I have this issue. I used a friend invite code. Now it seems if you use a code, you get dumped in the same realm as your friend. So you'll have little 50k players surrounded by 4-5 bil players. These 50k players struggle to find a clan because they're noobs, or suspected of being spies.... let me just hide my Bond car before I continue. Luckily I got some help so have managed to grow a few mil. If you message ATA and ask to be moved to 104 that opened when you started, that you stand a fair chance in. You're told to join much older realms instead. Absolutely no transfers to 104 or 105 under any circumstance apparently, although they're lettung players from 104 and 105 swap around. Have I just drawn a short straw and got a useless staff member answering my ticket, or are ATA really that against logic and fairness. At least give people who are invited a chance in a new realm and let them transfer out to join their friends if that is their wish, don't just throw them in realms that are years old and expect them to thrive.
Should have just joined the game normally and then used the in-game referral system to refer your mate, meaning you stay in a new realm while your mate gets the benefits... the feels