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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsGuild transfer service coming soon
by Adam Holisky 
Mar 23rd 2011 at 1:00PM
Good news for those guilds who want to move to a new realm -- Blizzard will soon allow the ability to transfer the guild and its structures easily with a guild relocation service.
It appears that there won't be a single massive "transfer my guild button" that moves everyone over all at once, but instead, each guild member will have to pay their own way over to the new server. Once they get to the new server, all their guild bank, guild reputation, and so on will be over there.
Blizzard's full statement is as follows:
It appears that there won't be a single massive "transfer my guild button" that moves everyone over all at once, but instead, each guild member will have to pay their own way over to the new server. Once they get to the new server, all their guild bank, guild reputation, and so on will be over there.
Blizzard's full statement is as follows:
Nethaera
We want to give everyone an early heads-up regarding our plan to implement a guild relocation service for World of Warcraft. The idea is for a guild leader to be able to transfer a guild to another realm. The guild structure remains intact, including the guild leader, guild bank, ranks, and guild name (depending on availability).
Guild members who decide to relocate with their guild may initiate their own paid character transfer. Upon a successful transfer they will automatically be part of the guild when they first log into the new realm. Their guild rank and guild reputation will be intact.
Guild leaders who do not want a change of scenery may also choose to pick a new guild name using another new service. These services are in development and we will be providing additional details at a future point in time.
As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the guild relocation service in a way that will not disrupt the game play experience. Please note that this feature will require extensive internal testing, so you may see bits and pieces of the service appear on the public test realms.
Guild members who decide to relocate with their guild may initiate their own paid character transfer. Upon a successful transfer they will automatically be part of the guild when they first log into the new realm. Their guild rank and guild reputation will be intact.
Guild leaders who do not want a change of scenery may also choose to pick a new guild name using another new service. These services are in development and we will be providing additional details at a future point in time.
As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the guild relocation service in a way that will not disrupt the game play experience. Please note that this feature will require extensive internal testing, so you may see bits and pieces of the service appear on the public test realms.
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Gennifurfur Mar 23rd 2011 1:20PM
I'm honestly more excited about the name change service they mentioned. Recently I inherited a guild from a good friend who moved to a different server. However, for some reason he named it something very silly and childish. I think our name is holding back our recruitment quite a bit. Understandably, no one wants to re-level a new guild from scratch just to change the name so this will be nice.
Meg Mar 23rd 2011 6:16PM
Just make a GM ticket to get it changed. I've changed many bank guilds' names before.
Ice Mar 23rd 2011 7:58PM
Thats actually pretty BS, I'm sorry.
GM's have allowed us to change guild names for years now.
And now they are making, possibly, paid service to change the name?
Are they aware that GM's have been doing these things at all or is this just blatantly paying for air? I mean yeah, its pixels and fonts but what I mean by air is that It's been free for years with very little effort attached to it from players who wished that (make ticket, wait, talk to GM and explain, he might allow to change it. Done).
Someone really has to explain about this to me, how does this differ and why should be suddenly pay for this?
And NO, I will NOT take "less time GMs to get bothered" as answer to play something like 10-20$ from something we've been doing for years free and thought it was no brainer.
Sunaseni Mar 24th 2011 2:24AM
Look at it this way, the time the GM spends changing your name is a wage that Blizzard has to pay. Obviously, they are not a charity case, so if they can simultaneously lower costs for them AND get some money, they are going to take that road.
Ice Mar 24th 2011 4:57AM
@Sunaseni
I doubt blizzard is paying GM's salary based on how much buttons they press while at their work nor they have to hire new GM's to "meet growing demand of people who want to change guild names" so thats not really the argument for it. Its hardly service that they must make as payment to ease GM's work, now is it. Theres so many other things to make easier time for GM's by mile other than making 0.1% cases possible as payment. Like the time they made report spam button or page for people who got their account hacked.
Changing guild name wont cost them anything already.
There is NO "everytime you press this button it will cost us 5$", I mean come on now they are changing letters here.
They have coded system like that in the past that allows it, they have tested the system internally, they have given GM's to press this button.
That might've costed them something in the past but that was their choice to spend time on to serve players/fans to make better product and customer service. And it was what, 4 years ago anyway so its pretty late to "ask that money back".
I mean sure, they are not doing charity etc etc business company, but thats already part of the game!
Its been free for years! Its ridiculous and I don't understand it.
Cephas Mar 23rd 2011 1:19PM
It's great that all that stuff can stay in tact through a server transfer especially now that guild perks and rep are in the game, but the biggest obstacle to transferring a whole guild has always been that it costs $25 per character. It doesn't sound like they're doing anything to change that.
Aggrajag Mar 23rd 2011 1:31PM
I agree entirely - I wish there was a way to move all your alts (or all alts in one guild) at once.
nieboh Mar 23rd 2011 1:23PM
Well, this sounds like a craptastic idea to me. So, a guild leader can decide to transfer their guild to a new server and we can either pay the ducats to transfer with them, or if we're cheap (or our wives won't let us spend extra for things like character transfers) we'll be out in the cold without the guild perks we worked so hard to help the guild get in the first place.
I understand that this could be good for some, so great. But I also think there is room for exploitation in the process, which Blizzard won't care about in the least because it's a potential huge revenue stream for them.
omedon666 Mar 23rd 2011 8:25PM
Screen your guild as much as they screen you. Don't join that guild.
Corath Mar 23rd 2011 1:23PM
While I think this is a great step in the right direction (I wish this was around when our guild moved back in October of 2010), I still wish there was a bulk character move option. Keep the $25 transfer fee, but add on an extra $5 for each extra character being transferred, for example.
Dessel Mar 23rd 2011 1:28PM
after moving 5 toons to my current server 3 of which also got faction changes, I will not be moving again till the price comes down. This will make it easier but, been there done that don't need to pay for it again.
loop_not_defined Mar 23rd 2011 5:06PM
I've moved so many times over the last 6 years, often because my life would change and so would my friends, that I can no longer justify spending $25 per character (especially with 6 years of investment in all those characters) to move once again.
As such, I'm now stuck on a server that's a full three time zones ahead of mine. It's left the possibility of raiding incredibly remote.
Kunikenwad! Mar 23rd 2011 1:33PM
Hmmm, a new mount in the Blizzard store and new paid services available soon. Sounds like Blizzard may be getting itself financially ready to absorb a bit of a hit for the coming quarter by bolstering other revenue streams. Perhaps cancelled subs are more of a problem than they are letting on?
Remember, the Star Pony and other paid services in mid-April of last year while most of us were in the ICC doldrums; discontent was high then too (although not even close to current levels).
kia Mar 23rd 2011 3:48PM
I agree with you 100%.
Jason Ralph Mar 23rd 2011 5:59PM
If this is the case, imagine what we get if SW:TOR is a hit and Blizzard loses even more subscriptions then.
Sterb Mar 23rd 2011 1:33PM
This sounds like a great idea...
for gold sellers. Now they'll be able to transfer even larger amounts between realms unless they put some really inconvenient limit on the guild bank transfer amount.
yateschris3105 Mar 23rd 2011 2:23PM
should be the guild gm be paying for all of them to move,not the guildies
Issac Mar 23rd 2011 3:05PM
Wonder if somehow they can transfer the guild over to SW:TOR....
matt vanhooser Mar 23rd 2011 2:59PM
They can do this, but they won't make bind on accounts able to be spent cross server? What crap
Antigone Mar 23rd 2011 3:12PM
If I'm not mistaken there was some technical reason BOAs couldn't be sent to other servers on the same account. This just might mean we'll get that capability. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I won't be surprised if that happens once they polish this up a bit.