Around Azeroth: The terrible truth behind character transfers
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Mar 22nd 2011 at 10:00AM
In this screenshot, Fidgett of Raids Without Pants on Steamwheedle Cartel (US-A) is shown in the decon tube just prior to the beginning of this horrific process. Fidgett has changed from a night elf to a draenei to a blood elf and then to a dwarf female before finally becoming a gnome, so you can only imagine what hideous experiences linger in his mind.
Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Please include "Azeroth" in the subject line so your email doesn't get marked as spam, and include your name, guild and server if you want to be credited.
Filed under: Around Azeroth
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Drakkenfyre Mar 21st 2011 11:40PM
I remember back in Burning Crusade, they got so many screenshot of these "teleporters", they actually put a "No more" clause in the screenshot of the day submission rules.
kerese Mar 22nd 2011 10:11AM
So it's from somewhere in BC? I'd love if we could get context on these, outside of the little story made up every day. Some I'd like to see in person and knowing what/where they are would help.
Feitan Mar 22nd 2011 3:09PM
@Kerese,
They're in Blood Furnace. ;)
Drakkenfyre Mar 22nd 2011 8:14PM
They are the devices used to create Fel Orcs in Blood Furnance. Magetheridon's blood is drained, then infused into the Orcs using these devices. In the 5th or 6th turn, you come across an entire hall way of them.
Fragments Mar 22nd 2011 10:17AM
I prefer to think of it as,
"Do you like your character? If you do, you'll leave him where he is. Because the truth is, your character is never transferred. When you apply for a transfer, your character is minced and his biomass is recycled. On your target realm, an abomination, a flash clone based on Armory data, is grown. Your character will never be the same again."
It's got that whole, you have no mouth but you must scream terror factor.
Plus, it reminds me of what they do to dead characters in EvE. If you delete one, you get this awesome sound byte of a conveyor belt, a scream and a crunch.
razion Mar 22nd 2011 10:34AM
If I ever do play that game, I am now sure it will be solely for the purpose of hearing said character deletion sound.
Over. And over. And over again.
... What?
Fragments Mar 22nd 2011 10:35AM
It's so worth it. It's gut-wrenching.
Mike Mar 22nd 2011 10:28AM
"Fidgett has changed from a night elf to a draenei to a blood elf and then to a dwarf female before finally becoming a gnome..."
There's your problem. Fidgett keeps choosing the worst races in the game. The only time Fidgett came close to getting it right was with the dwarf.
Night Elves: Elitist a-holes who brought the Burning Legion to Azeroth.
Draenei: Space Goats who couldn't push a shopping cart up a grocery isle without taking out an entire display.
Blood Elves: The perennial crack whores of the game.
Dwarfs: Chuck full of awesomeness.
Gnomes: It's a gnome. 'nuff said.
Fragments Mar 22nd 2011 10:36AM
What it is, soul brother!
Mr. Tastix Mar 22nd 2011 10:54AM
I'd tell you to say that to my Draenei but you wouldn't get the chance before your face was smashed all over the ground.
Guy should've stayed dwarf. You can punt a gnome but I dare you to try puntin' a dwarf. That's somethin' ye'll soon regret.
Yeng Mar 22nd 2011 11:20AM
Everyone knows you toss dwarves, you don't punt them.
SunGod228 Mar 22nd 2011 11:53AM
Space Goats Coast to Coast
I'd watch it
Kurtis Mar 22nd 2011 10:33AM
Meh, the Worgen transformation actually looks pretty painful but they do it all the time. How much could a one-time procedure *really* hurt? ;)
Cheeselandman Mar 22nd 2011 1:05PM
Sure, it may be only bytes of information from one place to another, but that takes time and set-up. When you pay the price, you're paying for someone to go out of their way to transfer the character, when they could have something else to do. A character transfer isn't always quite as simple as moving bytes. Time=money.
dodgeballer2005 Mar 22nd 2011 1:24PM
The only not bad race change is Human to Worgen. Instead of a skeleton transplant, it's just a simple blood infusion.
Dea ex Machina Mar 22nd 2011 3:00PM
Ah, ah, you are forgetting the extensive dialect coaching. Mastering the fake British accent is hard work.
ltgalloway Mar 22nd 2011 1:52PM
I had a disturbing thought that character transfers were possible through a process not unlike that in The Prestige. Think about it.
StClair Mar 22nd 2011 9:52PM
Apparently Fragments had the same idea.
Dea ex Machina Mar 22nd 2011 2:56PM
I always figured it was mostly to make it harder for gold farmers to move money around between servers. One of the tricky things for the farmers is if you've been farming gold on, say, Stormrage, then you can't sell that gold to a guy on Wyrmrest Accord. You either have to farm/hack on all possible servers, or you have to engage in black-market gold-swapping with other goldfarmers on other servers, or you have to limit yourself to a few servers as your "niche."
If realm transfers were free, gold farmers would be able to move money around a lot easier. Blizzard doesn't want to make things easier for those guys.
So, Blizzard imposes a real-world fee, and a limit on the amount of gold a character can take with them when they transfer. That way, it's much less likely for a gold-farmer "mule" to be able to smuggle enough gold between realms to make it worth the trouble.
Feitan Mar 22nd 2011 3:07PM
HA. Got on Around Azeroth again. :D