Account to account transfer

Discussion in 'Player Support' started by Moak, May 30, 2018.

  1. Blastoff Augur

    Would pay 50$ for one of these
  2. Gyger New Member

    Without knowing how their database is constructed it would be hard to estimate the work need to
    create/recreate the transfer tool.
    That being said, they already have a tool for doing a server to server transfer on the same account(check their cash shop).

    My question would be is how hard would it be to modify their current tool to do the account to account transfers since they say they're low on resources, I would think (being and old time embedded programmer myself) it wouldn't take much time.
  3. BardCorpse0254 New Member

    Still waiting....

    for over two years for this to be fixed and after that time was up I have stopped raiding and have let my 3 accounts expire (would have be 4 but I forgot to delete my CC info and got charged for the year. For 6 months you have lost out on those 3 accounts while I simply just play for free until this is fixed. I would gladly prepay a year for all 3 account if allowed to move two characters from my primary account. Till then your losing out.

    Maybe I will just give up and put EQ on the shelf for good. It is really getting ridiculous at this point for it taking so long to resolve.
  4. Warzon Elder

    I was asking a developer friend who used to work there. When this broke, it was because they fundamentally reworked how the servers store character information. The old way the database was structured was horrible, and was the cause of a lot of issues that we all used to deal with, that all vanished overnight and that none of us remember.

    The change was all good in every way, except that an unforeseen side effect was that it broke the existing account transfer tool they had set up. Additionally, it made account transfers much more complicated in terms of how many different spots it needs to pull data from. If it's implemented badly you're going to get a transporter accident of a transferred character that may not be recoverable in any reasonable way.

    I know this doesn't help your feelings of frustration, but it might help you empathize with the reality that this isn't something simple to fix. They would need someone pretty skilled to dedicate some time to it. The guy I spoke to estimated he could probably do it in four weeks of full time effort, but it might take eight, and that's just creating the functionality. Never-mind building a thing to make it happen automatically off of a web purchase with no human at daybreak being involved. And it would need to be tested pretty extensively because the data it's touching is, to many of their customers, precious.
  5. TarewMarrForever Augur

    So...they fundamentally changed how toon data is stored but didn't break server transfers?

    The type of change you describe would likely require substantial rework in order to keep server transfers working. Yet they found time to do that.

    Even 10 engineer weeks would be a small price to pay based on the feedback in this thread. At least a dozen people have said they would use this, which means there are actually hundreds. The investment would likely be paid off within the first year, two tops.

    The core issue is EQ is being maintained by a skeleton crew. It has one of the smallest live teams I've ever seen in the industry. They get a lot done with very little.

    However, with that said I still believe it's a mistake that this isn't getting funded. This is one of those features that begets other spending. Think of mount / familiar / illusion rings alone. Think of large bags you have in your Shared Bank. Think of future expansions.

    When you transfer to a new account, which is what the vast majority of account transfers would do, there's a lot of downstream services that will be bought. Maybe not immediately. But over time they will be.

    It adds up.
  6. Rarthin New Member


    No, if you were reading he said the major change in the database type and structure ARE what broke the tool and that it is NOT an easy fix contrary to what you want to believe.

    All said you and I have no idea what issues they deal with on a day to day basis dealing with old code. Probably things vastly more important than a tool to move characters server to server.

    The core issue is that EQ is based on late 80's technology and database structures etc etc. Its nowhere near as easy as most people think to adapt a legacy database to todays technology, nor is it easy to convert to new technology.

    But I digress as the armchair game designers will have all kinds of hyperbole and anecdotal evidence to "support" their arguments.
  7. GrandOpener Elder

    I know it's just a number you pulled out of a hat, but you do realize that even with a modest mid-range engineer salary, once you add on benefits, employment taxes, overhead etc., 10 engineer weeks is $25k+, right? They would need well over a thousand customers to buy this service (or other comparable "downstream" purchases) over the next couple of years for a 10 week investment to be worth it. And if their situation is that they retain only a couple well compensated senior engineers who can keep everything running? In that case 10 weeks of engineering time could be $40k+ easily. Development is expensive.

    I share your frustration that it hasn't been fixed (and you can add me to the list of names that would pay to use it), but it's still plausible that they haven't found a good way to make it happen yet, and/or there has always been something more important to do.
  8. Laynie Journeyman

    Considering the millions they've apparently just made on their cash-grab lifetime memberships and the demand for this feature by their player base, it would be a worthwhile investment. Then again, they did just layoff a bunch more people, and I have a feeling these lifetime memberships are going to end up going the way of the EQ Next/Landmark fiasco.
  9. The_Kras_Man New Member

    Please bump this up the list of priorities, I'd gladly pay more than $25 for this service.
  10. Dythan Ban Lev in Plane of Fire guy

    You guys should start a GoFundme for this. Put your money up and prove it's worthwhile.
  11. Heelzor New Member

    Rather than a GoFundme, how about a simple email blast to players asking if this service is something they would take advantage of. This would cost minimal, if any investment, to DGB and would give them the market data they would need to make the financial decision on weither to sink company resources into it. Now refusing to ask because you already know the answer and don't want to hear it is another story.
  12. Qbert Gallifreyan


    [IMG]
  13. Kilbane New Member

    I have a very old EQ and a DCUO account setup long before Daybreak. I was subbed to all access on my DCUO account and wanted to take a break, thought I'd kill some time on memory lane on EQ. Found out there was no way to merge my pre-daybreak EQ account to my DCUO account (that i've spent a fair amount of money on). No way I'm paying twice for the same service. Since I didn't feel like "All Access" was living up to it's name since I couldn't access All my accounts. I let my All Access sub expire over a year ago because of this.

    Please get this tool or whatever implemented. I"d like to give you money.. just provide me what I want.
  14. BlackVZ Lorekeeper

    Would really love to see this open up again. I missed out and have chars on the same acct I'd like to put on their own.
  15. tyrantula Elder

    If they wanted to breathe new life into the game, bringing back Recruit-a-Friend and Account-to-Account transfers would most definitely bring in more revenue.
  16. Snack Augur

    gofundme isn't a bad idea. If they think it would take 8 weeks, double that to 16, roughly 1/3rd of a work year of a SW Developer -- so say $75k. If you charge $50 for a server to server, you'd need 1500 people to back the go fund me (or 1500 pre-paid character transfers) to initiate work.

    Or, they could just back burner it.
  17. Gromryk New Member

    I currently have 3 accounts and would have already split off at least 2 of my characters into 2 new yearly subscribed accounts as well (for a total of 5 accounts). I'm hoping this is a feature that can get some development priority in early 2019. Use the poll system like was done for TLP servers and see what kind of interest exists and hopefully get a good ROI to get the ball rolling. /em puts the sack of plat on the counter.
  18. Sinjax Darknasty New Member

    Really?

    Clearly they decided they make more money off you when you make another character. Why would they allow transfers, they figured it out already...I mean,...it is a business even though we call it a game.
  19. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    If I could transfer my beast to my silver account I would fire it back up and purchase the new expansion on it.

    As it stands I'm not creating another account with no vet AAs at all on it. So they aren't gaining any money from me.
  20. Passifier New Member

    Hi I was wondering if this is an option that will be addressed anytime soon or if there is still an undetermined ETA or if it will ever be fixed as I have several characters across six accounts that need moving to be able to utilize my main characters.