Just now, on the server selection screen, two of the “FULL” servers are marked “LOCKED” instead: Faerlina and Whitemane.
I don’t know the exact details. Is LOCKED just a warning or is it an actual restriction, preventing you from creating a character on that server?
Clicking on a FULL realm gives me a warning and a button to switch realms (I’m not forced into the queue).
Clicking on a LOCKED realm gives me all that plus a button to go to the shop page for realm transfers (free and paid).
Locked does mean if you have no characters on that realm, you can’t join it.
I wonder what sort of long-term effects (if any) marking as server as LOCKED may have.
For some reason, I’m concerned that it may lead to a decline in the influx of new players coming to our server over time, which could result (over thousands of years, if not sooner) in the eventual decline in population.
Locking transfers does nothing if it isnt done pro-actively.
ALLOW PEOPLE TO ESCAPE, FREE TRANSFERS NOW!
So there’s a Blue post that answers this.
Locked is, well, locked. lol
They announced it earlier. If you don’t have a character on the realm before it locked, you can’t join it.
Locked means that players who do not already have a character on the server cannot join it by making a new one, nor can they paid transfer to it.
Existing players can still free transfer off the locked servers right now.
There are no free transfers off arugal.
What are you talking about?
Some might get the hint.
Sorry, I meant the servers that already had free transfers available, like Whitemane, were not locked in. I assumed all locked servers already had free transfers due to high queue times.
idk if Arugal had free transfers? I thought it was just Whitemane, Faerlina and Incendius.
Apparently now Incendius has lifted the locks on “transfers to”
they need to offer free transfers from these servers and faction change if need be. I have servers that I would transfer to with people I know on other factions that have already rolled… we did not sign up to wait 3 hours in a damn que…
Shhhhh!!! Why are you helping them?! 
I’m a boyscout. Just doing good deeds.
Those servers are locked because they NEED a decline in population. They’re painfully overloaded to the point where they have 2hr+ queues every single day.
There’s also the possibility that Blizz will forget to unlock the server? This will mean a stale community as no new blood will be allowed to join this collective… What an oppressive situation to be in.
The walls are a cage. Humanity - Livestock.
Jaysus.
Roll a toon and find out.
Yes, currently that seems to be the case during many hours of the day.
I thought of that, Glinda. But wait in a queue of 2,000+ players?
I didn’t want to find out THAT much.
It was easier to post in the forum.