Not how it works. Free transfers cause a domino effect that ultimately kill the server entirely. If you make it cost nothing, the top guilds immediately bail and many will follow like sheep. After that, everyone has a tipping point. Even the people most desperately wanting to stay, will have to leave once everyone else is gone. I stayed on Earthfury to the last 1% and only left because going out and ganking horde was the only thing left to do. No groups, no raids, no AH. Barren.
Skeram. Sulfuras. Kirtonos. Earthfury. I’ve watched enough servers die to know how it goes. I’ve started over enough times to not be willing to do it again. If Grobb falls, I’m done.
In TBC when people decided they needed instant gratification (how dare this group take 15 minutes to form at 3am) that you get when you have plenty of people to group with, they abandoned all those “dead” realms and created the megaservers. Because the classic crowd tragically thinks 3000 buddies isn’t enough, despite that being plenty once upon a time. More than anything, the drastic shifts in server populations throughout classic were driven by panic and FOMO. Then they ended up at 99% because nobody likes being on the losing side by the thousands especially when you are one little raid team trying to use a summoning stone while constantly swarmed by an army.
Like I said, if you don’t appreciate Grobb and its special charm, just go. If you can’t afford to transfer or don’t want to reroll, I really don’t care. I’ve done more than my fair share (with stack of alts in tow) thanks to people with your attitude.