Feldon The topic of PvP <-> PvE Character Transfers came up on Monday from a WoW player who has recently rejoined EQ2. The topic received an interesting response from EQ2 Senior Producer “SmokeJumper“:
We’re currently investigating a lot of issues to make things friendlier for you folks. This is a decent idea, but to be honest, I’d have to ask about the technical and game balance issues involved. However, I will do so. I’m curious also.
(by the way…”WoW does it” is not a valid reason for me. We aren’t WoW and don’t intend to be. But good ideas are good ideas. No need to shore them up with “WoW does it”.
Commentary
It is a perennial topic. Will EQ2 ever allow character transfers between PvP and PvE servers?
Player response has ranged amongst:
- “Where can I sign up?”
- “It will kill the game”
- “It will empty the PvP servers”
- “PvE characters who have never had to defend themselves against other players shouldn’t now be able to stroll onto a PvP server”
- “There are unique PvP items which shouldn’t be allowed on PvE servers”
- “There are unique PvE items which shouldn’t be allowed on PvP servers”
At one time, we were told flat out that the database wouldn’t support such transfers. But with the introduction of Battlegrounds, with players from PvP and PvE worls mixing it up together with a smattering of PvP and PvE equipment, it seems now the reasons not to allow such transfers are about game balance rather than technical in nature.
Tranfers Already Happening?
When Battlegrounds first came out, a variety of exploits were discovered. Most of them centered around platinum duplication and duplicating items via transmuting. But apparently some players have been able to transfer between PvP and PvE servers by visiting Battlegrounds and claiming a Character Transfer token.
We (as well as the developers) have been unable to confirm actual transfers, so at this point it remains an unsubstantiated rumor.
It seems likely that players who have successfully transferred are laying low to avoid their characters being rolled back or suspended.
This is what would happen:
Level to 90 on PVE server, transfer to PVP server.
It is insaneley easy to level on a pve server compared to a pvp server. I would do this as well. Not really fair IMO.
I totally disagree with you Lishian, having leveled a toon my self on a PVP server. If you don’t want PVP action then there is always a place to go that is instanced or low population at the time to avoid it on a PVP server.
*Following is not to be taken personally, It’s to be viewed as royal You and not a personal attack on Lishian or anyone*
Do you really CARE if the person you just owned or got owned by was from and levled on a different server? There is no advantage to a PVE server other then not having to take extra precautions to avoid PVP if you don’t want it during leveling. Otherwise you got owned because you were not prepared by gearing or grouping with multiple people.
Why do people seem so vehemently opposed to giving other people choices?
It’s that whole ‘I did it this way, so YOU must do it this way too!’ argument that is insanely stupid. So what if someone wants to take a bit of a shortcut and level up to 90 on PVE then transfer over? If your enjoyment of the game is on the leveling, then how could someone doing it differently possibly alter your enjoyment of it?
The answer is it cannot possibly. I’m all for as many options that get as many people interested in EQ2 as possible. Just like the $25 mounts, anything that builds up buzz, anything that gets more attention to the game is a good thing.
I started playing EQ2 in 2007 and my first character was a Paladin on Venekor. I love that character and at the time I didn’t mind the pvp, but later in the game It was evident, I am not a pvper. Now this character that I loved to play was STUCK on a server I didn’t want to play on. I had to much invested at this point to delete him. I continued to play him even though the pvp aspect only took from my experience of EQ2.
In 2008 I took a break from EQ2 for personal reasons and wouldn’t return till 2010. In the time I was gone Venekor died and was merged into Nagafen, now not only was I stuck on a pvp server but now it was the most populated pvp server in the game. Also In the time I was gone I made a friend who played EQ2 also but on server AB. In addition it turned out that my …brother in law’s sister’s husband played EQ2 and he also played on AB. Now I have 2 friends that play this great game with me but I cant play my favorite character with them.
I’m tired of not being able to go visit the new zones that have been installed since my absence because I cant zone in to them for more then 31 seconds before a pvper kills me. I don’t enjoy feeling like I need to look over my shoulder all the time because someone’s out grinding pvp kills on other people’s lower lv characters. Its great that this game has so many dedicated pvpers but I’m NOT one of them and I want to move to AB with my friends where I can play the game in peace. I’m missing out on so much of the lore behind EQ2 and cant enjoy the content of the game.
I can understand people saying its unfair that someone could grind to lv90 and then switch to a pvp server and honestly I don’t care, but i know nothings going to change till someone comes up with an idea that makes it work. In regards to that problem maybe SOE could install a lv cap for transferals from pve to pvp servers.
The issue of cross server equipment has also been brought up, maybe SOE allows character transfers from and to pvp/pve servers but only the character, no equipment. If SOE told me I could transfer from Nagafen to AB but I couldn’t bring any of my gear ((and I have some good stuff, epic weapon included)) I’d do it in a heart beat Hey if they said I’d lose all my gear ((meaning I’d have to do that …great Reet faction for my epic and redo my entire epic weapon quest all over)) , lose 50aa points, go back to lv 80, undo half my quests, pick a new character name, and pay $100, Id do it. I just want my character that I started the game with on a server I can enjoy playing on.
I just want to see that SOE puts pvp transferals to pve servers into effect. If I could go back 3 years and do it all over again I would have never choose a pvp server. A lot has changed in the past 2 years and I’m disappointed to see that SOE hasn’t changed this. Even if they dont make this happen for everyone Id fall in love with EQ2 all over again if they made it happen for me.
I also have characters I love on Nagafen that I can no longer play due to the fact I moved to a PvE server. PvP is garbage compared to what it once was, and it’s about time they allowed us to transfer off the server.
I rerolled on AB a couple months back but have barely played, it’s just not the same without the character I’ve loved for years.