Today Grimwell posted an update on the free character transfer situation on EQ2Players:

Provided everything goes well and no new bugs are discovered during internal testing, the servers will be brought down for a hotfix during the morning of May 3rd. The hotfix will absolve the dupe bug that was happening to some characters when they transfer, and we will continue with the free character transfers shortly thereafter.

The hotfix is scheduled for 7am PDT Thursday.

Because of these issues, free character transfers have been extended through May 9. 

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