Swapping from Steam to non-Steam client?

[Keydah]

Well, this is rather disappointing and very frustrating. Not a fan of SE or Valve right now.

I'm guessing it has to do with DRM, which prevents an entire section of the community from purchasing the physical CE. Also, Steam's announcement fourms now states the following: "please keep in mind that you can only upgrade your Steam-version of A Realm Reborn via a Steam version of Heavensward – others just won’t do!"

Yeah...All of this is just awful. I'm so glad I bought the game long before it was on Steam and as such didn't have the chance to buy it on Steam. I'm sorry. :c

[Valkyrius]

I had bought the game on Steam early last year because it was 75% off. If I had known this would be the case, I would have just paid the full price at the SE store.

[DragonFlyy]

It has to do with Valve's greed. They get a cut from all sales on Steam, so forcing people to buy the expansion through them guarantees them more money.
It's these consumer despising tactics that have made me loathe Valve.

I wouldn't say it's Valve. EQ2 and RIFT both have steam versions and the expansions are all the same, as is the logins.

[Snootles]

You can just download the basegame from SE site. Pretty sure you can play it with the key that you received from Steam. Your account is a Squeenix account and is seperate from your Steam account. It's just the product code that you get from Steam.
Also note that it says 'windows' in your mogstation and not 'steam'. Download client here.

I'll give it a whirl sometime this week. Not sure about not being able to add the expansion product key to work with your 'steam'product key. It really wouldn't make any sense.

[Velia]

I wouldn't say it's Valve. EQ2 and RIFT both have steam versions and the expansions are all the same, as is the logins.

And they are both old, largely irrelevant and were on Steam before Valve truly became avaricious and vile when it comes to DLC.
There is absolutely no benefit at all for SE to segregate PC versions like this. It loses them potential sales. On the other hand, this greatly benefits Valve, because it means they will get a cut for every Steam version of ARR.

This is 100% to Valve. Of course, SE doesn't really care enough to challenge them either. But for this reason I will never make the mistake of buying another game on Steam again, they have lost my business.

[Ashkendor]

But could you buy a non-Steam version of ARR and apply it to your existing account?
I'm hearing a lot of mixed info on this, some say you can, others say you'd have to start again with new characters (not a bloody option, seriously).

You wouldn't have to start over with new characters. I have friends that play on both PC and PS4 and they use the same characters. The character data is connected to your account, not the platform you play on.

The physical CE code won't work on the Steam game, though. You'd have to buy/download ARR again.

[Dawnshade]

You wouldn't have to start over with new characters. I have friends that play on both PC and PS4 and they use the same characters. The character data is connected to your account, not the platform you play on.

The physical CE code won't work on the Steam game, though. You'd have to buy/download ARR again.

The Steam version still gets registers as a Windows version on your account and you can't add a second Windows version, I've tried. (unless there's actually a way and I didn't know about it)

[Fytayn]

*waits for the official response with baited breath and finger on Fire III key*

Seriously, though, if SE offered players to ability to shift their PC account off of this weird "Steam" version we'd leave Steam in droves for the CE. And SE would make stacks of cash. Food for thought, hm?

[Recaldy]

I purchased the physical CE edition of 2.0 for PC, installed and play it to this day. I bought the game off steam and launch through that everyday and it plays just fine. I haven't used the CD key that came with my Steam version. I don't see why it won't work once I slap on Heavensward content to it from SE. (Digital CE I plan on buying.)

[Velia]

*waits for the official response with baited breath and finger on Fire III key*

Seriously, though, if SE offered players to ability to shift their PC account off of this weird "Steam" version we'd leave Steam in droves for the CE. And SE would make stacks of cash. Food for thought, hm?

Good point. But it wouldn't surprise me if there's something in their contract with Valve that specifically prevents this.