It does seem like a pretty straightforward suggestion, but then things aren't always as simple as they appear. The one major issue I see is the same one that cropped up in the transfers from PC to console, where friends sent each other all their gold (everyone giving it to one person) so that they could transfer their accounts one by one to the console and then send all the gold to the next friend in line.

So if each friend on PC had 1 million Gold and there were ten friends, and each friend was given all the Gold at the time they made the transfer, then each friend would end up with 10 million Gold on Console. And with PC transfers still in place, if they just added Console transfers then you could have a bunch of friends transfer over and over between the systems and multiply their Gold every time they do it.

There definitely needs to be some kind of limiting factor to stop people from doing that, and it's likely to prove quite difficult to devise and implement. So even if it's potentially doable, there's little doubt that it would neither be easy nor straightforward at all.

pecheckler wrote: »

Lucius_Aelius wrote: »

It does seem like a pretty straightforward suggestion, but then things aren't always as simple as they appear. The one major issue I see is the same one that cropped up in the transfers from PC to console, where friends sent each other all their gold (everyone giving it to one person) so that they could transfer their accounts one by one to the console and then send all the gold to the next friend in line.

So if each friend on PC had 1 million Gold and there were ten friends, and each friend was given all the Gold at the time they made the transfer, then each friend would end up with 10 million Gold on Console. And with PC transfers still in place, if they just added Console transfers then you could have a bunch of friends transfer over and over between the systems and multiply their Gold every time they do it.

There definitely needs to be some kind of limiting factor to stop people from doing that, and it's likely to prove quite difficult to devise and implement. So even if it's potentially doable, there's little doubt that it would neither be easy nor straightforward at all.

That's why I used the word account "move", not "copy".

Well you said Transfer a lot more times than you said move, and the typical transfer process leaves the original account intact on its system, if you meant something different then you should have said so specifically. And while that may potentially be easier to manage, it probably requires a whole lot of new coding to achieve and isn't likely to be a simple thing. And in all likelihood there are complications I'm not considering because I have no idea of what's actually involved on ZOS's end in making something like that happen.

I agree though that it'd be nice to have the option, which I don't think I made clear in my first post, but it's hardly surprising to me that something which is likely complicated and not useful for most people hasn't been worked on when this game has so many serious issues of more immediate importance.

Keeping it simple, paying to cross platforms impacts the platform you're leaving financially. Typically unless stated up front or after a major change in content agreements and virtual currencies, one platform is not going to offer a customer to abandon them in favor of their competitor.

Also in specific correlation of this game, the account copy was made avilable because the game wasn't available on other platforms as it was originally announced and the delay was substantial.

The requests to move from one to another is pretty silly for either company to consider when for a similar price they could just allow you to buy a level 50 or buy other upgrades on their platform if you decided to jump back

The should have never brought in the consoles to this game at all. I have yet to hear of a successful cross-platform game. I think it divides resources that would be better served focusing on one platform; hence a reason why WoW works so well - it is PC only. All of their resources go into developing content for one platform, which in turn simplifies a multitude of options for the developers - everything from hardware to OS software to development.

Anyway, back to the topic - I agree with the OP - if they are going to provide the option to play on different platforms, they should have the ability to swap between platforms if you're willing to pay for it.