Feature Request: Character Merging and updated Race Change Tokens
Stamicka
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Since this year will have some quality of life changes, I'd like to make a suggestion to add a character merging feature.
Why it is Needed
I'm someone who has many characters. I'm already at the maximum amount. Many of these characters have been made completely useless with the additions of new features. First, now that alliance change tokens are sold in the crown store, I no longer need multiples of each class. A few years ago, I needed to have 2 or more characters of whatever class I mained at the time (one for red, one for blue, one for red). This made it easier to play with friends in PvP. Now, I would happily pay for an alliance change if needed. The main campaign is alliance locked anyway, so I really do not need these characters. Next, hybridization was added. Before this, I needed at least 2 characters for every class, one for stam, and one for mag. With hybridization, this distinction is not nearly as important and I find myself needing both magic and stamina skills and skill lines. I really only need one of each class now. The next feature that was added was the armory system. Before this, switching between PvE and PvP gear was tiresome. I would make PvE specific characters because of this. The armory has made swapping between the two quick and easy, so I no longer need separate characters. Lastly, account wide achievements took away a lot of the individual identities of my characters. While I love how much convenience has been added to the game, it has rendered well over half of my characters useless.
How it Would Work
Only characters of the same class can be merged. Basically you would choose two of the same class then choose the one that will be merged into. The resulting character would have the combined achievements, PvP rank, and skill lines of the two characters. Let's say you choose to merge two sorcerers. Sorcerer A has the two handed skill line at 50 while Sorcerer B doesn't have the two handed-skill line at 50, but has restoration staff at 50. Sorcerer A also has a PvP rank of 20 and sorcerer B has a PvP rank of 25. It takes about 4 mil AP to get to rank 20 and about 8 mil AP to get to rank 25. So the resulting character would have both the Two-Handed and Restoration staff skill lines at level 50 and a PvP rank of 29 (12 mil AP gained).
Updated Race Change Tokens
To add to this, I think it is time to add a new version of race change tokens. These race change tokens would cost more crowns than the usual ones, but once you purchase a race on a character, you can swap between races as much as you want without needing a race change token each time. Basically the race would become a permanent customization option that could be changed at an armory station.
These features would drastically improve my quality of life and give me less characters to manage. Please consider it!
Edited by Stamicka on January 26, 2023 6:05PM Why it is Needed
I'm someone who has many characters. I'm already at the maximum amount. Many of these characters have been made completely useless with the additions of new features. First, now that alliance change tokens are sold in the crown store, I no longer need multiples of each class. A few years ago, I needed to have 2 or more characters of whatever class I mained at the time (one for red, one for blue, one for red). This made it easier to play with friends in PvP. Now, I would happily pay for an alliance change if needed. The main campaign is alliance locked anyway, so I really do not need these characters. Next, hybridization was added. Before this, I needed at least 2 characters for every class, one for stam, and one for mag. With hybridization, this distinction is not nearly as important and I find myself needing both magic and stamina skills and skill lines. I really only need one of each class now. The next feature that was added was the armory system. Before this, switching between PvE and PvP gear was tiresome. I would make PvE specific characters because of this. The armory has made swapping between the two quick and easy, so I no longer need separate characters. Lastly, account wide achievements took away a lot of the individual identities of my characters. While I love how much convenience has been added to the game, it has rendered well over half of my characters useless.
How it Would Work
Only characters of the same class can be merged. Basically you would choose two of the same class then choose the one that will be merged into. The resulting character would have the combined achievements, PvP rank, and skill lines of the two characters. Let's say you choose to merge two sorcerers. Sorcerer A has the two handed skill line at 50 while Sorcerer B doesn't have the two handed-skill line at 50, but has restoration staff at 50. Sorcerer A also has a PvP rank of 20 and sorcerer B has a PvP rank of 25. It takes about 4 mil AP to get to rank 20 and about 8 mil AP to get to rank 25. So the resulting character would have both the Two-Handed and Restoration staff skill lines at level 50 and a PvP rank of 29 (12 mil AP gained).
Updated Race Change Tokens
To add to this, I think it is time to add a new version of race change tokens. These race change tokens would cost more crowns than the usual ones, but once you purchase a race on a character, you can swap between races as much as you want without needing a race change token each time. Basically the race would become a permanent customization option that could be changed at an armory station.
These features would drastically improve my quality of life and give me less characters to manage. Please consider it!
PC NA and Xbox NA
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Dr_Con✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭You are appealing to greed when you should be appealing to features everyone can enjoy. Changing your class should be like changing your outfit, attributes, or skill morphs, and you shouldn't need to spend crowns to change it.1 -
Stamicka✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭You are appealing to greed when you should be appealing to features everyone can enjoy. Changing your class should be like changing your outfit, attributes, or skill morphs, and you shouldn't need to spend crowns to change it.
How am I appealing to greed? I'm not sure I understand.PC NA and Xbox NA0 -
Araneae6537✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I would rather a class change token as I could imagine a character changing direction, learning new skills, but merging? That sounds… disturbing… would they form a bone colossus?
If you are not attached to the individual characters, then why not delete those you don’t wish to play? Edited by Araneae6537 on January 26, 2023 5:48PM1 -
Arunei✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭The number of technical issues that could arise from merging alone would make this idea pretty much impossible, if the ability to code something like that wouldn't already.
As for Race Change, I don't see that as something that you should be able to change with the Armory. Skills you use, CP distribution, gear, even Vampirism/Werewolf is one thing. Those are all aspects of a person that can be easily changed. But being able to bounce between Races at will just seems like a bit too much for me. Maybe it's the RPer in me screaming that's not a lore friendly thing haha.Character List [RP and PvE]:Stands-Against-Death: Argonian Magplar Healer - Crafter
Krisiel: Redguard Stamsorc DPS - Literally crazy Werewolf, no like legit insane. She nuts
Kiju Veran: Khajiit Stamblade DPS - Ex-Fighters Guild Suthay who likes to punch things, nicknamed Tinykat
Niralae Elsinal: Altmer Stamsorc DPS - Young Altmer with way too much Magicka
Sarah Lacroix: Breton Magsorc DPS - Fledgling Vampire who drinks too much water
Slondor: Nord Tankblade - TESified verson of Slenderman
Marius Vastino: Imperial <insert role here> - Sarah's apathetic sire who likes to monologue
Delthor Rellenar: Dunmer Magknight DPS - Sarah's ex who's a certified psychopath
Lirawyn Calatare: Altmer Magplar Healer - Traveling performer and bard who's 101% vanilla bean
Gondryn Beldeau: Breton Tankplar - Sarah's Mages Guild mentor and certified badass old person
Gwendolyn Jenelle: Breton Magplar Healer - Friendly healer with a coffee addiction
Soliril Larethian- Altmer Magblade DPS - Blind alchemist who uses animals to see and brews plagues in his spare time
Tevril Rallenar: Dunmer Stamcro DPS - Delthor's "special" younger brother who raises small animals as friends
Celeroth Calatare: Bosmer <insert role here> - Shapeshifting Bosmer with enough sass to fill Valenwood
PC - NA - EP - CP1000+
Avid RPer. Hit me up in-game @Ras_Lei if you're interested in getting together for some arr-pee shenanigans!1 -
Stamicka✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Araneae6537 wrote: »I would rather a class change token as I could imagine a character changing direction, learning new skills, but merging? That sounds… disturbing… If you are not attached to the individual characters, then why not delete those you don’t wish to play?
Because I've put a lot of time into them? Some of them have earned 30mil+ AP individually. Some of them have gotten difficult achievements, other ones have skill lines that the others don't. You wouldn't have to merge if you didn't want to, you would lose nothing and players like me would be benefitted.PC NA and Xbox NA0 -
Stamicka✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭The number of technical issues that could arise from merging alone would make this idea pretty much impossible, if the ability to code something like that wouldn't already.
Umm what? Neither of us know how things work on ESO's backend exactly, but if all of our character data is in a database, merging information would not be difficult at all.As for Race Change, I don't see that as something that you should be able to change with the Armory. Skills you use, CP distribution, gear, even Vampirism/Werewolf is one thing. Those are all aspects of a person that can be easily changed. But being able to bounce between Races at will just seems like a bit too much for me. Maybe it's the RPer in me screaming that's not a lore friendly thing haha.
I don't play this game for the lore or for RP. I need utility. I need a race that benefits my build, often the race I need changes. Do you somehow think your playstyle is more valid than mine? If you don't want to use the armory station to change races, don't. It's a game, many aspects of it don't make logical sense. That shouldn't stop the addition of quality of life features.
PC NA and Xbox NA0 -
Dr_Con✭✭✭✭✭
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They should add a system for changing classes because it would be good for the game, not because it would make them money as the primary drive.
The fact that players will be focusing more time into their characters and releveling the characters they already have is enough financial incentive for them to invest resources into making this system come to light.
Tokens as a concept are silly, like outfit change tokens. It should be a feature made available for gold, and should be as easy to do as praying at a shrine to respec your attribute points.0 -
Stamicka✭✭✭✭✭
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They should add a system for changing classes because it would be good for the game, not because it would make them money as the primary drive.
The fact that players will be focusing more time into their characters and releveling the characters they already have is enough financial incentive for them to invest resources into making this system come to light.
Tokens as a concept are silly, like outfit change tokens. It should be a feature made available for gold, and should be as easy to do as praying at a shrine to respec your attribute points.
If you find a place where corporations are benevolent and have the best interests of consumers in mind, let me know, I wanna go there. We both know most of what they do is profit driven.
This idea was pitched in a more realistic way that hopefully ZOS will consider.Edited by Stamicka on January 26, 2023 5:56PMPC NA and Xbox NA1 -
Dr_Con✭✭✭✭✭
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They should add a system for changing classes because it would be good for the game, not because it would make them money as the primary drive.
The fact that players will be focusing more time into their characters and releveling the characters they already have is enough financial incentive for them to invest resources into making this system come to light.
Tokens as a concept are silly, like outfit change tokens. It should be a feature made available for gold, and should be as easy to do as praying at a shrine to respec your attribute points.
If you find a place where corporations are benevolent and have the best interests of consumers in mind, let me know. I wanna go there.
This idea was pitched more realistically in a way that hopefully ZOS will consider.
They already know they can monetize this idea, but their biggest issue is manpower, not money. They aren't understaffed by choice, they're understaffed due to the lack of qualified applicants. Just go to their website and look at all the job postings. When manpower is a finite resource they need to prioritize their ideas, and presenting this as a cash grab opportunity is not a way to get them behind this change.0 -
Stamicka✭✭✭✭✭
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They should add a system for changing classes because it would be good for the game, not because it would make them money as the primary drive.
The fact that players will be focusing more time into their characters and releveling the characters they already have is enough financial incentive for them to invest resources into making this system come to light.
Tokens as a concept are silly, like outfit change tokens. It should be a feature made available for gold, and should be as easy to do as praying at a shrine to respec your attribute points.
If you find a place where corporations are benevolent and have the best interests of consumers in mind, let me know. I wanna go there.
This idea was pitched more realistically in a way that hopefully ZOS will consider.
They already know they can monetize this idea, but their biggest issue is manpower, not money. They aren't understaffed by choice, they're understaffed due to the lack of qualified applicants. Just go to their website and look at all the job postings. When manpower is a finite resource they need to prioritize their ideas, and presenting this as a cash grab opportunity is not a way to get them behind this change.
It's not a total cash grab. How they implement this will be up to them. This is just a quality of life feature I'd like to see. It would also be hugely beneficial to me.PC NA and Xbox NA0 -
Dr_Con✭✭✭✭✭
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They should add a system for changing classes because it would be good for the game, not because it would make them money as the primary drive.
The fact that players will be focusing more time into their characters and releveling the characters they already have is enough financial incentive for them to invest resources into making this system come to light.
Tokens as a concept are silly, like outfit change tokens. It should be a feature made available for gold, and should be as easy to do as praying at a shrine to respec your attribute points.
If you find a place where corporations are benevolent and have the best interests of consumers in mind, let me know. I wanna go there.
This idea was pitched more realistically in a way that hopefully ZOS will consider.
They already know they can monetize this idea, but their biggest issue is manpower, not money. They aren't understaffed by choice, they're understaffed due to the lack of qualified applicants. Just go to their website and look at all the job postings. When manpower is a finite resource they need to prioritize their ideas, and presenting this as a cash grab opportunity is not a way to get them behind this change.
It's not a total cash grab. How they implement this will be up to them. This is just a quality of life feature I'd like to see. It would also be hugely beneficial to me.
It's frustrating to see players playing the devil's advocate across several topics when simplifying it and making it free would promote player retention/loyalty.0 -
Arunei✭✭✭✭✭
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It doesn't matter if all the characters are part of the same database, the information you're wanting to merge is still *separate*. Not too long ago there was someone who had either their whole account or one of their characters borked because CS tried to either remove or add a single achievement. I can't remember the details but if something so simple caused that much of a problem then I'm sure you can see how something as big as trying to merge skill lines, Alliance Rank, and so on could cause serious issues.The number of technical issues that could arise from merging alone would make this idea pretty much impossible, if the ability to code something like that wouldn't already.
Umm what? Neither of us know how things work on ESO's backend exactly, but if all of our character data is in a database, merging information would not be difficult at all.As for Race Change, I don't see that as something that you should be able to change with the Armory. Skills you use, CP distribution, gear, even Vampirism/Werewolf is one thing. Those are all aspects of a person that can be easily changed. But being able to bounce between Races at will just seems like a bit too much for me. Maybe it's the RPer in me screaming that's not a lore friendly thing haha.
I don't play this game for the lore or for RP. I need utility. I need a race that benefits my build, often the race I need changes. Do you somehow think your playstyle is more valid than mine? If you don't want to use the armory station to change races, don't. It's a game, many aspects of it don't make logical sense. That shouldn't stop the addition of quality of life features.
There are millions of lines of coding in this game; all it takes is one incorrect line that causes both merged characters to vanish. Or one wrong line that causes the character you want to keep being the one that gets eaten. There's the possibility gold or items on either/both characters can be lost. What about achievements that are still tracked on individual characters? Seeing as trying to add/remove them can cause serious issues, those wouldn't be able to be transferred from one character to another who doesn't have it. Alliance Rank/Points night wind up reset or otherwise borked, existing Skills Lines on the character you want to keep could wind up reset or borked.
There are too many things that could break or be lost when trying to merge two separate things, even if they're on the same database. You can try to merge two Word documents and wind up with things winding up where they aren't supposed to be, parts missing, formatting broken or outright removed.
And being able to change Race at will isn't a QoL addition. Quality of Life are things that make the game more streamlined and more simple, and offer better convenience or accessibility. Race Change isn't a convenience or accessibility issue. Just because something is a feature we want doesn't really mean it counts as QoL.Character List [RP and PvE]:Stands-Against-Death: Argonian Magplar Healer - Crafter
Krisiel: Redguard Stamsorc DPS - Literally crazy Werewolf, no like legit insane. She nuts
Kiju Veran: Khajiit Stamblade DPS - Ex-Fighters Guild Suthay who likes to punch things, nicknamed Tinykat
Niralae Elsinal: Altmer Stamsorc DPS - Young Altmer with way too much Magicka
Sarah Lacroix: Breton Magsorc DPS - Fledgling Vampire who drinks too much water
Slondor: Nord Tankblade - TESified verson of Slenderman
Marius Vastino: Imperial <insert role here> - Sarah's apathetic sire who likes to monologue
Delthor Rellenar: Dunmer Magknight DPS - Sarah's ex who's a certified psychopath
Lirawyn Calatare: Altmer Magplar Healer - Traveling performer and bard who's 101% vanilla bean
Gondryn Beldeau: Breton Tankplar - Sarah's Mages Guild mentor and certified badass old person
Gwendolyn Jenelle: Breton Magplar Healer - Friendly healer with a coffee addiction
Soliril Larethian- Altmer Magblade DPS - Blind alchemist who uses animals to see and brews plagues in his spare time
Tevril Rallenar: Dunmer Stamcro DPS - Delthor's "special" younger brother who raises small animals as friends
Celeroth Calatare: Bosmer <insert role here> - Shapeshifting Bosmer with enough sass to fill Valenwood
PC - NA - EP - CP1000+
Avid RPer. Hit me up in-game @Ras_Lei if you're interested in getting together for some arr-pee shenanigans!1 -
Stamicka✭✭✭✭✭
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It doesn't matter if all the characters are part of the same database, the information you're wanting to merge is still *separate*. Not too long ago there was someone who had either their whole account or one of their characters borked because CS tried to either remove or add a single achievement. I can't remember the details but if something so simple caused that much of a problem then I'm sure you can see how something as big as trying to merge skill lines, Alliance Rank, and so on could cause serious issues.The number of technical issues that could arise from merging alone would make this idea pretty much impossible, if the ability to code something like that wouldn't already.
Umm what? Neither of us know how things work on ESO's backend exactly, but if all of our character data is in a database, merging information would not be difficult at all.As for Race Change, I don't see that as something that you should be able to change with the Armory. Skills you use, CP distribution, gear, even Vampirism/Werewolf is one thing. Those are all aspects of a person that can be easily changed. But being able to bounce between Races at will just seems like a bit too much for me. Maybe it's the RPer in me screaming that's not a lore friendly thing haha.
I don't play this game for the lore or for RP. I need utility. I need a race that benefits my build, often the race I need changes. Do you somehow think your playstyle is more valid than mine? If you don't want to use the armory station to change races, don't. It's a game, many aspects of it don't make logical sense. That shouldn't stop the addition of quality of life features.
There are millions of lines of coding in this game; all it takes is one incorrect line that causes both merged characters to vanish. Or one wrong line that causes the character you want to keep being the one that gets eaten. There's the possibility gold or items on either/both characters can be lost. What about achievements that are still tracked on individual characters? Seeing as trying to add/remove them can cause serious issues, those wouldn't be able to be transferred from one character to another who doesn't have it. Alliance Rank/Points night wind up reset or otherwise borked, existing Skills Lines on the character you want to keep could wind up reset or borked.
There are too many things that could break or be lost when trying to merge two separate things, even if they're on the same database. You can try to merge two Word documents and wind up with things winding up where they aren't supposed to be, parts missing, formatting broken or outright removed.
And being able to change Race at will isn't a QoL addition. Quality of Life are things that make the game more streamlined and more simple, and offer better convenience or accessibility. Race Change isn't a convenience or accessibility issue. Just because something is a feature we want doesn't really mean it counts as QoL.
This whole spiel can be said about genuinely any feature addition. You aren’t worried about the addition of a new class deleting the other 6 classes are you? Obviously the devs would test this before it goes live and keep back up data. Alliance Wide achievements weren’t much different than this suggestion, so I’m not sure why you think this would be some super hard task. Things like the alliance rank calculation would just be the sum of the amount of AP each character has earned. The achievements could be a simple OR operation. If one character has an achievement (true) and the other doesn’t (false) the OR operation would yield a true and the resulting character would have the achievement. This is totally feasible and ZOS has added things that are far more complicated. A merge could be simplified into a pretty easy to solve problem.
In regards to the race changes. Needing to pay $25 to switch between Khajiit and dark elf depending on the build I’d a QoL issue. It’s inconvenient and expensive. You would genuinely lose nothing from this.Edited by Stamicka on January 26, 2023 6:46PMPC NA and Xbox NA0