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Server transfer yes/no, payed/free, restrictions?
Anarchy23
Member
Recently got a new job, I'm going to be working 3pm-11pm NA Est or something like that so I'm going to be on a odd schedule compared to my time zone. If the game released right now I would have to find a server that fit my playable time zone or miss out on a large portion of the game. So I'm hoping I will be able to find a good English server that fits my needs. Now its possible my shift could be changed at any point, I'd prefer first shift "normal hours". Do you think we will be able to transfer servers at any point. Should we have to restart. Should it be a Payed service/Free if in the game at all. This could have bad consequences on server population and economies. IMO entire guilds shouldn't be allowed to switch servers whenever they want. It should be a charged service and on a player to player bases. Meaning you would request a server transfer, explain your reasons and AoC would approve or deny you. Certain servers would be restricted like recently fresh ones. Certain items wouldn't be transferable like the one of a kind legendary sword couldn't be brought to a diff server. If you owned a house at a node you would have to sell it since it might not even exist on a diff server. Crafting mats shouldn't be transferable, so ethior make gear or put the mats back into your current server before you transfer. This might be to much effort on the developers and they might just do a hard no. I've been considering/wanting to invest in the game for cosmetics and to support it. But not sure if I should. Do you think there will be a server that fits my needs? Also what are your thoughts on "Server transfer yes/no, payed/free, restrictions"?
2
Comments
Is it too punishing or is this the measures that would need to be taken to prevent people from mass hopping when a world isn't going quite the way they like?
If there is a way to transfer servers, players can act like a dick on one server, only to escape the consequences of their actions by transferring to another server.
If it is viable to transfer servers and start playing basically immediately on your new server, reputation in Ashes means significantly less than it should. If it isn't viable to do that, then transfers are of no value to those that have legitimate reasons to want them.
So, it is a hard no from me.
My guess is the number of people in your situation aren't very common, and once you open the door a little, even with restrictions, a lot more will follow through, and just make up BS reasons if a reason is required.
If they end up doing it anyway, and want to put in restrictions like having to make a ticket to apply for it, it'll just cost more time and resources for the community team, which could be offset by charging for the server transfer. But if the price is set very high to discourage transfers, it'll also be an unfair barrier to entry for the players who can afford the sub fee, but who can't justify spending much more on the game.
Honestly, the only way I can see a transfer work is by charging a fee to move the entire account, leaving every single item and gold behind (aka destroyed if not given away). All the characters would show up with on the new server is level-appropriate white gear and 100g to their name. And at least a 1 year cool-down before another server transfer can take place. I don't even like this system, but any more lenient and it would have to be a hard no for me.
- Charged service for sure. To address what @Noaani mentioned. I dunno how high it has to be but at least worth 2 months subscription fee. As this decision shouldn't be made lightly. This addresses @AidanKD concerns as well.
- The player will carry over only a portion of his/her gold from one server to next to further enforce the above mentioned concern.
- Loss of Node related achievements among others. I am assuming achievements would be categorized here.
- Both the servers need to have similar level of progression in the game to address the economic concerns.
- Items, goods, etc. of highest level as well as unique ones would not be transferable because the two servers would probably have different paths of progression node-wise. This is mainly to prevent server hoping so that players can claim to have unique items and some forms of possible abuse I cant think of.
- Some sort of probation, like server can be changed only once a year. This too addresses Noaani's concern.
These are all I can think of at the moment. I am sure I have missed some other side-effects of server hoping.
Like the OP, some people genuinely need to change server and shouldn't be punished for having a real life situations. As such, I would want this option to be available.
PS: Costing real money and involving loss of gold, achievements, items to various degrees would discourage any probable abuse. Wouldn't it? @Nerror
It makes people behave horrible because there is no consequence since you can just transfer and reset your reputation.
It ruins the moral and economic value of items since people can just use move gear around.
It's just a bad idea from start to finish.
Your character could have completed quests/achievements and acquired gear that have never been opened on another server.
Really not sure what's the right way to address this. May be allow transfers but with a high barrier? e.g. relatively expensive cost ($30? 45?) plus an account-bound long~~ cooldown (3-6 months?) before another transfer is allowed?
A solid 'No Transfers' is my strong preference.
Stop threatening space and time, man.
Sure, after you leveled like 8 chars to max level lvling won't be that much fun/enjoyable but if its well designed it won't be painful either.
2. Level your profession to max super easy peasy.
3. Transfer to another sever where leveling profession is super hard.
P2W AOC
Haha! 😂
I think that any server transfers that would be approved would not be applicable for new servers. Likelihood is that new servers will be fresh reboots and will be locked out of transfers for much time.
I won't have an issue is server transfers aren't included but i'm not the target audience anyway. I was about to write up about how I really wouldn't mind server transfers if they were ultra punishing i.e. basically go in bare bones with your skill levels, but I try and justify why to myself and truthfully, you ought to have started with your friends/guildies and if you hadn't, then I guess having an alt isn't the worst thing in the world.
It would probably stop a lot of it yes.
There is something of value in that organic process, and conversely there is something lost when you just appear as a fully formed character disconnected from the environment in which you’ve been deposited.
Wait, thats just rerolling /shrug
First of all, server transfering won't work since every server will be built differently. Also, as seen in WoW and New World, being able to transfer servers means that servers get very lopsided. If your server doesn't have the population or skill that you are looking for, many people would leave to a better server, making a few mega servers and many dead servers.
Depending on how adverse you are to play in low population time or how much you enjoy solo play, I can propose two general avenues of solutions.
1. Play on a server in your time zone. On your work days you concentrate on things that can be done in small groups or in solo. Gathering in low pop hours has its pros: less competition. Same thing for group content that can be done in a group but doesn't require many groups. Less crowded dungeons, less people depending on the same mob spawns for quest. During the week-ends you can do the big stuff. Raids, large scale pvp and so on. Finding the right people might be harder. If your schedule changes for the better, no need to transfer, but you may have to find a new crew.
2. Play on two servers in different time zones. One during the week, the other on the week-end. Not ideal, but you can ditch one later on, and not start from scratches again (having put all the noob awkward phase in the same period).
Low population hours have their good side too, but most of the popular activities are done during prime time.
In my experience, people with excess money are the worst of the worst in MMO's (Steven is a perfect example of this - he was a complete dick in Archeage and he will attest to such - but he was not the only such player). As such, all this would do is make it so those rich brats are free to act as they like and then transfer at will, but those wanting to get away from them but don't have the money are stuck.
Basically, this would not only not fix the problem, but it would make it worse.
Server transfers should always be off the table in Ashes - with the exception of around a server merger.
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If someone acts horribly on one server, I doubt they are going to be saints on the next one. They will just ruin their rep again, and if they do reform good for them. If you only get 1 transfer within a year or per character if needed would mitigate those 2 problems you have imo.
Is that bow a legendary or just a crafted epic item? If its a legendary or maby even unique it shouldn't transfer. But if its a epic crafted lvl 50 bow I personally don't see the problem as long as the 2 servers are the same age. From what I know crafters get to customize their created gear however they want to make it. So there's no reason someone else couldn't have the "gold bow of slaying" that has the exact same stats as the silver bow of slaying.
I would be highly against server transfers if that was a option. Just a example but my thought process was if they open up 5 realms in Na, and 5 in EU on day one. Then 5 months down the line they open up 2 more on each as fresh servers. You could only transfer to a server as old as yours. You obviously couldn't be a lvl 50 maxed gear on a month old server. Even Wow restricts what servers you aloud to go to.
@ Percimes
I do like your view on the first suggestion. Your looking at it a better view then I was. Still only 2 days of higher population and having to change my sleep patterns for work on monday may be a bit much for me.
I don't think a paywall is enough to deter transfers. Adding in restrictions like the ones I mentioned is what would stop it from being abused by majority of the player base. transferring between servers at will shouldn't be a thing. With no pay to win being rich will have no affect on someone being a dick or not. You shouldn't be leaving a server because you want to get away from a single or even multiple players anyway.
I don't believe it will be easy to level professions even if a server is med pop. Maby gathering and it will still take a while. If you can't take gathered rss to the next server you will still have to contend with a high pop server to gather herbs/ore, esc. I believe processing the items you gather takes a lot of time, its not wow where you can smelt 100 ore into bars in 10minutes. I don't know how long it actually takes but it wont be a quick process even if you have unlimited gatherables. Then for crafting you need those processed materials. Adding simple restrictions to server transfer would make this point completely invalid. I don't even feel like you read the topic or any comments at all.
It is not a deterrent at all to people that are shit at making money in games. I think we can all agree on that.
To people that know how to make money, they know that they will still be able to make money on their new server. Losing what they have on hand isn't going to cause them any real issues.
The only people it will cause issues for are people that make money in game and don't use it.
Even then though, something I have seen a lot in games is like for like trading. I'll trade you 100 gold on this server, for 100 gold on that server. While this is more work, if you add in transfers, it will always be a thing and will render any wealth restrictions worthless.
Might not be able to take some augments either.
What matters is what has been unlocked on the servers - and age is not the determining factor.
The factors for what gets unlocked are which specific Nodes have been progressed to a specific Stage and which buildings each government has chosen to build and which services those governments have opened...some of that will be tied to which specific races were the ones to progress those Nodes.
Very well could be that the "Gold Bow of Slaying" could not be crafted if the recipe for "Bow of Slaying" has not yet been unlocked on a different server.
yea I agree. you both make good points. In the end I'm still going to give this game a shot. If I have to reroll I have to reroll, if I don't wanna restart I'll quit. Still hope they can figure out something to make it work well. This game is going to be a Time sink. gonna suck restarting after I put 8 months into a character. I still feel like there is a solution to everything but maybe its not worth it overall. The devs know the system in and out so I'm sure they will make the best call w.e it is.
But just for fun to go off that bow debate, maybe you lose your entire inventory but what's equipped. Then since the the gold bow of slaying isn't unlocked on that server it is broken down into the materials it took to craft it. Now you can get someone to make you the "elven bow of power" Yea prolly to much effort involved idk.
yea I agree to a extent. Some people that particular restriction might not be affected that much or at all. But there could be 4 other reasons that make them not want to do it. There should be no benefit to transferring servers . You should need a good reason to want to do it. But if the deterrent is to big what's the point. Being 50 alone would save you 200 hrs of leveling give or take. I'm still hopeful they will find a way to do it. In the end with every problem there is a solution. Just whether or not the devs will put the time in. Or like I said before maybe it will be to much trouble/effort/time that they could put into better areas of development and it will be a no.
Honestly that's the best argument against them I've heard on here.
I honestly see that as a given. That would never be aloud to happen.