Feedback:User/Tennessee Ernie Ford/Grace period for choosing home worlds

Grace period for choosing home worlds
User	Tennessee Ernie Ford
Categories	Mechanics

Grace period for choosing home worlds

Note: ANet has announced changes that address one the concerns raised in this suggestion. In particular, they will allow free movement across worlds for some period of time after launch, presumably until they are ready to enable guesting. However, there is still no grace period for people who have paid gems to move and I still think there should be. I am striking out concerns that are no longer valid.

(Adjusted based on comments and to simplify the mechanics.)

Please allow a grace period for choosing one's home world. For example:

• Offer every account one free world transfer to be used whenever they like.
• Offer every account one free "undo" within 48 hours of any transfer (including the initial choice).

All other transfers would cost 500, 1000, or 1800 gems. The "undo" grace period should be short enough to prevent "gaming the system," since the Power of the Mists lags behind the change of worlds.

Background

Choosing a home world has huge implications. But there are all sorts of reasons why someone might choose the wrong server. The following mistakes should be free to fix:

• Guild leaders suggest launching on World = Gaile, but it turns out that the world fills up during headstart; non-pre-purchasing guildies are locked out.
• The guild forum said "converge on World = Regina," but that turns out to be a typo that was fixed 48 hrs later (they meant World = Ruby). So 0.33⅓ the guild ends up Regina, the rest with Ruby.
• No one in the guild is interested in WvW on game launch, so everyone ends up on home worlds with their, erm, homies. But then: various members try it out (encouraged by those same buddies) and they love it! Unfortunately, members are stuck on the wrong worlds for WvW with the guild.
• A French-native speaker starts out on a non-specified language server because they think they can handle the English, but ... no, it turns out to be too hard.
• An Australian player starts off on a US-server thinking they will have better playtime overlap, but it turns out all their New Zealander buddies are on an EU server and they want to switch for WvW.
• A US player sticks to a US world because they're afraid of lag. But then it turns out their entire guild (US and EU/UK members) is on an EU server, so they want to move.

ANet sort of recognized this issue during public testing:

• During BWE1, it was free to switch at will.
• During BWE2-3, it was free to switch at will for 36-48 hrs and only cost gems afterward.

See also

• Improve World mobility tools

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