Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Hello internet,

It may come as a shock to some of you, but I have played on the same server since WoW vanilla. Every level of every character was earned on Andorhal server. I’ve had some great times on this server – from my first experience with a member of the Horde (a level 10 Dwarf Paladin melee swinging a Tauren in Kharanos because I didn’t know that a skull next to his name meant he could rofl-stomp me in a second) to getting my TLPD, this server has been good to me.

Sadly, Andorhal’s population has been in a steady decline since The Burning Crusade. At this point, trade channel is dead, Stormwind’s population has been reduced to a handful of people AFK at the auction house, and since my guild transferred last night, the Alliance is left without a single viable raiding guild.

People throw around the idea of transferring pretty often on a server as dead as mine. As evidenced by the server population dropping faster than the stock market, many people have decided that transferring was the only solution. The issue is that server transfers are part of a self-fulfilling prophecy on a low population server. When an entire guild full of players leaves a low-pop server it takes with it such a large segment of the population that the playing experience of those left behind is so drastically changed that they have no choice but to transfer, creating a vicious cycle.

As I was saying earlier, I’ve been on the same server for my entire WoW life – which is actually an embarrassingly long stretch of time. As such, I’ve always felt a special connection to my server; after all, it is MY server. People know me here; they greet me warmly (or coldly) when I stand at a mailbox, they laugh at my jokes when I troll in trade chat, and they complain about me on the opposing faction when I alt-hop to check the Horde AH. The point is: Andorhal is my home.

Sentimentality aside, I know that I’m not getting the full playing experience on my server, and with my guild leaving, I stand to lose a lot of friends. So, despite my hatred of Blizzard’s money-grab-transfers, I want to get some answers to some questions and share them with the rest of you so that we can make an informed decision about transferring.

New Territory-

The first thing I did was scout out the new high-pop server on an alt. Bleeding Hollow was my guild’s new server, so I ran a level 1 Human into Stormwind to take a look for myself. The first thing I noticed was a very active trade chat. People were not only selling things, but recruiting for ICC 25 runs (you may or may not know this, but I’m a sucker for running old content). Next, I made my way through throngs of players to the auction house (yes, throngs of players). The prices seemed fairly comparable, but the quantity was insane. On Andorhal’s auction house there was 1 epic blacksmithing pattern; on Bleeding Hollow there were about 20.

Round 1 goes to Bleeding Hollow. While the seething mass of players doesn’t have the same appeal as our close-knit server, the possibilities on a server with an active population are undeniable. And if I’m being honest, it made me nostalgic for the good old days on Andorhal.

FAQs-

My next plan was to scout out Blizzard’s website for some answers to common FAQs. I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be losing items and stuff. Here are the answers to my biggest questions:

What if my character's name is already taken on the destination realm?

If your character’s name is already taken, you will be prompted to rename your character. Remember that your character name should follow our Naming Policy.

What is the gold limit to transfer?

The following gold limits apply to all characters. Characters above the limits on the following table are not eligible to transfer.

 

Can I transfer back?

A completed transfer cannot be reversed. If you want to move your character again, you may complete another character transfer three days after the last one completed.

What will transfer with my character?

• The contents of your character’s bags, bank, and void storage
• Your character’s currencies including gold, honor, justice, valor, and conquest
• Your character’s achievements and achievement points (including account-wide achievements)
• Your character’s hidden ratings (MMR, BG Rating, etc)

 What will not transfer with my character?

• Your character’s quest log will be cleared completely.
• Account-wide pets and mounts remain with the original Battle.net account.
• Character friends and ignore lists will be reset.
• User interface settings (macros, character-specific key bindings, etc...) will be reset.
• Guild affiliation does not transfer (unless you perform a Guild Master Realm Transfer).

Conclusion-

So, I haven’t finalized my decision yet… but I’d like to say that Andorhal has been one hell of a good place to hang out for the last several years. It will always hold a special place in my heart.