Will Zenimax Ever Allow Transfers Or Merge Servers

AdamLAD · September 2021

It has been 7 years nearly since ESO has been released. I've played for Xbox EU for 5 years. However I'd like a new challenge. I did go Xbox NA but there are delays in core combat skills which makes it bad to play. I have always wanted a gaming PC and I'd love to play ESO on there. Does anyone think Zenimax will EVER allow transfers again ? Merge server's? Or cross play ? Because Id actually pay for it and I think lots of others would. I know theres complications but its not IMPOSSIBLE. Because in all honesty if Zenimax never do something like it. I think its a HUGE wasted opportunity for lots of money

phaneub17_ESO · September 2021

NOPE.

DinoZavr · September 2021

The security mechanism differ greatly across platforms, so it is unlikely cross-platform play ever be implemented (even character transfer between platforms is not an option, yes?)
Also imagine how many name conflicts the said consolidation might cause, provided that Zenimax claimed 18 million accounts (roughly multiply by 10 as players normally use all character slots).

AdamLAD · September 2021

I also agree that zenimax will probably never do it. But we all can hope lol

VaranisArano · September 2021

I think there was vague mention of cross-console play, though that relies on Sony and Microsoft cooperating.

I don't believe there's been consideration of crossplay between PC and consoles largely due to the enormous differences in addon capability, gameplay, and server economy. Either Sony and Microsoft would have to approve certain addons, ZOS should really have to make certain addons base game functionalities, or PC would have to give up the vast majority of addons. I don't see that happening.

AdamLAD · September 2021

I don't see any major issues with singular character transfers. I don't mind wiping my characters name if it meant I could transfer him over. Id even pay for the transfer and even pay for the dlcs again lol. But I'm not a data or computer expert so I could be way off the mark for the actual complications

Sylvermynx · September 2021

As someone who uses "simple" databases (for WordPress and pnpBB3) I can say with perfect truth that if you don't know exactly what you're doing you can bork a database beyond recovery. For which reason, I never run a query on a table without multiple redundant backups of the entire database.

Considering how much more data this game tracks in the database than blogs and forums do, I would worry about adding or subtracting character and item data from the database. I'm guessing the database for ESO is proprietary (as in, the original developers made perhaps massive changes to whatever original source database they used) and that also adds a whole other layer of complexity, especially since it seems the original developers are no longer with ZOS.

And then, there's the issue of the megaserver construct. It's not like WoW with many smaller "realm servers" - and IIRC it took Blizzard a couple of years of development time to start offering character transfers between realms. I imagine ZOS could work it out - but it may not be financially viable, nor time viable either.

Reverb · September 2021

It’s right in their faq that it’s not something they intend to offer in the future. And to all the people who say “it’s simple” every time the topic comes up, you have zero knowledge of the ESO data structure or keys, and have to trust Zeni when they tell us (which they have several times over the years) that it’s unlikely to be possible without destabilizing the game environment, and it’s not something they have any plans to explore.

It was done at console launch because console data hadn’t been populated yet. Everything from the PC accounts was copied into an empty database. Once the system was opened to players no further transfers were possible.

AdamLAD · September 2021

Well if its to much of a task. Why don't they add a system like the skyshard buying or skill buying from the crown store. If you have previously levelled a character on any other server, then they could allow you to buy a complete copy of the character. Obviously without gear, gold, materials and the same name ect. I thinks that would be the best solution

Sylvermynx · September 2021

Well, that might not be a bad idea. I don't know about whether that would be something ZOS would want to do of course. And I don't know what that might mean as regards the contractual situation between Sony and ZOS now that Microsoft is in the mix.

VaranisArano · September 2021

AdamLAD wrote: »

Well if its to much of a task. Why don't they add a system like the skyshard buying or skill buying from the crown store. If you have previously levelled a character on any other server, then they could allow you to buy a complete copy of the character. Obviously without gear, gold, materials and the same name ect. I thinks that would be the best solution

That assumes they'd had to let their servers check what you've done on other servers. So far, that has to be done manually.

The quirk is that ZOS can't add or take away achievements. In the past, this has been a big sticking point for players who should have gotten an achievement but didn't, or did and don't want it for roleplaying reasons. The general answer seems to be that messing around with achievements is a no-go area for Support because there's a high risk of character corruption or severely damaging the account.

How does that tie into the business with skills and skyshards? Well, those are checking the achievements on the account's characters to unlock the ability to buy them.

So ZOS can't just add achievements to an account if you earned them on other servers, and can't automatically check the accounts on other servers for the achievements. The result is either they have to develop such a system, or they have to manually recreate your character on a different server.

Frankly, they make a lot more money by expecting you to manually recreate your character and regrind the skill lines.

(At least, they make more money across the whole playerbase that way, since while you in particular might not be willing, many players are.)

AdamLAD · September 2021

Everyone would profit from it. Sony could get a cut of the cost of the transfer. This system also allows zenimax to make fortunes. Because people would always be transferring to try new servers. Its like the alliance change. But on a bigger scale. I Do hope someone will see the idea because its a simple solution to it for lots of money lol

Kiralyn2000 · September 2021

If they haven't monetized this by now, it's a pretty good sign that they're telling the truth when they say it's not possible/practical.

Rex-Umbra · September 2021

It will happen all Microsoft online games are cross platform.

Rex-Umbra · September 2021

Names are not a challenge just have a prefix @XB or @PS or @PC etc

ClawOfTheTwoMoons · September 2021

Theres no excuese in the current year, which must mean [REDACTED], but that doesn't surprise me or anyone at this point.

Tandor · September 2021

AdamLAD wrote: »

Everyone would profit from it. Sony could get a cut of the cost of the transfer. This system also allows zenimax to make fortunes. Because people would always be transferring to try new servers. Its like the alliance change. But on a bigger scale. I Do hope someone will see the idea because its a simple solution to it for lots of money lol

It's not a simple solution. Taking stuff from one platform and copying or transferring it to another platform isn't within their present capability coding-wise, they've made that quite clear and have also stated equally clearly that they don't intend to devote the necessary resources to creating that capability. They might sell a few transfer tokens at 10,000 crowns a time but that wouldn't begin to cover the cost of developing and testing the coding for it, and they'd risk losing far more if even the slightest thing went wrong and complete databases got corrupted. It's also highly unlikely that the console contracts allow any of the platform providers to poach each other's customers.

tmbrinks · September 2021

There was recently a thread on here where somebody's entire character was unplayable for 10 MONTHS, because of one CS representative trying to retroactively give an achievement. Imagine a whole scale merging of databases...

The amount of data and information stored in the databases, unless they were explicitly designed to be combined in the future, means that it is probably close to impossible to combine them while maintaining what needs to be a nearly zero percent chance of corrupting accounts.

I'm sure they know that they could make a lot of money by allowing it.

But the risk they may take to corrupt accounts of long time players if somebody on another server has "similar" entries/names/etc... has probably been deemed to be too high.

Even if the chance is 1 in a million of corrupting somebody's account in the transfer... that would be an average of 18 accounts that would either lost/locked/deleted.

trackdemon5512 · September 2021

Never, ever going to happen.

And for those who argue that because Microsoft acquired Zenimax that it definitely will, please understand that this isn’t some movie property like Spider-Man or Fantastic Four and adding functionality is like flipping a switch.

Cross-play and cross-save are no easy things. Besides even just implementing it there comes the question of who profits and how. And with PC only recently having issues of players purchasing crowns for stupid cheap by players abusing exchange rates and Steam’s system it becomes clear that such a possible subversion to Sony’s profits (they take a piece of every transaction on their digital store) would not be tolerable.

PC has crown store issues. PC has an in game economy issue with way too much gold. PC has an add-on issue which not only necessitates unique changes post patches but also balances overall gameplay in a manner inconsistent with the developer’s overall intentions. PC has performance differences.

Even in cases today where cross-play is allowed you are consistently given the option of whether you want to play with PC/Console players or not. You can’t do that with ESO. Even if the Megaservers allowed that nonsense you would overwhelm them with players, esp European PC players.

So between the almost certain corruption of database data in trying to migrate accounts from one server to another and the clear imbalances between platforms, both in game and out, you will NEVER have ESO crossplay, cross save, or account transfers.

Amottica · September 2021

Games tend to merge servers due to declining population which doesn’t seem to be the issue with ESO. Even then they merge in geographic regions and that doesn’t give Zenimax much to work with. I doubt they would ever merge EU with NA. I expect many in the EU don’t want to play on an NA server.

zaria · September 2021

Tandor wrote: »

AdamLAD wrote: »

Everyone would profit from it. Sony could get a cut of the cost of the transfer. This system also allows zenimax to make fortunes. Because people would always be transferring to try new servers. Its like the alliance change. But on a bigger scale. I Do hope someone will see the idea because its a simple solution to it for lots of money lol

It's not a simple solution. Taking stuff from one platform and copying or transferring it to another platform isn't within their present capability coding-wise, they've made that quite clear and have also stated equally clearly that they don't intend to devote the necessary resources to creating that capability. They might sell a few transfer tokens at 10,000 crowns a time but that wouldn't begin to cover the cost of developing and testing the coding for it, and they'd risk losing far more if even the slightest thing went wrong and complete databases got corrupted. It's also highly unlikely that the console contracts allow any of the platform providers to poach each other's customers.

Agree, now if you had decent tools it could perhaps be done by one developer in less than an month, perhaps much faster if you have more automated tools and don't have to write sql scripts.
Then you needed to test it, make the client size user interface for the player to rename characters and verify the transfer.
Last you need to keep this tool updated for new features like companions who was the latest obvious any new future systems.

HyekAr · September 2021

It wont happen, I am playing with Stadia 60 fps, and I could feel a lot of bugs this last week before dev work(ppl from the same guild playing PC, were frustrated at the same time)

So if there is this bugs problems ... Imagine merging servers and increasing ppl..

Besides, if they do something wrong, it will afect entire community but now only specific server and plataform