Free character transfers open from Outland-EU to select EU realms
by Chase Hasbrouck 
Oct 12th 2011 at 2:30PM
According to Warcraft Realms, all three destination realms are very lightly populated, which is likely the rationale behind this offer. Transfers will only be available until Oct. 18, so if you need a fresh start, now's your chance!
Free Character Migration (FCM)
The below FCM is available until October 18 2011. The migrations are open to both factions:
From: Outland
To: Agamaggan
To: Burning Steppes
To: Vashj
From: Outland
To: Agamaggan
To: Burning Steppes
To: Vashj
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Reathren Oct 12th 2011 2:41PM
Join us on vashj alliance! Fight the good fight! We need YOU!
Hanak Oct 12th 2011 5:55PM
Yes, please join EU Vashj-A. It gets so lonely with only the five of us in trade, I'd like to chat with at least one new player this month. (Yes, seriously the chat is empty of comments more often than not.)
Re: the dismal economy: Have a horde (no pun intended) of alts and you'll have less of a problem with the AH.
Nyold Oct 12th 2011 2:43PM
Maybe I'm missing something. If you are in a densely populated server, why would you want to move to a lightly populated one?
If you are casual, then the populated server would have a more stable economy, which suits your casual playing style better. You won't have to camp AH just to get things "while they're cheap." Prices won't fluctuate as much.
If you are a raider, then the populated server will have better quality pugs, more enchanter who would have high end enchants, etc.
matias.soad Oct 12th 2011 2:57PM
Hmm i think that a hardcore raider could swap to a very low populated realm just to get the realm first.
Sakinah Oct 12th 2011 2:59PM
There's also the issue of:
a.) if you're casual on a crowded server, having wait times to even log in upwards of an hour isn't really beneficial, and economy no way outweighs that...
And
b.) As an inhabitant of a low-pop server, I'm going to admit being appalled at the assumption that population is a guarantee of quality or services. On the whole, I've found as many high-quality palyers on my tiny realm as I have on any larger server I've ever played on- and more people with high-end enchants that consistently make their services available without having to spam for an hour in trade.
Server density is only a guarantee of greater potential frequency, not quality of any level at all.
So offering free transfers to places is often a benefit to both the player taking advantage and their new homes. It makes lots of sense for lots of people, including those looking for a greater sense of community. ....just my two cents, anyway.
Bellajtok Oct 12th 2011 2:59PM
Personal problems, a dislike of the server culture, or maybe they want a different type of server..... And also, "densely populated" doesn't always mean "better progressed".
lady.silverdragon Oct 12th 2011 3:25PM
I would hate to be on a heavily populated server. I have only had to wait to log on once, on the night wrath launched, and even though I only waited for five minutes I was annoyed by it. I can't imagine waiting an hour or more on a regular basis to log in.
Nyold Oct 12th 2011 3:28PM
I apologize if I seem to be implying that heavily-populated servers are for sure filled with better quality players. It was just my impression from my limited sample of 4 servers x 2 factions. If you do think about it, there's no reason why numbers would correlate with quality. But the fact remains that it's still easier to find pugs, and there are more people with enchants, etc.
jfofla Oct 12th 2011 3:16PM
Why would you move?
Because it's free and you are a cheap bastard!
Samuel Oct 12th 2011 3:59PM
Having a toon in a small guild on a low population server (Haomarush) I can say the worst thing about them is the economy. Trying to buy a gem or an enchant is astronomicly expensive, because there is no competition, and in some cases there the item is not available at all. I run around with BC gems in some slots just so I can get the slot bonus, and am still waiting after two weeks after sending gems to be cut to the only JC in the guild with the pattern.
You can overcome this if you have so many alts that you are an economy unto yourself (as I have on my main server), or if you are in a large cohesive guild. But if not think twice about going to a low pop server.
Neil T. Oct 12th 2011 4:27PM
I actually moved to Outland a few months ago after most of my friends moved there - while it's nice to be on a busy server where there's lots of activity, I now have to queue to join it most evenings. Hopefully a few people will take advantage of this to bring the queues down...
Sadcow Oct 12th 2011 4:30PM
I moved to a low pop server during one of these free moves, worst mistake ever. You all know the reasons but worst of all once you move you are stuck there forever. Blizzard will never allow free moves from low population realms. Yes you could pay to move but with ten characters at $25 a pop, no thanks.
Carlos Oct 12th 2011 4:43PM
Why would you transfer all your toons?
If I were given the choice to transfer one of my toons from my High-Populated realm to a Low-Populated one, I would probably just transfer my Death Knight. I get the chance to have a "fresh start" per se, but, if things don't work out, I'd just have to level a DK once again. No big deal.
terph Oct 12th 2011 4:53PM
@Carlos, I would want to transfer my toons together because they have complimentary trades.
My pally is by far the best geared, and would be my natural pick for a move since I play her the most. But it would be awfully difficult without my network of alts keeping her well supplied.
My main has engineering/mining. Her enchants/gems are covered by my DK, and my shammy's herbing/alchemy also helps with transmutes and flasks. I can generate a lot of money working the 3 of them. To a lesser extent, my rogue's skinning/LW helps as well.
Jinx Oct 12th 2011 4:41PM
EU-Skullcrusher absolutely sucks. Our numbers have been going down steadily since 3.3 and maybe earlier. At the moment, we have 2 or 3 10 man raiding guilds and 1 25 man raiding guild on alliance side. It's a big contributing factor to why I cant bring myself to play anymore. As for transferring, I have too many alts and considering I'm going to get majorly distracted by Skyrim and Diablo 3 soon means it's not worth the investment :(.
Smango Oct 12th 2011 5:36PM
They really need to consolidate some of the low population realms, I just don't know how they could accomplish it. I know they don't like the idea because it makes it look like they are losing players (which they are) and it would cause problems with people having identical names or guild names. Someone would have to be forced to rename their characters but how could you do that fairly?
Pyromelter Oct 12th 2011 10:30PM
Having played around with Rift a bit, I can tell you exactly how they can do this, and it's way easier than you think.
First, blizz has to decide on which server or servers to shut down. This is mandatory - a consolidation without shutting servers is not a real consolidation.
Next, allow free transfers off those realms to any realm. Yes, I said any realm. Restricting it to other low pop servers means that people are being forced off their server without any real choice.
Finally, when you transfer, if your name is taken on the new server, you get a free name change.
Using this system in Rift, I was able to transfer my dude from a dying realm to another in about 15 seconds. Building a transfer service right on the character selection screen goes a long way to helping that out.
Nick Oct 13th 2011 5:00AM
I'm sure I read the reason they can't, or won't, merge 2 realms directly is even the 2 smallest realms would create a behemoth of a realm.
Going down the rift route is good, but those on high pop servers did feel aggrieved about lengthening queue times.
Branden Oct 12th 2011 7:27PM
Blizz needs to show some love to Azshara (US) :_(. Its been dead and dying for the longest and there have been several threads petitioning for it.
Trinity Oct 13th 2011 7:35AM
I'm actually hoping there is more to this than meets the eye.
Having played on Horde and currently playing Alliance, having re-rolled toons on other servers due to friendships and colleagues, I have characters littered over more servers than I care to admit.
I so wish Blizzard would allow free character transfers sometime in the future, that said, I'm not holding my breath, but just maybe there is a small maybe that this might be a trial run.
And if that be the case, I'll be moving all my chars to one server just so they can support one another, because goodness knows how many times I'll be rolling another char just for the sake of gathering professions.
It's about time Blizzard also realises that you can only play one char at a time per account, and population is not determined by the amount of characters created on a server, but the amount of active accounts at a given moment in time.