So, what about returning players

[LightBear]

Imagine giving it another shot after a few years off.

Only to find a deserted server.

Would be nice for those players to get a free ride as well.

[Redtalktree]

Imagine giving it another shot after a few years off.

Only to find a deserted server.

Would be nice for those players to get a free ride as well.

They landed in somewhere in the greater outdoors, with lots the rivers and creek.... with a spoon. Free ride is like hitching with Micheal Myers you might be o.k.

[Ereshkigal]

Imagine giving it another shot after a few years off.

Only to find a deserted server.

Would be nice for those players to get a free ride as well.

I mean, I "moved servers" when it wasn't free, just by taking 1 capped character to the new server and creating a new one on that server. It wasn't expensive, i'm on my 27th life on that "new" character, and I still have all my old stuff on the old server that I could go back to if I wanted, and if there ever is a server merge, that stuff will still go to whatever server it gets merged into.

The drama of "I need a free move, or I need to take all my stuff with me" is something I just don't see as all that important.

But to answer your question, if someone comes back to DDO and finds a ghost town server...

If they solo, they won't notice.
If they like to group, they'll probably check DDOaudit.com and create a character on a server that isn't a ghost town, and if they absolutely don't want to start over from complete scratch they can drop a few bucks on some DDO points and transfer 1 character loaded full of stuff and starter plat.