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WildStar opens up free, indefinite megaserver transfers
How's your server's population in WildStar since the switch to megaservers? Does it still feel a little empty? Community manager Tony Rey says that the team has heard the complaints that the PvP servers are quiet, and the team is responding by opening up indefinite free transfers between the PvE and PvP megaservers in both directions. You can move your PvE character to the PvP megaserver as you wish, and vice versa. Rey says that while the team was initially happy with the stats on the PvP realms, the EU PvP megaserver in particular had certain difficulties with player numbers after PvP-to-PvE transfers were opened up but before the megaservers went live. Having free transfers in place does carry the risk of allowing people to level on a PvE server only to transfer over at the level cap, but players are assured that the team is watching for shenanigans and will shut down untoward transfers. These transfers are currently open for an indefinite period of time; Carbine will decide whether or not these free transfers will remain in place after monitoring the health of the server system.
Blizzard offering free server transfers to offset Mists of Pandaria queues
Mists of Pandaria queues got you down? Our sister site sussed out the fact that Blizzard is offering free time-limited realm transfers for some North American World of Warcraft servers. If you're on one of eight high-population realms, you can migrate immediately (though you can't choose your destination shard). Blizzard says that guilds may also move as long as the leader purchases a Guild Master Realm Transfer, after which point the remaining member migrations will be free of charge. Head to WoW Insider for full details.
Blizzard offering some free realm transfers in the US
If you are on a server with a long queue, you may be able to transfer to another server for free. Blizzard has announced that characters on eight high population servers can migrate at this time. Each transfer is to a specific realm (or two) similar to the original -- you cannot choose the realm. Guilds can transfer over together if the GM purchases a Guild Master Realm Transfer to the destination server first. All of the remaining migrations will be free. Note: Once the destination servers fill up, the free transfers will end for that server. The full post from Bashiok with complete details is after the break.
SWTOR launches in the Asia Pacific region
Jury-rigged methods to create an Oceanic server are needed no longer: Star Wars: The Old Republic has officially launched -- a day early! -- in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore. BioWare is offering both the standard and digital deluxe version (the latter through Origin) for sale to interested space jockeys. The prices for both the client and subscriptions are in step with what we've seen from the North American and European product. Asia Pacific players who not only jump on board but either subscribe or use a 60-day game card by the end of April will also receive a Founder's Medal, which grants an in-game title. BioWare is aware that many players in these countries have already begun to play on NA servers, and as such the studio is offering a "limited-time opportunity" to transfer for free to a local server in late April. Entire guild transfers, however, will not be possible. The SWTOR FAQ page has more information about the transfer process and payment methods available.
Star Wars Galaxies to allow free server transfers to a galaxy not so far away
Servers can feel awfully restrictive when you're on Server A and your friends are all on Server B. The team behind Star Wars Galaxies is no doubt aware of this, but if you've long been locked away from playing with potential friends or just stuck in a server you'd like to leave, there's good news. Free character transfers between servers are being launched on April 26th, allowing players the freedom to move characters with impunity. Eligible characters must be at least 90 days old and on a game account currently in good standing. In addition, the character to be transferred must be on one of the original 10 ground planets (Corellia, Dantooine, Tatooine, Endor, Dathomir, Lok, Naboo, Rori, Talus, or Yavin 4). Assuming those conditions are met, any player will be able to execute a free character transfer upon logging into Star Wars Galaxies. For more details on the free service, check the official announcement. (And no, Starsider is not an eligible destination.)
Time for City of Heroes players to get ready for Issue 18
Are you ready for Issue 18 of City of Heroes? There are only a few days left to get oneself ready for all of the updates coming just to the basic game, even without counting the fact that it coincides with the launch of Going Rogue. But just in case you're not quite ready, the team at Paragon Studios is going to help get you ready by allowing players to pre-download the patch before next Tuesday. Even beyond that, players are being given the option to move characters, redo their costumes, or even change that most sacred identifier -- the global chat handle. All players with an active account at the beginning of next week will receive a free costume change token and respec token for all characters on the account. Players will also have the option to change their global chat handles, which are normally locked after the first change. On top of all that, the no-charge server transfers from earlier in the year will be back for the first week of Going Rogue's release, allowing City of Heroes players a chance to put everything in order to optimize their play experience. So if you're not ready now... it's time to get ready.
Breakfast Topic: How realms evolve (or don't)
While writing a recent news post on Blizzard's decision to open free transfers to Drak'thul, I nosed around the server's forums to see what the inhabitants thought of the coming flood. As a server that was converted from a PvP to PvE realm, opened to transfers, and listed as a Recommend realm to boot, Drak'thul's undergone a fairly drastic set of changes, and all within a short period of time. As you'd expect, player feelings on the subject were mixed, but there was one former Drak'thul player who really got my attention. Drak'thul, he/she claimed, had been home to some of "the most mean-spirited PvP (he'd) ever experienced on ANY realm." It sounded like a tall claim, but there are a lot of other threads on the forum with oblique confirmations; players recall Alliance towns and quest NPCs "being camped 24/7," and holiday events and Alliance leveling zones being swarmed by opportunistic Horde players. Drak'thul became a low-pop server with a murderous faction imbalance -- Warcraft Realms listed the server's active population as 94% Horde before transfers were opened -- and I wonder how much of that be traced to the relentless ganking and camping campaigns three years ago. I look at realms like Cho'gall with equally crushing faction imbalances, some of which started out with fairly balanced faction ratios, and wonder -- how the hell does this happen? What spurs the departure of so many players from a specific faction? Is it really that simple as a relatively small number of players exercising such an impact on what happens to everyone on the server?
Free realm transfers announced
Blizzard poster Turrit announced yesterday that free realm transfers are being made available to address faction imbalance and overpopulation issues on the following PvE realms: Aggramar (Alliance only) Area 52 (Horde only) Blackhand Hellscream Stormrage (Alliance only) Thrall (Horde only) Undermine Destination realm: Drak'thul The free transfer period will run from Tuesday, May 25 (today) to Tuesday, June 1 at 11:00 a.m. PDT. However, Turrit did make a point of mentioning that Blizzard has a transfer goal in mind, and if it's reached, they may shut the free transfers down early. If you're on any of the affected realms and have been considering a transfer, this might be a good chance to save yourself $25. To my surprise, it turns out Drak'thul was actually a PvP realm until very recently, and after a quick look at WoW Progress's list of U.S. realms, I have to agree it looks like the server needs some love. While it's possible the page hasn't been updated, it's apparent that the Drak'thul's raiders are struggling -- and there's some rather illuminating commentary in this thread (I'll grant I can't verify the accuracy) on how some of the server's troubles may have gotten their start. Two things come to mind: Blizzard's observations a year ago concerning only PvP realms being low-pop, and: what's happening on Cho'gall. Interesting. The full announcement is past the cut.
Free transfers in City of Heroes extending another month
Back in December, City of Heroes announced that players would be allowed to transfer characters between servers for free until the end of January. Aside from the small but vocal part of the population that was certain this was a prelude to server merges, it was met with praise and good will by the playerbase. Paragon Studios has apparently decided that what's fun the first time is even better the second, as they've decided to extend the free transfers until February 28th for all players. Of course, there are certain slight catches -- as before, you can only transfer six characters from one server to another within a week, as well as not being allowed between American and European servers. You also lose your Supergroup affiliation, any accumulated Prestige, and possibly even your name depending on the server you choose. The full support page details all of the possible wrinkles, as well as warning against trying to transfer characters with names shorter than three letters (unless you don't mind losing the name). Having more chances to play with friends on other servers is always welcome, so kudos to the City of Heroes team for extending the free transfer period!
Free character migrations for select realms
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.
Aion gets its first State of the Game address
It's been a little over two weeks since Aion launched and NC West Executive Producer Lance Stites just released its first State of the Game address. These kinds of announcements have become more and more frequent as new MMOs launch and they usually cover the main successes and issues within a given period. This address is no different.Lance proudly declares Aion's "fun and polished" launch and goes on to talk about the incredible demand they've experienced. Perhaps the demand was too high because the main issue he covers in this letter revolves around the server queues players have been sitting in since launch. NC West ran the usual prelaunch calculations and even added a 25% buffer to determine the game's initial server caps but that just wasn't enough. It doesn't help that players have been playing long and hard either. "For example, we're seeing timeframes where 60 percent or more of our players are playing at any given time. This is a significant event by any MMO standard," Stites says. To address this problem, the studio is working on offering one-time free server transfers in the near future. Check out his full letter on the official site.
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.
Free transfers and a new US realm
There was a ton of free transfers announced last night, hopefully some of this will have the effect of freeing up the long queues we've become used to lately.In addition to the normal transfers, a large block of PvE servers have the option to get a free transfer to a new realm, Garrosh.Garrosh is a PvE EST based US realm. It's been placed in the Emberstorm battlegroup. Blizzard's announcement lists next Wednesday, January 14th, at 6:00 p.m. PST as the cutoff date for the transfers. However they will close the transfers early if they meet their internal quotas. Transfer early and transfer often. You can begin the transfers via your account management page at worldofwarcraft.com.The complete list of eligible transfer realms after the break
More free EU character migrations
Aren't you EU players just lucky lately? Here's some more free character moves for you to make -- apparently the population situation on the EU realms must be bad, because I think this is the third (at least) round of moves Blizzard has made in that region. Here are the latest ones, to be in effect now through the ninth:Drak'thul, Grim Batol, Sylvanas --> BladefistAl'Akir, Neptulon, Ravencrest --> DeathwingBurning Legion, Crushridge, Twilight's Hammer --> DentargMagtheridon (Horde only) --> Zenedar, Haomarush A lot of these are the same transfers offered previously -- in fact, all of the realms Blizzard is transferring from have been offered transfers before, though the realms people are being transferred to are switched up a bit. Anyone out there who didn't transfer in the first go-round but is willing to transfer now?If the issues continue, Blizzard might have to come up with a new way to control the realm populations -- there's always the option of splitting up a big realm, though neither Blizz or players will probably enjoy going through that. But they've got to get rid of the queues somehow, right?
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.
Twenty two U.S. servers open for free character transfers
Normally there are only a handful of servers involved when Blizzard opens the door for free character moves. However Bornakk announced today a total of 22 U.S. servers that you can move off of. There are various groups of servers, labeled "Source A" through "Source E", that are allowing free moves to destination servers, labeled "Destination A" through "Destination E."If you are interested in taking advantage of these free moves, get in quickly as these offers have been known to close down once Blizzard meets their transfer goals. The transfers begin tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. PDT and end at 12:00 p.m. PDT on November 4th (election day, next Tuesday). You can begin the transfer process by visiting https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/character-move.html when the transfers are available starting tomorrow.The full list of servers are reproduced for you after the break.Good luck if you're moving!
Russian WoW to debut August 6th
Here's a heads up for all our Russian speaking readers: Starting on August 6th, WoW Europe will begin selling the fully localized Russian version of World of Warcraft and Burning Crusade, complete with a Russian-speaking support team. The game will be sold in DVD and CD versions and will include 1 month and 14 days of free play time respectively. There will also be a special Russian pricing plan starting at 399 rubles per a month for a 1-month subscription. In addition, current European account holders will have the option of playing on the new Russian servers after downloading the localization pack. There will also be free transfers to the Russian servers for a limited time, and the opportunity to convert a European account to a Russian account. For more information, you can check out the official Russian site.
Say Hola to Latin American WoW July 25th
Blizzard is once again expanding its World of Warcraft player base. July 25th will mark the launch of Latin American Servers for Mexico, Chile, and Argentina. The expansion will be supported and sold in other countries in the future. New players can also purchase the Burning Crusade and 60 day prepaid game cards. A free trial is available at juegawarcraft.com. The launch will be accompanied by celebratory events with Blizzard staff: July 25 Blockbuster Pilares Av. Universidad #697 Del Valle, July 26-27 Plaza Satelite Estado de Mexico,
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.
Free character transfers for April 18th
Bornakk announced today that free character transfers are available for the following realms: Illidan Mal'Ganis Sargeras Tichondruis Warsong You can transfer from the above realms to: Azshara Maiev The transfers are available from today at 12:00 p.m. PDT until next Friday April 25th at 12:00 p.m. PDT. Of course, Blizzard reserves the right to shut down the transfers if they meet their internal numbers prior to the close date. They have been known to close down transfers early, so transfer soon if you want to take advantage of this.WoW Insider will always keep you up-to-date on the latest realm news, so stay tuned!
