I'm so confused (transfer of characters from TBC Classic)

Hi everyone!

I played Classic when it just came out and had a mage leveled to 40. I then stopped playing and only briefly played SL last year. So I missed the TBC launch altogether.

With soon release of WOTLK I thought I’d give it ago, just purchased a subscription, but got completely lost about what’s going on with the number of new servers.

As of right now I can only see my lvl 40 character when launching the WoW Classic (not Burning Crusade Classic). Even then, I can’t access it - I’m offered a free transfer to Classic Era (?) which I cannot go through with due to two errors: 1) Choose the expansion on character selection screen and 2) Activate the clone, which I’m not sure how to fix as the in-game store is temporarily unavailable.

Am I understanding this correctly that my character is forever stuck on this version of classic and is not usable on TBC, and then WOTLK? Do I have to create a new character on Burning Crusade Classic?

I’ve heard of fresh start WOTLK servers, are they a thing, and will they then move to Cata when that launches or will they forever get stuck in WOTLK? If no, a fresh start is what I’d prefer right now. But since these are not out yet, I’m kinda stuck with nothing to invest the time into.

Many thanks for the help.

There are two classic games, Vanilla Classic Era 1-60 and Classic TBC 1-70 and they are completely different and you cannot move between them.

You cannot clone characters anymore and anyone who hasn’t chosen Era or TBC for their character gets forced into TBC. You obviously chose Classic Era for your mage.

Yes. You cannot move from Era to TBC, cloning was turned off months ago.

Yes. Starting 31st Aug.

If Cata does come out then they will be upgraded.

Have you ever entered Classic or TBC Classic after the TBC launch? By that, you chose an expansion for your character. If you didn’t, it should now be on TBC Classic.

I am not sure about that, because

I think, you might see the (not activated) clone on Era. There are free transfers on Era servers to other Era servers. Or can you actually enter the world with your character on Era? In that casey you won’t be able to play TBC with it, like Dottie explained.

Or were you possibly on one of the servers that were recently shut down in TBC? Then you should be able to find your character on another TBC server at some point.

What is SL and when did you play it?

If you never picked classic or TBC for your mage, then it should be available to play in TBC.

Hi, thank you for your response.

I do not remember ever logging into my account since the launch of TBC, I think the last time I played classic was in 2019 but I might have logged in once or twice in 2020.

Yet as I mentioned I cannot access this character in the “Burning Crusade Classic” in the battle.net launcher. I do not have any characters there.

I can see my characters only in the “World of Warcraft Classic” section, and when I’m logging in, my character is not “activated” and I have a free transfer available to a “Classic Era” server Firemaw. My old server was a Russian server called Рок-Делар (Rhok’delar), but I don’t live in Russia anymore.
Other than that, there are no other options for me.

Is your server still there? If not, it might have been closed and your character should arrive on Morgraine soon (technically today, but who knows?).

You played Classic Era, which is the stand alone Classic Vanilla. CLASSIC ERA IS NOT CLASSIC TBC and there is NO CROSSOVER between them, to play on both you needed to pay and you obviously did not pay for that, now you cannot.

Your mage is stuck on Classic Era. You have two choices, carry on playing in Classic Era or abandon it and play TBC, soon to be Wrath with a new character. These are the only things you can do.

The OP has not mentioned ever making a character on TBC or paying for a clone so they have no characters on TBC. They are assuming you can play on both, which without paying you could never do.

Okay, thanks. I’m a bit surprised as I expected my character to move onto TBC like all other characters did when it launched. Not sure why I would be in Classic Era, when I made a character there was only one server, the Classic.

Just to add to the confusion (or the opposite?), when I look at the character selection screen in my WoW Classic launcher, there is an activation checkmark next to it. When I mouseover it, it says “Character is activated in Burning Crusade Classic. This service will unlock a clone of this character in the Classic Era gameworld; The in-game store is temporarily unavailable, try again later”.

So it is activated in BC Classic. But when I launch BC Classic, I don’t see my character there.

Is your old realm in the TBC realm list still? Recently a lot of realms were closed down and all characters were moved to Mograine. If you are 100% sure you chose TBC try looking there.

When Classic TBC started, before you could play you had to choose Classic Era or TBC, you had to pay to play on both. Would you mind using the Terms TBC and Era? You said you logged in after TBC, do you remember which you chose for your mage Era or TBC?

When you log onto Era, is your character there, I mean can you actually play it? If yes, then unfortunately it’s stuck there. If it’s there as what I call a ghost character, ie you can see it but not play it, then your mage may be on Mograine.

Edit: Having looked here.

I can see your old realm was shut down, so if you had any TBC characters there they were moved to Mograine. You may need to either make a new character there to refresh the list or if that does not work, open a ticket to ask about where your mage is.

Hi there. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it.

I have just logged to Mograine server and found my mage!

I didn’t do it before because previously in the realm list I didn’t see any notes that would indicate I have characters there, it was empty like all other server. But I now went to Mograine and found my lvl 40 mage there.

Again, thank you so much, I wouldn’t even check if it wasn’t for your help.

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I believe there are free moves back to a Russian PvP realm from mograine if you wanted to go there.

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Just to clear this up, even though OP now found his character, what I meant is (and that is what happened, as we now know), if you never make a choice, your character ended up in TBC after they retired the clone service: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/news/23783592/the-wow-burning-crusade-classic-character-clone-service-is-retiring-soon.

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