World Transfers

[Ecedhor]

I don't know about your line of work, but even though the game runs 24/7, that does not mean everyone works 24/7. Turbine is not a hospital or police force, they run a game, not a critical service. A game. And just like most companies in the United States, Turbine employees get time off as what we generally refer to as "weekend". Vyvyanne and Frelorn are probably relaxing right now and will be back at work tomorrow.

Their weekend support staff keeps the servers running but they are not part of the team that communicates on the forums. Can you please let them enjoy their weekend, and wait till tomorrow? The game is running just fine right now...

I know what you mean I do work 24/7 on call my hours are 4:00am to 4:00pm and on call after that have had to work 4:00am to 11:00pm still go in at 4:00am my job is IT System Administrator.

[Bombadil411]

Is there a list of these so-called "issues" that occurred during, but are completely unrelated to the first try?

[maartena]

Is there a list of these so-called "problems" that occurred after the first try?

There is no list. We won't likely see a list either, all we can do is guess based on posts by Vyvyanne and Frelorn or based on previous patch notes.

Vyvyanne said there was an issue with characters that were deleted, maybe a LONG time ago, of which the names didn't clear up properly in the database. This could explain the "Character cannot be added" message in friends list as opposed to the "Character does not exist" message. Latest report from yesterday is that they are working on a patch to be released "later this week" to fix this issue.

There were some other issues that needed to be resolved, but no details on those have been given. Last week it was mentioned that some issues were to be fixed in a patch last week, which happened last Wednesday. That patch also introduced the 2-week delay on transferring shared items BACK to a server you transferred them from.

Once the patch has been issued, (maybe as soon as tomorrow, there was a patch on Wednesday last week too) the release notes may reveal some more information. Until then, we have to rely on what the smurfs are willing to reveal. With smurfs I mean blue names.

[maartena]

Just for clarification, is this only meant for account transfer or is character transfer influenced aswell?

And another question I got in from a player: Would it be possible without a restriction if I e.g. transfered from Laurelin to Gwaihir, then to Belegaer and then back to Laurelin. I cannot imagine that this will work, but a short offical sentence is always better than just telling others what might be true...

Thank you in advance

It is explained in the Bullroarer forum as well, the patch went live there before the production systems were patch last Wednesday.

- The 2-week delay is for shared items (storage/wardrobe/green currency etc) only.
- You can transfer shared items from Server A to Server B, but you will have to wait 2 weeks before you can transfer them back to Server A.
- You can transfer from A --> B --> C no problem if you want, but that doesn't get you back on A any quicker.

In a nutshell, when you transfer your shared items, realize they WILL be off of that server for at least 2 weeks. If you do this 13 days before *PAID* transfers start again, it will cost you money to move the shared items back, so choose your server carefully for your shared items. I am sure by now you have selected one or two target servers for your characters, so you have an idea where you want your shared storage to end up.

As long as the free transfers are active, you can move around your characters as much as you like, from A --> B, and from B --> back to A if you want, there are no time restrictions.

Again, Vyvyanne can confirm this in more detail, but I believe the above is how it will work.

[maartena]

And there it is, the patch that may or may not fix transfers....


Scheduled Server Downtime: 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) Wednesday, August 26th
The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Wednesday, August 26th from 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) for an update to the game. Thanks for your patience, and we'll see you back in the game soon! Patch notes will be available during the downtime.

[Snowlock]

Vyvyanne said there was an issue with characters that were deleted, maybe a LONG time ago, of which the names didn't clear up properly in the database. This could explain the "Character cannot be added" message in friends list as opposed to the "Character does not exist" message.

Characters cannot be added are often creeps.

[maartena]

Characters cannot be added are often creeps.

Good point!

I'm going to have to try that, if I can't create a toon with a name that does not exist, try and create it as a creep. (Or create a random creep and log on to see about friends list there)

[Nus_Nogard]

In a nutshell, when you transfer your shared items, realize they WILL be off of that server for at least 2 weeks. If you do this 13 days before *PAID* transfers start again, it will cost you money to move the shared items back, so choose your server carefully for your shared items.

Everything else looked correct, but I believe I saw a blue name say that the shared storage transfers will always be free and open. I'm not 100% sure, but like... 97%.

[maartena]

Okay, here is an update now that the servers are back:

I transferred all my toons (on 2 accounts) from Gladden and Crickhollow, and consolidated them on Arkenstone.

- All toons came over.
- All shared items came over.
- My house price was refunded and I got an email which storage and maintenance will be applied to my new house, if I buy one.
- I was able to claim my MAIN's name on Arkenstone by transferring a toon with that name from Crickhollow to Arkenstone, succesfully "bumping" an inactive person with that name.
- I was able to do that AGAIN on my second account.
- Inactive toon for my main was renamed to "Name-1", I already had that person on friends list. (Friendslist on Arkenstone is what remained).
- However, I was not able to add my OTHER "Name-1" from second account to friendslist, it just said "Character cannot be added". I don't care as I have the name, but I thought that was odd.

In short: I have aggressively gone in and transferred every bloody thing I could transfer (before they close it again, heh), and I must say it worked perfectly.

[Lightbulba]

I am pretty sure I have A LOT of character on each remaining server... just they don't get listed.
It works fine for my other accounts. Just not for my main... and I want my main account's toons to be transfered.
Should I submit some ticket or what? I couldn't use transfers before they were built into game launcher - my characters didn't get listed on the transfer page. Now, again, it looks like I don't have any characters on said servers.

[Frelorn]

I am pretty sure I have A LOT of character on each remaining server... just they don't get listed.
It works fine for my other accounts. Just not for my main... and I want my main account's toons to be transfered.
Should I submit some ticket or what? I couldn't use transfers before they were built into game launcher - my characters didn't get listed on the transfer page. Now, again, it looks like I don't have any characters on said servers.

Please submit a bug report on this. Our QA team will take a look at it for you.

[Thalifea]

I am pretty sure I have A LOT of character on each remaining server... just they don't get listed.
It works fine for my other accounts. Just not for my main... and I want my main account's toons to be transfered.
Should I submit some ticket or what? I couldn't use transfers before they were built into game launcher - my characters didn't get listed on the transfer page. Now, again, it looks like I don't have any characters on said servers.

I am having the same issue, bug report has been submitted.

[spelunker]

For those concerned about the free transfer timeline between remaining worlds that we originally set to end on October 1st, we are adjusting this plan. We will no longer have a time frame for free transfers, but are instead working out a way for everyone to have a chance to change their mind on their destination server once before having to pay to do so again.

Will any moves made in the next 2 days count against this new policy before it's actually fleshed out? I'd like to move 1 character now, but seeing as its a real shot in the dark what other servers will be like without all the closing servers also moving around, I'd rather not make a move and then have it mean I can't make further ones on that character in the future without knowing what the full policy will be.

[Karfi]

Ummm, guys? None of those worlds is mine. Neither are the selectable chars...
Bug report?

[Srale]

I guess this transfer test round is only for remaining US servers - as did Vyvyanne mention in this post:
"We are releaseing a patch this morning with the improvements and at that time we will open up the service for 48 hours for the 5 Remaining US worlds: Arkenstone, Crickhollow, Landroval, Gladden and Brandywine (off world only) to shuffle among themselves. The service will then be turned off again Friday morning as we assess the data and wait for some of the new hardware effort to catch up to our transfer progress."

So that mean if you are on remaining EU servers there is no transfers this time.

[Thalifea]

I guess this transfer test round is only for remaining US servers - as did Vyvyanne mention in this post:
"We are releaseing a patch this morning with the improvements and at that time we will open up the service for 48 hours for the 5 Remaining US worlds: Arkenstone, Crickhollow, Landroval, Gladden and Brandywine (off world only) to shuffle among themselves. The service will then be turned off again Friday morning as we assess the data and wait for some of the new hardware effort to catch up to our transfer progress."

So that mean if you are on remaining EU servers there is no transfers this time.

Speaking for myself I have characters on all 5 of those servers and I am not seeing any characters listed when I click the transfer button.

[Lightbulba]

Bug reported.
Problem is, that I have toons on both US and EU servers. None is listed.

[Sakoals]

Same thing here.bug report has been submitted.

[Frelorn]

Thanks for the reports, please make sure you are submitting bug reports as well. These will help us better track down the issue.

[einhart32]

Sweet, the only realm on my list is the realm I want to transfers to! Bug submitted, altho, the drop down boxes give you ###### choice categories.

[Cormaeg]

Yup, same problem. No worlds show up despite having toons on 3 or so of them. Submitted bug report.

[dragonhunter]

I have the same problem on both of my accounts. Worlds listed has none of the servers I have characters on. I did submit a bug on both accounts but only one account through the store.

[maartena]

Thanks for the reports, please make sure you are submitting bug reports as well. These will help us better track down the issue.

Thanks for the help. I am at work right now so I can't launch the game. (I can run the launcher from an RDP session to my house, which I have done).

Wanted to note the following:

After all the successful reports this morning, I went in and clicked transfer again: All characters seemed to be in their right places. I noticed I had some "shared" items left on Landroval (I have no toons there) and on Crickhollow (forgot this morning), so I decided to transfer the shared items from Landroval to Arkenstone. I accepted the transfer. However, I am still waiting on a confirmation email... and on top of that, my Transfer window shows no more worlds as above people have been reporting.

My guess is that the transfer of shared items from Landroval to Arkenstone is "in limbo" somewhere, and until it processes (or not), nothing will be shown. I will keep trying

At the same time, my OTHER account (2 VIP accounts) works perfectly still, so I am pretty sure that issue may be account related. I will fiddle with my second account now, and see if I can transfer any "leftovers" to Arkenstone.

EDIT: Looking at my 2nd account I see shared items on all 5 servers.... I guess that is possible as you will get some shared "crafting packs" pretty soon after you get out of intro and do the crafting bits to select your crafts.... and possibly some other shared things that I don't remember.

EDIT2: Email came in for shared items transfer from Landroval to Arkenstone and.... all my characters shows again.

So conclusion: Everything IS working perfectly still, it just took some time (maybe about 10 minutes), and if you do NOT see any characters/servers, could it just be that a previous transfer is still ongoing?

[Skas]

How much time it takes to consolidate the transfer? I did like 30mins ago and nothing happened, I can't play or anything, lol.

[]'s

[maartena]

How much time it takes to consolidate the transfer? I did like 30mins ago and nothing happened, I can't play or anything, lol.

[]'s

My guess is that everyone is taxing the system heavily. I just found out that doing a shared items transfer from a server I didn't have more than a level 10 character on at one time took more than 10 minutes, and that was very very little data. I can see that if you have a characters with massive vaults, massive history, and loads of shared items, that it might take a while.