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.
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.'
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.
@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.
"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
@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.
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
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.
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"
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
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.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
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).
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,
Space is a endless frontier, Full of Endless land and Exploration, Brave Men and Women of the Federation will Boldly go to explore that Frontier.
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.
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.
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?
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).
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.
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).
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.
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
Hello rubber banding my old friend, time to bounce around the battlezone again, where are all my bug reports going?, out of love with this game I am falling, As Cryptic fail to acknowledge a problem exists, Shakes an angry fist, And from Support all I'm hearing are the sounds of silence.
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.
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.
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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Comments
'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.'
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.
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.
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.
Star Trek Online volunteer Community Moderator
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
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.
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.
Star Trek Online volunteer Community Moderator
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.
ingame: @.Spartan
Original Cryptic Forum Name: Spartan (member #124)
The Glorious, Kirk’s Protegè
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"
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Same, I've only ever used Arc to get the Khan outfit.
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
Join Date: Sep 2008
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.
Just to be safe. Don't want to risk losing everything.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
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
Very well said!
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
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.
Khan outfit is acct-unlocked.
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.
Hello rubber banding my old friend, time to bounce around the battlezone again, where are all my bug reports going?, out of love with this game I am falling, As Cryptic fail to acknowledge a problem exists, Shakes an angry fist, And from Support all I'm hearing are the sounds of silence.
You had to log in each character for it to become available.
If you only log in one character, only that character has it.