Character Wipe on PTS? Is that normal?

thegreatme · May 2020

I'm still somewhat new to the PTS (meaning this is the only one I've participated in) and haven't been able to find another thread answering this question.

When I started on the PTS all my usual characters and the like from Live were transferred from PC-NA to the PTS server. They were there for the first two weeks or so. Now if I try to go in, it tries to make me create a new character entirely as if I have no characters at all. Is this generally normal behavior?

Obviously my toons on Live are still there and safe so I'm not worried about that, I really just don't want to have to restart my entire progress on the PTS because the character I did them on was wiped, and all of my quest stuff reset, though I may have to.

feyii · May 2020

This is normal. Characters on PTS are alternated between NA copies and EU copies every few weeks. The patch notes usually say when a new character copy is made and which one it is.

thegreatme · May 2020

feyii wrote: »

This is normal. Characters on PTS are alternated between NA copies and EU copies every few weeks. The patch notes usually say when a new character copy is made and which one it is.

Hm, well that's frustrating. I would have done more earlier if I knew I'd get a wipe midway through. Can't be helped though.

SpiderKnight · May 2020

This is pretty dumb. Just found this out as well, seems like a huge waste of time. I made 2 in the first week, skipped a week, maybe two and came back today to find they were wiped. Not worth the effort to test anyway since they don't fix *** on release.

eso_lags · May 2020

feyii wrote: »

This is normal. Characters on PTS are alternated between NA copies and EU copies every few weeks. The patch notes usually say when a new character copy is made and which one it is.

Dont you normally have your live characters to work with on the PTS as well? Because today im only seeing the option to create a new char, not use my current ones. And my any race any alliance is gone. Hmmm

VaranisArano · May 2020

SpiderKnight wrote: »

This is pretty dumb. Just found this out as well, seems like a huge waste of time. I made 2 in the first week, skipped a week, maybe two and came back today to find they were wiped. Not worth the effort to test anyway since they don't fix *** on release.

Its a good way to make sure that the PTS is actually used for testing, as opposed to players deciding to just do content with template characters and their gear or do housing with unlimited crowns.

Its good for testing character or cosmetic concepts, not a substitute for the Live servers.

LarsS · May 2020

The 2 mega servers can’t be mixed, so as said they are changing between them. Normally na the first two weeks and then eu.

Taleof2Cities · May 2020

SpiderKnight wrote: »

This is pretty dumb. Just found this out as well, seems like a huge waste of time. I made 2 in the first week, skipped a week, maybe two and came back today to find they were wiped. Not worth the effort to test anyway since they don't fix *** on release.

It's been this way for years, @SpiderKnight ... character copies/templates are wiped about every two weeks during the active PTS cycle.

I made another character template after the EU character copy ... which maybe took 30 minutes excluding applying outfits.

SpiderKnight · May 2020

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

SpiderKnight wrote: »

This is pretty dumb. Just found this out as well, seems like a huge waste of time. I made 2 in the first week, skipped a week, maybe two and came back today to find they were wiped. Not worth the effort to test anyway since they don't fix *** on release.

It's been this way for years, @SpiderKnight ... character copies/templates are wiped about every two weeks during the active PTS cycle.

I made another character template after the EU character copy ... which maybe took 30 minutes excluding applying outfits.

This is my first pts. I haven't been on PC since I started ESO in April '15, moved to ps4 at console launch, just recently came back. It took me a long time to figure things out on pts, it led me to buying ESO+ on this side

. But I guess I agree with what's said up there, limit non-testing playtime of pts.

heaven13 · May 2020

It's also fair for those that play on the opposite server. Since they can't have both EU and NA combined, it would suck to not get a chance to test with your own characters every once in awhile. NA already (usually) gets more time as is.

SaintAemilian · September 2021

VaranisArano wrote: »

SpiderKnight wrote: »

This is pretty dumb. Just found this out as well, seems like a huge waste of time. I made 2 in the first week, skipped a week, maybe two and came back today to find they were wiped. Not worth the effort to test anyway since they don't fix *** on release.

Its a good way to make sure that the PTS is actually used for testing, as opposed to players deciding to just do content with template characters and their gear or do housing with unlimited crowns.

Its good for testing character or cosmetic concepts, not a substitute for the Live servers.

What the ***?
[snip]

Edit for Discussing Disciplinary Action.]

SaintAemilian · September 2021

Also, I hope that some players with too much time on their hands decide to spend a week playing the entire game on the server, and taking advantage of every exploit they can.

#JustSayin'

ZOS_GregoryV · September 2021

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