realm-transfer
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WildStar announces paid realm transfers, path gear vendors
WildStar has now started offering the ability to purchase a transfer from one server to another. The paid realm transfers cost $19.99 a pop. The only caveats, apart from the price, are that players cannot transfer to select realms with full populations and that they may have to change their character's name if someone already has it on the destination realm. The team is also working on patching in path gear vendors. These new vendors will sell path rewards that players may have accidentally deleted.
Free Character Migrations available for EU players
If you're a European player looking for a new home, the search may just have gotten easier -- or at the very least, far less expensive. Blizzard is now offering free Character Migrations for players on certain EU realms. This process has been opened based on realm population tracking and analysis, and isn't available for every EU realm on the list. However, if you're on one of the lower population realms that has been listed, you can find yourself a sunny, higher-populated new home for free. Keep in mind that this offer is for European realms only -- US realms are not open for free transfers at this time, although that might change in the future. Also note that this is a Character Migration only -- Guild Master Realm Transfers are still available, but they remain a paid service. The full list of eligible realms, as well as the full post by Community Manager Takralus, is available after the break.
Character Services sale ends today
It's not easy being a troll monk. So, if you want to change your race, your faction, your appearance or your name, now's the time. There has been a sale on what Blizzard calls Character Services all week, which is basically all the above -- every paid service that your character can undergo. But this sale ends tonight, June 10th, at 11.59pm, so if you are twiddling your thumbs and wondering whether you should make that leap or not, then stop dilly-dallying and get on with it. You've got a matter of hours in the EU, and the sale ends at 11.59 Pacific time in the US. Do also have a look at what's included in other options when deciding to make changes to your characters. For example, an appearance change includes a name change, so if you want to call your character something new then maybe a new look would suit their new name better. Enjoy your new home, look, identity, or enemy.
Officers' Quarters: Don't start from scratch
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Something in human nature relishes the concept of "starting from scratch." Is it the blank slate that excites us? Is it the opportunity to let go of the past and forge a new destiny for ourselves? Is it the joy of creating versus the tedium of maintaining? In any event, I've received a lot of emails lately about this idea. Players have written me expressing a desire to create a new account or get a name change and then create a new guild on a new realm where they will be the guild leader. Usually it's a lone person or a duo. To all of these people, my most sincere advice is this: don't. And if you have no experience with leadership, especially don't. First I will explain why this is a bad idea. Then, because I hate to discourage anyone from taking up a leadership role (the game always needs more of you), I will give a few words of advice about how you should approach it. Finally, I will offer an alternative that may work out better for you in the long run. Read on if you want to know!
Breakfast Topic: Sorting out multiple-account and -character finances
Let's face it, the way we pay for WoW affects the way we play the game. So for us WoW-playing families, altaholics, and multiboxers, how about brainstorming some ways to nudge Blizzard into offering solid multiple-account discounts? Every single member of my family has played WoW at some point, and we might reactivate some of those accounts if there were a discount designed to keep family groups on the active rosters together. Of course, any discount system would need a way to prevent farmers and groups of players from trying to co-op their way to cheaper subscriptions. I believe there's currently a limit on how many accounts can be paid by a single credit card. What other checks and balances could you put on a discount system to keep it fair? Can we think of ways to set reasonable limits without requiring onerous levels of identification and verification? And what about the economics of server transfers? It seems logical that there be a financially reasonable alternative for moving an entire realm's worth of characters from one realm to another -- or at least some discount for multiple characters. I know so many players who categorically rule out transfers that would improve their quality of life (scheduling, realm population, raiding groups, friendships...) because they can't afford to move all the characters they've grown to love. Give us your ideas! Because when it comes to our characters in WoW, it unfortunately takes more than love to keep us together.
WoW Italian language pack, Italian realms now available
If you'd been waiting for an Italian version of World of Warcraft, your wait is now over. Blizzard has released an Italian language pack that will convert all text and voice files in game from English to Italian. In addition to this, Blizzard has also opened two new Italian realms available for Italian-speaking players. If you've been wanting to play WoW in Italian, now's your chance -- you can transfer to either Pozzo dell'Eternità (PvE) or Nemesis (PvP). Because of the new realms, Blizzard is also offering players free character migrations. Check the official post for details on installation of the Italian language pack as well as the free character migration. And while you're there, you can view the cinematic trailer for Mists of Pandaria in Italian, too.
New Attitude, New Home: The warm, fuzzy tale of the guild realm transfer that stuck
Fun and games -- that was the original focus of this article. I was all set to write up a good old-fashioned romp through the community-wide events being run over on Baelgun (US-Horde). As it turns out, the resounding success of Bless the Martyr's public events -- kicked off with a Gurubashi tourney and chased by current plans for a level 1 draenei footrace -- are merely pointers toward an even happier turn of events. This is the story of a competitive raiding guild that had already transferred realms once in order to escape the inevitable neck and neck with another world-class raiding guild. It was an all-business move that worked. Their leadership was still solidifying, though, and some members' conduct was less than stellar. They didn't cement the realm as a friendly home. With a new leader and a new attitude, Bless the Martyr found themselves in agreement that it was time to pick up and scoot their stuff to a new realm yet again. Would they be able to find the sense of community they craved? How long could they expect to spend as the new kids on the block? Would their transfer upset the apple cart, saddling them with a realm full of resentful players shrugging off every chance at interaction? Would established raiding guilds slam the welcome wagon door in their faces?
25 percent off character transfers this weekend
Last weekend we had a discount on faction transfers, and this week Blizzard has confirmed that there will be a discount on realm transfers! Betting will shortly open on the nature of next weekend's sale. Realm transfers are offered all the time, of course, allowing you to pack your character's bags and shift them, their bank, their mounts, pets, and all their holdings to a new realm. This discount decreases the price from $25, £15 or €20 to $18.75, £11.25 or €15. (American prices are subject to tax in certain areas.) The realm transfer sale ends on July 23 -- Monday -- so get your skates on! Do check out the Character Transfer FAQ if you're curious about any aspect of the service. Importantly, you should note that a character transfer doesn't include a faction change, race change, class change, or appearance change. Also, a goblin doesn't really fire you out of a cannon. New horizons await! Through this weekend and for a limited time only, you can initiate a Character Transfer to move one of your World of Warcraft characters to a new realm for 25% off the regular price. To get started, simply click here. Alternatively, you can log in to your Battle.net account at www.battle.net, select your World of Warcraft account, and then click "Character Transfer" at the bottom of the page. Don't delay -- this offer ends Monday, July 23. source So, if you have ever fancied a change of scenery -- well, OK, not scenery, but the people steering the avatars within it -- or if you fancy going from a PvP to a PvE realm or back again, now's the time! Carpe diem, people. Who knows when this will roll around again?
Reflections on moving from a PvP to a PvE realm
Truthfully, I had no business ever rolling on a PvP server. I only went there because some friends went there, and I stayed there out of habit. For years, I moved in the shadows, keeping one eye warily over my shoulder, with all buffs active at all times and the button for my flying mount at the ready. When I left cities, it was only to touch ground for the briefest of moments -- grab the herb, pick the ore, kill the mob, and get the hell out. Indeed, there's a certain pride in surviving on a PvP server, like a rabbit reveling in its luck of returning to the burrow at the end of a long, perilous day. I've been through multiple expansion launches and patch events and been ganked at exotic locales from Hellfire Peninsula to Quel'danas to the Molten Front to Mount Hyjal. Over time, you learn to subsist from that extra adrenaline. Even if you loathe world PvP, your body feeds off of it. The heightened sense of perception becomes exhilarating. That first terrifying moment when you realize you are under attack and fight or flight instincts kick in -- there's something in that emotional response that resonates with our most primal underpinnings. And yet, a month ago, I gave it all up. I transferred from a PvP realm to a PvE one -- and immediately, it felt like an alien landscape.
Blizzard extends new guild services to additional realms
As promised, Blizzard's been slowing rolling out its new guild services to new realms. It's now added the Whirlwind and Emberstorm battlegroups and will continue to add more realms in the coming weeks. Guild services include realm transfer, name change, and faction change, among other things. You can read the complete FAQ at our original announcement post, and after the break, find a list of both the previously available realms and a list of the newly added realms.
Guild Realm Transfer, Faction Change and other services now available
Do you want to rename your guild, move to a new server, or change the guild's faction? Now you can! Blizzard's just announced the new Guild Services, and they're a fairly extensive lot. Having jumped servers with guilds twice now, and having seen a guild jump both servers and factions, I think this is pretty darn exciting news for anyone considering any of these changes. It'll help with holding on to guild resources, guild identity, and should make that horrible feeling of being on a new server without a tag waiting for someone to scoop you back up a thing of the past. You can read the text of the announcement at the official site and we'll have it after the jump, of course.
Breakfast Topic: How do you find a new realm to call home?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Home. It's where the heart is. It's where you can relax and be yourself. Sometimes, it is where you have been all your life. Other times, you have to move around several times to find the best place for you. The feeling of home in World of Warcraft is no different. Because of a lack of guild activity, I've thought about moving my main to a new realm for several weeks now, but I have been hesitant to just do it. Part of it is the anxiety that comes with going to an unfamiliar realm. I've done research on several different realms and even rolled low-level characters on them to see what the environment is like, but the one thing I've learned is that you can't get a sense of what the raiding scene is like unless you are in it. The other part of my anxiety is getting to know everyone all over again. Sometimes, the hardest part of moving to a new town is introducing yourself to the neighbors. I thought about rerolling but have too much invested in my main to retire him. So, fellow citizens of Azeroth, how did you find your WoW home? Is it the first realm you rolled on? Did you transfer somewhere else or reroll altogether?
Paid character transfers time restrictions slashed
Eyonix has just announced that lockout time for paid character transfers has been reduced to 3 days from its previous 30. This means that you can now transfer your character to a new realm using the paid transfer service once every three days instead of once every thirty.This is especially useful for raiders and PvPers who move to a new realm to join a guild, and then find out that the guild doesn't work for them. There are also tens of thousands of horror stories about people moving between servers only to find that their new guilds disbands a few days later. This will be a significant boon to people who find themselves in that situation.The cost of the paid character transfers remain at $25 for a one way ticket.
Free EU character migrations
There are a handful of free EU character transfers to report on today, all focused on the faction differences on the realm Magtheridon.Now Magtheridon was always a pain in the butt in the days before his colossal nerf. It was a big challenge when BC was released to coordinate a couple groups of five people to click on cubes all at one time. I'd always say on vent very calmly: "Three, two... one... click-click-click. Good work. Break." Or "Three, two... one... click-click-click. Terrible. Wipe it."Does that obnoxious and repetitious pattern which still haunts me in my dreams have anything to do with the character migrations? Probably not.The full list of realms after the break.
Some free realm transfers extended and changed
Bornakk posted an update on some of the free realm transfers that have been going on. All transfers to the Drak'Tharon realm have been shut down. They have extended the timeframe to transfer to the Oceanic realm Gundrak. Saurfang is now also eligible to transfer to Gundrak. Transfers to Gundrak will now close down on Monday, December 8th at 12:00 p.m. PST. Be sure to transfer early (like, tonight) if you want to. They have been shutting down transfers early when their quotas are met.The full list of eligible transfer realms after the break.
Gold limit increased for character transfers
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...
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.
Oceanic Alliance characters to get free PvE to PvP transfers
If you're a regular reader of our Guildwatch feature, you may remember hearing about the woes of the Oceanic PvP realm Thaurissan on the last Guildwatch. The server is incredibly Horde heavy, with an estimated 14 to 1 imbalance, and the server denizens say it is genuinely near impossible to get 25 people together to do raid content on the Alliance side. Unfortunately , we also know that Blizzard is still firmly against PvE to PvP realm transfers, which may be preventing Thaurissan from getting the influx of new blood they need. However, for the sake of Thaurissan's Alliance, they have suspended this restriction. Starting today, June 12th, and ending no later than June 19th, Alliance characters (and only Alliance characters) from the Oceanic PvE realms Nagrand, Aman'thul, and Khaz'goroth will be eligible for free transfers to the Thaurissan realm. Blizzard reserves the right to close transfers early if they meet their goals, so if you're eligible and you want to go, you'd better get that request in now. This is not the first time they've done this type of thing. Over two years ago, a large cluster of PvE realms were given the opportunity to transfer to the Black Dragonflight and Dalvengyr PvP servers. Thus, it seems that they can be convinced to waive their restrictions on transfers, but that a chance to do so may only come up once every 2 years. Good luck to everyone transferring to Thaurissan, and hopefully this gives the Thaurissan Alliance the shot in the arm they need to get their end game going.
Character Transfer Affecting Add-Ons?
In the wake of the paid character transfer service going live recently, a few players have apparently been experiencing some issues with their custom interfaces & add-ons after transferring their characters. Reader Sean Bonner reports that after his characters' move to the Eitrigg realm yesterday, he has been having many add-on problems, and this post over at Metroblogging also reports similar issues."6 months worth of interface development and addon fine tuning is UP IN SMOKE. When I started up...on Eitrigg all my custom interface, addons and macro preferences got left behind on Stormrage, or at least in the Stormrage folder. I figured out how to move my macro files over and now all 60 of my macros are available. But, I can't figure out which addon .lua files to move to restore my add-on preferences. I've made copies and dropped them in all the folders I can think of with no luck." Have any of you who have also transferred your characters experienced any problems after the move? Blizzard, any news on why this might be occurring? Chime in if you have any info on this problem; hopefully this can be brought to Blizzard's attention & the issues addressed.
