Lifetime Subscription for Steam Accounts?

[wisterian_dark]

Yeah, so I'm one of those who don't have an Arc account and started playing the game through Steam directly about 2 years ago or so. There's a sale for the lifetime subscription going on now, and it *is* tempting, but I need to know if there's a way for Steam accounts to get the lifetime sub in the first place. I know this question has been asked many times before in many different ways, but is there a way to link my current STO account to Arc at this point in time? The browsing I did leads me to a very frustrating "not really", but maybe I'm missing out something, cus I've read so many contradicting answers and tips on the topic that I'm not sure what to make of it anymore. Is it worth asking customer support about the credentials my Steam log-in had generated for STO when I first booted it up? Is that what I need to do? Or are there any other alternatives that don't require me to start fresh and say goodbye to all my progress? I literally want to throw money their way, but I can't do it on my own account just because I didn't know Arc existed when I downloaded the game It's kind of silly, really...

[NuclearSnail]

I got a life time sub through a sale exactly like this. It does work if you log in to arc under the exact name of the STO account you want to buy the sub for.

[wisterian_dark]

Originally posted by NIkto Barada:

DAYUM, could you copy paste the way to do it in a new post here=?

sure, i'll make a new post now just in case anyone else needs help :) just give me a minute, i'll start right away

Originally posted by LunarSail:

I got a life time sub through a sale exactly like this. It does work if you log in to arc under the exact name of the STO account you want to buy the sub for.

oh, i tried that before contacting support, and all i got was an error message saying there's no account with those credentials. tried my sto username, my steam username, my email, my other email, no dice. no matter what i tried, all things pointed to me needing to link the two services together to make it all work. at least it's fixed now, and as i promised above, i'll write about my experience with support shortly

[wisterian_dark]

Okay, so this is how it went:

1. I made myself a fresh Arc account, since I didn't have one before. I created the account under the same email as my Steam account; I doubt that's relevant, but I think it's important to mention it anyway.

2. Logged into my Arc account, I went to https://support.playstartrekonline.com/hc/en-us/requests/new to submit a ticket.

3. For the ticket itself, here's the step-by-step:
• In the first drop-down menu, I chose "I am experiencing an issue related to my Arc account."
• In the Subject box, I titled the ticket "Linking my Steam-generated STO account to my Arc account"
• In the Product and Platform box, I picked "Star Trek Online" -> "Star Trek Online - PC"
• In the Issue Type box, I picked "Account Linking" -> "Account Linking - Steam"
• Finally, in the Description box, I explained my issue to Support. This is what I sent their way:

"Hello!
I downloaded and started playing Star Trek Online through Steam about 2 years ago. When I started playing, my in-game credentials have been automatically created for me, my Steam-generated STO account having the username wisterian_dark#50725. I would like to link that STO account (wisterian_dark#50725) to this Arc account (wisteriandark#4850). I am interested in buying a Lifetime Subscription (as well as enjoy all your other offers and giveaways), which to my understanding can only be done if my STO account is connected to Arc. I'd like to avoid losing all the progress I have made in the game by starting a separate STO account, so linking my existing one to Arc would be more than appreciated! I attached a screenshot of my STO launcher just in case I need to prove that wisterian_dark#50725 is truly my account. If linking is not possible for whatever reason, could you please tell me how to log into Arc with my Steam-generated account? Is there any password attached to wisterian_dark#50725 that would allow me to do that? Thank you, and I hope this issue can be solved in a timely manner :)"

As mentioned in my ticket, I attached a screenshot of the STO launcher (since my account's username is visible there) with STO's Steam game library page opened in the background. I'm not sure if this was necessary in and out of itself; it could just be me being a bit overkill, but I wanted to be thorough. And with that, I hit send.

4. Some hours pass. I kept an eye on the ticket, and I noticed they had changed my Issue Type from "Account Linking - Steam" to "Subscription Issue", which... well, I guess it's true - I do want that Lifetime Subscription eventually. (maybe next time they do a 50% sale since I missed out this time around, but we're getting sidetracked here)

5. Some more hours pass, and I finally get a reply:

"Hello,

Thank you for contacting us.

I understand you would like to link your Steam-generated account to Arc so you can purchase the lifetime subscription.

Rest assured that I have escalated this ticket to the next tier to link the Steam account. Due to the weekend, it might take some time to receive a response. This ticket will be updated once the account is linked.

If you need further assistance, feel free to contact us anytime.
Regards,
GM Chroma
Game Master"

6. And sure enough, Support gets back to me on Sunday evening to give me the good news:

"Thanks for your patience.

I have linked your Steam-generated game account to your existing Arc account. You can now login to Arc and any purchases made will be sent to the correct account.

Please be aware that your Arc display name will be different from your Steam-generated in-game display name. This is normal since the accounts were created through different processes.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

We appreciate your support.
Regards,
GM Grimli
Lead Game Master"

7. I poked around the game to see if everything went well, redeemed a giveaway code through Arc, even bought a bit of Zen through their storefront to see if transactions work as they should. And they do! The items from the code and the Zen have been sent to my STO account no problem.

So, that's all folks. I hope talking about my experience will help anyone else who had been struggling with linking their Steam and Arc accounts together in the past. It's definitely possible, and you don't need to translate your tickets to German to get it done either, lol. Hopefully they'll figure out a more straightforward way of handling the whole process in the future, but until then, this seems to be the way to go - make an Arc account, send a ticket, and just wait for a day or two

[NIkto Barada]

ty lets hope ppl are using the search function wisely

[Hawk Man]

Originally posted by Captain Trump:

Dont even think about getting lifetime, this game is about to die and that would be the worst investement possible

People have been saying that forever and this game keeps on going

[Dar Da Bear]

I bought my lifetime years ago. I wasn't connected to STEAM at the time. Steam opens the STO launcher and then you connect to STO through that. It's the same account. If you are upgrading your account to lifetime, you will lose nothing from your current account.

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by Dar Da Bear:

I bought my lifetime years ago. I wasn't connected to STEAM at the time. Steam opens the STO launcher and then you connect to STO through that. It's the same account. If you are upgrading your account to lifetime, you will lose nothing from your current account.

Except that, they changed how Steam generates accounts, such that if you *start* on Steam you may not have the login info. Thus the issue / contact support listed above.

[ZEFFIE]

Originally posted by Captain Trump:

Dont even think about getting lifetime, this game is about to die and that would be the worst investement possible

STOP spreading fake information.

[Salty]

Originally posted by NightHawk:

Originally posted by Captain Trump:

Dont even think about getting lifetime, this game is about to die and that would be the worst investement possible

People have been saying that forever and this game keeps on going

the game has been on extended maintenance mode for years.... that means they do just enough to keep the servers up / produce minimal "content" to keep people logging in and them paying some money.
the last real content dump was when the jem'hadar landed ... this is why we see all the mini events which are just cookie cutter content.... cos they are NOT making any new content for this.

[ZEFFIE]

Originally posted by Cracky!!!:

Originally posted by NightHawk:

People have been saying that forever and this game keeps on going

the game has been on extended maintenance mode for years.... that means they do just enough to keep the servers up / produce minimal "content" to keep people logging in and them paying some money.
the last real content dump was when the jem'hadar landed ... this is why we see all the mini events which are just cookie cutter content.... cos they are NOT making any new content for this.

While true given the recent DECA takeover, it has been all but confirmed that the new studio will be reviving the title.

DECA's business model is to give older titles new life injections... and thus increase micro-transactions etc.

https://decagames.com/

[davejbaker]

200 bucks (converted to splendid UK pounds of course) can be spent on all sorts of nice things, dinners out, theatres, concerts, finger paInting, play doh.... you name it. Thousands of zen can be spent on anything from the zen store. So in exchange for having a few good days/nights/meals/buying shiny things NOW you can, over several years, buy some pixel ships. Don't get me wrong, I buy zen now and then if i want a specific item, but there's a big element of swapping nice and useful currency to much less useful currency.....

It's maybe okay if you think you would actually buy the Zen anyway, lover the next few years.

I will be spending mine on other things mostly, and sadly my favourite eating places don't accept Zen.....