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Question for Devs on combining accounts & 4-hour activation option

Author
Suite Sister Rachel
Quantum Convent
#1 - 2014-08-19 16:41:17 UTC
I currently have five accounts. Due to time and cost constraints, 4 of them are presently inactive. I have found, after re-activating this account, that there are serious limitations with not having hauler/market/scout alts at hand to assist my main. I would like to burn some toons and move others to different accounts, so in the end I have two active accounts with active toons.

I see that there is an option of activating an account for four hours in order to apply a plex to that account. Can I use this option to activate an account, remove unused characters from that account and/or move toons to a more active account? If I have a second account up and paid for, is there a way to move a toon from an inactive account to an empty slot on the active one?

The only other option seems to be to activate, for a month, each account just so I can make these moves/burns and end with the results I want. This equals approx. $60.00 just to get the results I want, and that isn't worth it to me. Is there an option I am not aware of?

Thank you.
Mallak Azaria
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#2 - 2014-08-19 16:42:43 UTC
Short answer: No.

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Pok Nibin
Doomheim
#3 - 2014-08-19 17:08:00 UTC
Customer service. How may we help you?

The right to free speech doesn't automatically carry with it the right to be taken seriously.

Sibyyl
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#4 - 2014-08-19 17:11:27 UTC
Do any of the pilots in these other accounts need training? Activating the account can be used for a month of training/playing and then a transfer at the end of your month..

Joffy Aulx-Gao for CSM. Fix links and OGB. Ban stabs from plexes. Fulfill karmic justice.

Suite Sister Rachel
Quantum Convent
#5 - 2014-08-19 17:16:02 UTC
Sibyyl wrote:
Do any of the pilots in these other accounts need training? Activating the account can be used for a month of training/playing and then a transfer at the end of your month..



Hell, they all need training . . . I mean, that doesn't ever stop, does it?

What I was hoping for was an option to activate an account at eveonline.com for account management without the option to log into game on that account. Then I could move toons around as I saw fit, kill the dead accounts, and CCP would have a full paid subscription for one or two more accounts when it was all over.


Your point on the training is a good one, though. Thank you.
Marsha Mallow
#6 - 2014-08-19 19:04:41 UTC
Try a petition. A GM might reactivate your accounts so that you can transfer the characters across. It's better than abusing the Hours for Plex option. Doesn't hurt to ask. I've been idly considering consolidating a few accounts, but since Hyperion is so close (and I accidentally abused the Plex for Hours option a while ago, so it's not available) going to hold off for the patch to see if it makes it easier.

Hyperion (due on the 26th) will allow the option to activate Plex from your alt accounts btw. From the devblog
Quote:
Redeem PLEX for game time to another character
Activate game time for the account of another character using PLEX. This feature is designed to help those who need to keep multiple accounts active for themselves or others, and also gives anyone a simple way to use PLEX to give away game time.

It's also worth considering staggering account consolidation to spread the cost and to make sure you don't accidentally slot characters onto the wrong account. There's nothing worse than moving one then realising it's on an account you might need to use more than one alt simultaneously on.

Ripard Teg > For the morons in the room:

Sweets > U can dd my face any day

Qalix
Long Jump.
#7 - 2014-08-19 19:12:25 UTC
Marsha Mallow wrote:
Try a petition. A GM might reactivate your accounts so that you can transfer the characters across. It's better than abusing the Hours for Plex option. Doesn't hurt to ask. I've been idly considering consolidating a few accounts, but since Hyperion is so close (and I accidentally abused the Plex for Hours option a while ago, so it's not available) going to hold off for the patch to see if it makes it easier.

Hyperion (due on the 26th) will allow the option to activate Plex from your alt accounts btw. From the devblog
Quote:
Redeem PLEX for game time to another character
Activate game time for the account of another character using PLEX. This feature is designed to help those who need to keep multiple accounts active for themselves or others, and also gives anyone a simple way to use PLEX to give away game time.

It's also worth considering staggering account consolidation to spread the cost and to make sure you don't accidentally slot characters onto the wrong account. There's nothing worse than moving one then realising it's on an account you might need to use more than one alt simultaneously on.

If you ask nicely and you haven't had a history of abusing the option many times, petition and they will almost certainly reset the H4P option. I've done it on several accounts where I used H4P to clean out assets during one of my returns to the game before they formally announced the H4P rules change. The response was sure, but follow the rules from now on (paraphrased).

OP, you might petition, but I would be surprised if they said yes. Moving characters is the same as moving assets in their eyes. In fact, I'm reasonably certain that they changed the rules because of a particular character trainer/seller who was abusing the system and using H4P to sell characters that were "in storage."
Suite Sister Rachel
Quantum Convent
#8 - 2014-08-19 19:45:08 UTC
Just realized I had forgotten about the $20 fee for transferring a character, which bumps this whole proposition up another $60. Roll I'm rapidly losing interest in reactivating any of these accounts . . .

Thank you all for your replies.
DaReaper
Net 7
Cannon.Fodder
#9 - 2014-08-19 19:52:53 UTC
Does the account even need to be active to transfer?

But honestly, petition it and see.

OMG Comet Mining idea!!! Comet Mining!

Eve For life.

Eternus8lux8lucis
Guardians of the Gate
RAZOR Alliance
#10 - 2014-08-19 20:02:40 UTC
Accounts gotta be active to transfer so youd have to do the one month and then transfer thing. Yes with that many accounts youre looking at a fair bit of expense either monetarily or iskwise.

I did that a few years back and moved some of my accounts around. It sucks but if u want to use them long term it can be a worthwhile investment. But be REALLY careful about who goes where as you might run into issues later. Enjoy.

Have you heard anything I've said?

You said it's all circling the drain, the whole universe. Right?

That's right.

Had to end sometime.

Marsha Mallow
#11 - 2014-08-19 20:05:18 UTC  |  Edited by: Marsha Mallow
Qalix wrote:
If you ask nicely and you haven't had a history of abusing the option many times, petition and they will almost certainly reset the H4P option. I've done it on several accounts where I used H4P to clean out assets during one of my returns to the game before they formally announced the H4P rules change. The response was sure, but follow the rules from now on (paraphrased).

OP, you might petition, but I would be surprised if they said yes. Moving characters is the same as moving assets in their eyes. In fact, I'm reasonably certain that they changed the rules because of a particular character trainer/seller who was abusing the system and using H4P to sell characters that were "in storage."

Ye, I did at the time and since it was before they placed that giant warning in account management (which was at least a positive outcome to the conversation) they were willing to override it provided it wasn't abused in future. But I had a ridiculous number of accounts so it seemed like pointless workload for both sides to sort. It's only a handful affected now so waiting a few days for Hyperion is fine. That's interesting about character farmers abusing it because I noticed it going on and wondered. Particularly where some were selling multiple alts that were clearly inactive, which breaches the sale forum policy anyway.

Suite Sister Rachel wrote:
Just realized I had forgotten about the $20 fee for transferring a character, which bumps this whole proposition up another $60. Roll I'm rapidly losing interest in reactivating any of these accounts . . .

Thank you all for your replies.

It is an expensive exercise whether you pay via plex or RL funds. Don't forget you can use plex though (2 for transfers).

I keep wondering if a discount drive to allow players to transfer their characters between their own accounts would be useful. A lot of people seem to want to consolidate their accounts since MCT was made available but find the cost prohibitive. If it's an inactive account anyway CCP might gain revenue if people transfer them then reactivate training via MCT later - although they may lose out if people reduce their active accounts. Tricky to judge I suppose, particularly where character trading complicates things.

Gl anyway, and there's no harm bringing issues like this up on the forums if it highlights something that could be reviewed. Queries are always better than outraged ranting ;)

DaReaper wrote:
Does the account even need to be active to transfer?

Yes. I think that rule is partly in place to stop inactive accounts from being hacked and sold but it's a pain for those trying to consolidate alts as per above, as well as people who return to game dirt poor and decide to firesale characters just to get some funds to play.

Ripard Teg > For the morons in the room:

Sweets > U can dd my face any day

Qalix
Long Jump.
#12 - 2014-08-19 20:41:01 UTC
You might consider activating the accounts and selling one of the characters to cover your ISK expenditures. That's what I ended up doing. I had the advantage of having all my ISK in a corp wallet that I could access from at least one character on each account. I would activate using a PLEX bought with corp ISK, clean out all assets, sell what I didn't want, and then use the proceeds to consolidate on to 3 accounts.

BTW you can petition to get your wallet balance if you think you might have some hidden treasure you've forgotten.

Good luck!
Ocih
Space Mermaids
#13 - 2014-08-20 05:07:19 UTC
Suite Sister Rachel wrote:
Just realized I had forgotten about the $20 fee for transferring a character, which bumps this whole proposition up another $60. Roll I'm rapidly losing interest in reactivating any of these accounts . . .

Thank you all for your replies.



The transfers will only cost half of the activation.

You wouldn't be moving all the characters around, just mains of half.

$15x4 activation
Transfer 3 to 1 and 4 to 2 is another $40. From there you have 2 accounts with 2 characters on each account trained to where they are.

Really though you only need 2 accounts and haulers are low SP alts with the new Industrial layouts. Exception being if you want cloaky haulers that can make use of black ops bridging. They take a bit longer to prep.