Several questions as a potential returning subscriber

SBE1

I'm likely going to re-sub in the near future (when character transfers become available) and purchase the expansion pack, but I have a few questions and without forum permissions on SWTOR I have to ask here.  So, any help/answers are greatly appreciated.

 

1. When character transfers reopen, do ALL of my characters on the server transfer to the destination or do I have to pay to transfer each character?  Yes, I know not to have stuff in my storage lockers or things for sale, but when I look at the information it looks like it's a character by character kind of deal, which makes zero sense to me.  So, I want to be sure that all my characters can transfer off the server to the destination server. 
2. Do they charge for character transfers?  If yes, how much (I have 4 key characters I want to move) does it cost (even if the cost is in cartel coins)?
3. I'm primarily enjoy the PvP matches, so when I'm leveling from 50 to 60 can I get top level gear from PvP or is that strictly a PvE raid thing?  Like, can I turn in warzone coms or something for gear or am I forced to PvE raid to compete in PVP matches? Long time ago they had gear for PvP and PvE, unsure if something like that still exists or not.

Thanks again. Once the server transfer option becomes available I'll be subbing once again and ask future questions on the main game forums.

Azaron_Nightblade

Originally posted by SBE1

I'm likely going to re-sub in the near future (when character transfers become available) and purchase the expansion pack, but I have a few questions and without forum permissions on SWTOR I have to ask here.  So, any help/answers are greatly appreciated.

 

1. When character transfers reopen, do ALL of my characters on the server transfer to the destination or do I have to pay to transfer each character?  Yes, I know not to have stuff in my storage lockers or things for sale, but when I look at the information it looks like it's a character by character kind of deal, which makes zero sense to me.  So, I want to be sure that all my characters can transfer off the server to the destination server. 
2. Do they charge for character transfers?  If yes, how much (I have 4 key characters I want to move) does it cost (even if the cost is in cartel coins)?
3. I'm primarily enjoy the PvP matches, so when I'm leveling from 50 to 60 can I get top level gear from PvP or is that strictly a PvE raid thing?  Like, can I turn in warzone coms or something for gear or am I forced to PvE raid to compete in PVP matches? Long time ago they had gear for PvP and PvE, unsure if something like that still exists or not.

Thanks again. Once the server transfer option becomes available I'll be subbing once again and ask future questions on the main game forums.

1) Character transfers are always open, the paid version at least. If they actually open free transfers like they did with the server merge you can transfer each character for free. (But that's not the case right now, nor have the devs stated that they have plans to do so.)

2) They cost 1800 CC per character transferred. So if you're a returning player with CC left over you might be able to get them transferred for "free". You can also get one free transfer from the refer a friend program.

http://www.swtor.com/info/friends "One Complimentary Character Transfer for the lifetime of the account. For a full list of Subscriber benefits, visit http://www.swtor.com/free/features";

3) The only way to get the best PvP gear is through PvP, raid gear is fairly useless now in PvP thanks to the Expertise stat which only comes with PvP gear.

MikotoMisaka

What he said

SBE1

Originally posted by Azaron_Nightblade

Originally posted by SBE1

I'm likely going to re-sub in the near future (when character transfers become available) and purchase the expansion pack, but I have a few questions and without forum permissions on SWTOR I have to ask here.  So, any help/answers are greatly appreciated.

 

1. When character transfers reopen, do ALL of my characters on the server transfer to the destination or do I have to pay to transfer each character?  Yes, I know not to have stuff in my storage lockers or things for sale, but when I look at the information it looks like it's a character by character kind of deal, which makes zero sense to me.  So, I want to be sure that all my characters can transfer off the server to the destination server. 
2. Do they charge for character transfers?  If yes, how much (I have 4 key characters I want to move) does it cost (even if the cost is in cartel coins)?
3. I'm primarily enjoy the PvP matches, so when I'm leveling from 50 to 60 can I get top level gear from PvP or is that strictly a PvE raid thing?  Like, can I turn in warzone coms or something for gear or am I forced to PvE raid to compete in PVP matches? Long time ago they had gear for PvP and PvE, unsure if something like that still exists or not.

Thanks again. Once the server transfer option becomes available I'll be subbing once again and ask future questions on the main game forums.

1) Character transfers are always open, the paid version at least. If they actually open free transfers like they did with the server merge you can transfer each character for free. (But that's not the case right now, nor have the devs stated that they have plans to do so.)

2) They cost 1800 CC per character transferred. So if you're a returning player with CC left over you might be able to get them transferred for "free". You can also get one free transfer from the refer a friend program.

http://www.swtor.com/info/friends "One Complimentary Character Transfer for the lifetime of the account. For a full list of Subscriber benefits, visit http://www.swtor.com/free/features";

3) The only way to get the best PvP gear is through PvP, raid gear is fairly useless now in PvP thanks to the Expertise stat which only comes with PvP gear.

1) No, the current character transfer option is unavailable.  They believe it will return in 3.2.1 as stated http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=8206544&postcount=115, which I believe is this Wednesday but it's been down a while.  What isn't clear as when it comes back if it was a free transfer or a paid transfer. I suppose it's a paid transfer based upon your comments.

2) I don't have any CC as I left before CC was introduced.  I see that I have to pay $20 to get enough cartel coins to make one transfer.  That's dumb. I'm not going to pay $20 EXTRA on top of a sub to move a single character, and I don't want to play 4 months on a nearly-dead server. 

3) I thought they dumped the expertise stat a while ago. Glad to know it is still around.

I guess I wait to sub once free transfers become avail.  What a terrible system.

Gitmix

Pre 60 the best PvP gear you can have is a full set of iLvl 162 PvE gear (read up on how Bolster works if you want to know why).

You can get a "free" quasi full set of 162 gear by doing the Forged Alliance quest chain at lvl 55 (you don't need the expansion to do it). It's a very easy quest chain that has you do 4 solo mode flash points with the help of an over powered tank/healer/dps droid.

Once you've done this you'll just be short of 1 implant and 2 relics but you can get those on the fleet at the lvl 55 basic gear vendor for regular commendations.

The final step to reach expertise cap (2018) at lvl 55 is to swap out your main hand and off hand mods and enhancements for the lower level ones you can get from the lvl 53 mods vendor on the fleet.

If you're mostly into PvP, I recommend not getting the expansion straight away and farming WZs at lvl 55 until you've maxed out your warzone commendations (both regular and ranked). You can trade ranked comms for reg comms once you hit valor lvl 40.

Azaron_Nightblade

Originally posted by SBE1

1) No, the current character transfer option is unavailable.  They believe it will return in 3.2.1 as stated http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=8206544&postcount=115, which I believe is this Wednesday but it's been down a while.  What isn't clear as when it comes back if it was a free transfer or a paid transfer. I suppose it's a paid transfer based upon your comments.

2) I don't have any CC as I left before CC was introduced.  I see that I have to pay $20 to get enough cartel coins to make one transfer.  That's dumb. I'm not going to pay $20 EXTRA on top of a sub to move a single character, and I don't want to play 4 months on a nearly-dead server. 

3) I thought they dumped the expertise stat a while ago. Glad to know it is still around.

I guess I wait to sub once free transfers become avail.  What a terrible system.

I forgot about the system's downtime, or rather I thought you were inquiring about the free transfers. And yeah, $20 is pricey, even if it's pretty much the standard for MMO server transfers (Blizzard charges a similar amount). I guess devs really don't like people switching servers. =/

You probably already know this, but... the moment you transfer one character, all your unlocked Legacy bonuses get copied to the new server as well.

Just throwing that out there in case that's why you want the four characters transferred. (If you actually intend to play them actively it doesn't help one bit of course.)

Originally posted by Gorwe
Curse you azaron! Wtf are you omnipresent on swtor subforum?

Yes. 

SBE1

Thanks for all the info.  I'll call customer service and tell them I'll sub if they move my characters.  Otherwise, I'll just play something else until they do free mergers again.  Sad they've let servers get so underpopulated without merging them.

moonbound

All I have to say is do not sub to this game if you are not interested in a casual mmorpg, because the game is getting more and more casual, it barely even has rpg elements anymore outside of story its mostly a single player mmorpg and everyone is rushing to end game with the class exp bonus for subbers.

reeereee

Originally posted by moonbound
All I have to say is do not sub to this game if you are not interested in a casual mmorpg, because the game is getting more and more casual, it barely even has rpg elements anymore outside of story its mostly a single player mmorpg and everyone is rushing to end game with the class exp bonus for subbers.

Exactly... nothing says filthy casual like rushing to end game...  wait, what?

moonbound

What I meant is there is no journey in this game, no real choices while leveling its all just endgame and gear upgrades which is very repetitive.