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Do NOT link your Steam and Arc accounts

ilithynilithyn Member Posts: 903 Arc User
So the game is now going to force a link of Steam and Arc. Do NOT go through with this. Find another way to play or don't play at all, because it's woefully broken.

1) It'll force you to do a complete patch of the whole game, no matter if you usually play through Steam or not. That takes a good long while, but isn't the worst part.
2) It'll wipe you account of all your toons. Simple as that, everything is now just gone on my account. No toons, no nothing. I only have this one account, I've been playing via Steam for months, and now everything has been wiped after the link. I even logged out and then in again, hoping (vainly as it were) that it was just that this link for some god forsaken reason created a new account for me and made sure to log in with my usual account. Nothing. Everything gone.

No idea what they screwed up, but they TRIBBLE this up royally. So do not go through with this.
Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end of it.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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Comments

  • soldieralpha99soldieralpha99 Member Posts: 18 Arc User
    Found this comment in the thread discussing the account linking, maybe it can help you:

    'So I have this problem!!!!! I linked my account! great! The game proceeds to the character screen, and I find I have none and the game is prompting me to start a brand new character! :/:/:/:/ But then i found that if I go back out, to where it asks me for my login details again. Then the game loads with all my characters! Its a bit of unnecessary way to login and play.'
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    I think you can get your stuff back..

    My guess is that it's a problem with the link so it's not logging you into your actual account.

    Go into the folder where Star Trek Online is installed. I can't remember the steam path right now (I am at work) but I am sure you can find it.

    Run the Star Trek Online.exe right out of that folder. Make sure Steam is not running.. this will launch the game 'stand alone.'

    Put in your user name and password and login. If I'm right (and I hope I am) you should see all your characters.
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  • evilmark444evilmark444 Member Posts: 6,950 Arc User
    I've never used Steam for STO, but someone in the other account linking thread had a similar experience but found a workaround:
    virainix wrote: »
    So I have this problem!!!!! I linked my account! great! The game proceeds to the character screen, and I find I have none and the game is prompting me to start a brand new character! :/:/:/:/But then i found that if I go back out, to where it asks me for my login details again. Then the game loads with all my characters! Its a bit of unnecessary way to login and play.

    I know you said you logged out and back in already but did you completely exit the program when you did that? Because it sounds like @virainix clicked the button to back out of the character select screen and then logged back in on the in-game login screen.

    Whatever the case, I sincerely hope they get this fixed for you.
    Lifetime Subscriber since Beta
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  • darkbladejkdarkbladejk Member Posts: 3,698 Community Moderator
    @ilithyn If it's done a complete wipe of your account, put in a ticket to CS, then PM me the ticket number along with your @handle in game. I'm going to forward this up the chain yesterday as that's a serious break.

    When you folks link your accounts, what exactly does it do? Does it take you back to Arc, or what does it say/want you to do? I've not actually done it so asking for myself and also to know what you guys are seeing. I'm alerting folks that there are potentially some major issues going down.
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  • ilithynilithyn Member Posts: 903 Arc User
    @soldieralpha99 @seaofsorrows @evilmark444
    As I said in my OP I logged out of the character selection screen, then back in with the same damn credentials (name and password) which I've used since I started using forever and I've been logging in with manually also since forever since too.

    @darkbladejk
    I'll give you a rundown later today or tomorrow (and make a CS ticket) when I have the time. I just wanted to do the event daily before work and now this :/
    Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end of it.
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    So running the game stand alone without Steam running still didn't fix it? :disappointed:

    Dang.. I was really hoping that would do it and that your stuff was actually still there.

    I hope you get this resolved soon.. keep us posted.
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  • darkbladejkdarkbladejk Member Posts: 3,698 Community Moderator
    edited February 2020
    It'll get fixed, that I can assure you of. I will nag the living daylights out of them if I have to.

    Also that goes for anyone else who may have experienced ilithyn's issue that might see this. Get me a ticket number you've put in to CS, as well as your @handle and I will forward it on.
    "Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again." - Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek Generations

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  • snowwolf#0563 snowwolf Member Posts: 1,018 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    ilithyn wrote: »
    Quote to send notification.

    Do not make any new characters!!! Support is able to restore lost and deleted accounts, they've restored characters for me in the past when I accidently deleted them. Just contact support asap, might take a while since this is a bug with something new they have made though.

    Your character might not even be deleted, but the new ways accounts work with steam it might be that the server is looking your information up wrong.. And that your original character is with your original account, and not your steam linked one.
  • aspartan1aspartan1 Member Posts: 1,054 Arc User
    That is brutal... If I lost my toons after a decade.... Damn.... Brah..
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  • warmaker001bwarmaker001b Member Posts: 9,205 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    Is there an installer with only STO and not ARC or Steam?

    I don't want to lose everything, but I don't want ARC, either.
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  • captainbrian11captainbrian11 Member Posts: 733 Arc User
    makes me glad I've been avoiding linking my accounts
  • crypticarmsmancrypticarmsman Member Posts: 4,101 Arc User
    Is there an installer with only STO and not ARC or Steam?

    I don't want to lose everything, but I don't want ARC, either.

    If you make a direct shortcut to it - you can use the Cryptic Launcher directly (No Steam or Arc required). Been playing (and still playing) since Closed Beta, and that's still the way I do it. The launcher for STO is in the main Cryptic install directory and the filename is: "Star Trek Online.exe" - don't link to "Game Client.exe"
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  • evilmark444evilmark444 Member Posts: 6,950 Arc User
    that's still the way I do it.

    Same, I've only ever used Arc to get the Khan outfit.
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  • ambassadorkael#6946 ambassadorkael Member, Administrator Posts: 2,674 Community Manager
    Hey folks - we're looking into this and I've sent OP a message to get some more details. If you're also having this issue, please contact me.
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,165 Arc User
    For the record, I dont play on Steam so I'm NOT having this problem.

    That said, most working/family folks don't have a lot of free time to just do whatever they want to do. So when they do actually have that time, it shouldn't have to be spent wasting time dealing with CS to fix something that shouldn't be broken in the first place. Beyond simply fixing their issue, these folks deserve an apology for having to even deal with this.

    The-Grand-Nagus
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  • trennantrennan Member Posts: 2,839 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    Had't planned on it. I mean why would anyone bother using Arc since they removed Arc quests?

    Just use the stand alone, or Steam. I use the latter because all my other games on there. I play nothing else from Preferred Wallet Entertainment.

    The only time I use Arc is when I have a code to enter. Then it's log in, enter code, and exit.
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  • rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 57,973 Community Moderator
    Uh... I think I'm gonna wait until this isn't an issue...

    Just to be safe. Don't want to risk losing everything.
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  • evilmark444evilmark444 Member Posts: 6,950 Arc User
    trennan wrote: »
    I mean why would anyone bother using Arc since they removed Arc quests?

    Well there is the Khan outfit that I mentioned above, but that only requires one login I believe (can't remember for sure if it's account unlocked or per character, for some reason I'm thinking per character but I haven't tried using that outfit since shortly after it was released so I could simply be remembering wrong).

    https://sto.gamepedia.com/Uniform/Khan's_Outfit
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  • slaughterbird#1235 slaughterbird Member Posts: 14 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    How can we tell if steam and arc are linked? is it the fact that we no longer need login details when starting the launcher on steam? is there somewhere on my arc profile i can look to see that it says this account is linked to "this steam account"? everything seems fine since the 18th but after seeing this issue it does put a little worry into me,
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  • naharikajalnaharikajal Member Posts: 232 Arc User
    For the record, I dont play on Steam so I'm NOT having this problem.

    That said, most working/family folks don't have a lot of free time to just do whatever they want to do. So when they do actually have that time, it shouldn't have to be spent wasting time dealing with CS to fix something that shouldn't be broken in the first place. Beyond simply fixing their issue, these folks deserve an apology for having to even deal with this.

    Very well said!
  • jsabsdjsabsd Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    Happened to me. I think the issue is providing the account credentials AND the CrypticID, which creates a new account instead. Instructions aren't exactly clear and we should be walked through "create new account" instead of being all on one form.
  • p331p331 Member Posts: 161 Arc User
    I am also having this problem. I hopefully sent ambassadorkael a message with details. Not sure if it went through or not.
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,165 Arc User
    Curious: has anyone with this problem tried launching with the "Star Trek Online.exe" in the game directory and not using Steam at all? If so are your characters and stuff still there as they should be or not?

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  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,501 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    trennan wrote: »
    I mean why would anyone bother using Arc since they removed Arc quests?

    Well there is the Khan outfit that I mentioned above, but that only requires one login I believe (can't remember for sure if it's account unlocked or per character, for some reason I'm thinking per character but I haven't tried using that outfit since shortly after it was released so I could simply be remembering wrong).

    https://sto.gamepedia.com/Uniform/Khan's_Outfit

    I think it's per character because when I switched to Arc earlier this year to try to fix a game client crash issue I got a separate email from Arc in-game for each character after I logged that character in. That is, every character gets it, if you log that character in at least once using Arc.

    If you switch directly to using the Arc launcher (or nothing at all?) instead of using Steam and linking it to Arc then you should be safe. Then hide the game in your Steam library so you don't use Steam to launch it out of habit.

  • echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,913 Arc User
    trennan wrote: »
    I mean why would anyone bother using Arc since they removed Arc quests?

    Well there is the Khan outfit that I mentioned above, but that only requires one login I believe (can't remember for sure if it's account unlocked or per character, for some reason I'm thinking per character but I haven't tried using that outfit since shortly after it was released so I could simply be remembering wrong).

    https://sto.gamepedia.com/Uniform/Khan's_Outfit

    Khan outfit is acct-unlocked.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
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  • z0h4n373z0h4n373 Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited February 2020
    This is unacceptable.
    Forcing people to use a new feature - linking steam and arc accounts wich causes such a severe issue as an account wipe.
    You'd think stuff as critical as account data would be kept safe & secure no mater what.

    You guys better make an official post about that issue, if those account wipe reports turn out to be legit.
  • ussvaliant#6064 ussvaliant Member Posts: 1,006 Arc User
    OP and anyone else having this issue I hope they fix it for you asap as I know if it happened to me I'd be tearing my hair out, well what little is left of it
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  • ambassadorkael#6946 ambassadorkael Member, Administrator Posts: 2,674 Community Manager
    Just to follow up, we can see OPs account and his characters and progress are not wiped. Likely he accidentally linked the wrong account Waiting for him to get back to me to fix the issue.
  • nimbullnimbull Member Posts: 1,564 Arc User
    I didn't really want to link my account but I guess I got force linked. That said after reading this I tried logging in and it's not asking for my credentials like it used to so I'm guessing I'm linked now. That said all my characters seem in place.
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  • inferiorityinferiority Member Posts: 3,932 Arc User
    echatty wrote: »
    Khan outfit is acct-unlocked.
    Last I checked, it's a character unlock.
    You had to log in each character for it to become available.
    If you only log in one character, only that character has it.
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