World Transfers

[maartena]

If we're going to buy new character slots... should we buy them on our current server, or on our destination server?

Or does it carry over?

Character slots are accountwide, so if you purchase a character slot, the amount of slots will be upped on all servers. So whatever amount of slots you have now, you will have those slots (plus 2 free ones) on the target server.

[Beaniemooch]

If you reserve the name with a level 1 toon (just make sure you at least ENTER the intro) you have the exact same chance as everyone else, as your character is considered active, and when your turn comes around the name is yours, even if you are the very last person to migrate.

This would be incorrect.

If the name is already taken by an "inactive" character you can't create one to "save" the name. The first person transferring in with that name however will be able to claim the inactive player's name. So yes, being left til last does matter.

[Silmelin]

Housing is still one house per account per world. I will need to look into the tech to see if it is even possible to make more available per world, but if it is it will be a few updates out. First we need to make sure there is enough housing to cover the one per account. It is a good idea though, as I know it would be nice to have a house for my elf in Rivendell, Human in Bree, etc....

Thank you! I hope it turns out to be possible!

[Hammadryad]

All those items (with the exception to those belonging to deleted characters) will be packed up and placed in escrow. Hooks, chest, bank, etc all come with you if they belong to you.

So what happens to household items that were placed by deleted characters? Since most of my house furniture was acquired and placed by toons that no longer exist. Do I get to lose almost all my possessions as well?

(Posted on behalf of a friend who is in hospital)

[Thoroval]

Ah. Where I have housing items placed, I'll often pull them from the hooks and then mouse-over them then.

Yes, the problem is the inability to pull them off the hooks since the item belongs to someone else.

Turbine should change the tooltip so that it states who the decoration is bound to. This shouldn't be too difficult since that is how tooltips work elsewhere in the game.

A second solution is to change the system response to "That decoration is bound to char_name" when someone other than the owner attempts to remove a decoration. This second approach is a bit more tedious for the kin leader since it requires an actual attempt at unslotting, but at least it would be workable.

I believe either solution would help kin leaders as they plan their kin house move.

[Beaniemooch]

So what happens to household items that were placed by deleted characters? Since most of my house furniture was acquired and placed by toons that no longer exist. Do I get to lose almost all my possessions as well?

Yes. Their possessions will be deleted.

[Hammadryad]

Yes. Their possessions will be deleted.

Terrible system, those items were earned and bought with time and real money (buying TP) they should have been bound to account not individual characters. Especially since a lot of characters may have to be deleted due to these forced transfers due to slots available on such a reduced number of servers!

[Ellyllon]

If you reserve the name with a level 1 toon (just make sure you at least ENTER the intro) you have the exact same chance as everyone else, as your character is considered active, and when your turn comes around the name is yours, even if you are the very last person to migrate.

Names aren't the problem, it just depends on whether you got there first and claimed your name stake with a low level character.

Housing is slightly more work, as it will cost you 9 gold or so to reserve the best spot for your house, and kin houses can't be bought until your kin moves over. With regards to your personal house it CAN be done, but you will need to focus on getting money for your character. You can use your name-claim toon to complete the intro, and then just keep on killing stuff for deeds. The proceeds of your kills is probably the fastest way to amass the 9 gold needed for a deluxe house. You may get lucky with some coinage from hobbit gifts. Once you have the house, it can't be taken away from you by any incoming character, so again: Even if you are the last person to transfer, the house will be waiting.

If either names or houses are considered important enough to "make or break" you decision to continue playing, you know what to do. If you just leave it to chance, well.... then you get what's left.

Yes, I understand that I can make a character, level it and buy a house. I have a deluxe house now - I want the same one if I move. (and perhaps I'll get lucky, & by 'specialized,' they mean 'Oceanic people' and Elendilmir will surprise me & be saved)

However, if any of us are on the 'last to move' servers, we do *not* have the same chance to get names & houses. As I think I explained, as have others, names are not freed up, unless a character moves over with that name. (and of course, if that name is currently held by an inactive player or character. That part isn't clear to me. I see people's opinions here, but no confirmation. Is it active account or active specific character?) This means, allowing staying server people to hop around at leisure, while I guess a test for Turbine's moving ability, is also not terribly *fair.* There IS a benefit to moving first, names, houses, kin names, kin houses. Apparently - personally, I find the developer notes a little confusing still.

As to why not just tell us... I don't know. Either they really haven't fully decided, or - just a weird company decision to have the question linger. Bad idea, imo - I find it pretty annoying. Guessing which servers will be available, and grabbing names on all of them? That's avoidable, by just saying, "It will be these 5 - you can't move to Brandywine, however."

[Eruadarion]

Looking at the logons per world, I am inclined to say that the fifth EU server will be a DE server as well. German players have been wanting a RP server, but I don't know if that is going to happen.

This seems reasonable but Vyvyanne's statement indicates there will be only one Server per language plus one RP server. Otherwise she should have stated "at least one server".

[Marancil]

Lesson learned: never delete a character before making sure his stuff is yours or replaced in the name of another character.

Frankly, I thought it belonged to the ACCOUNT. On account = one house. That is the rule, no...? Household items...? I guess they should never be Bound to Character... Turbine should change that.

And for all yer naming needs: http://fantasynamegenerators.com/ ...I will make sure to pile up some reserves.

[maartena]

If at all possible, offering such paid transfer *before* the end of the free period would help out a lot of people who feel really crippled for gameplay until they move their toons to Brandy. However, I realise that the transfer mechanism probably does not distinguish between classes of transfer (free vs. purchased) because a world's "accept incoming transfers" flag is likely just an on/off switch, not 0-reject all/1-accept purchased/3-accept free/4-accept all.

(Also, I suppose that offering the purchasable version might lead to a lot of cases where folks bought one during the free period, not realising that it was *only* necessary for Brandy.)

You can consider a "interim" server.

If you are on a server that is crippled due to low population, and Brandywhine isn't open yet.... migrate to one of the worlds that is (and has a good population). Then when Brandywhine opens up, move over there.

Personally, from my experience on Brandywhine, it is better to leave it completely closed until the free transfers are done. The moors is often completely inaccessible and I have heard ridiculous things in world chat such as people offering people 50 gold to leave the moors so they can get in....

I have a toon or two (basically, extra's I will end up with after the migration) that I would want to move to Brandywhine eventually, pretty much just to park there really, so I have a busy server to play on when I don't want to be bothered by any one I know. - I will probably put those on another server of the 5 worlds, and just keep em there. If free transfers finish before Brandy opens up, then that is where they will stay.

[maartena]

This seems reasonable but Vyvyanne's statement indicates there will be only one Server per language plus one RP server. Otherwise she should have stated "at least one server".

Yeah it also isn't unreasonable to think that it will be an English world. I haven't compared the EU servers to big US powerhouses such as Brandy and Landroval, but I suspect all the Germans together on 1 server won't yet reach the amount of logins to Brandywine. So in that respect, one German world may work. Germany will just lose a RP-only server in German, although a normal server of course does not prevent the roleplaying.

Also, the English EU servers are also used by other countries, such as Netherlands/Belgium/Sweden/Norway/Finland/Denmark/Poland etc, etc.... since English is a bit more of a universal language (and it may bring some Australian/NZ players to those servers as well, as well as Americans/Canadians that don't want to move from an EU server or have odd play times.) I suspect indeed there will be 3 English, 1 French, and 1 German server in the end.

[SweetDemise]

Vyvyanne (or someone!)

Not sure if my question was missed, or if it had been answered before, but I couldn't find the info anywhere:

Will there be a minimum level requirement for characters to transfer servers? Another player mentioned (on Twitter) that they will have to go through the tutorial to be eligible. Can you confirm this?

Thanks!

[maartena]

Yes, I understand that I can make a character, level it and buy a house. I have a deluxe house now - I want the same one if I move. (and perhaps I'll get lucky, & by 'specialized,' they mean 'Oceanic people' and Elendilmir will surprise me & be saved)

However, if any of us are on the 'last to move' servers, we do *not* have the same chance to get names & houses. As I think I explained, as have others, names are not freed up, unless a character moves over with that name. (and of course, if that name is currently held by an inactive player or character. That part isn't clear to me. I see people's opinions here, but no confirmation. Is it active account or active specific character?) This means, allowing staying server people to hop around at leisure, while I guess a test for Turbine's moving ability, is also not terribly *fair.* There IS a benefit to moving first, names, houses, kin names, kin houses. Apparently - personally, I find the developer notes a little confusing still.

As to why not just tell us... I don't know. Either they really haven't fully decided, or - just a weird company decision to have the question linger. Bad idea, imo - I find it pretty annoying. Guessing which servers will be available, and grabbing names on all of them? That's avoidable, by just saying, "It will be these 5 - you can't move to Brandywine, however."

It really doesn't matter if you know it now, or on Monday.

Transfers FROM closing worlds won't be available for another 2 weeks after Monday, so you will have enough time to digest it, prepare for it, etc.

As far as name claiming: If you get a level 1 toon in place with the name you want, that name is yours. You can either delete the character right before you move (the name is freed up immediately) or take no chances and move with the name claimer in place, get "Name-1", then delete the "Name" character and use the free rename token on your "Name-1" character to name back to "Name".

Everyone has that same chance. No one will have to wait to see if the name is still available, you can claim the name of your character NOW by "guessing" which servers will remain, or make one on all possible worlds. I do hope that people that do the latter, will be so kind to delete those names off of the servers they do NOT intend to move to once they decided where they will go.

[maartena]

Vyvyanne (or someone!)

Not sure if my question was missed, or if it had been answered before, but I couldn't find the info anywhere:

Will there be a minimum level requirement for characters to transfer servers? Another player mentioned (on Twitter) that they will have to go through the tutorial to be eligible. Can you confirm this?

Thanks!

As I understand it, there is NO minimum level requirement to transfer a character. I guess it is possible you need to complete the intro, so if you want to be sure just complete the intro. Keep in mind you can't create characters on closing worlds anymore come August 3d, only on the remaining worlds.

[maartena]

So what happens to household items that were placed by deleted characters? Since most of my house furniture was acquired and placed by toons that no longer exist. Do I get to lose almost all my possessions as well?

(Posted on behalf of a friend who is in hospital)

They will be burned in the hot fires of mount doom.

I have the same issue, I have a Tower of Orthanc at my kinship house that belongs to someone who has already moved from Riddermark to Landroval, and unless that person moves BACK to Riddermark, that tower will be GONE forever. I actually did a "return to owner" on it yesterday, so it could already have sailed to /dev/null

[Ellyllon]

It really doesn't matter if you know it now, or on Monday.

Generally, I like to determine what matters to me, rather than allowing someone else to determine that for me. And it does matter to me.

[Beaniemooch]

As far as name claiming: If you get a level 1 toon in place with the name you want, that name is yours. You can either delete the character right before you move (the name is freed up immediately) or take no chances and move with the name claimer in place, get "Name-1", then delete the "Name" character and use the free rename token on your "Name-1" character to name back to "Name".

Everyone has that same chance. No one will have to wait to see if the name is still available, you can claim the name of your character NOW by "guessing" which servers will remain, or make one on all possible worlds. I do hope that people that do the latter, will be so kind to delete those names off of the servers they do NOT intend to move to once they decided where they will go.

I'll repeat myself since you seem to be stuck on this incorrect point.

You can't create a level 1 toon if the name is currently taken by an inactive player. The first incoming transfer however will get the name. People transferring later in the cycle are at a disadvantage.

[Galadhloth]

If you're on a server which doesn't get the first transfer, you will stand a far lower chance of getting your name on the new one.

I'm not one to complain, but I think this is a problem. It's one thing to have naming conflicts when a given character named, say, "Bob" transfers from server A to server B. In that case, Bob from B keeps his name, and Bob from A gets to be Bob-1.

It's a completely different situation if Bob from Server A has to wait for weeks on end to see if any characters named Bob will have transferred to Server B from servers C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, and M before Server A Bob gets to see if he can keep his name.

I definitely understand and support giving naming preference to characters who originated on the destination server, but this seems unfair.

Other than that, I think everything else seems well-thought-out.

[Ellyllon]

If they get these things worked out, I'm actually pretty excited about the server revisions. I think it will help the game, & if they're updating hardware/software, the game could improve a lot. It will shuffle up communities - I hope for the better - and maybe I can finally sell something at the AH!

But the name issue, the staggered waiting, even waiting to know how long you'll be waiting - those are negatives. Names & houses mean a lot to many people. They mean a lot to me. A sense of unfairness is never, ever a good thing.



eta: It will be even more aggravating if Bob has to wait to find out when his server will get its turn. I do not understand why they just don't tell us up front. It's not suspenseful in a good way - it's irritating.

[Dordillo]

If I´m right 2 of 4 largest EU server are German server (Gwaihir and Belegaer). So why shall all german speaking people together on 1 server and 3 of EU servers are for english speakers? There are also just english speaking server in US. What about with spanish speaking people in America?

And where is the problem to use 2 european RP server? Sorry but I dont understand it.

Sorry for my probably bad english but I´m a german and not amused about 8 english, 1 german and 1 french server in summery.

Dordillo of Belegaer

[Fratonia]

So in that respect, one German world may work. Germany will just lose a RP-only server in German, although a normal server of course does not prevent the roleplaying.

Just for your interest - it's not only people from Germany that play on the DE servers. Austria and Switzerland for example may be smaller than UK but they still exist. Just sayin'.

[Ellyllon]

If I´m right 2 of 4 largest EU server are German server (Gwaihir and Belegaer). So why shall all german speaking people together on 1 server and 3 of EU servers are for english speakers? There are also just english speaking server in US. What about with spanish speaking people in America?

And where is the problem to use 2 european RP server? Sorry but I dont understand it.

Sorry for my probably bad english but I´m a german and not amused about 8 english, 1 german and 1 french server in summery.

Dordillo of Belegaer

I wondered that, too. (Ok, I'm American, but my father was German, so on his behalf!) If they're going to do the English RP one, then why not at least make 1 German one RE?

[Milarien]

This would be incorrect.

If the name is already taken by an "inactive" character you can't create one to "save" the name. The first person transferring in with that name however will be able to claim the inactive player's name. So yes, being left til last does matter.

I'm wondering how many people are going to go run and log into the level 6's they have camping names on various servers, just so that they appear as "active".

Once the server list is official, I am going to go remove any toons I have on the servers being kept that I don't play, just in case someone else has that name on their main.

[Fratonia]

Once the server list is official, I am going to go remove any toons I have on the servers being kept that I don't play, just in case someone else has that name on their main.

Thank you very much. If everyone is so thoughtful we may have a little less naming collisions to worry about.