Cost of Server Transfers

Although I have no desire to transfer servers and it doesn't really effect me, I have to say that the $18 per transfer price tag seems a bit high for a subscription based mmorpg. The reason I say this is because there are a number of highly rated mmorpg (many even F2P) out there now that do not even charge for server transfers, but instead put a time limit on the number of times you can transfer (ie. 1 transfer every 30 days).

I know there will be people who disagree with me and that's fine but how does the general forum population see this? Is it really fair to charge $18 per transfer for an automated service when they are already charging a subscription fee? They are basically charging people to be able to play with their friends at the end of the day and that just seems wrong to me in this type of game which should be promoting a healthy community and encouraging people to play with friends rather than charge for it.

I personally think that in the end this causes more of a hindrance for players as it makes them less likely to connect with friends who may be on other servers and in turn makes it more likely for said players to quit if they are poor.

Also, with the current loot system it would make it difficult to "ninja loot" some gear and then swap servers so that point does not seem valid to me using the current system. Can anybody give me a good reason as to why we should pay additional money for this automated service aside from lining SE's pockets a little more?

Anyways, this is more of a QoL thing than anything else and I didn't see another thread about it so I wanted to hear peoples opinions.

The cost of transfer is there to discourage people from transferring too often, not because it actually costs anything meaningful to move some data around. Of course there's also greed.

I thought it was $25 a transfer?

Working as intended.

How does greed become a factor and why would it have a negative effect if people were transferring too often? You are capped at 1 million gil when you transfer servers and with the current loot system it is impossible to ninja loot anything of value. Also, as mentioned before, usually for free transfer services in other games there is a lockout timer for transferring another time so you are stuck on whatever server you transfer to for at least a month.

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Originally Posted by DoctorPepper

They are basically charging people to be able to play with their friends at the end of the day and that just seems wrong to me in this type of game which should be promoting a healthy community and encouraging people to play with friends rather than charge for it.

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It was TOTALLY free for a week or so. Transfer fee is ok with me, it helps in a lot of ways.

I'm aware and grateful for the free week of transfers. Can you explain to me how it helps in any way aside from providing SE with additional income?

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Originally Posted by DoctorPepper

I'm aware and grateful for the free week of transfers. Can you explain to me how it helps in any way aside from providing SE with additional income?

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It prevents the practice of buying cheap in one market and selling high in another. So, for instance, philo items are selling for 50k on Lamia, but only 25k on Leviathan. Someone on Leviathan can buy 500k worth of philo mats, transfer to Lamia, double their money and transfer back.

Transfer costs prevent world-market exploitation.

It's mainly a anti RMT move. It isn't cost effective for an RMT to go from server to server to sell / transfer money to a customer now. If it were free, RMTs would be even worse.

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Originally Posted by Sinth

It prevents the practice of buying cheap in one market and selling high in another. So, for instance, philo items are selling for 50k on Lamia, but only 25k on Leviathan. Someone on Leviathan can buy 500k worth of philo mats, transfer to Lamia, double their money and transfer back.

Transfer costs prevent world-market exploitation.

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I can understand this to a degree but a lockout timer for transferring again would negate this in most cases unless somebody is a completely solo player that wants to transfer every other month and does not have any friends they want to play with. Also, as mentioned before there is a 1 million gil cap on transferring gil so the impact on market exploitation would be minimal at best, even at 25k per tomb item you would not even be able to make more than 4 2 star items and then would have to sit on them for over a month and pray that prices don't get adjusted on your old server in order to make it actually worthwhile.

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Originally Posted by DoctorPepper

I can understand this to a degree but a lockout timer for transferring again would negate this in most cases unless somebody is a completely solo player that wants to transfer every other month and does not have any friends they want to play with. Also, as mentioned before there is a 1 million gil cap on transferring gil so the impact on market exploitation would be minimal at best, even at 25k per tomb item you would not even be able to make more than 4 2 star items and then would have to sit on them for over a month and pray that prices don't get adjusted on your old server in order to make it actually worthwhile.

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Or you could make transfers cost $25 and never see any exploitation as opposed to accepting a limited amount of exploitation.

Also, it costs money to create a transfer service, so, why not charge for it?

SE wants to create economies... By having a server transfer fee it is discouraging transfers but still offering the service... If they let people transfer once a month for free, this could blow everything up... Some people would transfer just because they can bringing their mats and their gil to sell in a another world... Not to mention when you pay money to transfer there is a legal paper trail which means if someone is transferring too much then SE will be able to investigate them a lot more than someone who is transferring once a month... Which would cause a lot of problems with people upset because they have to stay on a server that is congested and not have the option to move somewhere else... Personally I think its ok to line pockets with cash if people are willing to pay it...

I'm used to the WoW transfer fee of $25, so this being less is good to me.

There are numerous reasons why a fee is there, and usually at one that people feel is "too expensive"... despite the fact they're playing a p2p game. Part of the intent is to give people the option, but just as generic measure to prevent abuse of the system (which people ALWAYS try to find ways to do), not to mention prevent potential tech problems from mass server transfers (which already happened when it was free), a fee is put in place. Another is that they want people to THINK and be RESPONSIBLE for their own decisions (let's be honest, practically no one is these days). What I mean by that, is choose your servers wisely and be responsible for the decisions you make/made.

In regards to the whole "SE is just trying to make money"... well, yeah. So what? Why is it bad for a for-profit company to provide paid services? People need to stop thinking that SE is their friend lol... almost makes others wonder if these people really even have any to be thinking that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DoctorPepper

I can understand this to a degree but a lockout timer for transferring again would negate this in most cases unless somebody is a completely solo player that wants to transfer every other month and does not have any friends they want to play with. Also, as mentioned before there is a 1 million gil cap on transferring gil so the impact on market exploitation would be minimal at best, even at 25k per tomb item you would not even be able to make more than 4 2 star items and then would have to sit on them for over a month and pray that prices don't get adjusted on your old server in order to make it actually worthwhile.

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I think TERA use to have a free server transfer lock out (1 week i think). what end up happen was people would create alt to transer to another server then buy stuff and transfer back to double their profit. (TERA transfer is lockout base on character. so you can have multiple alt doin it)
by craeting multiple alt u can endlessly transfer and manipulate market. (even if they make it so that 1 account can only transfer once a month, you still gonna have the same issue where a gorup of people would work togather to transfer stuff and make their profit. (4 people with 1 mill cap gil transfer from A server to B, then buy stuff and then make trade to their friend, then that person transfer back to A server to sell it.)

Like you said 1 mil can only get you 1 or 2 pieces of 2 star equipment but what if there 100 ppl doing the trick? then the market would be flush with 50-100 pieces of 2 star item in less than a day

The primary reason to have transfers cost money is greed. The most common cited reason to have transfers cost money is to prevent people from transferring too often. If greed is not an issue, a free transfer every month would be more than sufficient to deal with any potential abuse, but there's no reason for companies to not charge you for something if they think you'll pay for it.

Well, as it stands WT's are a moot point for some anyways.
I have a char on Excalibur that i want to transfer to Behemoth, you think i can....Nooooooo..
I have a lvl 10 char on Cactuar that i can, but Excalibur wont even show up.
I understand SE reasoning behind not being able to transfer OFF Legacy worlds,
but this game has been going 2 months now, i think that argument would be null and void by now.
I have a great FC that i want to stay with, but prefer my char on Excalibur.
I would gladly pay the fee IF I COULD DAMN WELL TRANSFER!!!

Don't think it's too bad. It's about what you pay in that other game isn't it? (NO! Don't speak its name. It will come for you.)

Might or might not transfer at some point, no issues paying the sum personally.

The transfer fee is lower than it is for most games. It's usually around $25 which is what I originally thought it was going to be here.