I'd like to remove Steam from my account.

Taneo

Is this possible? I've grown to abhor Steam, their lousy software, offensive business tactics, and otherwise.

Regretfully my ESO account is linked to Steam.

NTclaymore

We need this. Steam has had sooo many issues Zenimas must make this change possible. This is just not viable. it happens over and over again

AlienatedGoat

ZOS will only "officially" unlink your account from Steam 7 days after the original linking.

However, I have, from personal experience, had ZOS Support unlink an account from Steam nearly 6 months after the fact (one of my alt accounts).

I had to respond to every ticket and stick to my guns on it, but they did do it, albeit begrudgingly.

So if you want it bad enough, it is possible. There's nothing in their system tools keeping them from doing it.

Taneo

Phage wrote: »

ZOS will only "officially" unlink your account from Steam 7 days after the original linking.

However, I have, from personal experience, had ZOS Support unlink an account from Steam nearly 6 months after the fact (one of my alt accounts).

I had to respond to every ticket and stick to my guns on it, but they did do it, albeit begrudgingly.

So if you want it bad enough, it is possible. There's nothing in their system tools keeping them from doing it.

Did you initially purchase the game through Steam?

AlienatedGoat

Taneo wrote: »

Phage wrote: »

ZOS will only "officially" unlink your account from Steam 7 days after the original linking.

However, I have, from personal experience, had ZOS Support unlink an account from Steam nearly 6 months after the fact (one of my alt accounts).

I had to respond to every ticket and stick to my guns on it, but they did do it, albeit begrudgingly.

So if you want it bad enough, it is possible. There's nothing in their system tools keeping them from doing it.

Did you initially purchase the game through Steam?

No. See, there's two types of ESO accounts: you've got the first type, the regular accounts, that let you play through the regular launcher. You can link those ones to Steam if you buy the game on Steam later. You've also got the second type of account, which is created through Steam, inside the Steam launcher version of the game.

You can unlink the first type of account. The second type of account isn't linked to Steam, it's a literal Steam ESO account that's been created through Steam and can't be used on any other platform.

This was part of the Terms and Conditions set by Valve to allow ESO on their platform.

Taneo

Figures. Classic Steam strong-arming.

AlienatedGoat

Taneo wrote: »

Figures. Classic Steam strong-arming.

Yeah, its DRM on top of DRM.

When you first launch the game in Steam you get the option to link an existing ESO account (i.e. a regular ESO account), or to make a new one (which will be a Steam ESO account).

They don't tell you the differences and restrictions between the two, and they should.

whisperity

Phage wrote: »

This was part of the Terms and Conditions set by Valve to allow ESO on their platform.

Sounds fishy, unless Valve makes these terms different on a per-case basis.
There are many other games which when you obtain through Steam you need to set up an account on the games' service and use that, and these accounts are totally outside (even if integration-linked for launch, achievements, etc.) Steam's thing.

VRChat, Path of Exile and Warframe comes to mind at first guess.

NTclaymore

Well.. Zenimax needs to fix this regardless. So you must be able to "unlink" accounts made by steam if they cannot keep their service active. I dont mind the normal maintainces and server crashes from time to time but being a european steam user has these last few months being absolutely horrid in terms of uptime.. This needs to be adressed. we cannot just sit around waiting like this every time.

Telepathically

So in other words... I have to buy two versions of the game in order to avoid this issue?

AlienatedGoat

whisperity wrote: »

Phage wrote: »

This was part of the Terms and Conditions set by Valve to allow ESO on their platform.

Sounds fishy, unless Valve makes these terms different on a per-case basis.
There are many other games which when you obtain through Steam you need to set up an account on the games' service and use that, and these accounts are totally outside (even if integration-linked for launch, achievements, etc.) Steam's thing.

VRChat, Path of Exile and Warframe comes to mind at first guess.

Path of Exile is a bit more forgiving since they're willing to work more with Valve, but even they have a distinctive difference between accounts created on their standalone launcher, and accounts created through Steam.

In both instances though, Valve is the controlling party. ZOS is more than happy to let you link your pre-existing accounts to Steam, even though Valve will take 30% of the profits from that account from therein.

Valve isn't so quick to let those accounts go. Hence the 7 day unlink requirement.

AlienatedGoat

Telepathically wrote: »

So in other words... I have to buy two versions of the game in order to avoid this issue?

Not only two versions, but in a specific order too.

Buying a regular ESO account first (unless it's a beta account) -> then linking that account to a second purchase made through Steam.

The whole thing is easily confusing. I've only gotten it straight after many years of wrestling with issues from both ZOS and Valve.

whisperity

Phage wrote: »

Telepathically wrote: »

So in other words... I have to buy two versions of the game in order to avoid this issue?

Not only two versions, but in a specific order too.

Buying a regular ESO account first (unless it's a beta account) -> then linking that account to a second purchase made through Steam.

The whole thing is easily confusing. I've only gotten it straight after many years of wrestling with issues from both ZOS and Valve.

What is the state of the people who bought the game initially on Steam, but got a CD key they had to apply on an account manually, in a browser, that was created manually on the ESO site? But the game was only purchased once.

Seems to be that for accounts like these, outside-Steam login works after a try or two, and within-Steam it does not.

Telepathically

Phage wrote: »

Telepathically wrote: »

So in other words... I have to buy two versions of the game in order to avoid this issue?

Not only two versions, but in a specific order too.

Buying a regular ESO account first (unless it's a beta account) -> then linking that account to a second purchase made through Steam.

The whole thing is easily confusing. I've only gotten it straight after many years of wrestling with issues from both ZOS and Valve.

Well, There goes that Idea... I just purchased the summerset game from steam, with my OLD beta account when the game was released. never purchased the game back then.

MLGProPlayer

I learned a long time ago never to buy games that have a separate launcher on Steam. There are always issues.

I'm a huge fan of Steam with over 150 games owned on the platform, but I only buy games without launchers.

AlienatedGoat

Telepathically wrote: »

Phage wrote: »

Telepathically wrote: »

So in other words... I have to buy two versions of the game in order to avoid this issue?

Not only two versions, but in a specific order too.

Buying a regular ESO account first (unless it's a beta account) -> then linking that account to a second purchase made through Steam.

The whole thing is easily confusing. I've only gotten it straight after many years of wrestling with issues from both ZOS and Valve.

Well, There goes that Idea... I just purchased the summerset game from steam, with my OLD beta account when the game was released. never purchased the game back then.

The easiest way to check to see if you have access to the regular launcher is to login to your ESO account page. If you see a Download Game button, you have access to the regular launcher.

Important note though: if you sub through Steam, the button disappears, regardless of what kind of ESO account you have. Once the Steam sub is gone, the button comes back if you had access before.

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

I learned a long time ago never to buy games that have a separate launcher on Steam. It's just such a headache.

I'm a huge fan of Steam with over 150 games owned on the platform, but I only buy games without launchers there.

I've gotten to the same point there man. I mainly just use the ESO Steam to manage screenshots, keep track of playtime, keep up with friends, etc. Nearly 2k games on Steam now, so it's definitely where I do the majority of my gaming. The ESO/Steam integration is just a really bad job. And I've done the whole unlink process with Steam/ESO before, and it was a headache. Not one I'm about to repeat.

I'll deal with Steam on ESO since I've gotten it set up where it doesn't impact me at all, but it's the last launcher-based game I'll play through Steam. The extra layers of DRM are a nightmare to navigate.

Inoki

Phage wrote: »

ZOS will only "officially" unlink your account from Steam 7 days after the original linking.

However, I have, from personal experience, had ZOS Support unlink an account from Steam nearly 6 months after the fact (one of my alt accounts).

I had to respond to every ticket and stick to my guns on it, but they did do it, albeit begrudgingly.

So if you want it bad enough, it is possible. There's nothing in their system tools keeping them from doing it.

Hi,

thank you for this information.

While I'm pro Steam because I like the service and use it primarily for 90% of my games, the login issues we're experiencing so often are downright malapropian.

AlienatedGoat

whisperity wrote: »

Phage wrote: »

Telepathically wrote: »

So in other words... I have to buy two versions of the game in order to avoid this issue?

Not only two versions, but in a specific order too.

Buying a regular ESO account first (unless it's a beta account) -> then linking that account to a second purchase made through Steam.

The whole thing is easily confusing. I've only gotten it straight after many years of wrestling with issues from both ZOS and Valve.

What is the state of the people who bought the game initially on Steam, but got a CD key they had to apply on an account manually, in a browser, that was created manually on the ESO site? But the game was only purchased once.

Seems to be that for accounts like these, outside-Steam login works after a try or two, and within-Steam it does not.

That's a really odd situation. As far as I know, Steam never issued CD keys for Steam copies of the game. If one just bought the game through Steam, one would just launch the game through the Steam launcher, and create a new ESO Steam account in-game.

whisperity

Phage wrote: »

whisperity wrote: »

Phage wrote: »

Telepathically wrote: »

So in other words... I have to buy two versions of the game in order to avoid this issue?

Not only two versions, but in a specific order too.

Buying a regular ESO account first (unless it's a beta account) -> then linking that account to a second purchase made through Steam.

The whole thing is easily confusing. I've only gotten it straight after many years of wrestling with issues from both ZOS and Valve.

What is the state of the people who bought the game initially on Steam, but got a CD key they had to apply on an account manually, in a browser, that was created manually on the ESO site? But the game was only purchased once.

Seems to be that for accounts like these, outside-Steam login works after a try or two, and within-Steam it does not.

That's a really odd situation. As far as I know, Steam never issued CD keys for Steam copies of the game. If one just bought the game through Steam, one would just launch the game through the Steam launcher, and create a new ESO Steam account in-game.

Well, here am I, the example. I downloaded the game, there was some "pre-installer" which unpacked the launcher, then started the launcher, but when I started the game, I was presented with a standard loading screen. A CD key was prompted by Steam in the overlay (like this First time game start, here's your CD key thing -- some pseudo-indie games still have this View CD Key option in their right-click menu - ESO doesn't!). I went to the site, created an account, I used the Redeem Code option and copied my key in.

I can still find the key I redeemed in my ESO account Billing History thing. I can also find the "key" for the Morrowind Digital Upgrade purchase, and the row.

I bought Summerset over Steam (because of money made from trading cards and left-behind from Wallet cash) in this new system. There is no Summerset CD key activation in my Billing History page, but when I start the game non-Steam, it shows Summerset as purchased.

However, the account page says I own "Morrowind".
However, Morrowind wasn't purchased through Steam, and a month or so before Summerset was released, it got marked as owned on my Steam profile - it's listed under my owned ESO DLCs. Previously, Steam kept suggesting me for like a year to buy Morrowind (which, I technically already did, just outside Steam).

mjonis

Sigh. Well guess I did it all wrong. This seems to be a very frequent issue, and I've only been playing for like 3 months.

AlienatedGoat

whisperity wrote: »

Phage wrote: »

whisperity wrote: »

Phage wrote: »

Telepathically wrote: »

So in other words... I have to buy two versions of the game in order to avoid this issue?

Not only two versions, but in a specific order too.

Buying a regular ESO account first (unless it's a beta account) -> then linking that account to a second purchase made through Steam.

The whole thing is easily confusing. I've only gotten it straight after many years of wrestling with issues from both ZOS and Valve.

What is the state of the people who bought the game initially on Steam, but got a CD key they had to apply on an account manually, in a browser, that was created manually on the ESO site? But the game was only purchased once.

Seems to be that for accounts like these, outside-Steam login works after a try or two, and within-Steam it does not.

That's a really odd situation. As far as I know, Steam never issued CD keys for Steam copies of the game. If one just bought the game through Steam, one would just launch the game through the Steam launcher, and create a new ESO Steam account in-game.

Well, here am I, the example. I downloaded the game, there was some "pre-installer" which unpacked the launcher, then started the launcher, but when I started the game, I was presented with a standard loading screen. A CD key was prompted by Steam in the overlay (like this First time game start, here's your CD key thing -- some pseudo-indie games still have this View CD Key option in their right-click menu - ESO doesn't!). I went to the site, created an account, I used the Redeem Code option and copied my key in.

I can still find the key I redeemed in my ESO account Billing History thing. I can also find the "key" for the Morrowind Digital Upgrade purchase, and the row.

I bought Summerset over Steam (because of money made from trading cards and left-behind from Wallet cash) in this new system. There is no Summerset CD key activation in my Billing History page, but when I start the game non-Steam, it shows Summerset as purchased.

However, the account page says I own "Morrowind".
However, Morrowind wasn't purchased through Steam, and a month or so before Summerset was released, it got marked as owned on my Steam profile - it's listed under my owned ESO DLCs. Previously, Steam kept suggesting me for like a year to buy Morrowind (which, I technically already did, just outside Steam).

Huh, that is very strange. I've never heard of Steam prompting a CD key for ESO before.

Did you buy the Steam version when it very first came out on Steam? The CD key may have been removed later. I played through the regular ESO launcher myself up until 2016 when I decided to integrate, and bought the base game on Steam for that. Steam games that have CD keys usually let you right-click on them in your library to view the CD key - ESO doesn't have one for me. Does yours?

For your Morrowind situation though, Summerset preorders came with Morrowind included as a bonus, Steam included. That's why you have it in your DLCs now.

whisperity

Phage wrote: »

Did you buy the Steam version when it very first came out on Steam? The CD key may have been removed later. I played through the regular ESO launcher myself up until 2016 when I decided to integrate, and bought the base game on Steam for that. Steam games that have CD keys usually let you right-click on them in your library to view the CD key - ESO doesn't have one for me. Does yours?

I think I did. I bought it exactly two years ago. (Happy birthday I guess. ) It was already called Tamriel Unlimited but you couldn't buy crowns or subs on Steam, only the base game and perhaps the Gold Edition.

It does no longer show the CD key option, but it used to. I stopped checking after a while though as the game worked. Maybe it got removed when the Steam integration option and the single sign on rolled out... I even found the email I got as a receipt for redeeming, to my ESO account, a particular key code for the game itself. And I got that key from Steam because there's only one game I ever bought twice in my life (see below).

Phage wrote: »

For your Morrowind situation though, Summerset preorders came with Morrowind included as a bonus, Steam included. That's why you have it in your DLCs now.

Ah... That explains why it's only Morrowind with the CE (which I bought originally a year ago on ESO's site) is missing.

Although it might not explain it! I started seeing Morrowind as owned on the Steam store before I did the Summerset purchase!

Luckily though, Summerset is accessible even if I start the game outside Steam.
It's confusing as bad. As if region locks weren't bad already... (Recently I just ended up purchasing Fallout New Vegas ROW from Humble Bundle to make sure I have a version I can mod as opposed to the region locked one that breaks a lot of mods...) Sometimes this whole just makes you wonder if perhaps Stallman was right. :P

Jameliel

Lol @ people blaming Steam. I've used Steam to play loads of games for years now. ESO is the only game this problem has ever occured with. The problem is ZO$, not Steam.

whisperity

Jameliel wrote: »

Lol @ people blaming Steam. I've used Steam to play loads of games for years now. ESO is the only game this problem has ever occured with. The problem is ZO$, not Steam.

The problem is that without seeing the actual source code for the implementation of their system and without reading the contract they signed with one another, the best and safest option is to blame both.

VexingArcanist

The peasants are restless.

*lights a torch*

NTclaymore

Zenimax is not gonna respound to any of this. Once the server is back up we will go back to our buisness and they gonna be like "Phew. now we are out of trouble. no need to do anything else" till tomorrow where the server probally crashes again.

PlagueSD

This is the EXACT reason I'll never play on console. I also do not have a steam account, and never understood WHY anyone would have one.

Below are the following reasons why someone won't be able to play the game:

For Me (PC):

• My ISP goes down
• ESO Servers go down

For a steam customer:

• Steam is down
• ISP is down
• ESO servers are down

for PS4 user:

• PlayStation Live is down
• ISP is down
• ESO servers are down

for Xbox user:

• Xbox live is down
• ISP is down
• ESO servers are down

I only have 2 points of failure that would prevent me from logging in and playing.

Juju_beans

NTclaymore wrote: »

Well.. Zenimax needs to fix this regardless. So you must be able to "unlink" accounts made by steam if they cannot keep their service active. I dont mind the normal maintainces and server crashes from time to time but being a european steam user has these last few months being absolutely horrid in terms of uptime.. This needs to be adressed. we cannot just sit around waiting like this every time.

it's not Zenimax but Steam who needs to change their terms.

whisperity

Juju_beans wrote: »

NTclaymore wrote: »

Well.. Zenimax needs to fix this regardless. So you must be able to "unlink" accounts made by steam if they cannot keep their service active. I dont mind the normal maintainces and server crashes from time to time but being a european steam user has these last few months being absolutely horrid in terms of uptime.. This needs to be adressed. we cannot just sit around waiting like this every time.

it's not Zenimax but Steam who needs to change their terms.

You know the saying "It takes two to tango.", right? Every contract is just like that. Also, ESO account data is hopefully on ZOS' servers, so they can, at any point, flip the bird at Valve and tell them to *** off due to making the access for our customers problematic and painful. Maybe, with enough lawyers with balls, even sue some money out of them for the damages.

Skoomah

Why did you buy the game through Steam!

TheCyberDruid

whisperity wrote: »

The problem is that without seeing the actual source code for the implementation of their system and without reading the contract they signed with one another, the best and safest option is to blame both.

Sorry, but I think you are giving ZOS too much credit here. I've played many online games on Steam for over 3 years and none had these issues. ESO has them frequently though. Should make it clear which company has the issue.