I too would like to see an answer to Post #43. If my LTS suddenly isn't a LTS anymore there should definitely be refunds.
EDIT: Oh, and if anyone knows any lawyers who are playing, now would be a good time to contact them...
I'll clarify; Nobody is saying your LTS is changing, but the PWE terms of service do give PWE the power to cancel it and delete data at their sole discretion if you are absent for 12-months or more and if they feel you have violated the terms of service agreement for any other reason.
Now Cryptic / PWE are probably rolling their eyes thinking "as if..." - but the fact is the terms of service do allow for exactly that.
I'll clarify; Nobody is saying your LTS is changing, but the PWE terms of service do give PWE the power to cancel it and delete data at their sole discretion if you are absent for 12-months or more and if they feel you have violated the terms of service agreement for any other reason.
Now Cryptic / PWE are probably rolling their eyes thinking "as if..." - but the fact is the terms of service do allow for exactly that.
I think you'll find something like that in the ToS of most other MMOs also. Dont know how often people
had feared that their Chars were aways after longer pauses .. and only the reality is normally that
the Companys normally never do that. I think SOE wiped at some points low level chars that weren't
played for long time, that were still on the starter Island and didn't had more than 10gold or whatever.
My Perfect World Char i created 4 years ago, and haven't played for over 3 years at least was still there
when i looked back. The same as all my Everquest or Age of Conan chars are still there after years.
However, i lately noticed my Lineage 2 Chars were deleted
I'll clarify; Nobody is saying your LTS is changing, but the PWE terms of service do give PWE the power to cancel it and delete data at their sole discretion if you are absent for 12-months or more and if they feel you have violated the terms of service agreement for any other reason.
Now Cryptic / PWE are probably rolling their eyes thinking "as if..." - but the fact is the terms of service do allow for exactly that.
To me, the last part even read as if they can delete my account for any reason they want without having to notify me...I'm kinda tired though, might have missed something.
Unbelievable. So they reserve the names, don't tell anyone they're reserving the names, and then encourage us to link anyway, knowing full well our names won't be available with no way to change it. Un****ingbelieveable.
Yep -- I even posted a ticket in STO (which got answered quickly, I'll add.) And they said they cannot change your display name. Horse Hockey. If I managed to get an offensive name, you can be damn sure they'd be able to change it.
They just can't be bothered.
Thank you for writing to us! Your Perfect World @handle (Display Name) will now display in the game forums, although your original Cryptic @handle will still display in game. We are unable to change your display name.
I apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may cause! We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Yep -- I even posted a ticket in STO (which got answered quickly, I'll add.) And they said they cannot change your display name. Horse Hockey. If I managed to get an offensive name, you can be damn sure they'd be able to change it.
They just can't be bothered.
I've little doubt this is the case as well. I haven't heard jack on my ticket, though, marked for CO. Guess it just shows what priority CO has with them.
This may or may not help, but try making a PW acct, with the same username as you have with Cryptic. then link them up on the launcher. Thats what I did, and haven't had any problems7.
Yep -- I even posted a ticket in STO (which got answered quickly, I'll add.) And they said they cannot change your display name. Horse Hockey. If I managed to get an offensive name, you can be damn sure they'd be able to change it.
They just can't be bothered.
Horse hockey I say!
I feel your pain. Just a little extra to take into consideration.
I've run into this on the admin side of things for vBulletin (was an admin for one of the largest custom implementations on the net in my spare time for a few years) and it's not so much as "can't be bothered" but rather a huge pain in the neck. There are a few places in the back-end database where it has to be changed and to do this for even one person takes a good amount of time running the query, etc.
We used to ONLY change one if there was a very big compelling reason, but our blanket policy was "sorry, create a new one" because of the hassle involved in trying to get everything properly related. There is also the fact that it would need to be changed in one or more user databases, an affiliate database, an account permissions membership database, and of course a payment gateway database. That was just for a web site and in this case a bunch of game systems are in the mix too.
That's just off the top of my head for that site, but as I've stated before...these sites are generally a large heterogeneous cluster of systems that making a change for one person isn't worth it and if you do then it opens the door for everyone to want a change. It can get out of control rather quickly.
I fully understand why they won't do it. It's really not an intentional slight to the users. it's not like they woke up and said "hmmm, how can we screw people over today?"
well thats some ********, they said they reserved our names but didn't bother saying how to get them?
And how could they? I have capitals and dashes, two things PW usernames can't have?
Now would be a good time to have some communication with the companies.
I'll grant you the reserve thing, but possibly the whole use of Caps, dashes, symbols, etc wouldn't mesh with the various databases. A lot of times the username is a key value field too. That can cause huge issues.
Without a doubt they communicated...you don't just plug together to disparate database systems and press go. The could have even had to write custom XML transfer schemas or APIs for different systems to "talk" properly . It's all a lot of work really and there could be hundreds of reasons on a technical level why things had to be done the way they were. As the child company I'm sure Cryptic had very little choice in the implementation.
I didn't even get into the various database types, what DBA's (database admins) like to limit (garbage data, special characters, etc), and a whole host of other stuff.
*snipped bunch of excellent points addressed by Ashen within the OP*
1) If you need to bribe paying customers to link accounts then there is probably something wrong.
2) If you need to bribe paying customers to link accounts, then perhaps having the bribe actually be relevant to the customer would be a good idea. Bonus items in STO for CO players ?
3) The link you provide for linking accounts takes me to STO. I dont play STO.
QTF,
Have nothing else to add except to point out that I agree with everything on this post (except that I do play STO on occasion)
They love word 'streamlined' in PW.
Gonna make a toon named Streamlined.
I used to like the word "Streamlined". It had a nice, smart ring to it that made it sound like you were swooshing away at sonic speeds like in a monorail, and could turn anything into a seemingly more efficient process.
But now that Cryptic World has completely wiped their butts with it, it sounds dirty to me and has turned into just another fake marketing word that's completely meaningless and its used to make it look like a company has made something better when it is in face selling you crap or trying to appease you when they're really screwing you over.
Shame on you Cryptic World for destroying the word "Streamlined" for me*
*not entirely being serious, but seriously the word is completely meaningless now if it wasn't already
PS: I still haven't had a chance to read the entire thread so I appologize if I missed any other good points being made, etc. and may bring up other stuff later
This may or may not help, but try making a PW acct, with the same username as you have with Cryptic. then link them up on the launcher. Thats what I did, and haven't had any problems7.
And that's the problem, again, different naming conventions and issues with existing names and all that.
This may or may not help, but try making a PW acct, with the same username as you have with Cryptic. then link them up on the launcher. Thats what I did, and haven't had any problems7.
Doing that is exactly what got me screwed out of my name.
Sounds like we will keep our old @name ingame...if that's the case in-game mail will probably be detached from forum PMs. Too bad, I liked that feature.
I play both STO and CO, having LTS for each (the former starting about a year prior to the latter), and this whole thing confuses me, I must say. (As clearly it does many others.) I'm posting here since I can't over in the STO forums, and even have trouble reading/navigating because it keeps wanting me to log in with a PWI account (which I don't (yet) have).
Currently, I have a User Name (that's private/not visible anywhere), for the sake of this post I'll say it's babyfishmouth. This is the word I type in when I'm logging into the forums or into the game launcher (for either STO/CO).
I have an @name (which I think is called an "Account Name"). This is displayed on all my forum posts and linked after my character name, in the games. It is PatricianVetinari.
I then have a couple dozen Character Names: Havelock Vetinari, Pym, Tu'rook, for example, over in STO. Psytro, Baron Samedi, Omegalomaniac here in CO. I figure these will stay the same.
So, what exactly is changing? My User Name, my Account Name (@name), both, neither, or some other combination?
Related: When I set up my STO account years ago, I thought I was entering my character's name when I put in PatricianVetinari. I had never intended that word/name to be linked to all my characters, and it wasn't until it was too late that I realized my first character was (effectively) redunantly named HavelockVetinari@PatricianVetinari, and all my other toons from then on (even in a different/unrelated game, namely CO) would be linked to that one character concept (@PatricianVetinari).
Can I benefit from this PWI cutover and finally get to change my Account Name (@name)?
Thanks in-advance for your answers/guidance.
06/22 Edit: I linked my Alternate (Silver) acount to see what would happen. That account's names were taken and I had to reselect a new "Account Name" and "Diplay/Forum Name". Changing these, however, did not alter my @name, only changed the word (name) that I use to log into the website/games (both STO/CO) and the word (name) that's displayed when I make a post. Again, my in-game @name for both CO/STO remained the same.
I should note that the account's "veteran" status remained. I had maintained about 60 days worth of subscription way-back-when on that account (to get a Refer-a-Friend bonus), and those days remained under the new PW account.
In effect you'll be making up a completely new account, but for PWI instead of Cryptic. That means you can start over with a new log in name instead of Babyfishmouth. And a new @name.
Once linked, you'll only see your new identity if you log on as the PWI account. You really wont need to use the cryptic log on anymore. So in your case this works to your advantage....assuming the name you want isn't taken.
That is the problem most people are having with this change. Folks who want to keep their @name are finding it often taken already in the PWI system. Forcing folks who might not want to be, to be born again...so to speak.
I've actually seen conflicting statements as to whether the in-game @name is going to change with the forum change. And I refuse to reinstall STO to find out there (it'd take forever on my current connection anyway).
When I try to setup a PWE account it says that my name is available. In addition if I go to any PWE forum except this one and search for the user "Asakara" it does not come up.
The only forum that "Asakara" exists on is here (the STO forums seemed to have deleted the name there).
After I put in all my data with PWE it then tells me "Asakara" is taken... Which I guess would be due to my name here on the Champs forums.
So do I need to wait for Champs to modify the forums without warning and delete my forum name (like STO did) before my forum name becomes available to use with PWE?
I've actually seen conflicting statements as to whether the in-game @name is going to change with the forum change. And I refuse to reinstall STO to find out there (it'd take forever on my current connection anyway).
Yea, I dont honestly know if it changes in game or not. I don't expect it would...at least currently.
I play both STO and CO, having LTS for each (the former starting about a year prior to the latter), and this whole thing confuses me, I must say. (As clearly it does many others.) I'm posting here since I can't over in the STO forums, and even have trouble reading/navigating because it keeps wanting me to log in with a PWI account (which I don't (yet) have).
Currently, I have a User Name (that's private/not visible anywhere), for the sake of this post I'll say it's babyfishmouth. This is the word I type in when I'm logging into the forums or into the game launcher (for either STO/CO).
I have an @name (which I think is called an "Account Name"). This is displayed on all my forum posts and linked after my character name, in the games. It is PatricianVetinari.
I then have a couple dozen Character Names: Havelock Vetinari, Pym, Tu'rook, for example, over in STO. Psytro, Baron Samedi, Omegalomaniac here in CO. I figure these will stay the same.
So, what exactly is changing? My User Name, my Account Name (@name), both, neither, or some other combination?
Related: When I set up my STO account years ago, I thought I was entering my character's name when I put in PatricianVetinari. I had never intended that word/name to be linked to all my characters, and it wasn't until it was too late that I realized my first character was (effectively) redunantly named HavelockVetinari@PatricianVetinari, and all my other toons from then on (even in a different/unrelated game, namely CO) would be linked to that one character concept (@PatricianVetinari).
Can I benefit from this PWI cutover and finally get to change my Account Name (@name)?
Thanks in-advance for your answers/guidance.
Q: What about my @handle? Is it gone?
Nope. Your @handle will always be what you use in Cryptic games. Think of it this way: instead of two names, now you have three: account name, @handle, and forum name. Your @handle and forum name CAN be the same, but will not be automatically. If you select a different "nickname" at PWE Account Creation, it will NOT change your @handle. Likewise, if we change your @handle, your forum name stays the same - at this time, there is no way to change your forum name.
So there's just a new login layer hooked into the system, which makes sense because database merging is rarely easy (unless the two databases' structures are identical) - even moreso in this case because PWE's username and password rules are more restrictive than Cryptic's.
When I try to setup a PWE account it says that my name is available. In addition if I go to any PWE forum except this one and search for the user "Asakara" it does not come up.
The only forum that "Asakara" exists on is here (the STO forums seemed to have deleted the name there).
After I put in all my data with PWE it then tells me "Asakara" is taken... Which I guess would be due to my name here on the Champs forums.
So do I need to wait for Champs to modify the forums without warning and delete my forum name (like STO did) before my forum name becomes available to use with PWE?
Do not create a new PWE account, here's why, OP has already provided the linking flow:
Navigate to https://my.perfectworld.com/sto, and login. This will take you through the linking flow. Be sure to select the correct radio button for your account type.
Do not create a new PWE account, here's why, OP has already provided the linking flow:
Thank you for the reply. My issue happens when I try to make a new PWE account and also when I use the link to merge my existing account (the link in OP). In all cases it tells me my name is already taken, yet the only place it exists (now) is the Champs forums.
Thank you for the reply. My issue happens when I try to make a new PWE account and also when I use the link to merge my existing account (the link in OP). In all cases it tells me my name is already taken, yet the only place it exists (now) is the Champs forums.
Ah, yes, I just saw in another thread that this was the same problem Lohr experienced. So the proper way of linking a PWE account to the Cryptic account is borked too, it seems. Not very reassuring.
I am not going to link my account to PWI. I never intended to. So I will not be on the forums when this blows over.
From a design point of view, It is never a good idea to forcibly change the brand identity of a product mid stream. Devs you are gonna get a nice rude awakening when you have to manage the new fourms.
I am not going to link my account to PWI. I never intended to. So I will not be on the forums when this blows over.
From a design point of view, It is never a good idea to forcibly change the brand identity of a product mid stream. Devs you are gonna get a nice rude awakening when you have to manage the new fourms.
Unfortunately it's looking like at some point you won't have a choice. Right now it's the forums and website. Next stop the game itself when they remove the option to log in using Cryptic credentials.
It probably is more streamlined on their end, even if the advantages aren't visible to us. One login code base to maintain, rather than two (or fourteen) means fewer things that can go wrong.
And things that go more wildly wrong when they do go wrong. One password database for hackers to steal...
My apologies. I was referring to the, "easier to find our friends in other titles," point.
I am positive that this merger will not help me link up with friends in the other games I play.
Please read and reply to these specific enquiries which I must insist are answered before I accept said PWE account agreement pertaining to Cryptic-Studio's online game 'Champions-Online' and it's official forums.
I would appreciate it if you would reply to them on this thread and not to either my forum / in-game mail or my registered email address which on disclosure of answers would have me technically violating;
I am requesting this because I believe others would also like clarification. I am also not interested in any potential " oh, but the rule's haven't changed" explanation. If I hadn't flagged this up for clarification by now I should have, irrespective of how long they have been in operation. Thankyou.
If you amend the terms, rules of conduct and/or EULA - I'm pretty sure you are legally bound to give us an opportunity before the amendment's enforcement to either accept or refuse the new terms.
Sneaking in such a universal waiver into the smallprint?... unacceptable!.
Please clarify.
And thats Illegal right there. I have paid for a lifetime account. You WILL be keeping my account open and available at all times and are in no way authorised to delete any of my data.
Please explain.
So essentially thats carte blanche to rifle through our personal email without consent. Nice! (but not entirely surprising).
You are not authorised to amend, alter, delete or in any way modify my lifetime-subscription account and my access to the online game or official forums without prior communication, explanation and without providing evidence of personal wrong-doing by my person.
I paid $199.99 USD for a lifetime subscription to this game. I must insist you kindly explain this smallprint especially with regard to the bolded-text and please clarify whether or not you are going to offer lifetime subscribers their money back if we refuse these PWE terms.
Thankyou for reading and I look forward to hearing from you.
Also, I also want some clarification on the above as well.
I'll clarify; Nobody is saying your LTS is changing, but the PWE terms of service do give PWE the power to cancel it and delete data at their sole discretion if you are absent for 12-months or more and if they feel you have violated the terms of service agreement for any other reason.
Now Cryptic / PWE are probably rolling their eyes thinking "as if..." - but the fact is the terms of service do allow for exactly that.
Technically as soon as the company declares that the LTS is no longer guaranteed access for the lifetime of the game, the LTS has changed.
I think people are overreacting to some of this TOS stuff. It's highly likely that an LTS is never considered inactive as it recycles every month, so there is always activity even if you don't log on. My guess is they're talking about silver accounts that go untouched for a year or more, not gold accounts (LTSs are, after all, perpetually-recycling gold accounts).
The rest of it is pretty standard stuff. All game TOSs stipulate they have the right to cancel/ban/block your account at any time for any reason, and that if such were to occur you aren't entitled to any refunds for unused time.
Now if PWE were to show a pattern of unfairly terminating peoples' LTSs in an effort to be rid of them (which despite all the ******** we've seen from them so far I think is really, really unlikely as there is very little to gain by doing so), well then that's a different story. But let's cross that bridge if and when we get there. PWE is currently blowing off the mountain tops, let's not worry about the bridges just yet.
Navigate to https://my.perfectworld.com/sto, and login. This will take you through the linking flow. Be sure to select the correct radio button for your account type.
Thank you for the reply. My issue happens when I try to make a new PWE account and also when I use the link to merge my existing account (the link in OP). In all cases it tells me my name is already taken, yet the only place it exists (now) is the Champs forums.
Yeah, it keeps doing the same to mine over and over and over again. This company is so far quite unimpressive with regards to dealing with its customers, and I'm reeeeeally going out of my way to be nice here by describing them in this manner.
A little update for those of us who locked ourselves out of our Cryptic username by working from PWE's site directly.
Assuming you don't have anything on your PWE account that you actually care to keep bothering with, try asking diplomatically to have your account unlinked in light of this new information. It actually worked for me. You'll need another email address, but it's easy to alias multiple gmail accounts together and I assume other services at least make it vaguely possible. Or not. I like gmail.
Of course, then it errored out in actually making and linking the account through STO, but I can log into CO properly with the new PWE account anyway now. Which is weird, but I'll take it.
Edit: Account seems to now be highly bugged. Some characters fail to get in the game, some characters the interface doesn't work. Hopefully that can be fixed.
Edit of edit: Ok, it might be that the connection I'm on has gone wonky.
I think people are overreacting to some of this TOS stuff. It's highly likely that an LTS is never considered inactive as it recycles every month, so there is always activity even if you don't log on. My guess is they're talking about silver accounts that go untouched for a year or more, not gold accounts (LTSs are, after all, perpetually-recycling gold accounts).
The rest of it is pretty standard stuff. All game TOSs stipulate they have the right to cancel/ban/block your account at any time for any reason, and that if such were to occur you aren't entitled to any refunds for unused time.
Now if PWE were to show a pattern of unfairly terminating peoples' LTSs in an effort to be rid of them (which despite all the ******** we've seen from them so far I think is really, really unlikely as there is very little to gain by doing so), well then that's a different story. But let's cross that bridge if and when we get there. PWE is currently blowing off the mountain tops, let's not worry about the bridges just yet.
You're probably right, but the TOS should be specific about differentiating between paid or per-paid subs and free accounts. As it's currently written, PWE has granted themselves carte blanche to do what they like to whom they like for no reason at all. As a paying customer, that doesn't sit well with me.
You're probably right, but the TOS should be specific about differentiating between paid or per-paid subs and free accounts. As it's currently written, PWE has granted themselves carte blanche to do what they like to whom they like for no reason at all. As a paying customer, that doesn't sit well with me.
Same here. I also seem to remember (but since this was a long time ago I'm not certain) reading that unless you did something you shouldn't your LTS was for the life of the game. Deleting my characters after 12 months inactivity is a rather drastic change to that (assuming the game survives this merge ^^). Granting themselves the power to cancel my LTS at any time without notice and without having a reason is even more drastic. If I were conspiratorial I'd say this is a plot to get rid of LTS subscriptions or something like that...I'll reserve judgement on that though.
Do not create a new PWE account, here's why, OP has already provided the linking flow:
If I go through that and tell it I don't already have a PWE account -- which as far as I know, I don't -- it tells me someone has already taken my account name.
If I tell it I do already have a PWE account and try to give it the only account name and password I have ever logged in to Cryptic with, it tells me it's invalid.
If I go through that and tell it I don't already have a PWE account -- which as far as I know, I don't -- it tells me someone has already taken my account name.
If I tell it I do already have a PWE account and try to give it the only account name and password I have ever logged in to Cryptic with, it tells me it's invalid.
According to this, no foosnark exists as a PWE account right now.
The display name is the name that counts (seeing as it's the public-facing one), and it can't be the same as the account name. If you're trying to make your account name the same as your current @foosnark handle, it might be giving you the 'taken' error because there's a reserved foosnark display name.
If the STO linkflow is telling you foosnark as a display name is already taken... well someone just plain ****ed it up. Try bugging CS, I'm sure they're all real familiar with this by now.
According to this, no foosnark exists as a PWE account right now.
The display name is the name that counts (seeing as it's the public-facing one), and it can't be the same as the account name. If you're trying to make your account name the same as your current @foosnark handle, it might be giving you the 'taken' error because there's a reserved foosnark display name.
If the STO linkflow is telling you foosnark as a display name is already taken... well someone just plain ****ed it up. Try bugging CS, I'm sure they're all real familiar with this by now.
Great mine is taken >_>......i'd unfriend you Cryptic if I could :rolleyes:
I am sorry if this has been asked before, but since there was a reward for linking accounts in STO, will there be a reward for linking accounts in this game as well?
Yeah, so, I love Champs, and was really excited about NW, and I still love the Devs here and all but here's the thing.
If my Global name gets changed - @Pion in game - me and my multiple hundreds of dollars annually are leaving.
I'm already upset about losing my form display name. If I lose my global it's over. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
My excitement for NW was always marginal to begin with (it was going to be very limited compared to NWN1 to begin with and the Foundry is NOT the Aurora Toolset) and it has only sunk deeper and deeper down as time goes by. I have little to no intention of even trying it at this point except for the fact that its apparently going to be F2P right off the bat so it will cost me nothing to try it out.
And I agree about the global @handle thing, and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised of loosing it at this point, and in fact I'm expecting it and completely and preemptively bummed about it already.
I am sorry if this has been asked before, but since there was a reward for linking accounts in STO, will there be a reward for linking accounts in this game as well?
The forums are ablaze with QQ threads about how the new forum is ugly and has a lack of signatures, avatars, how people don't want to link their cryptic and PWE accounts and how they dont' want to buy zen, and how linking their accounts have in some cases caused bugs that includes but is not limited to missing characters and an inability to buy zen or use the cash shop.
The forums are ablaze with QQ threads about how the new forum is ugly and has a lack of signatures, avatars, how people don't want to link their cryptic and PWE accounts and how they dont' want to buy zen, and how linking their accounts have in some cases caused bugs that includes but is not limited to missing characters and an inability to buy zen or use the cash shop.
No, I meant, what's the 'special' benefit they get out of linking? I know the new forums are awful.
Yeah, so, I love Champs, and was really excited about NW, and I still love the Devs here and all but here's the thing.
If my Global name gets changed - @Pion in game - me and my multiple hundreds of dollars annually are leaving.
I'm already upset about losing my form display name. If I lose my global it's over. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
Well in my case at least my in game @tag has not changed. My forum name did though on the PWE boards (it's now sparhawk from an PWE account I had from a while ago I linked to). As you can see the CO forums here still display my in game @tag.
Comments
EDIT: Oh, and if anyone knows any lawyers who are playing, now would be a good time to contact them...
I'll clarify; Nobody is saying your LTS is changing, but the PWE terms of service do give PWE the power to cancel it and delete data at their sole discretion if you are absent for 12-months or more and if they feel you have violated the terms of service agreement for any other reason.
Now Cryptic / PWE are probably rolling their eyes thinking "as if..." - but the fact is the terms of service do allow for exactly that.
I think you'll find something like that in the ToS of most other MMOs also. Dont know how often people
had feared that their Chars were aways after longer pauses .. and only the reality is normally that
the Companys normally never do that. I think SOE wiped at some points low level chars that weren't
played for long time, that were still on the starter Island and didn't had more than 10gold or whatever.
My Perfect World Char i created 4 years ago, and haven't played for over 3 years at least was still there
when i looked back. The same as all my Everquest or Age of Conan chars are still there after years.
However, i lately noticed my Lineage 2 Chars were deleted
To me, the last part even read as if they can delete my account for any reason they want without having to notify me...I'm kinda tired though, might have missed something.
Yep -- I even posted a ticket in STO (which got answered quickly, I'll add.) And they said they cannot change your display name. Horse Hockey. If I managed to get an offensive name, you can be damn sure they'd be able to change it.
They just can't be bothered.
Horse hockey I say!
I've little doubt this is the case as well. I haven't heard jack on my ticket, though, marked for CO. Guess it just shows what priority CO has with them.
Once you link, you can only log in via the PWE account name.
And how could they? I have capitals and dashes, two things PW usernames can't have?
Now would be a good time to have some communication with the companies.
I feel your pain. Just a little extra to take into consideration.
I've run into this on the admin side of things for vBulletin (was an admin for one of the largest custom implementations on the net in my spare time for a few years) and it's not so much as "can't be bothered" but rather a huge pain in the neck. There are a few places in the back-end database where it has to be changed and to do this for even one person takes a good amount of time running the query, etc.
We used to ONLY change one if there was a very big compelling reason, but our blanket policy was "sorry, create a new one" because of the hassle involved in trying to get everything properly related. There is also the fact that it would need to be changed in one or more user databases, an affiliate database, an account permissions membership database, and of course a payment gateway database. That was just for a web site and in this case a bunch of game systems are in the mix too.
That's just off the top of my head for that site, but as I've stated before...these sites are generally a large heterogeneous cluster of systems that making a change for one person isn't worth it and if you do then it opens the door for everyone to want a change. It can get out of control rather quickly.
I fully understand why they won't do it. It's really not an intentional slight to the users. it's not like they woke up and said "hmmm, how can we screw people over today?"
I'll grant you the reserve thing, but possibly the whole use of Caps, dashes, symbols, etc wouldn't mesh with the various databases. A lot of times the username is a key value field too. That can cause huge issues.
Without a doubt they communicated...you don't just plug together to disparate database systems and press go. The could have even had to write custom XML transfer schemas or APIs for different systems to "talk" properly . It's all a lot of work really and there could be hundreds of reasons on a technical level why things had to be done the way they were. As the child company I'm sure Cryptic had very little choice in the implementation.
I didn't even get into the various database types, what DBA's (database admins) like to limit (garbage data, special characters, etc), and a whole host of other stuff.
QTF,
Have nothing else to add except to point out that I agree with everything on this post (except that I do play STO on occasion)
I used to like the word "Streamlined". It had a nice, smart ring to it that made it sound like you were swooshing away at sonic speeds like in a monorail, and could turn anything into a seemingly more efficient process.
But now that Cryptic World has completely wiped their butts with it, it sounds dirty to me and has turned into just another fake marketing word that's completely meaningless and its used to make it look like a company has made something better when it is in face selling you crap or trying to appease you when they're really screwing you over.
Shame on you Cryptic World for destroying the word "Streamlined" for me*
*not entirely being serious, but seriously the word is completely meaningless now if it wasn't already
PS: I still haven't had a chance to read the entire thread so I appologize if I missed any other good points being made, etc. and may bring up other stuff later
And that's the problem, again, different naming conventions and issues with existing names and all that.
Doing that is exactly what got me screwed out of my name.
Currently, I have a User Name (that's private/not visible anywhere), for the sake of this post I'll say it's babyfishmouth. This is the word I type in when I'm logging into the forums or into the game launcher (for either STO/CO).
I have an @name (which I think is called an "Account Name"). This is displayed on all my forum posts and linked after my character name, in the games. It is PatricianVetinari.
I then have a couple dozen Character Names: Havelock Vetinari, Pym, Tu'rook, for example, over in STO. Psytro, Baron Samedi, Omegalomaniac here in CO. I figure these will stay the same.
Related: When I set up my STO account years ago, I thought I was entering my character's name when I put in PatricianVetinari. I had never intended that word/name to be linked to all my characters, and it wasn't until it was too late that I realized my first character was (effectively) redunantly named HavelockVetinari@PatricianVetinari, and all my other toons from then on (even in a different/unrelated game, namely CO) would be linked to that one character concept (@PatricianVetinari).
Thanks in-advance for your answers/guidance.
06/22 Edit: I linked my Alternate (Silver) acount to see what would happen. That account's names were taken and I had to reselect a new "Account Name" and "Diplay/Forum Name". Changing these, however, did not alter my @name, only changed the word (name) that I use to log into the website/games (both STO/CO) and the word (name) that's displayed when I make a post. Again, my in-game @name for both CO/STO remained the same.
I should note that the account's "veteran" status remained. I had maintained about 60 days worth of subscription way-back-when on that account (to get a Refer-a-Friend bonus), and those days remained under the new PW account.
In effect you'll be making up a completely new account, but for PWI instead of Cryptic. That means you can start over with a new log in name instead of Babyfishmouth. And a new @name.
Once linked, you'll only see your new identity if you log on as the PWI account. You really wont need to use the cryptic log on anymore. So in your case this works to your advantage....assuming the name you want isn't taken.
That is the problem most people are having with this change. Folks who want to keep their @name are finding it often taken already in the PWI system. Forcing folks who might not want to be, to be born again...so to speak.
I want to keep using my forum name: Asakara
When I try to setup a PWE account it says that my name is available. In addition if I go to any PWE forum except this one and search for the user "Asakara" it does not come up.
The only forum that "Asakara" exists on is here (the STO forums seemed to have deleted the name there).
After I put in all my data with PWE it then tells me "Asakara" is taken... Which I guess would be due to my name here on the Champs forums.
So do I need to wait for Champs to modify the forums without warning and delete my forum name (like STO did) before my forum name becomes available to use with PWE?
Yea, I dont honestly know if it changes in game or not. I don't expect it would...at least currently.
Do not create a new PWE account, here's why, OP has already provided the linking flow:
Thank you for the reply. My issue happens when I try to make a new PWE account and also when I use the link to merge my existing account (the link in OP). In all cases it tells me my name is already taken, yet the only place it exists (now) is the Champs forums.
From a design point of view, It is never a good idea to forcibly change the brand identity of a product mid stream. Devs you are gonna get a nice rude awakening when you have to manage the new fourms.
Unfortunately it's looking like at some point you won't have a choice. Right now it's the forums and website. Next stop the game itself when they remove the option to log in using Cryptic credentials.
My apologies. I was referring to the, "easier to find our friends in other titles," point.
I am positive that this merger will not help me link up with friends in the other games I play.
Also, I also want some clarification on the above as well.
Technically as soon as the company declares that the LTS is no longer guaranteed access for the lifetime of the game, the LTS has changed.
The rest of it is pretty standard stuff. All game TOSs stipulate they have the right to cancel/ban/block your account at any time for any reason, and that if such were to occur you aren't entitled to any refunds for unused time.
Now if PWE were to show a pattern of unfairly terminating peoples' LTSs in an effort to be rid of them (which despite all the ******** we've seen from them so far I think is really, really unlikely as there is very little to gain by doing so), well then that's a different story. But let's cross that bridge if and when we get there. PWE is currently blowing off the mountain tops, let's not worry about the bridges just yet.
Yeah, it keeps doing the same to mine over and over and over again. This company is so far quite unimpressive with regards to dealing with its customers, and I'm reeeeeally going out of my way to be nice here by describing them in this manner.
Now lemme tell you how I really feel...
:mad:
Assuming you don't have anything on your PWE account that you actually care to keep bothering with, try asking diplomatically to have your account unlinked in light of this new information. It actually worked for me. You'll need another email address, but it's easy to alias multiple gmail accounts together and I assume other services at least make it vaguely possible. Or not. I like gmail.
Of course, then it errored out in actually making and linking the account through STO, but I can log into CO properly with the new PWE account anyway now. Which is weird, but I'll take it.
Edit: Account seems to now be highly bugged. Some characters fail to get in the game, some characters the interface doesn't work. Hopefully that can be fixed.
Edit of edit: Ok, it might be that the connection I'm on has gone wonky.
You're probably right, but the TOS should be specific about differentiating between paid or per-paid subs and free accounts. As it's currently written, PWE has granted themselves carte blanche to do what they like to whom they like for no reason at all. As a paying customer, that doesn't sit well with me.
Same here. I also seem to remember (but since this was a long time ago I'm not certain) reading that unless you did something you shouldn't your LTS was for the life of the game. Deleting my characters after 12 months inactivity is a rather drastic change to that (assuming the game survives this merge ^^). Granting themselves the power to cancel my LTS at any time without notice and without having a reason is even more drastic. If I were conspiratorial I'd say this is a plot to get rid of LTS subscriptions or something like that...I'll reserve judgement on that though.
If I go through that and tell it I don't already have a PWE account -- which as far as I know, I don't -- it tells me someone has already taken my account name.
If I tell it I do already have a PWE account and try to give it the only account name and password I have ever logged in to Cryptic with, it tells me it's invalid.
According to this, no foosnark exists as a PWE account right now.
The display name is the name that counts (seeing as it's the public-facing one), and it can't be the same as the account name. If you're trying to make your account name the same as your current @foosnark handle, it might be giving you the 'taken' error because there's a reserved foosnark display name.
If the STO linkflow is telling you foosnark as a display name is already taken... well someone just plain ****ed it up. Try bugging CS, I'm sure they're all real familiar with this by now.
Great mine is taken >_>......i'd unfriend you Cryptic if I could :rolleyes:
Heh, you have no friends.
Why would they start now?
*******
********
*********
Yeah, so, I love Champs, and was really excited about NW, and I still love the Devs here and all but here's the thing.
If my Global name gets changed - @Pion in game - me and my multiple hundreds of dollars annually are leaving.
I'm already upset about losing my form display name. If I lose my global it's over. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
My excitement for NW was always marginal to begin with (it was going to be very limited compared to NWN1 to begin with and the Foundry is NOT the Aurora Toolset) and it has only sunk deeper and deeper down as time goes by. I have little to no intention of even trying it at this point except for the fact that its apparently going to be F2P right off the bat so it will cost me nothing to try it out.
And I agree about the global @handle thing, and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised of loosing it at this point, and in fact I'm expecting it and completely and preemptively bummed about it already.
<---
Of course not. That would take effort.
...what happens over in STO, anyway?
The forums are ablaze with QQ threads about how the new forum is ugly and has a lack of signatures, avatars, how people don't want to link their cryptic and PWE accounts and how they dont' want to buy zen, and how linking their accounts have in some cases caused bugs that includes but is not limited to missing characters and an inability to buy zen or use the cash shop.
No, I meant, what's the 'special' benefit they get out of linking? I know the new forums are awful.
On one character only (it's not even an account level reward):
5,000 Unrefined Dilithium Ore
A consumable item that grants 2,500 EXP (or Bridge Officer skill points if your character is at max level)
A random Rare or Very Rare weapon, scaled to your level (space or ground)
A pack of random Self Dual Consumables
A pack of random Team Dual Consumables)
The reward is basically worthless.
....hahahahahahaha.
Eh. Still probly more than we'll get.
Well in my case at least my in game @tag has not changed. My forum name did though on the PWE boards (it's now sparhawk from an PWE account I had from a while ago I linked to). As you can see the CO forums here still display my in game @tag.