Character Slots

OneKhajiitCrimeWave

Ok.... so at the moment the maximum number of toons people can have per server is 15. There has been many stated arguments for increasing this amount. One of which is because people enjoy making more toons and will purchase the extra slots.
My question is why ZOS has not increased/removed the character slot limit?
From a business standpoint they are literally leaving money on the table by not doing this.

Gatviper

Why would you ever need more than 15 different toons? Just being curious, as I've never used more than 1 crafting-optimized toon, and 1 DD + Healer optimized one which was great for most of content for a few years.

idk

Gatviper wrote: »

Why would you ever need more than 15 different toons?

OP clearly answered this question in the OP.

It does not mean everyone wants to make more characters, but just as you cannot fathom making more than a couple or three characters, my guess is what motivates you in playing the game is just as odd as you find having 15 toons tolal.

Gatviper

Thank you for the (good enough) guess, but I've been genuinely wondering about the reasons of the actual OP to make so many characters, trying to understand the motivations behind it, and wanting even more character slots.

TempPlayer

Who knows. Maybe they program it so that it ends up with the character slot limit of 15 being compare all over the place without make the limit as a constant. And now it will be messy if they try to change it. The last thing anyone want is to login and find a character and all its equipment missing due to bug like when they introduce home storage.

OneKhajiitCrimeWave

The reason i like to make so many characters is so that i can test so many different playstyles, ideas and setups on my live server without the constant need to change CP's etc. I can also test different setups on different races to see viability for specific setups.

I also enjoy the levelling aspects of new toons. What crafted setups can i come up with etc.

OneKhajiitCrimeWave

TempPlayer wrote: »

Who knows. Maybe they program it so that it ends up with the character slot limit of 15 being compare all over the place without make the limit as a constant. And now it will be messy if they try to change it. The last thing anyone want is to login and find a character and all its equipment missing due to bug like when they introduce home storage.

They have increased it on previous occasions though. It is a strange one that they haven't increased or removed the limit though. Maybe there is a reason, but it just seems that they need to fix any issues and then release lol.

Gatviper

From my past experience with Everquest II, when they made the server merges (no Megaserver in that game) to consolidate the few remaining players in more tight environment, their argument was the difficulty of the whole player data such as the achievements, quests finished / unfinished / not started, houses / house items, inventory + worn gear etc.
It might play a role in ESO with only 15 slots at well, as all data is taking certain amount of space which needs to be managed, and there's very, very many active players in this game.

Altaire

Hoarder warning, you may be a hoarder if...

phaneub17_ESO

Altaire wrote: »

Hoarder warning, you may be a hoarder if...

I have full 15 characters 3 of every class, all level 50, 5 tanks, 5 stamina DD, and 5 magicka DD/healers. None of them hold more than 4-6 items in their bags at the end of the day. I still want more characters.

I have a full 18 characters on Alliance and 18 Horde characters on WoW too.

Ajaxduo

I'd love more character slots ^^ I prefer to optimize my characters for each role so I'd like to be able to have a stam dd, mag dd, tank and healer of each class. Plus it's fun for some of us!

kargen27

Gatviper wrote: »

Thank you for the (good enough) guess, but I've been genuinely wondering about the reasons of the actual OP to make so many characters, trying to understand the motivations behind it, and wanting even more character slots.

A friend likes to level new characters then play around with them for a while. When he wants to level yet another character he has to decide which character to delete. He does the main quest line and several other things on each character so he has a lot of time invested in each character. He plays on both PC and PS4 and on both servers. For him the fun part of the game is creating new characters and running the content. Not so fun is deciding when it is time to delete a character and start over.

Elsonso

Gatviper wrote: »

Why would you ever need more than 15 different toons? Just being curious, as I've never used more than 1 crafting-optimized toon, and 1 DD + Healer optimized one which was great for most of content for a few years.

Variety. I've created more than 50 characters since launch. Level 50 characters tend to be boring, so most of my characters are not yet Level 50. Each of them is different, some more than others. All of them are interesting, in one way or another, or they get "dismissed".

Merus

OneKhajiitCrimeWave wrote: »

The reason i like to make so many characters is so that i can test so many different playstyles, ideas and setups on my live server without the constant need to change CP's etc. I can also test different setups on different races to see viability for specific setups.

I am just speculating here -- but the max number of characters is suspiciously one less than 16.
Assuming that storage space was a consideration when designing the system: If you wanted to increase the max number and all the program and database code you wrote for character numbering, all of this would have to be changed. Instead of having variables with 4 bits, you would need variables with 8 bits. (Just doubling the max number to 31 (5 bits) is not easy or efficient in many databases and programming languages.)
While 8 bit variables would allow for a maximum of 255 characters per account, changing all of the places where the 4 bit variables are used would likely be a medium nightmare. Nightmares cost money. Probably more than they could earn with selling another few character slots to a few players -- like me.

EvilCroc

I would like to have 20 characters on EU server.
1 Tank, 1 heal, I stamina DD and 1 magicka DD of each class.
And 2 characters per race. 1 male, 1 female.
My OCD would be pleased.

YamiKuruku

yes pleaaaaase

RaddlemanNumber7

I think the decision to hold at 15 slots is more likely to be related to revenue than anything else. Getting altoholics to buy a 2nd account may well result in more real-money sales than selling slots at 1500cr a time.

mreisse

If you like experimenting so much, pick up the PTS and build to your heart's content. Admittedly this does nothing for console players but there's no reason to play test on the actual game when the PTS is readily available on PC! Figure out what you like there then build it through regular gameplay on live server!

Maybe people don't know how PTS works? You get boxes that contain every set, style, mat, trait, recipe, diagram etc etc at start. You get infinity gold (well, a billion or so) and a set amount of crowns. Items go for 1 gold or something ridiculous like that, similarly crown store items cost 1 crown... You can basically pick out what you want, whatever gear, then run out and try it against anything in the game. Many a housing extravaganza to be had on PTS too. It's inspirational and aspirational, because after you see it on PTS, you want to earn/have those things for "real".

You get an idea of your dream build easy with basically no effort on PTS, then you go back to live server and *make it happen*.

(Just keep in mind that the PTS is regularly wiped for testing so you get to build more again with the new mechanics regularly.)

Nulami

Gatviper wrote: »

From my past experience with Everquest II, when they made the server merges (no Megaserver in that game) to consolidate the few remaining players in more tight environment, their argument was the difficulty of the whole player data such as the achievements, quests finished / unfinished / not started, houses / house items, inventory + worn gear etc.
It might play a role in ESO with only 15 slots at well, as all data is taking certain amount of space which needs to be managed, and there's very, very many active players in this game.

When I was playing EQ II earlier this year, as long as you were a subscriber you could buy as many character slots as you wanted. They didn't seem to have a problem with their database management system. Perhaps they moved that system to a server that wasn't 15 years old! lol

As for ESO, guess it really depends on how it was coded back in the day. If they hard coded a number they thought players would never get to, say 15, and it would be a nightmare to change that code (assuming the current programmers could read that old code). We have had programs rewritten at work because the new programmers couldn't understand the original code.

kargen27

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

I think the decision to hold at 15 slots is more likely to be related to revenue than anything else. Getting altoholics to buy a 2nd account may well result in more real-money sales than selling slots at 1500cr a time.

1500 crowns cost more than the base game costs.

RaddlemanNumber7

kargen27 wrote: »

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

I think the decision to hold at 15 slots is more likely to be related to revenue than anything else. Getting altoholics to buy a 2nd account may well result in more real-money sales than selling slots at 1500cr a time.

1500 crowns cost more than the base game costs.

Yes, but if you use ESO+ crowns to buy a character slot it doesn't generate any more real-money revenue for ZOS. Whereas, if you get a second account you have to buy everything again - mounts, costumes, ESO+ subscription, etc. It all adds up, and it's all extra real-money revenue for ZOS.

MyNameIsElias

I would love some more character slots, 15 isn't enough for me either

Chaos2088

Need more please 😬