Can you please streamline the sign up process please.

[sc4500]

I all ready had to set up 5 of my friends accounts because they could not figure it out , and the ones that have figured it out took them 30 min to 3 hrs just sign into the game. There like wtf most games simple to set up and most them having hard time just finding out were to put the content id codes at.

They all want play the new expansion when it comes out and they know there far behind and looking at giving ff11 a try again maybe. There looking at giving this month a try and see if game broken or improved from the last 5 yrs. and few them are like wtf game sucks we can not hang out together then got the most confusing sign up system in mmos ever.

[Alhanelem]

Kinda have to agree, I have a friend who did manage to sign up once, had to stop soon after because he didn't have time to play, then he wants to play again and forgot his details. Couldn't recover the account and wasn't able to get going with a new one.

[Merton9999]

I agree too. My cousin recently signed up as well. I was there with him and we just rolled our eyes and laughed as yet another pointless required step presented itself.

It's one of those things where first you get annoyed, then you get mad, then you start to honestly fear it will actually never end, and then you have no choice but to laugh. Although when I think about that, so many things in the actual game are that way now that maybe they're using the sign up process as a weeding out of sorts...

[Mirage]

Once you start up POL the first time, POL should give you a simple interface to create a SE account, and if any POL account is also required, that interface should automatically create it and link it to SE without you ever seeing it happen. You should be able get right into the game (or at least patching process) within 10 minutes of finishing the install process, after supplying just a username, password and email address.

Account management could still be done via the web interface, I guess. First time users shouldn't need to mess around with content IDs after signing up. A content ID should be automatically created by the signup process, and all the user should need to do is supply credit card (or other payment methods) information.

The POL login screen should have a button that would send you to a (web based, perhaps) password reset function, where you could easily reset your password by supplying for example one of the product keys you used to create the account, and have it sent to you on your earlier selected e-mail.

[Koyaghi]

I shouldn't have to click on account management related links on POL to be given a "go to the website" message (without a link even). Better still, it shouldn't take me over a day to get the game installed, updated, and account created. There's also a bombardment of reviews from various sites that sell copies of FFXI where people just gave up and wont play the game because it's so annoying (and "impossible" to those who aren't very computer/instructions savvy) just to get an account set up and running. Why is it that when I first played the game, the first character is part of the original price package, which avoided confusion; but now I have to read through FAQ's enough to understand you can't get in until you sign up a $1 for that first character? It's baloney. I'm lucky enough to have the patience (although I was still incredibly frustrated) to look around for over a half hour on how to get my account set up and good to go, and my relatives were even luckier that I was willing to set their accounts up for them. Otherwise I don't think they would have kept playing, just like the reviewers who gave up.

EDIT: PayPal really should be an option in the Account Management. Or just using cards without signing up on an annoying site...

[Alhanelem]

using cards without signing up on an annoying site...

Already possible and has been possible for a while now. Paypal has also been an option for a while (with crysta selected as payment), along with using it to purchase the exact amount of crysta you need.

[Chocobits]

All I have to say is "Meh". You should have seen how convoluted sign-up was in 2004. It could be easier.. but hop in the DeLorean and see that it could also be much, much worse.

*edit to add something constructive*

I haven't created a new account since the SE Management Mishap was instituted but yeah.. why have a faux account creation process in the client if the client isn't capable of completing registration..

Why take the time to implement a fancy but overly convoluted website to manage your account, if you are still using the same clumsy PS2 emulator client from 10 years ago? jackiechan.jpg