Well they did offer free transfers early on. And a lot of people did bounce around. But, then a lot also stayed put. Hard to say what would be the ultimate solution when the player base in general isn't of the mindset to make such sacrifices. Who is to say that those three friends that had to start on another world won't be able to move over eventually? Alts could be created on their world to help them get going, learn the ropes and such, and then they could move over sometime down the line (or create new alts once creation is opened on the other server). But it sounds like no one in that circle of friends was open enough to the possibilities and just gave up. We discussed it several times that if a handful of our friends from XI got in game we would either move over to them or we would pitch in to help pay to get them to us if necessary... because they are that close to us, even though they live 5 states away. Heck.. I even contemplated throwing together a PC for one guy when his system had a meltdown, but he opted to get a console instead.

Which is the point of my view on the matter. If it matters enough, people will do what they feel is necessary to be with their friends. Otherwise, it isn't as big an issue as some appear to be making it out to be.