Switch Character Without Logging Out?

NeuroticPixels · October 2023

I haven’t seen this brought up in a while and it seems like a nice QoL change that could be implemented.

Instead of going through multiple loading screens and possibly waiting 10 extra seconds if not logging out in a city, would you rather be able to select another character to switch to while logged into one already?

Inb4 “no changes! only fixes! rah rah rah!”

No negativity, please.

dragonlord500 · October 2023

Other (please comment)

well the big reason why it wont be added is because the engine cant handle that kind of load. at least that's what Zos would say.

TaSheen · October 2023

Other (please comment)

It's okay if it doesn't take dev time away from content.

LunaFlora · October 2023

Other (please comment)

would be nice, but seems unlikely.

IsharaMeradin · October 2023

Just want to see the poll results

How about a special "room" that you can port into and be offered the character selection menu. And then after selecting a different character, you automatically exit and appear where that character was last located.

Oh, wait... we already have that. They just call it 'logout' instead of 'character select'.

phaneub17_ESO · October 2023

What other games let's you do this?

rpa · October 2023

Other (please comment)

I'd expect saving state of the current character, displaying list of available characters and loading state of the selected character would take just as much database server access even if it did not happen in a character selection screen. Both the game server and the game client need the data sorted out before one can continue playing. That means either have load screens or let player just to look at unresponsive client for a while.

SimonThesis · October 2023

Yes

What if they just made all loading screens instant instead of taking 10 seconds, then it wouldnt be as much of an issue.

DreamyLu · October 2023

Other (please comment)

I don't know another way to do it?

It's the same in all MMORPGs I know: swapping chars needs to return to a "char interface" for selection. It's logic since we need to disactivate current char to be able to activate another one. That it's called "log out" or "char selection" or whatever else makes no difference, there is a need for an intermediate step.

So I'm not sure to understand the poll: What else would be possible?

rpa · October 2023

Other (please comment)

DreamyLu wrote: »

I don't know another way to do it?

It's the same in all MMORPGs I know: swapping chars needs to return to a "char interface" for selection. It's logic since we need to disactivate current char to be able to activate another one. That it's called "log out" or "char selection" or whatever else makes no difference, there is a need for an intermediate step.

So I'm not sure to understand the poll: What else would be possible?

I guess they could make a quantum game where players play superposition of all their characters. But I would not hold my breath for the required hardware and software techniques being available soon.

Amottica · October 2023

Other (please comment)

Would it be a nice QoL? Of course. Is it important or even a moderate priority? No. Not even close.

Tyrant_Tim · October 2023

Other (please comment)

Would be nice, but you know what would be even better?

Not having to alt-hop to get things like crafting and dailies done. Accomplishing that would be great.

Tandor · October 2023

Other (please comment)

I can see the benefit for those with slower machines, but even so it never bothered me before I got a new computer in the Summer and simply isn't an issue now. I doubt it will happen.

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

What other games let's you do this?

If I remember correctly, EQ2 lets you do this, and also lets you select the character you want to play from a drop-down list on the launcher so you log that character straight into the game.

NeuroticPixels · October 2023

Yes

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

What other games let's you do this?

I think the Final Fantasy MMO? But I’m not sure. Could just be EQ2 like the poster above me said.

But why does that even matter at all? 🤦‍♀️

Zodiarkslayer · October 2023

No

No thanks.

I like relogging. It makes me feel the difference between my characters, gives me time to prepare and get me into the right state of mind for the new char.

Additionally, I do not think it is technologically possible to make this.

Vynera · October 2023

Yes

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

What other games let's you do this?

Lost Ark for example lets you switch a character without going back to the character selection.
You could logout to char selection, but it also as a option to click on "switch character" in the game/esc menu. That loads the selected character.
Pretty sure there are many more games that offer such a feature.

Trejgon · October 2023

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

What other games let's you do this?

The only one I played with such feature was Black Desert Online

All the others were going through character select screen if even that (EvE Online had you restart whole game client if you wanted to switch characters)

Fenris_Arainai · October 2023

No

You are not being logged out, unless you change servers. You just return to the character screen. So I'm not even sure what this fuss is about. So I voted no. No changes needed. There is not logging out.

Now, if switching servers didn't require re-logging in, that'd be nice.

Haenk · October 2023

Yes

Concerning this, I'd also like a "instant login no BS" option. Lauch ESO, getting logged in into your last character. No login required, no character selection required.

Danikat · October 2023

Just want to see the poll results

I wouldn't mind it being an option but it's such a trivial difference I don't think it matters. Yes it's one less loading screen, but I suspect the server would still run through all the same steps so it would be 1 longer loading screen instead of 2 short ones.

Freilauftomate · October 2023

Yes

Yes please.

When i log out on Playstation there is an annoying screen where i can't see anything for like 10 seconds. People sometimes whisper me or greet me in game, but i can't see anything while my character is logging out. So i am missing plenty of messages, especially when i am doing my daily crafting writs on multiple chars.

And while i am in the character selection screen i appear to be online in guildroster and friendslist, but nobody can whisper me. Their message just disappears. It looks like i put them on ignore when they try to whisper me.

Worst case scenario: people whisper me, wonder why i did not answer (because i was in this useless logout screen and did not see it), they whisper again, it looks like i put them on ignore (because i am in the character selection screen), and then the drama starts...

I don't know how, but someone please fix this!

zaria · October 2023

Yes

I would keep the character selection as in today but if new character is in the general same location as the previous one, as in no need zone need to be loaded just keep the instance and swap characters.
This would avoid you having to reload instance on swap.

Four_Fingers · October 2023

No

Our characters would be just skins that change instead of being completely separate characters in different states of play and location, kind of old fashion.

TheGreatBlackBear · October 2023

I wouldn't trust the game with that. Just last night I DCed and when i tried to relog I got an error code that said booted from server. When I searched up the code for kicks it said that the server can take up to half an hour to update and note that my character is no longer logged in. It didn't take 30 minutes but it took over 10. That's unacceptable.

katanagirl1 · October 2023

Other (please comment)

Each character has a different game state to load so I don’t think that would work in PvE areas.

What I would like is to be able to switch toons in Cyrodiil when queued so I don’t have to exit the queue and requeue. It’s all a single shared instance so I think it should work.

LiteEmUp · October 2023

Yes

i can't believe people are voting no to this... this is a HUGE QOL for those with multiple characters and has to do all of them with daily writs....

i really don't see any downsides to this, except maybe this is not a priority for the devs...

and don't tell me this is not technically possible, as others have already said, other games are already doing the ability to switch characters without "logging out or changing to a character selection screen"

kargen27 · October 2023

No

They took our ability to earn achievements on individual characters away from us because of server stress. We don't need something that is going to add more stress to the server.

ArchMikem · October 2023

No

Doubt it can be done. I'm guessing our Account can only have one character load connected at a time.

Jaimeh · October 2023

No

I don't know if it could be done or not, and although I do play with a lot of alts, I don't think it's something that would particularly enrich my gaming experience, I honestly don't mind the relogging.

Danikat · October 2023

Just want to see the poll results

LiteEmUp wrote: »

i can't believe people are voting no to this... this is a HUGE QOL for those with multiple characters and has to do all of them with daily writs....

i really don't see any downsides to this, except maybe this is not a priority for the devs...

and don't tell me this is not technically possible, as others have already said, other games are already doing the ability to switch characters without "logging out or changing to a character selection screen"

Other games do a lot of things ESO doesn't, like allowing accounts or characters to be transfered between servers, regions or platforms. ESO also does things other games don't, like allowing everyone in a region to play together without being separated by server and without queues to get into maps (except PvP and very occasionally to get into the game at all).

Different games are built differently and that affects what they can do.

Tandor · October 2023

Other (please comment)

LiteEmUp wrote: »

i can't believe people are voting no to this... this is a HUGE QOL for those with multiple characters and has to do all of them with daily writs....

i really don't see any downsides to this, except maybe this is not a priority for the devs...

and don't tell me this is not technically possible, as others have already said, other games are already doing the ability to switch characters without "logging out or changing to a character selection screen"

Not necessarily, as the likelihood is that it will take just as long waiting for one character to log out and another one to log in, you only save the switchover, not the logging process.

Also, as someone with multiple characters I don't see any real benefit for me personally from this. Others may see a benefit but what is "QoL" for some doesn't mean it's "QoL" for everyone. People may vote no because it's not something they're interested in and as a result they don't want to see the developers spending considerable time altering the game code to allow something they don't need, when there are so many other things they would prefer to be prioritised,

That's all quite apart from the risk of corruption to character data through the introduction and use of such a facility in a game that wasn't built to do it from the outset.

The Elder Scrolls Online

Switch Character Without Logging Out?

Switch Character Without Logging Out? 110 votes