Global Server Character Slots

If you've been playing around for awhile, you'll have met a variety of different players. Meet enough folks, and you'll find people on all sorts of different servers. Likewise, as you play your different characters, you'll find ones you really enjoy. You invest time in those characters, and want to play with said people you've met, befriended. Alas, the servers won't let you, should said people play on different servers. You can restart your character, perhaps, but you can't do so in time to all of a sudden help a friend on a new server with a level 50 strike/task force. Going Rogue will make this even trickier in some cases. I'm not sure how often it's the case, but some people keep factions on different servers to get enough room. With GR, the mingling of said factions is set apart by the server divide. Let's face it, people play on different servers. Wouldn't it be great if characters could be as flexible with servers as the players are?

Here's my suggestion: A 'global' character slot page. This would be accessed via an arrow to the left of the 'first page' of character slots on every server.

The global page would be shared by all servers...the characters in said slots would still hold a character slot on their "home" server. (The server on which they were originally created.) If the player chose to remove that character from the global list, no harm, no foul. They'd keep whatever progress they made on other servers, but would be otherwise unchanged in their original spot.

Naming Globally:
When imported to a new server, their name would be checked. If that name were taken, they would be asked to choose a new moniker. This moniker would be specific to the new server, and would not change their name on their original server. Likewise, while visiting a new server, their name on the original server could not be used. The moniker claimed on the new server they were visiting, if valid, would be reserved for them if they wished to re-visit. If they did not visit the secondary server for 90 days, however, another player could claim the alternate server name.
When selecting from the global list a character from another server, the original name would be displayed, as well as the Moniker chosen when visiting that new server. Like so:

GammaGuy
"Gamma Gary"
level 30 science blaster
2 days offline
23 days since last visit to triumph

If a player grew tired of their server designation on an alternate server, they could select a 'relesase name' button, which, if their original name was still taken on that server, would prompt them to choose a new name when visiting.

Slots:
When visiting a server 'globally,' one would not need extra space on the 'new' server. (That is to say, 100% of that server's slots could be filled, but as one is visiting globally, they don't need an open slot to 'transfer into.' If a global character had visited recently, they would still not be found in the server character list. They would have to be selected from the global list once again.

VG/SG designation:
Any Villain/Super Group affiliation the global character had on their home server would not be lost either- however, on the server they visit they could not gain prestige, join another VG/SG, or operate in VG/SG mode.

Business end:
Making a character global would be accessible via the store: there would be a $5 one-time charge for making the character global, along with a 50 cent a month charge per global slot for the global service to your account. A player could use no more than 12 global slots. There would be no fee for removing a character from the global list.

Oh, one more thing. The global character page? It would have a 'global friend' list as well, with the ability to chat with those on said list.

So, does it sound just like unlimited server transfers for a character? Kinda, but it allows for more stability in naming, doesn't disconnect the character from their home VG/SG, and makes having a free slot on all servers unnecessary for importing a character. So, it's a pretty hassle-free way to visit any shard at any time.

*Note: it could also free up slots on servers with 'name reserve' characters, to an extent.

with SSK, what is wrong with making the same toon on a different server? i see no need to charge people more money for a system that may be broke as hell.

ok, let me try this...

how many times will i have to change my name when i want to play that toon on any given server?

how will it save all my info seeing as how the servers are completely separate from one another other then WW/BM and global channels?

how many years of creating and testing do you expect before something like this would be implemented?

what happens when the server created for this goes down? do i lose all the toons i have on that list or can i still access them on my regular server?

these are just a few questions that you must answer before anything can happen.

Good idea, but the cash charges are ridiculous. I can see that the $5 is to offset sales of transfers, but the 50 cents per month is extreme. Within a year that is more than the cost of a transfer, in addition to the initial fee. And for what, just the ability to make occasional temp transfers to team with somebody? Somebody who uses it to the full is paying $132 in a year just to get around technical restrictions.

The automatic reservation of names is also not so desirable. Names are hard enough to get now, without making them global.

The rest of it sounds like a winner.

no it really doesn't. basically what you want is a charcter copy tool which we will not get for live servers. it is to highly exploitable. as would your idea be. you would have to save all the info for each server for a toon which essentially saves all enhancements and everything. now all you have to do is log in one of your manyofthesame toons and respec out of whatever you can and sell for major profit while leaving the rest of the toons alone.

this is a badly thought out idea. again, i see nothing wro ng with re-reolling the same toon on another server. it doesn't take that long to get everything you had before.