Amazon Game Studios has delayed New World server transfers indefinitely. The studio was originally due to introduce the feature to alleviate ongoing overcrowding issues, but now says that some "edge cases" aren't meeting its standards.
Why are New World server transfers delayed?
This news comes via the official New World forums. In a post on the forums, community manager Trevor Smith said that the New World development team wanted to ensure the process of server transfer is as "seamless" as possible. The team uncovered what Smith describes as "edge cases" in which the transfer system isn't working quite as it should be. As such, AGS wants to take "extra time to get these issues resolved" before rolling out the server transfer feature. Amazon hasn't given any kind of time frame for when server transfers will be available.
In addition to news about the New World server transfer delay, Smith also included a server transfer FAQ in his forum post. The FAQ contains instructions regarding how to actually move a character when server transfers do go live, as well as what you'll keep, what you'll lose, and where you'll be able to move to. You'll keep character progression, Faction status, items, currency, and quest progress if you move servers. However, you'll lose Company membership, any active Trading Post orders, and your friends list.
Significantly, Smith says you will be able to transfer a character to any world "in your region", meaning you won't be able to move between regions (despite Amazon previously stating that this would be permitted). You also won't be able to move your character to regions that are full or undergoing maintenance, nor will it be possible to move them to a world set in which you already have another character. Amazon is planning to give every player a free server transfer token to allow them to move to a world of their choice, but will be "monitoring world populations" and other vital stats to discern whether it's necessary to hand out more free tokens in the future.
Why do players want New World server transfers so badly?
When Amazon's MMO New World launched, it was immediately hugely popular. Concurrent players skyrocketed to over 500,000 within the game's first day on release, and players began to complain of long queue times, with many unable to play for several hours after firing up New World for the first time. The problem got so bad that it led to a Steam review bomb; players began inundating the New World Steam page with negative reviews, the vast majority of which cited the long queue times as the primary reason for their rating. Amazon subsequently announced that within two weeks of launch, players would receive free server tokens to move to a new server at no cost. Unfortunately, we now don't know exactly when that will happen.
All eyes are on New World to see how it manages to deal with these teething troubles. Players who do manage to get into the game have reported gripes such as graphics card compatibility issues (for which Amazon says the blame lies with the manufacturers of the cards) and AFK players remaining online despite not being active. If it wants to retain its sizable player base, Amazon will need to swiftly address these issues, so hopefully, it won't be too long before New World server transfers become available. We'll bring you more on this as we get it.
Are you waiting to move your character to a new server in New World? Let us know in the comments below!
