I ran into problems because some time before the transition happened some bot use my email address to sign up for an XBox account, in German for some reason. So I have to first do an account takeover on some bot account that has been used for no doubt unsavory purposes meaning my Minecraft account is now tied to something that's likely to be randomly locked. Also, some communication has to be done in German because there is no way to change the original language set on the account, although most pages can be converted to English if I look through the various settings pages. Email is always in German though.
Also, can I say what a mess the whole Microsoft account thing is? There's at least three different systems kinda duct taped together and settings are scattered seemingly at random among those systems. Want to connect your Java Minecraft instance to a server you are running? Be ready to dive through pages of kid protection and security settings looking for the option that lets you do that again. Also, logging in used to be "enter your username and password when the game starts", but now involves a bunch of bouncing around half a dozen or so Microsoft pages getting redirects that fail 60% of the time for no stated reason. It's kinda killed any enthusiasm I have for checking out new releases, just knowing that I'm going to waste 10 minutes just trying to get the damn login working again.
Mine wasn't. I lost my main account as I couldn't verify I owned it given it was bought on a whim years ago through a giftcard, and they didn't have many recovery methods for those users. Then they permanently deleted the account after the transfer window was over. Luckily I had a second account I could transfer, but even if I could transfer the other account, you cannot have multiple Minecraft accounts tied to a single Microsoft account and having multiple Microsoft accounts is against TOS.
You couldn't verify you owned it because you didn't have access to the email presumably? What account system doesn't work like that?
Also - having multiple Microsoft accounts is absolutely permitted, I have multiple due to their Xbox profile messiness (it is possibly to detach Xbox profiles and they can't be reattached if you ever navigate to the Xbox website while it's detached...) and senior support endorsed it as the recommended solution.
As one of the Devs responsible for the technical part of that transition: thank you. We tried real hard to give users the best possible experience, but I think it has nevertheless been the least appreciated piece of code I have ever written. So it's nice to finally hear some positive accounts from users!
I truly think you folks did the account transition in the most user-friendly, considerate way you possibly could. There was SO MUCH TIME to migrate and SO MANY WARNINGS about it needing to be done. I'm sorry you haven't been appreciated for it. Well done!
I mean, the code is unappreciated because the fundamental premise was broken. Locking users out of their paid accounts if they don't respond within some X deadline (no matter how long X is), without a refund, is a completely unacceptable "solution" to technical debt. The fact that you tried your best to give users a good experience doesn't matter if it's serving a fundamentally broken goal.
I just downloaded a game I bought on steam 12 years ago and played it. I hadn't really thought of the game in the intervening time. If this had been minecraft, I'd have had to pay for the game again because I didn't convert my account.
But no, subnautica was ready to go, though the base building was just as buggy as it was before.
I really don't care about Microsoft's maintenance costs. I should be able to play the game I paid for 20 years from now without having to jump through hoops in the intervening period. It's not my fault that they decided to make my perfectly normal account a "legacy" account, that was their decision.
It would have been better if they hadn't required you to migrate at all. And a lot of people, including me, ran into issues during the migration process. Thankfully I was able to get it sorted out after contacting support, but other people weren't so lucky.
Just want to chime in as an anecdote who could not migrate. I attempted to migrate within the deadlines, yet the system refused to work. Contacted support and they were no help, in spite of my receipt and presumably, Notch’s log of my purchase.
But hey, trillion dollar company tried hard. Nothing more could have been done.
I ran into problems because some time before the transition happened some bot use my email address to sign up for an XBox account, in German for some reason. So I have to first do an account takeover on some bot account that has been used for no doubt unsavory purposes meaning my Minecraft account is now tied to something that's likely to be randomly locked. Also, some communication has to be done in German because there is no way to change the original language set on the account, although most pages can be converted to English if I look through the various settings pages. Email is always in German though.
Also, can I say what a mess the whole Microsoft account thing is? There's at least three different systems kinda duct taped together and settings are scattered seemingly at random among those systems. Want to connect your Java Minecraft instance to a server you are running? Be ready to dive through pages of kid protection and security settings looking for the option that lets you do that again. Also, logging in used to be "enter your username and password when the game starts", but now involves a bunch of bouncing around half a dozen or so Microsoft pages getting redirects that fail 60% of the time for no stated reason. It's kinda killed any enthusiasm I have for checking out new releases, just knowing that I'm going to waste 10 minutes just trying to get the damn login working again.
> can I say what a mess the whole Microsoft account thing
absolutely agree
Fun fact, Xbox profiles can be disconnected from Microsoft accounts without doing 2FA verification. It's a whole problem right now.
Using a third-party launcher (e.g. Prism) mostly fixes that nonsense, at least.
Mine wasn't. I lost my main account as I couldn't verify I owned it given it was bought on a whim years ago through a giftcard, and they didn't have many recovery methods for those users. Then they permanently deleted the account after the transfer window was over. Luckily I had a second account I could transfer, but even if I could transfer the other account, you cannot have multiple Minecraft accounts tied to a single Microsoft account and having multiple Microsoft accounts is against TOS.
You couldn't verify you owned it because you didn't have access to the email presumably? What account system doesn't work like that?
Also - having multiple Microsoft accounts is absolutely permitted, I have multiple due to their Xbox profile messiness (it is possibly to detach Xbox profiles and they can't be reattached if you ever navigate to the Xbox website while it's detached...) and senior support endorsed it as the recommended solution.
The biggest issue I have with it was the lack of support for multiple accounts a la World of Warcraft style: why do I need 3 Microslop accounts?
I would agree.
They honored my account, and I originally bought the game when you had to send Notch money directly for him to send you a copy.
Microsoft was great in this instance.
As one of the Devs responsible for the technical part of that transition: thank you. We tried real hard to give users the best possible experience, but I think it has nevertheless been the least appreciated piece of code I have ever written. So it's nice to finally hear some positive accounts from users!
So, again, just thanks for saying this.
I paid for Minecraft and can no longer play it. I'm supposed to be thankful for this?
If you choose to work for EvilCorp don't be surprised when you get assigned to work on tickets that make people unhappy.
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I truly think you folks did the account transition in the most user-friendly, considerate way you possibly could. There was SO MUCH TIME to migrate and SO MANY WARNINGS about it needing to be done. I'm sorry you haven't been appreciated for it. Well done!
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I mean, the code is unappreciated because the fundamental premise was broken. Locking users out of their paid accounts if they don't respond within some X deadline (no matter how long X is), without a refund, is a completely unacceptable "solution" to technical debt. The fact that you tried your best to give users a good experience doesn't matter if it's serving a fundamentally broken goal.
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>the best possible experience
It's comforting to know that a game I bought and paid for, that was taken from me, is "the best possible experience".
It soured me so much on Minecraft that I can't even be bothered to pirate it.
I don't love that I need a Microsoft account to log into minecraft, but the alternative was losing it permanently.
don’t know why you’re getting downvoted, they gave legacy users literal years to migrate
I just downloaded a game I bought on steam 12 years ago and played it. I hadn't really thought of the game in the intervening time. If this had been minecraft, I'd have had to pay for the game again because I didn't convert my account.
But no, subnautica was ready to go, though the base building was just as buggy as it was before.
I really don't care about Microsoft's maintenance costs. I should be able to play the game I paid for 20 years from now without having to jump through hoops in the intervening period. It's not my fault that they decided to make my perfectly normal account a "legacy" account, that was their decision.
It would have been better if they hadn't required you to migrate at all. And a lot of people, including me, ran into issues during the migration process. Thankfully I was able to get it sorted out after contacting support, but other people weren't so lucky.
Just want to chime in as an anecdote who could not migrate. I attempted to migrate within the deadlines, yet the system refused to work. Contacted support and they were no help, in spite of my receipt and presumably, Notch’s log of my purchase.
But hey, trillion dollar company tried hard. Nothing more could have been done.
They should have made it a seamless transition for legacy users.