No longer able to log into Steam version with my non-Steam account. Why do this SE?

[Aelithice]

I don't get what they plan to accomplish by shafting people that bought the game a second time just to get steam hour tracking, overlay, and some QoL stuff. Other than annoying all of us of course.

[Lunaraie]

I used to always use the Steam Client with the Windows Account to track my hours, now I have to resort back to using the normal client because it seems SE doesn't want us to have the freedom to choose which launchers we use. Even though we bought it with money, yes I know there are multiple reasons why: To try and stop exploiting and to prevent harm to players. But they originally stated that this would only affect STEAM accounts. This shouldn't be affecting Windows accounts as well! If we make enough noise, hopefully SE will fix this or roll it back until they can implement a fix that benefits everyone! I worked hard to get FFXIV up to the top of my hours list on Steam, and I want to continue that! I love this game a lot and I don't see a point in locking Windows users out of FFXIV Steam Client! I talk to all my friends over steam normally, so having the steam overlay was perfect for me!


Please fix this SE! Listen to what some of your community wants!

[worldofneil]

Square Enix seems to have forgotten that they allow people to have Steam and non-Steam as separate service accounts on the same master account. I have both.

The announcement only said about affecting Steam accounts/forcing those to go through Steam. It said nothing about stopping non-Steam users from playing via Steam.

So now if I want to change accounts I can no longer do it via the "Data Center" menu option, I now have to exit the game completely and either launcher the game via Steam or the same executable from a directory on the disk... what?

Or were they seriously expecting us to install the game twice? I will definitely be contacting support shortly about this and suggest you all do too!

[Alenonimo]

Tip: to track the play time of the game with any version, type "/playtime" on chat window.

The fraud they're trying to avoid is this: people with bot accounts would buy the game on Steam to run with the bots. They would run the game outside of Steam while leveling the bots, making gil, getting banned, etc. Then they would ask for a refund on Steam by saying they didn't play the game. Since Steam wasn't used to run the game, it won't have tracked the time they spent and the refund would go through.

To avoid this refund scam, they're gonna force Steam versions to run through Steam. Makes sense, right?

There seems to be a workaround though. You can run a Steam account either from non-Steam installation or from Steam folder but without Steam by running a shortcut to "ffxivboot.exe -issteam". Not sure for how long it's gonna work, as it seems to be a temporary solution while they settle everyone to their respective installers.

I imagine that they might have a similar shortcut allowing non-Steam accounts to run on Steam. Contact the customer support and see what they can do for you.

[Trybal24]

The simple question is "How do I log onto FFXIV now?

I have tried going into the system files but could not find any way to launch the game from there. Any suggestions?

[tsima]

I'm faced with the same issue. I originally purchased the Windows version of XIV via the SE store, but after some time I decided to buy the game on Steam for the purpose of tracking hours. I know that only the Windows version is officially tied to my SE account, but I was willing to pay the additional price of purchasing the game again on Steam in order to feature the game on my Steam profile.

After this change, I'm no longer able to acess the game via the Steam version, which sucks, considering I willingly gave SE money in repurchasing the game...

[Supster131]

The fraud they're trying to avoid is this: people with bot accounts would buy the game on Steam to run with the bots. They would run the game outside of Steam while leveling the bots, making gil, getting banned, etc. Then they would ask for a refund on Steam by saying they didn't play the game. Since Steam wasn't used to run the game, it won't have tracked the time they spent and the refund would go through.

To avoid this refund scam, they're gonna force Steam versions to run through Steam. Makes sense, right?.

I see that people keep saying this, but this is completely false! Final Fantasy XIV is not eligible for a refund on Steam. Please stop spreading misinformation.

[Rhomagus]

The simple question is "How do I log onto FFXIV now?

I have tried going into the system files but could not find any way to launch the game from there. Any suggestions?

C: > Program Files (x86) > Steam > Steamapps > Common > Final Fantasy XIV Online > boot > ffxivboot64

the ffxiv_dx11.exe file doesn't actually start the launcher which you need to use to launch the game.

Hope that helps. You won't have access to any Steam features though.

[tsima]

C: > Program Files (x86) > Steam > Steamapps > Common > Final Fantasy XIV Online > boot > ffxivboot64

the ffxiv_dx11.exe file doesn't actually start the launcher which you need to use to launch the game.

Hope that helps. You won't have access to any Steam features though.

Thank you for this! Saves many of us from re-downloading the non-Steam version just to play again. Unfortunate that Steam hours won't be tracked, but I suppose it's nothing idling on the launcher can't fix.

[Rhomagus]

Thank you for this! Saves many of us from re-downloading the non-Steam version just to play again. Unfortunate that Steam hours won't be tracked, but I suppose it's nothing idling on the launcher can't fix.

Ya, all my Steam Controller profiles will be gone. Also, my Steam broadcasts won't show up on the community page. There's a lot that this messed with other than tracking hours but I'm glad your situation is reconcilable.