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SOE charges again to transfer off closed servers
superniceguy
Member UncommonPosts: 2,278
If you are thinking of resubbing to SWG, and have characters still on closed servers, be aware that SOE are now charging people again to transfer your charcters from them.
Since the servers closed in October, they were doing it for free if you sent in a ticket and asked fot them to be moved, but are now charging.
None of this was mentioned on their website, in their knowledge base or on their forums - no where
We only found out by a returning player telling us they got charged to transfer off a closed server!
It is SOEs choice to charge, but the fact they don't announce anything and letting us believe they are still free to tell people that, is just down right rotten. We tell people they are free, they then pay $15 to resub, send in a ticket to transfer characters, and get a shock when they find they have been charged for it. SOE have reached an all time low now.
Comments
I agree this is a bad move. Not really a good selling point for keeping a returning player.
After we kicked up a fuss of it yesterday, PMing and emailing Draakull and Customer Service Managers and so forth, they have now amended their knowledgbase.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=994876
Knowledgebase Link
Are these transfers free?
Transfers off of closed servers are no longer free of charge, and a transfer fee will apply. The original guidelines set forth November 15 2009 as the end of free closed server transfers, but Customer Service held off on charging for them up through Monday, May 17, 2010. The original guidelines and stipulations can be seen in this forum post.
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They should have put that notice up a couple of weeks in advance, but kudos to you for making them post something about it. It sucks having to pay to get your old toon moved from a server that got closed but you can't expect things to stay free forever.
wow, that's despicable.
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It doesn't necesarily suck to pay to transfer toon, as can easily just ditch the game, and pay nothing. The people who will be in this situation will be players who have not played game for over 7 months, so are used to not playing game.
People who are stuck on low populated servers, and are hooked on the game, and desperately want to be on a more populated server, are not willing to pay the transfer fees, so I don't see many, if any, coming back to game, after 7 months absence, and paying at least $65 (to $165 if got 3 chars on a server) to only find out game is not to their liking any more, and then quit again anyway. $15 is more of a worthwhile risk, but not $65+
One person yesterday got his $15 monthly sub back, as was not prepared to pay the transfer fees, and SOE got nothing. If this keeps up, they may end up making them free again, as even 1 month of $15 per person > nothing!
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
SWGs costs more than any other MMO, and no other MMO charges to transfer off servers they have closed.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Once again SOE politics isn't player-friendly.
Hardly surprising, I play loads of MMOs, and SOE ways are the most ruthless there are.
When Matrix Online closed down they were initially not going to let old players play game in the last couple of months. Then they got bombarded by complaints and let people come back to play the game in its final days.
When Tabula Rasa and Auto Assault closed, they let all people play the final days, no restrictions at all, and no fuss.
One person on the forums posted on the official forums, that he got his $15 back, and can't do that with an inactive account, so was playing, but not any more.
I play the game, and I am only complaining as I don't think anybody will return and pay those fees, and the game needs all the players it can get.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
I think it depends on the context.
If a person comes back to a game and finds that sony closed their server I think it's in sony's best interest to just transfer the character free of charge.
If a person has been playing and then decides they want to use one of their characters on a closed server then I see no problem with a charge.
of course this is assuming that the person who wants to transfer their character didn't know about their server being closed. If they were notified that the server was being closed and that if they didn't elect to move their character there would be a future fee to move it then that is what it is.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
You mean it should cost players $50 AFTER they pay $15 to resubscribe because a company closed down their server and removed a players abilty to access their characters?
Obviously the original poster (and many others) were not aware of this and it isn't like the information is readily available to a returning player before they spend $15 to resubscribe. I'm not sure what would even prompt a returning player to even consider that something like this might be a possibility.
In fact it seems almost unique to me for a company to charge a transfer fee from a closed server. Perhaps I am wrong and there are other companies that do this, but every other instance I have experienced of a closed server I can still log on for a fee character move or the company simply merged all the characters on the closed server to an active server.
It just doesn't make any sense. It's an automated process, but even if GM-Bob had to log in, it's for a flipping customer! SoE NEEDS customers.
As a business in a down economy, and gaming took a MAJOR hit in April (down 26%), you are a fool to turn away potential customers...which is all this does. For $50, I'd much rather gamble on a game with a future...hell, maybe even one on someones top 10 list (and not top 10 disappointments or f'k ups).
This simply adds to my belief that the games days are very numbered. With SWTOR and a new Clone Wars MMO from SoE on the way, SWG will be dead sooner rather than later. Dev staff is down to only 2 Devs (maybe a 3rd), only updates now are "tweaks", the "Producer" posts game update notes. There are far too many other reasons to list, but my guess is the game either goes F2P with TCG supporting it, or closes completely when the other 2 games release.
I actually finished installing the Station launcher last night and was going to activate my account today. I believe my 2 characters were on Starstrider a long time ago but can't remember. I would want to bring both toons back and I will pay the $15 a month but spending an additional $100 because i miss my characters I wouldn't be able to justify that.
I hope they change their mind. I really wanted to give it another shot for a couple of months.
This seems like SOE shooting themselves in the foot yet again. Sometimes I wonder if they even want paying customers...
Its not like their games are doing so wonderfully that they can justify nickle and diming people... and yet they do!?
I stopped buying or playing their games a long time ago because of things like this.
I actualy got an email to resub to EQ1 from them and they advertized that my server has been closed and in order to resub I'd have to pay for a transfer.
So it is lameness on their part across the board; glad I decided never to let Sony see another penny of my money years ago...
$100! That's ridiculous.
Transfer off a closed server should be free. SOE chose to close the server, so the responsibility to move characters is theirs.
$100 is about 7 months sub fee, correct (not sure of the rate)? So they risk long term subscription for 7 months worth. The numbers tell me they might be closing down in about 7 months.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I told a few ex-SWG players that if they ever consider returning, they're better off rerolling a new char than paying $50 ontop of the $15/mo, and that's $50 PER character, if you have 2 (Jedi unlock) or 3 (NGE bugged unlock slot), well then... up to you.
Here's their reason:
TSR-JamisonW
We have to bill you here on our side of the operation, then send it to in-game. We would do the transfers ourselves like all the others, but the servers aren't turned on. That's why the delay between the charge and the move. It's not ideal, but it's what we've got.
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SOE is such fail lol.
This really isnt that surprising seeing as how people have been abandoning SOE games for years now. They have to do something to get some sort of revenue to report hehe.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
No way in hell I'd pay 100 bucks to check in on my SWG characters, hell I wouldn't even do it if I seriously planned to make a comeback. Yet again more poor customer service from a piss poor PR community at SOE.
Also I hope they never offer old players a chance to come back to "relive the experience" like so many of these companies do when they need a boost in sub numbers. Because if they did, players would be in for a rude awakening when they're charged to move their character over just to take part in a free trial. Foolish indeed. Or maybe they'll offer free transfers during the promo event.........
Then players can do it just to take advantage of the free transfer.....but I doubt SOE would allow such a shrewd move on the part of their players.
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Why isn't this game dead yet, just curious cause the new SWTOR coming out. I would think people just would move on by now from this game and current SOE BS that has turned it into a pile of crap.
That is the reason for the delay in the transfers taking place, not the reason why they charge
Standard timeframe is within 72 hours (3 days), but that one guy was waiting 4 days, and still not transferred, and wasn't totally expecting to be charged for it either.
The thing that makes this atrocious, is that they never announced they stopped offering it for free, and so we tell people its free, they then resub, send in a ticket to transfer, and then get charged, or informed that it is now not free. Regardless what opinions of SOE charging. In effect, SOE were using us to trick people into resubbing, who wouldn't otherwise knowing they would also have to pay $50-$150 as well
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There will be probably be another free month from June 26th, to celebrate the 7th Anniversary and Empire Day, unless SOE has given up on free trials by now, as not much has been added since last time.
I hope that SOE will inform players that there is a charge to transfer, and not just do it as assuming players are aware of the charges.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
I can't think of any other company that has charged customers to transfer a character from a closed server.
Why anyone subscribers to a SOE game is beyond me.
The thing is, the game has such a low population on most of its servers due to the actions of SOE. They are charging $50 a character to mitigate the effects of the poor decisions made by the company.