randy,

You are an idiot. I specifically said there were downsides to any idea. I never said this was an end all to the problems. They were just ideas that I had. Calling someone's idea the dumbest you've ever heard just proves you don't get out much, but I guess if its outside of a video game then you probably dont pay attention to it anyway.

Anything that is thought of that would lead to a true fix for overpopulation will upset someone, there is no way around it. Some people will choose to accept the change while others will go onto a message board and disparage other people's opinions on the matter in order to make themselves feel better.

Well, I don't think your idea is the dumbest idea ever, but I do think it's at best a short-term solution...and something I'm pretty sure Blizzard has already done. I may be wrong, but I do seem to recall getting a message on some occasions about creating a new character on some over populated realms.

It really is only good for short periods of time though, to give a realm's population a chance to sort out, as over the long term, people are going to be more upset that they can't create a toon to be with friends.