Account-Wide Wish List

Cooperharley

Hey guys, I wanted to create a list of thing that I would prefer to have the -option- of making account-wide. This is just a constructive list, that regardless of whether or not ZOS would implement (eg, loss of financial income from it), I think would make the player base very happy, or at least many of us. Again, this is optional.

If you guys have ever played any other MMOs, especially large ones, there are often skips that are optionally available after you've completed it fully on a character. Not everything by any means, but often tied to "campaign missions" of sorts. I totally understand that many people view each character as a separate experience and don't mind doing all of this stuff on each character. I'm an MMO guy, and don't care to go through needless grinds for the sake of a grind again. Grinding for gear, grinding levels, grinding materials, etc. is totally different, than having to grind through an introductory questline over and over again on alts. It just largely disincentivizes the creation of alts in my mind and for many friends of mine simply because, even if I want to create a cool build, some skill lines are just not worth leveling through again. It's fine the first time, and even fun sometimes, but after that, not so much.

Skill lines tied to story - specifically:
- Antiquities (excavation, scrying)
- Psijic
- Mages Guild

These lines are particularly grindy. Yes - there are addons for mages guild, sure. I'm playing on console. There's no reason to have to do this. After I've completed these lines and the stories associated with them, there should be an option to skip these and have them maxed out on an alt. Again, I understand that ZOS makes money from selling skips in the store for each and every skill line. This is just a constructive discussion about why I think this would be nice for the playerbase to not have these monetized and just as an in-game option.

- Mount training

Yes, I've been around since the old days where you had to do mount training for INDIVIDUAL MOUNTS on EACH character. It's objectively better now, but that doesn't mean it's anywhere close to good. Time-gating this for the sake of selling mount training skips in the store is not a good practice. I think adding an achievement where you've spent the time training your mount of your main - all 180 times - and then adding in an option in the CP system as a passive in the green tree, which maxes your mount speed would be ideal. That way it's tied to gameplay and time spent in game. OR, you can just pay a lump sum of money, like in every other MMO, to bypass this time gate. Keep the time gate for the first time! Sure. They've also given us more ways to increase our mount speed at a baseline and that's great, but there are 60 inventory slots tied to this as well. I just think it'd be a nice touch to change this.

- Crafting research

Yes, you can just designate a character as being your "crafter" of sorts. Absolutely! OR, you could just make this account wide as an option. Again, all of this is in my mind to be made optional. If you enjoy the aspect of building up your character and this is part of it for you, fantastic! Having this as an optional skip when credentialing your crafting lines with Millineth for instance would be a nice touch.

- Recipes

I understand not doing this with motifs - it's a big selling point in the market, it's nice to see these as drops and make some money, it's tied to getting grand master writs, I get that. But recipes for cooking and stuff would be cool as well as being optionally account-wide.

These are just some suggestions and wishes. I'm sure people have made these lists many times before and I get that - but I think these would help and are important to continually bring up and discuss! If you guys have anything constructive or things to add, please do! Again, I've said this 100 times in this post because I know how touchy people are with things being account-wide. I want this to be an optional skip when you encounter these questlines to preserve the feeling of individuality for peoples' characters, but for those of us that play the game to play the game and have alts just to switch up gameplay here and there, I think this would help an incredible amount and would incentivize people to make more alts and continually play the game. Adding grinds with the intention of selling a solution or selling skips for every little thing doesn't feel good. I understand needing to make money, but this game employs every monetization strategy in the market and it would go a long way with players and player retention as well (which is a whole other discussion) if we take a look at this kind of stuff. Let's make people excited about trying new things across the board!

Cooperharley

Also to add to the list above:

Scribing
Companions

HatchetHaro

My own additions to that list:

• Outfit Slots
• Armory Slots

LunaFlora

i really just want Motifs and Books to be account wide

edited to add:
and furniture plans.

allochthons

• Eidetic Memory books
• Companion intro quest unlocks

would be awesome. The rest I can leave.

Credible_Joe

I would love zone completion skips. That way I can do all of the dailies on any character without quest markers all over the place.

To clarify, I don't want the achievements to be added to the character. I just want all the locations to be discovered and all of the quests to be suppressed as if this character had arrived after another had done the content. I already alternate characters on storylines as if they're adventuring concurrently anyway.

But, they should also definitely be optional. Especially with the difficulty changes on the horizon, I'd still be interested in adventuring in any given zone after enough time passes. I have a new Covenant character teed up; it's been years since I've done that alliance storyline.

Tandor

The game has already moved too far in the account-wide direction in my view, and I hope it doesn't go any further that way.

As for it being ok because such things would be optional, unfortunately that particular argument fell flat on its face with account-wide achievements which were imposed on everyone including a lot of players who wanted them in principle but not in the way they were implemented, as well as those who didn't want them at all, of course. I hope that ZOS learnt from the degree of opposition on the PTS forum which was unprecedented at the time.

Cooperharley

Tandor wrote: »

The game has already moved too far in the account-wide direction in my view, and I hope it doesn't go any further that way.

As for it being ok because such things would be optional, unfortunately that particular argument fell flat on its face with account-wide achievements which were imposed on everyone including a lot of players who wanted them in principle but not in the way they were implemented, as well as those who didn't want them at all, of course. I hope that ZOS learnt from the degree of opposition on the PTS forum which was unprecedented at the time.

My man I'm not ZOS. I didn't hurt you lol. I hear ya everytime anyone mentions this kinda stuff you come here to say that.

Optional is absolutely doable and is seen in many other games. I myself wouldn't want it to be widely "imposed" on everyone as I said about 17 times in my statement. I'd love -optional- skips and companies can absolutely learn and grow from past experiences just like people, which is why I believe this can absolutely be done in a more clean fashion, which is precisely what this post is calling for.

I also would say its a bit hyperbolic to say there was an "unprecedented" degree of opposition to AWA on the PTS at the time. I've never met anyone in game or in person who play that didn't enjoy that. I understand there's people that definitely didn't wish for that, but idk about unprecedented.

Xarc

ye sure,
and add the possibility to buy a character full level with all achievements so it's fun to have nothing to do in the game?

AzuraFan

allochthons wrote: »

• Eidetic Memory books
• Companion intro quest unlocks

would be awesome. The rest I can leave.

Ditto, especially the memory books. There are 6000+ books now, and some of them are bugged, or you can only get them if you know someone parked at a certain place, the moon is full, and your character is wearing pink armour. Just make them account-wide (or fix all the books so that every character can complete the eidetic memory post-quests).

Cooperharley

Xarc wrote: »

ye sure,
and add the possibility to buy a character full level with all achievements so it's fun to have nothing to do in the game?

I can appreciate you like doing all of that despite this non-constructive response.

I really enjoy the dungeons, arenas, trials and achievement collecting. Completing a companion intro quest on 10 alts doesn't "give me more to do," it frankly just annoys me and makes me not want to do it. Same with leveling antiquities or the psijic guild. I feel like I'd be inclined to play alts even MORE with this stuff personally.

Tandor

Cooperharley wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

The game has already moved too far in the account-wide direction in my view, and I hope it doesn't go any further that way.

As for it being ok because such things would be optional, unfortunately that particular argument fell flat on its face with account-wide achievements which were imposed on everyone including a lot of players who wanted them in principle but not in the way they were implemented, as well as those who didn't want them at all, of course. I hope that ZOS learnt from the degree of opposition on the PTS forum which was unprecedented at the time.

My man I'm not ZOS. I didn't hurt you lol. I hear ya everytime anyone mentions this kinda stuff you come here to say that.

Optional is absolutely doable and is seen in many other games. I myself wouldn't want it to be widely "imposed" on everyone as I said about 17 times in my statement. I'd love -optional- skips and companies can absolutely learn and grow from past experiences just like people, which is why I believe this can absolutely be done in a more clean fashion, which is precisely what this post is calling for.

I also would say its a bit hyperbolic to say there was an "unprecedented" degree of opposition to AWA on the PTS at the time. I've never met anyone in game or in person who play that didn't enjoy that. I understand there's people that definitely didn't wish for that, but idk about unprecedented.

Of course I pop up with my opposition every time this comes up, it's a discussion forum and everyone is entitled to put their views on both sides. I referred to unprecedented opposition on the PTS to account-wide achievements because the relevant thread ran to 81 pages or so, which was a record by a country mile at the time, and there were only one or two players supporting it both in principle and in the way it was being implemented. The argument that because people proposing additional account-wide stuff are suggesting it should be optional there's no need constantly to repeat the opposition to it counts for nothing these days I'm afraid. We learnt that lesson the hard way.

tomofhyrule

allochthons wrote: »

• Eidetic Memory books
• Companion intro quest unlocks

would be awesome. The rest I can leave.

Yeah, I like my characters as individuals, and I don’t like the push for everything to be so account-wide. There are a few things I’d take though.

1) Eidetic memory is a must. Like literally why is it not? It’s literally just a log of lorebooks that you can go read on UESP anyway. Can you imagine how much data storage that would save?

2) I don’t think the unlock quest should be account-wide, but you should be able to use them without doing the quest. Obviously prevent them from earning rapport or something, but just let them help out in combat as a random mercenary.

3) I was not a fan of account-wide achievements, but we got it now, so just finish it up. Any of the “individual achievements” like the museum quests should just be fixed to be completable on alts, but the achievement should be there. It’s jarring that all of my characters have similar achievement scores, and then I have to be in my main to get the “real” number (which is technically off since my main wasn’t the one who did the DB/TG museum stuff)

Otherwise, let my characters be individuals. I spend an inordinate amount of time writing their backstories and making them feel like full-out characters of their own, and I don’t want them to all just be cookie-cutter versions of each other.

katanagirl1

My short list of must haves would be:
Eidetic Memory
Companion quests

These would be nice to have:
Motif knowledge
Furnishing plans (Mostly for myself but would certainly cut down on database size per account)

As much as I hate leveling up Mages Guild on console, I think it should be separate. You can buy a shortcut through the crown store if you like.

Pevey

Cooperharley wrote: »

Also to add to the list above:

Scribing
Companions

More than any other game feature, I wish these 2 were account-wide.

ETA: On scribing, I'm okay with the grind to unlock all the scripts on each toon, because it is an MMO after all, and it's also a useful gold sink. I just wish the intro quest only had to be done once.

kargen27

Even if optional (and after the disaster Tandor rightly brought up I doubt optional would happen) it would still be bad for the game. MMO's need new content, players repeating content and players participating in a variety of content to keep a healthy population. Every time something else becomes account wide a little bit of the game dies some.

Creating a new character should come with playing that character to advance it through the game.

NoticeMeArkay

- Mount training
- Armory slots
- Outfit slots

DenverRalphy

Motifs should not be account wide. Otherwise eveybody would have 19 alts spitting out master writs like crazy.

Cooperharley

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Motifs should not be account wide. Otherwise eveybody would have 19 alts spitting out master writs like crazy.

I specifically said to not include motifs - I said recipes for that reason.

Cooperharley

kargen27 wrote: »

Even if optional (and after the disaster Tandor rightly brought up I doubt optional would happen) it would still be bad for the game. MMO's need new content, players repeating content and players participating in a variety of content to keep a healthy population. Every time something else becomes account wide a little bit of the game dies some.

Creating a new character should come with playing that character to advance it through the game.

Agree to disagree. I think you should have the option to choose between the two and not be forced one way or the other. While you find that to be a part of creating a new alt and find that to be cool/acceptable/fun, it makes me not want to really play alts.

By making this optional, ZOS retains 2 players instead of 1.

Nord_Raseri

HatchetHaro wrote: »

My own additions to that list:

• Outfit Slots
• Armory Slots

Out of everything listed, those are the two I believe need to be account wide.

kargen27

Cooperharley wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Even if optional (and after the disaster Tandor rightly brought up I doubt optional would happen) it would still be bad for the game. MMO's need new content, players repeating content and players participating in a variety of content to keep a healthy population. Every time something else becomes account wide a little bit of the game dies some.

Creating a new character should come with playing that character to advance it through the game.

Agree to disagree. I think you should have the option to choose between the two and not be forced one way or the other. While you find that to be a part of creating a new alt and find that to be cool/acceptable/fun, it makes me not want to really play alts.

By making this optional, ZOS retains 2 players instead of 1.

Problem is we quickly run out of things to do then just move on. Again the game needs players repeating content and doing a variety of the content for long term health of the game.

Xarc

Sometimes, players dont know what is good for them

tmbrinks

The only thing I think they should add to be account wide are the Eidetic Memory books... so many of them are bugged, can't be gotten if you missed them the first time on the quest, or if you did the quest too "early" and they didn't have it either in the Eidetic Memory, or it wasn't interactable.

Outfit Slots and Armory Slots are a crown store cash grab that also should be account wide (maybe double the price of them, but they unlock a slot for every character on your account as a compromise)

(I also feel obligated to say something in every account-wide thread after the disaster when they were implented earlier. We heard for years that they were never going to do that, that character individualization was the "Elder Scrolls Way"... then they blindsided everybody because we didn't speak out regularly and loud enough against those who where loud and in favor of AwA... Our opinions have every same right of being heard without being dismissed)

disintegr8

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Motifs should not be account wide. Otherwise eveybody would have 19 alts spitting out master writs like crazy.

You only need one character to do the writs.

My opposition to account wide motifs would only be because of storage issues. I already have my own guild bank full of mostly purple and blue motifs/recipes/praxis, etc. If they were account wide, I'd spend most of my time disposing of duplicates instead of being able to learn them on other characters.

Credible_Joe

I think we can compromise with motifs. Fully account wide would mess up the writ economy pretty badly. That being said, any system that lets you submit them directly to your crafter without involving the bank would be great.

Alternatively, knowledge transfer. Offload recipes and motifs to a different character. That way you can switch mains without the hassle of, again, the bank every time you find a new recipe.

DenverRalphy

Cooperharley wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Motifs should not be account wide. Otherwise eveybody would have 19 alts spitting out master writs like crazy.

I specifically said to not include motifs - I said recipes for that reason.

Yeah, I was responding to someone else who suggested Motifs.

disintegr8 wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Motifs should not be account wide. Otherwise eveybody would have 19 alts spitting out master writs like crazy.

You only need one character to do the writs.

My opposition to account wide motifs would only be because of storage issues. I already have my own guild bank full of mostly purple and blue motifs/recipes/praxis, etc. If they were account wide, I'd spend most of my time disposing of duplicates instead of being able to learn them on other characters.

I wasn't talking about doing/completing master writs. I was talking about producing master writs. More motifs learned increases the chances to get a Black/Cloth/Wood Master Writ whenever you open your normal writ reward boxes. If suddenly every alt shared the motif knowledge, then they'd all see their Master Writ production boosted.

smallhammer

If you have done the main quest, and don't wish to on an alt, give us the option to turn it off

Cooperharley

smallhammer wrote: »

If you have done the main quest, and don't wish to on an alt, give us the option to turn it off

This is the theme of what I’m saying. There are lots of elder scrolls fans here who love the individuality of characters and account wide turns them on, which is why I totally get that and I enjoy many aspects of that.

Being a completionist, and an MMO player (the other side of the playerbase), seeing all of these grindy/annoying-to-level questlines makes me NOT want to do other characters. There’s certain things that shouldn’t be account wide, certainly. But in my opinion giving players an option to skip things in certain aspects, simply as stated above would make me play MORE, not less. Giving the OPTION gives both types of players free will in a decision making process and makes both happy.

It allows you to keep your ideology about individuality while not imposing that to a player with a different mindset. This is simply a request, but it comes with ZOS understanding how important implementing an OPTION is. AWA not being optional was a mistake to the elder scrolls portion of the playerbase who seek individuality, and that was lame, albeit understandable given the issues they stated, but still lame.

I’m not calling for ZOS to not make this optional, but there’s many players who would be retained (a BIG problem ZOS has), if this optional function for certain and few things was implemented. WOW does this successfully with campaign skips after completion to allow the MMO players to get to their desired end game without feeling like they have to grind through the same material over and over again. BUT, you CAN repeat it IF YOU WANT.

Choice is always good IMO. Giving the player agency over how they approach an MMO/RPG/MMORPG leads to more player retention.

sans-culottes

Cooperharley wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

The game has already moved too far in the account-wide direction in my view, and I hope it doesn't go any further that way.

As for it being ok because such things would be optional, unfortunately that particular argument fell flat on its face with account-wide achievements which were imposed on everyone including a lot of players who wanted them in principle but not in the way they were implemented, as well as those who didn't want them at all, of course. I hope that ZOS learnt from the degree of opposition on the PTS forum which was unprecedented at the time.

My man I'm not ZOS. I didn't hurt you lol. I hear ya everytime anyone mentions this kinda stuff you come here to say that.

Optional is absolutely doable and is seen in many other games. I myself wouldn't want it to be widely "imposed" on everyone as I said about 17 times in my statement. I'd love -optional- skips and companies can absolutely learn and grow from past experiences just like people, which is why I believe this can absolutely be done in a more clean fashion, which is precisely what this post is calling for.

I also would say it’s a bit hyperbolic to say there was an "unprecedented" degree of opposition to AWA on the PTS at the time. I've never met anyone in game or in person who play that didn't enjoy that. I understand there's people that definitely didn't wish for that, but idk about unprecedented.

Agreed. I must confess to being baffled by the continued outrage over this innocuous QoL feature.

Dragonnord

No, no more AwA stuff. AwA already killed the game and made a lot of players leave when alts became useless for achievements.