cross platform account transfer for next gen

brandsnipe

i'm switching from to ps5 and would like to not start over as i've spent hundreds of dollars and countless hours on eso. i'd like to keep playing eso but i'm not starting over.

Taleof2Cities

ZOS can’t do platform transfers, @brandsnipe, because of the duplication of character names in the megaserver databases.

Plus, they’ve also said they’re not doing transfers.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Unless you’re currently playing PS4 ... then you’re already on the right platform and server for when you get PS5.

idk

To2C, the character and account names are not the issue as other games have already figured out how to do that. It is your second point, that Zos has chosen not to build the took required to move/copy/transfer from one platform to another.

And the last point is correct also. The PS servers will not care if you are using PS4 or PS5.

Taleof2Cities

Thanks for the clarification, @idk.

brandsnipe

@idk i get that but with many people switching to a new platform i would hope zos would allow a one time transfer for a limited time. they would make money as i would have to buy the game again maybe even dlc or maybe a transfer fee, but im not starting over.

MurderMostFoul

@brandsnipe

What platform are u coming from?

brandsnipe

@MurderMostFoul xbox --> ps5

MurderMostFoul

That's a shame.

From what i can tell, xboxSx>ps5

idk

brandsnipe wrote: »

@idk i get that but with many people switching to a new platform i would hope zos would allow a one time transfer for a limited time. they would make money as i would have to buy the game again maybe even dlc or maybe a transfer fee, but im not starting over.

I doubt many people will swap platforms.

brandsnipe

@MurderMostFoul maybe, but ps exclusives is why im switching.

Katahdin

brandsnipe wrote: »

@idk i get that but with many people switching to a new platform i would hope zos would allow a one time transfer for a limited time. they would make money as i would have to buy the game again maybe even dlc or maybe a transfer fee, but im not starting over.

The problem is that the PS5 will use the same servers as the PS4 so the database is already populated.
They will not do tranfers into an already populated database and have stated that numerous times.
They reason they allowed transfers before was because the console databases were new and empty so they could transfer from a PC account to a new Xbox or PS4 account before they opened it up to people purchasing for the first time.

So youre out of luck if you want to switch from Xbox to PS5

.

idk

Katahdin wrote: »

brandsnipe wrote: »

i get that but with many people switching to a new platform i would hope zos would allow a one time transfer for a limited time. they would make money as i would have to buy the game again maybe even dlc or maybe a transfer fee, but im not starting over.

The problem is that the PS5 will use the same servers as the PS4 so the database is already populated.
They will not do tranfers into an already populated database and have stated that numerous times.
They reason they allowed transfers before was because the console databases were new and empty so they could transfer from a PC account to a new Xbox or PS4 account before they opened it up to people purchasing for the first time.

So youre out of luck if you want to switch from Xbox to PS5

.

This person provides a history of Zos' comments, essentially. While Zos may one day build the tool necessary for transferring to a live server, unless they are already building it right now it will not happen for the launch of the PS5. Sorry Charlie.

SamanthaCarter

I could spend 10k€ for an account copy but 0€ for a transfer because ps4 is the master platform for ESO with best community best prices and best fights

RefLiberty

CAN I TRANSFER MY ESO ACCOUNT AND CHARACTERS BETWEEN DIFFERENT PLATFORMS?

Updated 06/25/2020 12:57 PM

We have not built, and do not plan to build, the capability to move individual characters from platform to platform. We were only able to move characters in bulk for consoles once on June 1st, 2015 because the database tables we copied to were brand new (empty). Now that the database tables are filled with other data, the techniques we used before no longer work.

Please note that Steam, retail, and digital purchases playable on PC are all PC versions of the game. The only difference with Steam is that it is integrated with the Steam client. If you have a purchase of the game in Steam you only need to log into the game using your usual credentials.

Source:
https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/25807/~/can-i-transfer-my-eso-account-and-characters-between-different-platforms%3F

SamanthaCarter

Just generate a new name

SamanthaCarter

Nothing hard

brandsnipe

@Katahdin it is 2020, many games allow you to link account to an email and transfer across platforms. why can't eso link my accounts, reset my character name and transfer over? it is possible.

brandsnipe

@SamanthaCarter no, i have put too much time and money into my characters to just do it all over again. if cross platform transfer cannot be supported, then i will play other games.. destiny 2 has cross platform saves, i'll just play that again.

idk

SamanthaCarter wrote: »

Just generate a new name

Again, it is not about the names as other games clearly solved that by forcing the person transferring to pick new names when there is a conflict.

How hard it is to force players to change names is not the relevant point. It is as simple as Zos has merely chosen to not build the tool required for copying/transferring accounts to live servers. They specifically said that six years ago, that they choose to not build the tool.

@brandsnipe While Zos may change their mind eventually and start offering account transfers unless Zos is already working on building the tool it will not happen for the launch of the new PS5. The choice is yours, but if you do not want to start over again it looks like Xbox will be the best option.

Donny_Vito

brandsnipe wrote: »

@SamanthaCarter no, i have put too much time and money into my characters to just do it all over again. if cross platform transfer cannot be supported, then i will play other games.. destiny 2 has cross platform saves, i'll just play that again.

And it's like saying

SamanthaCarter wrote: »

Just generate a new name

Names are just a small hurdle to cross, but who would have the right to the unique name? They would most likely have to append every duplicate name with -PC or -Xbox or -PS4, or else you'll get one platform saying they should have the right to the unique name while the other two get the extra text added to it (not going to fly).

But the real hurdle lies deeper in the data. Every item in the game is going to have a unique identifier, and reconciling these duplicate entries between the different mega-servers when "transferring an account and all it's data to a different database" is a challenge. That ID might be the primary key in one table and a foreign key in various other lookup/reference tables, and given how database constraints work if you try to simply update one value you're going to have reference errors.

When they had blank databases for Xbox and PS4, these were not big concerns as there wouldn't be any existing IDs that would cause constraint errors when inserting. But with a fully populated database, the last thing you want to do is insert bad data that is going to potentially effect other players accounts.

Destiny 2 went in with the mentality that they'd be doing cross-play, whereas I don't believe that was the case for ESO (obviously).

Dagoth_Rac

SamanthaCarter wrote: »

Just generate a new name

The name is not the problem.

The big problem is database keys. The various details in game are almost certainly not linked by character names but big gigantic numbers unique to each player. So your character named "Joe Schmo" might have character_id 67897895637. And that 67897895637 is all over the place linking what inventory belongs to you, what achievements, what quest progression, what mounts, what pets, what guilds, what friends, your guild trader listings, what daily rewards you have claimed, and on and on and on. There are probably dozens or hundreds of tables. Someone on another megaserver, regardless of their character name, probably has character_id 67897895637 on that megaserver. That causes conflicts. So you would not only have to give the transferred player a new character_id, but update all those related tables to have the new character_id. And I am sure there is also an account_id. And probably even more keys that are not obvious if we do not know details of database structure.

When ZOS were copying into empty databases at console launch, there was no worry about those database keys already existing and causing conflicts. So it was just a flat copy. Now it would be: copy into some kind of temporary storage, generate new database keys that do not overlap with megaserver you are transferring into, reassign all the existing database keys to new database keys in that temporary storage, then copy from temporary storage and merge into megaserver you are transferring to. And all without messing up and having your items or other details suddenly appear or disappear or get duplicated because of database key errors or overlaps.

I am sure this is not impossible, but it is also not trivial. It is not just renaming a character. And it is a "high risk" change. The kinds of things that can go wrong are very serious.

SamanthaCarter

It’s a good invest to do because thousands of players will pay a lot for a copy or a transfert

brandsnipe

@idk no, i'm switching to ps5 and this was a suggestion thread. if zos doesn't want to invest some type of cross platform transfer then oh well i won't be playing eso.

brandsnipe

@SamanthaCarter if there was a small fee i might consider paying for my account to transfer, on top of already having to buy the game again, zos could make some money.

brandsnipe

@Dagoth_Rac it can be done, but will zos want to do that is the real question.

Mettaricana

It can be done but zos chose to no longer do it im a pc player from beta and transferred at ps4 launch of eso the fact it happened once before shows they can heck would have been a great cash grab of they offered paid account transfers that maybe took effect every maintenance of the week

Donny_Vito

brandsnipe wrote: »

@Dagoth_Rac it can be done, but will zos want to do that is the real question.

They've already answered that question. They said no, not at this time. Plus, I think the general consensus would be that they should focus their efforts on performance rather than this type of extra functionality.

Katahdin

brandsnipe wrote: »

@Katahdin it is 2020, many games allow you to link account to an email and transfer across platforms. why can't eso link my accounts, reset my character name and transfer over? it is possible.

Yes but ZoS isnt planning on doing it, has said they wont do it at least for now.

Enjoy your new PS5 and have fun playing other games!


.

Kiralyn2000

brandsnipe wrote: »

it is 2020, many games allow you to link account to an email and transfer across platforms. why can't eso link my accounts, reset my character name and transfer over? it is possible.

Different games have different database designs / code / engines / etc. Just because one game can do some "easy" (/eyeroll) thing, doesn't mean every game can.

And the year has nothing to do with it - it's entirely about how a game was designed in the beginning. Changing the structure after the fact isn't a minor thing to do. (just look at how much of a setback it is to many in-development / Early Access games when they decide to update the game engine they're using)

trackdemon5512

brandsnipe wrote: »

@Dagoth_Rac it can be done, but will zos want to do that is the real question.

It’s not being done. Period. Again reiterating the same point from before:

CAN I TRANSFER MY ESO ACCOUNT AND CHARACTERS BETWEEN DIFFERENT PLATFORMS?

Updated 06/25/2020 12:57 PM

We have not built, and do not plan to build, the capability to move individual characters from platform to platform. We were only able to move characters in bulk for consoles once on June 1st, 2015 because the database tables we copied to were brand new (empty). Now that the database tables are filled with other data, the techniques we used before no longer work.

Please note that Steam, retail, and digital purchases playable on PC are all PC versions of the game. The only difference with Steam is that it is integrated with the Steam client. If you have a purchase of the game in Steam you only need to log into the game using your usual credentials.

Source:
https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/25807/~/can-i-transfer-my-eso-account-and-characters-between-different-platforms?



Don’t expect account transfers nor expect cross-play. The latter of which will definitely never happen.

ZOS development priorities for the foreseeable future are the stabilization of Cyrodiil PvP, performance improvement for ESO as a whole with under-the-hood fixes/combat balancing, CP System restructure, 2021 Chapter/DLC, and Next-Gen console launches.

That’s a huge plate made more difficult by COVID-19. Even if they designed and made a tool for account transfers, the last thing they would want is the headache of complaints involving missing items, characters, crown currency, etc.

If you’re really interested in switching to PS4/5 then like many others before you simply create an account and start playing. If you’re skilled then getting everything back should take about a year, a time-frame you should already be committed to if you’re asking for an account transfer.

Taleof2Cities

brandsnipe wrote: »

@idk no, i'm switching to ps5 and this was a suggestion thread. if zos doesn't want to invest some type of cross platform transfer then oh well i won't be playing eso.

Holding the game hostage (until you get what you want) always works with the devs.

Katahdin wrote: »

Enjoy your new PS5 and have fun playing other games!

^This.^