PvE-to-PvP-transfer
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Free realm transfers to lower-population servers
It's that time of year again -- the time when certain realms are filled to the brim, making them nigh unplayable. The release of Cataclysm has hit specific U.S. realms hard, and Blizzard is offering to help balance out population issues. To make life easier on these servers, Blizzard is offering free realm transfers to lower-population servers. The high-populations realms are: Barthilas (Oceanic-PvP) Blackrock (US-PvP) Frostmourne (Oceanic-PvP) Illidan (US-PvP) Kel'Thuzad (US-PvP) Kil'jaeden (US-PvP) Tichondrius (US-PvP) The destination realms are as follows: Altar of Storms (US-PvP) Arathor (US-PvE) Fenris (US-PvE) Garrosh (US-PvE) Grizzly Hills (US-PvE) Gul'dan (US-PvP) Gundrak (Oceanic-PvP) Nazjatar (US-PvP) Shattered Halls (US-PvP) The Forgotten Coast (US-PvP) Blizzard has stated that while these transfers are still free, they are subject to end once the destination realms fill up. So if you or your guild are planning a move, you should start now to avoid any complications. Most questions on free realm transfers should be on this handy FAQ. As always, a realm transfer to any of the ones not listed still requires a paid character transfer.
PvE to PvP transfer impact
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?
Coming home to PvP
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.
