Allow Free Transfers For All Servers

It's not a question of fairness, their aim is to try to see whether players may be able to resolve the population issues enough without requiring server mergers. The free mergers are to see whether any of the players on AB would rather go to a low pop server. Free mergers for everyone would likely result in an even greater portion of the playerbase going to AB which is what they are trying to avoid at this time. It's misguided and as some have said in other threads, some of those likely to transfer potentially are those who keep to themselves and don't actively play the game with others.

This thread will more than likely be skimmed over and ignored. They are polling AB players only because its the most populous server and they need to "thin the herd" so-to-speak. They don't want you to move there, they are trying to get people to leave there.
Raiding guilds might be the biggest reason no mergers have happened in awhile and may not happen.

If they offer for all "members" with stipulations, such as:

1. No transfers TO Antonia Bayle will be allowed.
2. Character must be at least level 10
3. Character must be at least 45 days old (not played time just 45 days since creation)

If they reaquired the knowledge they used to have that allowed for moving of guilds, they'd likely get some more bites as well. (Each individual had to choose to move, but the guild moved with the guild leader and all the players that chose to move servers were still guilded with all status & everything intact when we arrived on the new server).

If any at all from AB transfer to other servers and as you say are people who keep to themselves and dont actively play the game with others, how does that help the people on low pop servers like myself who can't find groups...that's the whole point of why people moved to AB in the first place. Many people Im sure on AB have toons on other servers. Why don't they play them?

Because, the grass is not always greener.
If you currently don't get groups, more to group with is not always the answer. They still have their own little "cliques" and if you are not near the top of the pool of good players, it doesn't take long before find yourself once again with no groups even with a larger population.

I have been tempted in the past to move, but the cost is prohibitive when you're a craft-a-holic like me. I just can't fathom moving with at least 9 characters.

I may not always get a group, but I have friends here and I do love the server. I don't think i'd want to move and leave my friends behind.

I'm a casual player so I don't know what these "cliques" are that you are referring to, but I'm sure every server has them. You also must be referring to situations that happen at high levels since your talking about people not wanting to group with you if you're not a top player. At most levels, a larger population means its easier to find groups to do dungeons and quest with.

So you are talking lower level content? If you are then no matter where you are you won't see groups for questing or dungeons. This game is top heavy and the lower level group stuff just isn't done. Many folks have alts that have done it too many times they just won't do it again. We have new players that come in and rush as quickly as they can to cap level for top end raids.

Heck even on AB you will be hard pressed to find groups for lower level content. Just a fact of life for a game like this or for any game these days. Some folks want to jump to the end of the book so to speak in order to get the rewards.

And there are folks who only group with guildies or friends...another fact of life that no amount of transfers or merges will fix. Sorry, but it is true. I'm neither for or against any of it because I'm quite satisfied with the game the way I play it. I also understand that others are not and I hope something can be worked out for them. But to force one persons playstyle on others is not the answer either.

I'm just posting my opinion and possible solutions; I'm in no way speaking for anyone else and I would never dare say that others need to play the game like I do. .

But is it not true that for people who do enjoy the content up to lvl 80-90 that it's easier to find groups on AB rather than on a lower pop. server? If we are talking about forcing people to have a certain playstyle then how about the fact that if I want to play my characters on low pop. servers I have to play it solo. If we are talking about being open to peoples playstyles, why wouldnt they let people transfer to whatever server they think will cater to their playstyle. Is it because nobody wants to transfer to these servers? idk. And if they think people do have a interest in transferring to these servers that I'm on, as you guys are saying they are most likely people who don't actively play with others, and again, I'm forced to play the game in a way that I don't want to. I don't think you can just say "oh this is a top heavy game" and use that as a reason for why I shouldn't be able to play that way on a server that gives me the greatest chance to do that with the characters that I have.

You say your posting possible solutions, what is it exactly?

What is your solution? I belong to a guild on AB...some folks will do lower lvl stuff once in a great while....but I don't see many looking for groups to do lower lvl dungeons even on AB. So I don't get to enjoy that content either even on a server like AB...so I don't have an answer for that...do you?

I play other games with the same issue in regards to lower lvl content...eq2 is not the first game to have this issue...heck even WOW has that issue. No one wants to redo the lower level dungeons again. Seriously not my fault and again it is not me that is making you not be able to play the way you want to play. So even if you got a free transfer to AB, you would more then likely be facing the same issue. I've really got no answer on how to fix that. I've just dealt with it the best I can and found other things of interest in the game to enjoy. I'm sorry if you don't like that answer, but it is what it is.

I seriously doubt you would accept any other solutions from anyone if they didn't fit what you want, and I can't do anything about that nor can anyone else.. I can just state the experiences that I've had.

Um. I haven't accepted any other solutions because they haven't made - that's why I asked the question. The solution that I agree with is the title of this thread. Free transfers for anyone is not a narrow-minded, self-centered solution? It gives everyone the freedom to go to whatever server they think is best for their characters. A lot of my characters are on Nagafen. If you honestly believe that I will find the same SEVERITY of the issues on AB you are just plain wrong. Nagefen used to have a huge PVE community and its all gone. You can't honestly be that blind.

Well, this thread is inching steadily closer to being locked.

Just a few passionate people trying to voice our concerns...

Freeport probably has the best community below level cap, because it was the original free to play server and there are a lot of relatively new casual accounts there. Antonia Bayle may have as many or more low level characters playing, but they probably are more likely to be alts getting powerleveled. Therefore, the top heavy commentary goes beyond the context of the game being over a decade old. Antonia Bayle is going to be top heavy compared to Freeport as well.

Yet another indication that the entitlement generation simply doesn't get it. Businesses are not in business to provide them with whatever they want, whenever they want it because they are the most wonderful thing to ever walk the earth and mommy and daddy taught them that they are entitled to everything and anything for free. Businesses are in business to make money. That's why people open a business. It's only in this generation of young "adults" that making money as a business has become something of a dirty word or process. In the past it was always referred to as being successful. Here's a newsflash. If businesses don't make money, they don't stay in business. It's that simple. And if they don't stay in business, you don't get the service they provide. It seems the prevailing mentality is that if you cannot have what you want for free, that not only should you not patronize the business, but no one else should have the right to do so either and the business should be shut down because YOU want it that way. Here's another newsflash. If businesses don't stay in business, they also don't provide jobs for people. If they don't provide jobs for people, then it has a ripple effect. Get it? At some point there won't be enough people with jobs to provide you with anything whether you like it or not. THAT's the reality. I am sooo tired of seeing topic after topic regarding how they should provide this for free and that for free, and pretty much everything for free. If you feel so strongly that this or any other item should be provided to you for free, here's an idea. Take YOUR money and open your OWN business. Write your OWN game and provide everything and anything in it for free. Show us how it's done. Show us how you can run a business and give everything away and stay in business. Ready. Set. Go.

It's possible that AB has a population problem, and DBG is trying to decide if they will have to stop allowing transfers TO AB. Unlikely, but still possible.

Here is a newsflash for you. When a business chooses to openly ask its customers what they want out of the business what did you honestly think would happen? You come cry in the forums here when not all of us are trying to get what money we can out of them, but simply are offering some idea's to see what everyone else including what DBG's thinks. You want to go ranting about a specific age group leads me to believe you are the uneducated "young adults" posting in here as you have not offered up a single solution yourself. Its pretty obvious that the current successful MMO's are properly advertised. So keeping that in mind forgive us for being frustrated that we struggle to figure out an idea to save what little we have left even with hundreds of minds trying to swing this back in the direction of growth.

Also do you think that all of these "young adults" trying to scrape as much free stuff as possible would have the money to open their OWN multimillion dollar business? Pretty sure combined as a community we have dumped more money into this game than what it would have required to continue the life of it and even complete EQNext. When any business makes bad decisions they should expect customers/ex-employees to ignore all issues of conflict directly involving them? I'm glad you are tired because your ridiculous remarks will show you to the door so we don't have to. Don't let it hit you on the way out.

First I took a 30% pay cut. Then I went on government unemployment insurance...then the bank walked in and shut the company down, sold it off for the value of the hardware, and ignored the IP part.

Sometimes you can do everything possible for an employee to do, and the management just keeps effing it up.

I bet they are free to play too. In every thread to every critical post this person recommends to open our business before we get rights to critisize DBG decisions. It is silly considering no any other company ever asked their consumers to start their own business first before giving a feedback about products or services. Funny.

How many businesses put up with a customer ranting at the change room supervisor for half an hour (or even 15 minutes) before they decide enough is enough and have security toss the ranter out out thier ****.

Almost everyone I know who still plays the game runs a bot group. Will bots get a free transfer off AB too? I hope so because people are gonna need them on the ghost servers!