Warning to all new players: Game breaking bug

BmcD73 · April 2014

2 days ago a friend of mine said that he lost all of this bank upgrades, all the items he had stored past the initial 60 items, and all gold he had on deposit (10s of thousands). I just thought it was something he had done since he always seems to be plagued with these types of issues....that is of course until it happened to me tonight.

I had 100 bank slots (now 60). I had my bank full of stacks of high level crafting mats (40 slots worth of bank items gone now). I had about 15k in my bank deposit and that is gone too.

So I started digging and came across this thread:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/606700#Comment_606700
About 30k views and 600 posts on the subject. Apparently this isn't a small isolated problem. LOTS of people having this issue and some since 4/1 with no resolution. I have not seen a single person say that there issue has been resolved. That is pathetic for such a HUGE problem. At a minimum, refund their gold so they can repurchase the bank space and keep doing that until you fix this massive whole in the game.

My buddy waited for 3 hours on hold today to talk to support and they told him they were "working on it." Ok great...WTH does that mean. When is this going to be fixed? What is the workaround in the meantime?

I have submitted my support ticket and I am awaiting the callback that is now 2 hours later than the 1 hour it said it would take.

So I am warning all of you that are spending tons of time building wealth, items, crafting, etc. like I did to keep this in mind when upgrading your bank. Keep no more than 60 items in your bank and do NOT use the deposit.

At this point I am at a loss since inventory management was ALREADY a major pain, now I have 5 toons with totally full inventory and a bank that is totally full. I guess I have to create 3 new toons just to hold my stuff so I can play the game?

Ysne58 · April 2014

@ZOS_GinaBruno‌ @ZOS_JessicaFolsom‌ I'm seeing lots of threads about this bank issue. Hasn't happened to me yet, which I'm grateful for. This does look like a nasty bug. It's also been reported on the Psyjiic guild chat.

Altheina · April 2014

Nasty bug and I honestly feel that this needs fix asap

Laerian · April 2014

Just dont put your pets, CE maps and ring of mara in the bank. Everything else is obtainable.

This is the last straw regarding inventory. Players afraid of using the -already tiny- inventory in a mmorpg.

Lazarus_Long · April 2014

It hit me tonight, but I was kind of expecting it since it was never marked as resolved. I lost the bank upgrades but I did not loose any items! All of the loot out my bank that didn't fit was in my inventory because I had also purchased bag upgrades and prune my inventory before every log out. If I had not had the open space in my bags I might have lost something, but I have no way to test it now since I don't have the gold for more bank space. So I am out the 4,300gp it cost to do the two upgrades. That is just a few hours of farming and selling.

I guess my point is if you have more than 60 items in your bank make sure you log in first with a character that has enough free inventory slots to catch the stuff that might fall out of the bank.

On a side note, I would not call this bug "game breaking." The game is otherwise playable and if you don't upgrade your bank you'll never see it. IMHO the best work around for new players is to invest in bag space on a "mule" character.

BmcD73 · April 2014

I submitted a support callback at 5pm MST. It's now 12am and no callback. Are they just joking that they will call back? It said it would be an hour...not seven. How can you be so far off?

BmcD73 · April 2014

Is there a way to check the status of your ticket? I haven't received anything from them about my ticket.

Kemono · April 2014

I have a workaround to avoid this bug -but belive me, its gonna be painfull

A. Never, EVER do not upgrade bank
B. Do NOT Keep gold in your bank
C. Do NOT open mails with Imperial Edition or Explorer pack items (this is IMPORTANT) -they can stay in your mail box like forever. Most complains are in tone "Bank was wiped, then i recived second mail with IE items. Im guessing this is related"

D. Just DONT jump between alts. (yes, you can switch alts -like im playing 4 hours on this alt, and next 4 on other alt, but if you inventory managing/hireling farming between alts - then you ASKING FOR IT )

This metod is 99% proof resistant to bank wipe bug

But where im supposed to keep my stuff, you asking?
in guild bank -till bag wipe bug is fixed

Lalai · April 2014

I read somewhere (may have been on reddit) a customer service e-mail response where they told a guy it happened to that they were restoring his stuff, but my understanding of it was that it was a case by case basis, so it can take a while given how many people they have contacting support right now.

I was reading a thread in the support forums yesterday where a guy was mad cause he got an automated e-mail from them about a known bug he had reported regarding a quest. Not sure what people really expect when they report a known issue that ESO is already working on.. or maybe I'm just jaded from working in customer support, so given certain matters (such as a quest bug, that you likely receive thousands of e-mails about a day) I can see why something automated versus hand crafted is sent, as the answer will be the same. The bank issue is a bit more serious, and given the scope of it definitely deserves individual attention.. but unfortunately you guys are fighting for that attention with others demanding individual attention when they can't complete a side quest and Zeni has already said it's being worked on :x

Anyway, back on topic. I really hope they restore your stuff for you. Even if the bug is hitting a really small percentage of players, that can still mean it's hitting a couple thousand. I am a hoarder, I gather everything, have expanded my bank and inventory, and even have some mule alts. If all my stuff disappeared I'd probably cry (not really.. but I'd have a serious "OMG no!" moment).

RustyBlades · April 2014

How does one get tens of thousands of gold already?

Alyrn_Grey · April 2014

BmcD73 wrote: »

I submitted a support callback at 5pm MST. It's now 12am and no callback. Are they just joking that they will call back? It said it would be an hour...not seven. How can you be so far off?

Exactly what do you think you are going to get from a call to support on this?

I mean really its on the known issues list. They don't have a magic fix apparently. Oh well good luck with that.

Lalai · April 2014

RustyBlades wrote: »

How does one get tens of thousands of gold already?

I've almost got 20k, and that's after buying bank upgrades (my bank is at 80 slots, inventory at 110ish). So I've probably had around 50k pass through my hands and I'm only level 26. I find a lot of Motifs books to sell.. around 4-5 per play session. Have gotten to where I've been giving them to friends and guildmates instead of selling them. If I wasn't leveling all crafts I could be making a bunch on selling off the materials from gathering and deconstructing as well. Those usually sell pretty quickly.

I have also been told the amount of gold awarded for completing quests gets to be a lot more when you get into higher level stuff. In Veteran content you get a chance at looking the 11-15 style motifs. Those I've seen selling anywhere from 20k-75k.

I'm usually broke in MMOs and I actually have a ton in this game, or feel like I do. It is totally possible to have a lot of money completely legit though.

k9mouse · April 2014

I am kind afraid now to upgrade my bank. I almost have enough gold for one soon. Not sure if I should or not. Also, not sure what steps to protect my bank. May I should contact support so they will make a back up of it for me before I upgrade my bank to be on the safe side. Any others have any tips in this matter? Thanks

BmcD73 · April 2014

Alyrn_Grey wrote: »

BmcD73 wrote: »

I submitted a support callback at 5pm MST. It's now 12am and no callback. Are they just joking that they will call back? It said it would be an hour...not seven. How can you be so far off?

Exactly what do you think you are going to get from a call to support on this?

I mean really its on the known issues list. They don't have a magic fix apparently. Oh well good luck with that.

Um...because when you submit a ticket they SAY they are going to call you back???? Maybe it's just me but entering a phone number and a message that says we will call you back in a hour leads me to believe that they are...I don't know...going to call me back perhaps???

BmcD73 · April 2014

I eventually did get a call back today from support. Although the girl I spoke to was very polite she didn't really tell me anything new. Basically they know about it and are working on it. I asked if the could at least refund the gold to repurchase the bank slots and she told me there was nothing they could do.

How do you have a legion of people playing your game and you give you support people ZERO tools to help them? As someone mentioned in another thread, EQ used to have game GMs that would teleport to your location, review logs and reimburse you for any problem caused in game...on the spot. What was that...15 years ago?

I really don't understand why they can just reimburse us as a workaround WHILE they fix the problem.

SexyVette07 · April 2014

It hit me yesterday. I lost several thousand gold and probably 30k in rare crafting materials. Seems random who it hits. My wife hasnt had this happen to her yet.

Gremlis · April 2014

I lost every thing out of my banks on day 2 of early 5 day access and still haven't got any of the items, they said they knew I lost, back!

Gremlis · April 2014

I was bummed the day after my bank got wiped. Then I received an email telling me they were aware of the problem and all items would be returned. I figured most of the runes I was farming could be used at end game. I quickly used the empty bank space to farm more due to having more space available. You can cry over it or use it to your advantage, like I did.

BmcD73 · April 2014

Gremlis wrote: »

I was bummed the day after my bank got wiped. Then I received an email telling me they were aware of the problem and all items would be returned. I figured most of the runes I was farming could be used at end game. I quickly used the empty bank space to farm more due to having more space available. You can cry over it or use it to your advantage, like I did.

I had 100 items in my 100 slot bank. Then the bank upgrades were reset and I had 60 items in my 60 item bank. How do you use that to your advantage exactly? I now have to have extra toons just to hold my items. For instance, I have one toon that holds all my metal and cloth crafting materials. A whole 70 slots full of those materials. I can't play that toon unless I unload him to another alt. Which I do, but the process of unload and reload takes time. I would say about 15 minutes each time I want to switch toons. On top of that once my bags fill from the toon I'm playing, I have to go back and play inventory swapping game again to manage all the new stuff. So about 50% of my time is spent managing my inventory and with this new limitation, it is worse.

So I don't see this as an advantage at all and I'm guessing the numerous others that this has afflicted wouldn't see it that way either.

Eris · April 2014

If you got the starter mail twice, doesn't that mean you have twice as many treasure maps?