Haven't played in years and have moved to a different continent. Can I change servers without money?

I started playing this game at release, in Europe. I played for a while and lost interest. Now, I no longer live in Europe.

My nephew just started playing GW2 and I'd like to play with him. If we both enjoy it, I'll likely buy the expansions for my account and upgrade his free account as well. However, I'm unwilling to pay money to change servers just to see if we enjoy playing the game together.

Is it possible to change servers without buying gems? I only have 100 gems and don't have enough gold to convert into 500 gems. Should I just uninstall and tell my nephew to forget about it (he already picked an American server and I'm stuck on a European one)? I encouraged him to make an account because I thought we could play together, but when we party up all I can see is a dot on the map and not him.

You can transfer for free by deleting all of your characters. If you just want to try it, you could always create a free account.

One of you can delete all of your characters to get a free transfer (just make sure you put any account bound items in the bank before doing so). He could do it and just go to an EU server, or you could do it and go to an NA server. Up to you guys. Or, as Healix suggested, you could just make a free account to mess around on with him while you decide if you want to come back fully.

Free accounts can only transfer by deleting all the characters as said above.

Paid accounts - that have bought one or more expansion - get one free world transfer to any world so long as it's open.

(though, im not sure how that stands for non-free but non-expansion accounts. i assume theyd also get a free transfer upon buying an expansion?)

@Lexi.1398 said:Free accounts can only transfer by deleting all the characters as said above.

Paid accounts - that have bought one or more expansion - get one free world transfer to any world so long as it's open.

(though, im not sure how that stands for non-free but non-expansion accounts. i assume theyd also get a free transfer upon buying an expansion?)

No, you don't get a free transfer for buying an expansion.

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:No, you don't get a free transfer for buying an expansion.

You do, I transferred servers for free months ago due to that. Though, to be fair, I did wiki it to confirm what I thought...it might also exist on free accounts from the start, frankly i didn't pay much attention. : v

Only one though. Once it's used its back to paying.

@Lexi.1398 said:

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:No, you don't get a free transfer for buying an expansion.

Free accounts just get the one free transfer when they buy the full game. You don't get a free transfer for buying an expansion (I know because I bought both expansions as they came out and didn't get a free transfer).

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:Free accounts just get the one free transfer when they buy the full game. You don't get a free transfer for buying an expansion (I know because I bought both expansions as they came out and didn't get a free transfer).

O, i c now. Perhaps i should have been more clear in my original post. xD That's what i meant, yeah.

@Lexi.1398 said:

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:Free accounts just get the one free transfer when they buy the full game. You don't get a free transfer for buying an expansion (I know because I bought both expansions as they came out and didn't get a free transfer).

Gotcha. :)

@"Healix.5819" said:You can transfer for free by deleting all of your characters. If you just want to try it, you could always create a free account.

I was afraid of that. The free account is the most likely option, but I know that I'll never put any real time or effort into a throw-away account. And I'd rather never play again than delete the characters that I've had since day one.

I prepurchased the digital-deluxe version of this game because Anet said it would be easy to play with friends. Maybe I'll check back next decade to see if that has finally become a reality. It seems short-sighted of Anet to nickel-and-dime customers instead of encouraging people to play with their friends. I've got a credit card and a new user that I'm willing to buy the game for (not to mention the expansions that I'm very interested in), but Anet appears to put more value on 10 cents today than10 dollars tomorrow.

I think the easiest solution is to tell my nephew to play solo until he gets bored and quits. I'm a little weird and greedy stuff like this really sours me on companies, like it really bothers me. Hell, I've been boycotting Sony since 2000 because of their abysmal DRM-infested "mp3" player that didn't actually play mp3s. I refuse to encourage anti-consumer behavior with my money and from where I'm sitting, these transfer fees appear anti-consumer.

@Taco Knight.9418 said:

@"Healix.5819" said:You can transfer for free by deleting all of your characters. If you just want to try it, you could always create a free account.

You could have told your nephew to join your specific server or told him that you play on EU. It's not like Anet forced him to pick a different region from yours. Like I said above, if he's still early on with his account and not attached to his characters, he could just delete the characters and transfer to EU to play with you. If you just can't get behind the transfer costs, then that's fine. But it's there for a reason (specifically to keep wvw from having weekly sever imbalances and issues from people are constantly server hopping).

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:he could just delete the characters and transfer to EU to play with you

Transferring is disabled for free accounts until they buy the game. The free account could however contact support claiming they picked the wrong server and want to play with this guy. It's not guaranteed, but support does allow a 1 time transfer for free accounts in similar situations.

@Healix.5819 said:

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:he could just delete the characters and transfer to EU to play with you

Ah, I somehow missed that his nephew was playing on a free account. Yeah, support could be an option. Or just another free account, I suppose.

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:

You could have told your nephew to join your specific server or told him that you play on EU. It's not like Anet forced him to pick a different region from yours. Like I said above, if he's still early on with his account and not attached to his characters, he could just delete the characters and transfer to EU to play with you. If you just can't get behind the transfer costs, then that's fine. But it's there for a reason (specifically to keep wvw from having weekly sever imbalances and issues from people are constantly server hopping).

Yeah, he picked the server before my game had loaded up. Now I don't think it's worth the hassle to try to get on the same server on the other side of the world. I've tried running around on the EU server and my skills occasionally had a weird delay.

I can understand the WvW issue. But couldn't they give a free yearly transfer or something like that? Or maybe a special thing where you get a free transfer if you haven't logged into your account in 3 years? You know, something to entice the people like me who loved and paid for the game, but aren't quite sure if they want to return or not.

@Healix.5819 said:

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:he could just delete the characters and transfer to EU to play with you

I'll open a ticket and see if I can get a 1-time transfer for my paid account. It seems weird that free accounts would get more benefits than paid accounts.

@Taco Knight.9418 said:I'll open a ticket and see if I can get a 1-time transfer for my paid account. It seems weird that free accounts would get more benefits than paid accounts.

It's because transferring is disabled for free accounts, so if they chose the wrong server, their only options are buying the game or making a new account. Support offers them a 1 time transfer as an alternative to making a new account.

Just to follow up, I put in a support ticket and they were able to help me this one time. Thanks a ton, GW2 Support Team!

@Taco Knight.9418 said:Just to follow up, I put in a support ticket and they were able to help me this one time. Thanks a ton, GW2 Support Team!

Glad to hear it! thanks for posting the resolution :)