Posts with tag Character-Transfer

I've been known to wax poetic about the good old days of vanilla World of Warcraft from time to time. I have lots of crazy good memories about the early days of the game -- exploring the world, playing through quests that are now long gone, raiding old content when it was current, that sort of thing. And I've followed the story of Warcraft along the way, delighting the various ways its changed and shifted over the years. It's no secret that I loved the early days of WoW -- heck, I've been playing this game for seven years now. Something's kept me sticking around, right?

Every now and again, I'll have a conversation with a friend that starts with said friend asking, "Hey, Anne! You like vanilla WoW. If they ever released a server that was just vanilla WoW with nothing else on it, would you play it?" And then there's a moment where I think about that. I think about the first day I was presented with the character selection screen, going over my choices with wide-eyed delight. I think about the night elf druid I made, and the months spent exploring this shiny new world. I think of my Forsaken priest and the hours of fun I had raiding with 39 other people.

And then I say to my friend, "No. Oh, no no no. Heck no."

As of yesterday afternoon and lasting through January 28th at 2:00 PM PST, a number of free realm transfers have opened up in the US in an attempt to repair some harsh population imbalance. Bornakk does warn, however, that if they fulfill the transfer quota before January 28th, they will end transfers early so they don't end up in the exact same situation on opposite ends. If any of the below transfer offers suit your fancy, get it done before it's too late.

What's interesting is that in a few of these instances, they're only extended the offer to Horde players. These servers include Illidan, Mal'Ganis, and Warsong. Considering Mal'Ganis is home to the infamous Goon Squad, this isn't the most surprising thing in the world. Interesting, yes. Surprising? Not in the slightest.

For further information on the available transfers, hit the forum thread. You can also check out the source and destination realms behind the cut below.

With the Azeroth-shaking announcement of paid faction changes, it seems like one of the last barriers to character re-customization have been broken down. Who would have thought that we could switch allegiances four years ago? The World of Warcraft has certainly come a long way since it launched. One of the big changes back then was allowing players to transfer realms -- initially disallowing PvE-to-PvP transfers but that restriction was eventually lifted. That was shocking news then, but then Blizzard opened the door for names and even gender changes.

What we're essentially seeing is Blizzard's own clever version of microtransactions. Sure, we can't buy powerful items like those in free-to-play games (which will soon become endangered in China...), but we can pay real money to cater to our vanity or convenience. I've paid several times for server transfers, name changes, and even character re-customization. My wife grumbles whenever I shell out real money for those things, but I'm sure she'd pay to morph her former main, a Troll Priest, into a Blood Elf in a heartbeat. Even Matthew Rossi would pay good money to turn his Human Warrior into a huge-like-Rossi Draenei. There's only one problem, though -- they can't. Race change is one thing Blizzard hasn't given the go signal to... yet.

Anything's possible, though. Years ago, Blizzard unequivocally said that they would never allow PvE to PvP realm transfers. See how that turned out. What other paid services do you think Blizzard lacks? You probably already know that I'm all for race change as part of character re-customization. But how about paying for levels? I mean, despite all the changes they've made to make leveling easier, I abhor it. I'd gladly shell out some cash to get a high-level character right off the bat. What other paid World of Warcraft services do you think the game needs or players want?

Free character migrations were opened yesterday to the Latin American PvP realm Drakkari. The transfers will go until May 15 at 1:00 PM PDT (aproximadamente). Players on any of the following realms are eligible to transfer:

Agamaggan, Alexstrasza, Alleria, Andorhal, Anetheron, Archimonde, Azshara, Baelgun, Balnazzar, Blackhand, Dalaran, Dalvengyr, Dark Iron, Dentarg, Destromath, Dethecus, Detheroc, Duskwood, Emerald Dream, Executus, Garona, Gorgonnash, Greymane, Gul'dan, Haomarush, Hellscream, Illidan, Kael'thas, Kalecgos, Khadgar, Kirin Tor, Lightninghoof, Maelstrom, Malfurion, Moonrunner, Nazjatar, Norgannon, Ravencrest, Sargeras, Scilla, Spinebreaker, Staghelm, Steamwheedle Cartel, Stormreaver, Thrall, Turalyon, Twisting Nether, Ursin, Whisperwind, Wildhammer, Ysera, Ysondre, Zuluhed

As Bornakk notes, "keep in mind that this is a Latin American realm and people may speak a language other than your own" - which is to say, expect to see a lot of Spanish.

In honor of patch day, Blizzard have opened up some free character transfers on many US realms. These are open now and scheduled to run until Tuesday, April 21 at noon PDT.

• PvP:
  • From: Blackrock, Tichondrius, Emerald Dream, Lethon, Warsong
  • To: Ursin, Ysondre, Nazjatar, Gul'dan
• PvE:
  • From: Aggramar, Borean Tundra, Aerie Peak, Azuremyst, Proudmoore, Bronzebeard, Anvilmar, Alexstrasza, Blade's Edge, Silvermoon, Dragonblight, Bladefist, Antonidas, Arygos, Cairne
  • To: Nesingwary, Garrosh, Winterhoof
• RP:
  • From: Feathermoon, Cenarion Circle, Earthen Ring, Argent Dawn, Moon Guard
  • To: Wyrmrest Accord

I worry about their servers slightly, between patch traffic and these character moves, but we'll see if they can take it. This is more server transfers than we usually see at one time. I'm intrigued to see Arygos on there, since it really doesn't feel like a high-population realm to me, at least not on the Horde side. So who's moving?

In their continuing efforts to bring some faction balance to Magtheridon (EU), Blizzard has refreshed free character transfers off of the server for Horde, and onto the server for Alliance. These transfers are scheduled to run from today until Feburary 10:

• Magtheridon -> Haomarush, Tarren Mill, Trollbane, Zenedar, Silvermoon (Horde only)
• Aerie Peak, Aggramar, Alonsus, Arathor, Azjol-Nerub, Bronze Dragonflight, Bronzebeard, Eonar, Hellscream, Khadgar, Lightbringer, Kilrogg, Kul Tiras, Silvermoon, Terenas, Turalyon -> Magtheridon (Alliance only)

In addition, the following transfers are now open for European players of either faction:

• Al'Akir, Stormscale -> Vek'nilash, Xavius
• Burning Legion, Grim Batol -> Boulderfist, Trollbane
• Crushridge, Sylvanas -> Chromaggus, Haomarush
• Kazzak, Ravencrest -> Laughing Skull, Sunstrider
• Outland, Twilight's Hammer -> Daggerspine, Lightning's Blade
• Ragnaros, Shattered Hand -> Kor'gall, Shattered Halls
• Argent Dawn -> Steamwheedle Cartel, The Sha'tar

These also are scheduled to run until the 10th of this month, and like all other transfers may close early if the desired population levels are reached.

Magtheridon players, have you noticed an improvement in the faction balance since they started pumping Alliance in and Horde out? WarcraftRealms is now showing a 1:16 population ratio overall on that server, which is much better than the 1:67 ratio it was showing when the transfers started (but still pretty bad).

A new batch of fre realm transfers have opened up for European servers, which is always a good thing. A lot of these transfers are ones we've seen before though, so hopefully this time around these options will be more successful than they may have been previously. We also have a whole load of transfers opening up to EU-Magtheridon specifically for the Alliance, so they're continuing to try and repair the faction imbalance there. Right now, we're looking at...

• Horde players on EU-Magtheridon may transfer to Haomarush, Tarren Mill, Trollbane, Zenedar, and Silvermoon.
• Alliance players may transfer to EU-Magtheridon from Aerie Peak, Aggramar, Alonsus, Aszune, Azjol-Nerub, Bronze Dragonflight, Bronzebeard, Emerald Dream, Eonar, Khadgar, Kul Tiras, Runetotem, Shadowsong, Silvermoon, and Turalyon.

Check behind the cut below for the rest of the current free character transfers.

Good evening, US WoW players. I've just received a priority message from Zarhym, your favorite floating skull: many North American PvP, RP, and RP-PvP realms now have transfers available! The following transfers are scheduled to run until Tuesday, February 3, at 5:00 PST:

• Source A (PvP): Azgalor, Bloodscalp (Horde transfers only), Cho'gall (Horde transfers only), Crushridge, Dark Iron, Darkspear, Deathwing, Drak'Tharon, Dunemaul, Firetree, Gorefiend, Nathrezim, Shadowmoon, Smolderthorn, Spinebreaker, Stormscale, Tortheldrin, WildHammer
• Destination A (PvP): Malorne, Scilla
• Source B (RP): Argent Dawn, Cenarion Circle, Earthen Ring, Feathermoon, Moon Guard, Scarlet Crusade, Shadow Council
• Destination B (RP): Wyrmrest Accord
• Source C (RP-PvP): Maelstrom, Twisting Nether
• Destination C: Scilla (PvP), Wyrmrest Accord (RP)

Hey, that includes my own native realm, Shadow Council. But I'm never moving; I love that place.

In addition, the following PvE transfers will be enabled this Thursday, January 29, at 6 PM PST, and are scheduled to run until Monday, February 2, at 6 PM PST:

• Source D (PvE): Arygos, Alestrasza, Shadowsong, Eonar, Hyjal
• Destination D (PvE): Winterhoof

As ever, transfers may close early if the desired population levels are reached, so go ahead and transfer early if you intend to do it.

Man, you'd think they're trying to achieve realm population balance or something. Blizzard has just opened up yet another round of free character transfers for the European realms, these scheduled to be active from now until Tuesday, January 27. Some of these transfers are simply extensions of the last round, and some are brand-new.

• Horde-only: Magtheridon -> Haomarush, Tarren Mill, Trollbane, Zenedar
• Alliance-only: Alonsus, Aszune, Bronze Dragonflight, Bronzebeard, Emerald Dream, Eonar, Kul Tiras, Runetotem, Shadowsong, Silvermoon -> Magtheridon

Both factions:

• Al'Akir, Ravencrest -> Kor'gall, Lightning's Blade
• Burning Legion, Crushridge -> Vek'nilash, Xavius
• Grim Batol, Twilight's Hammer -> Dentarg, Dragonmaw
• Outland, Kazzak -> Burning Steppes, Haomarush
• Shattered Hand, Stormreaver -> Genjuros, Trollbane
• Stormscale, Sylvanas -> Spinebreaker, Zenedar
• Argent Dawn -> Darkmoon Faire, Steamwheedle Cartel, The Sha'tar

Move early if you want to move, because transfers can be closed if the desired goals are met (i.e. world domination). So who's saying goodbye to their home server and leaving to a new world?

Back in late October and early November, you may (or may not) remember that Blizzard was having some substantial issues with their character transfer system. To prepare for the release of Wrath of the Lich King, there was an epic number of people moving characters around for one reason or another. A problem came up where some characters were getting lost in limbo along the way. Stuck, and unable to be played.

One of our readers wrote in this morning with a followup, and it seems that everyone who had issues is being granted a 15-day playtime credit on their account to make up for it. Half a month across the board is a pretty substantial credit, especially considering many of the people we've heard from were only locked out of their characters for a couple of days. I'm sure we'd all prefer there was never a problem to begin with, but this is a pretty generous compensation if true. I was impressed when they gave everyone a three day credit awhile back.

If you've ever worried about how to bring all your Gold with you when moving to another server, you should rejoice at this recent bit of news. Blizzard announced at the forums earlier today that characters Level 70 and above may now bring up to 20,000 Gold when transferring to another realm. This limit was previously set at 10,000 Gold for Level 70 characters, although the limits for other character levels do not appear to have been raised. This feature will become available on November 4, after the regular weekly maintenance.

This should come as welcome news to some players who find that accumulating money in the current environment has become increasingly easier with daily quests and increased activity in the Auction Houses. The amount is still a far cry from the maximum amount of Gold a character can possess, but it's enough Gold to purchase a Grand Caravan Mammoth, currently the most expensive item in the Wrath Beta, with some change to spare. I'm not certain why there's a Gold limit to begin with, especially for max-level characters, but the raised cap should ease the burden for some well-heeled characters when making the leap. With a mere 300 Gold to my name, it's not something I think I'll be concerned with for quite some time, though...

Since PvE to PvP transfer option became available, I've kept a close eye on my own realm to see if there'd be any discernible change to transfer patterns both on and off. As far as I can tell -- no. I've seen a few people transfer off but there doesn't seem to be any more so than usual. Only a few players did so purely for the purpose of PvPing on a different battlegroup, and most of them, like Zach Yonzon, had previously been PvP-realm transfers or rerolls anyway.

The flood of high-level PvE to PvP transfers gloomily predicted by many doesn't seem to have materialized. People who'd rather play on a PvE realm are doing just that, and most of the people who'd rather play on a PvP realm were already there (never saw that one coming, eh?). I thought at the time that Blizzard's decision would probably have its biggest impact, not on PvP players, but on PvE raiders who had previously been restricted to recruiting PvP-to-PvP, PvE-to-PvE or (much less commonly) PvP-to-PvE only. If you've ever been in a raiding guild which found great recruits from the "wrong" kind of realm, you're probably familiar with what a headache that was.

I play on a medium population PvE realm that launched when Burning Crusade hit. Since we're not really at the cutting edge of either PvE or PvP content as a result, mine is probably a bad sample size as we're not a hotbed of transfers either way. So, I'm not sure if my own experience is representative. If you're playing on a medium-to-high population realm, either PvE or PvP, are you noticing any difference to the traffic patterns, on or off? If you're on a low-population realm, has your situation improved or worsened?

I've waited for this opportunity for years. When my wife and friends decided to re-roll on a PvP server in early 2006, I had already spent weeks after weeks of sleepless nights grinding through the punishing decaying Honor system. I was a couple of weeks removed from the next rank but we had all decided to move on. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make in the game.

Over the course of the past years, I would pay my original characters -- an Undead Rogue and a Troll Hunter -- on our first server, the occasional visit. I missed playing them a whole lot, but I could never bring myself to play them seriously on a normal realm. I created a Blood Elf Rogue and a Tauren Hunter on our new home but it just wasn't the same. I missed my Ressan the Needler, a pet I'd had since Level 11. I missed my Rogue in a twill suit. I wanted nothing more than to bring over my original guys to where we were playing now.

Of course, up until two days ago, that wasn't possible. Their original reasoning, that it was easier to level on a normal server than on a PvP server, no longer held true. To be honest, I didn't think it was that big a deal two years ago. In fact, I relished it. I enjoyed the idea that there was real danger lurking everywhere, and that enemies could kill me -- and I could kill them in turn -- at any time. But the truth is, the dreaded griefing happened so occasionally I could count the number of times I got frustrated on one hand. Maybe even two fingers.

Bornakk announced last night that selected US PvP realms will be given free character moves starting at Noon pacific time today, July 10th, and ending on July 17th. As always, Blizzard does reserve the right to close transfers early once their quotas are met, so be sure to get your transfer request in as early as possible if you plan to move. Once the transfers are open, you can visit the character move page to request a transfer.

The realm transfers are as follows:

• Characters from the Barthilas and Frostmourne realms may move to the Dreadmaul realm.
• Characters from the Illidan, Mal'ganis, and Warsong realms may move to the Zuluhed realm.

Drysc responded strongly to some QQ over at the forums when a poster from Kil'jaeden -- a PvP realm -- ranted about being griefed by high level characters while leveling up. Drysc's uncompromising response? Get some friends and fight back. He reasons that if players roll on a PvP server, they should expect to be griefed as part of the leveling process. It's the same philosophy that has prevented Blizzard from allowing character transfers from PvE to PvP realms. It really only makes sense. If players roll on a PvP server, they shouldn't complain about players from the opposing faction taking advantage of the fact that they're flagged for PvP.

As Drysc explains, "the rules of war are based around attacking when the odds are in your favor". This could mean when opponents outnumber you, outlevel you, when you're low in health and/or if you're engaged with multiple mobs... the question isn't whether it's honorable or fair. It's war. In a PvP server, everything is fair game. There are no rules, and players certainly shouldn't bother sending tickets to GMs asking for any help (or sympathy). This should probably be common sense, but Drysc's somewhat provocative response is something of a surprise -- to many players a welcome one. While I'm all for etiquette (ganking a fisherman is just plain rude) and a personal sense of honor, players who roll on a PvP server know what they signed up for. Shape up or ship out -- character transfers, after all, are just a click away.