Re: Question about sub accounts

Thanks for the help, can I ask a few more questions....

1. Can my boys (who are aged 10 and 7 and both have sub accounts) each register with EA to have an origins account so that they can save their progress? Do you set up the Origins account from within the game or from a PC?

2. I bought the digital game using my master account but I haven't yet played the game or redeemed the codes for the deluxe version so can i let my eldest play the game first from within his sub account so that he gets the deluxe upgrades?

3. So if my eldest starts the game in his sub account and then the youngest wants to play Coop with his big brother....the youngest can press the Playstation button on his controller and select his sub account from the options in order to also save his xp,stars and achievements too (obviously after he has registered for an EA Origins account)? Or must he play as a guest if the game was started in his big brother's account?

So many questions but the info about the Deluxe upgrades being available to only one account was crucial to know before we play for the first time tonight!! Thanks!

reality covered a lot of this. The deluxe upgrades aren't worth worrying about anyway. It's just a couple of skins and a bunch of coins, which they will earn constantly through gameplay anyway. Besides, that bonus is almost certainly tied to your account and yours only already.

To make progress in the game, they will need to be signed into PSN and Origin. If the coop player doesn't get trophies or whatever, that's maybe just the way the game is designed and there's nothing you can do about it. When they sign up with Origin, I have a word of caution about that. When BF4 came out 3 years ago my friend could not play his purchased copy of the game because for some reason his Origin account was flagged as a child account, and there was no way for him to fix it. It must have been a mistake because he is many years past being a child. The EA reps could never resolve the situation either. He ended up creating a new Origin account. Maybe he was unlucky, maybe they've gotten better since then, I don't know. I'm just warning, if there's no downside to giving them a "full" Origin account, you may want to do that.

@markyluv

It's been awhile since I created my account for use with Battlefield 3 but at that time simply loading the game prompted me to create an Origin account.

I have no reason to believe that the game won't prompt you to create an account if one is required to play so you should be able to quickly create one through the PS4 but you could also create one using your PC if needed.. In the event that you do have to create an Origin account be certain to use the same email address which is associated with your PS4 account, doing so usually means that any logins will be done automatically in the future, including when you first load any future EA games which require such logins.

If you still have the redeem code for the Deluxe bonus content then you should be able to allow any of the accounts to redeem it, bearing in mind that it will only apply to that account. Unless you're a completionist who really needs or wants to get the game to 100% the perks included with the Deluxe version aren't anything that you can't live without; there is an exclusive Imp character, some exclusive customization items and character abilities and of course the big chunk of coins to get you started.

When playing Co-Op Player 1 will go to the stack of two television sets next to the Dressing Room where you select and customize your characters. When selecting that there will be a prompt for Player 2 to select their PS4 account OR continue as a Guest. If Player 2 selects to continue as a Guest then nothing will be saved for them but if they select their PS4 account then everything they do will count towards their progress- XP, Stars earned, unlocks, and so on will all be applied to their account and will be there the next time that they play.

A couple of notes about Co-Op play: the game features some story elements and Multiplayer options which are intended for Single Player mode and activating Co-Op mode, or having someone 'visit' your Backyard Battleground will lock out all of this material. This means that the "L.E.A.F Agent" and "Top Zombie" missions will become unavailable, no online Multiplayer or online Co-Op can be accessed and this will include accessing the hidden Trials of Gnomus portal and the Mystery Portal which is available inside Town Hall when the doors there are opened. There is also a special "Solo" mode in Garden and Graveyard Ops which allows you to select up to 3 AI Teammates- Co-Op mode won't allow you to buff out your 2 Player team to 4 with AI helpers.

The Multiplayer Portal will be accessible during Co-Op with the "Private Play" option and you'll be able to play against AI opponents with your team filled out with AI teammates as well. It's not as challenging as human opponents and teammates and doesn't award quite as much XP but you do get the same 12 v 12 experience.

You should also bear in mind that during Co-Op Player 2 cannot interact with various Backyard Battleground elements such as  Prize Chests, while Player 1, who will be designated as the Group Leader, will be able to open those Chests for themselves. This also holds true whenever you visit another Players Backyard Battlefield- you can only open the Chests found in your own Backyard and whenever you are in another players Backyard the Group Leader determines which games you actually play as any other Players in the Backyard are dragged along with them when they start a game mode.

I am also a PS4 Player by the way and should anyone need or want in-game assistance you can add me as realitysquared on PSN- some of the game modes, like Infinity Time and the Mystery Portal event called "Boss Hunt" can be challenging.

First, pardon me if I'm just repeating everything realiitysquared said, I didn't read all of the replies.  

My account has two subs - one fir my wife and one for my daughter.  These accounts need to be registered at EA as mentioned, this is easy to take care of.  I can't remember at what stage I registered the accounts to EA, but it was obvious what to do.  Then, when they go to play, one will sign in and activate the split screen, and the other player signs in to PS.  When the first player activates split screen, the other player need to hit the options button when prompted, and then they will get signed in to their own EA account.

If both players are signed in, and not playing as "guest," they will accrue all the coins etc. they earn during play.  One thing they cannot do on each others' accounts is to play the single player stuff - Davebot quests, the halloween bat, Golden Gnomes, etc.  You have to be in your own "backyard" to d these and they cannot be done at all on split screen.

The big limitation of split screen is that they cannot play online multiplayer games together with or against other humans. They can do "private play" on ops as a two-person team, or any of the various multiplayer modes against AI enemies.

Regarding the free sticker packs, each of my sub accounts were able to access these things in the sticker shop, it was not limited to just my account.  And, I believe, the sub accounts WERE able to access these during split screen play.

Hope this helps, please ask if I can clarify anything - I'm a bit tired this morning.

pandareno, why do you have your wife as a sub on your account, instead of her having her own account?

Actually, I'm not sure if it is a sub account, it was set up right when we got the PS4 and I don't remember.  Now that you prompt me to think about it, it's probably not a sub.  I find all these various accounts one needs a bit confusing.  But anyway, she hardly plays.  Point being, all three accounts got the free sticker packs when starting the game.

Wow, so many helpful responses with great info. It really helped us to start us on the right path to fully enjoy this wonderful game. We played last night and here are some of my findings and probably a few further questions!

In the end we started the game in my master account because my eldest was so eager to play he didn't want to register an Origin account. My eldest also stated that it would be easier to buy more sticker packets that way in the future!! He doesn't remember that I set a password on the PS Store so he can't "accidentaly" buy packets.

I let my eldest play through the LEAF quests and Top Zombie on his own (with the youngest watching and learning) because I'd read that Co-op play made these useful quests "locked out" and "unavailable". Thinking on I suspect that meant you can't play them whilst in Co-op mode but its not as if they are locked for ever. I was worried that they would be locked out of the quests forever.

1. So to confirm, as soon as they stop playing in Co-op mode the LEAF quests and Top Zombie quests and the online muliplayer become active again the next time my eldest plays on his own (not in co-op mode). Correct?

Thanks again to RealitySquared for the explanation of how Co-op affetcs online play regarding AI and humans and a 2 man team instead of additional AI help. That's great to know and will come in handy. For the moment  we don't have an active PS PLus account so the "private play" option will be a good way for them to practice their skills before they encounter more cunning human opponents!

After they finished playing I decided to set up an Origin account for my youngest to see if a sub account could have one and whether he got the deluxe add-ons that were already registered on my master account. The request to login or create an Origin account appeared straight away and after choosing Create it asks for the parents email address and to create a new password for my youngest. A few seconds later it was succesful along with a message saying "Use of this application's chat and messaging features in not allowed for your account". So I can confirm that children with sub accounts can have an Origin account but without chat and messaging features.

Once the game started (in my youngest's sub account) I quickly went over to the sticker machine to discover there were "4 gifts". These packets were Phenomenal Character Pack, two Minions Booster Packs and a Wondrous Pack of Greatness. So I'm guessing the deluxe add-ons like the Imp Z7 Grass Effect aren't there but I'll let the youngest open them tonight before I conclude anything further. I'm glad my youngest can now do the quests on his own (not just watching big brother) and that he's protected from chat and messaging. This is a great game.

I'll sign off for now before boring you too much. You've all been an amazing help in navigating the minefield of options! Have a great day, it's my eldest birthday today and he's made up with his new game :o)

Thanks to each and everyone one of you, Mark

Thanks for your help. I just posted a huge reply to RealitySquared but wanted to thank you personally pandareno1999 for taking the time to help me. Cheers!

I'm really glad I could help.  I'm fairly new to modern gaming - the last console I owned was a Sega CD!  So I know it can be daunting.  I play GW2 with my young daughter quite a lot, we had a mutual interest via youtube videos prior to buying our PS4.  I wish we had two, so we could do regular play together.

To avoid confusion, I'd stick to calling it "split screen" instead of "co-op play," because the game refers to multiplayer games that you play with others on the network, such as Garden Ops, as "Co-op."  

Thanks for the tip pandareno1999. I'll refer to split-screen as you suggested.

I'm a former Java programmer (more than 10 years ago) but sometimes you learn the way a game's license works the hard way. When we first started with Sony three years ago I bought a PS Vita for my eldest. In the complete absence of user guides and manuals I didn't know that you can have only one PSN/SEN/Playstation account on the vita, that sub accounts can't subscribe to PS Plus and that digital downloads on a sub account aren't visible to the associated master account led to a painful loss of some early digital purchases (Sly Cooper/Tearaway etc) 

With all these incredibly different and dynamic games you have to learn all the possibilities in advance because the kids just want to play and not be blocked or excluded from add-ons that their sibling has.

Thanks for helping me on the learning curve

Mark

Thanks for the clarification. I read it as permanently locked out at first but then I had a rethink and assumed it was only during split-screen as you confirmed. I'll reactivate my PS Plus next month if the free games are interesting so we can enjoy the Town Hall challenges that you suggested!

markyluv, hopefully you'll get on Plus soon for the game because it can be a lot of fun online, and that's the meat of the game. There is a decent amount of SP and offline content, including all the chests to unlock, secret rooms, and collectibles to find, but MP is where the main action is. Not many people use mics on there, however when they do, I've often heard younger kids and they're having a good time with it. I've never heard any trash talk or swearing or anything, and there's also a helpful "mute all" button press when looking at the scoreboard if needed.

One tip: always have active quests going. If you do one every day I think it is, it will raise the XP multiplier from something like 1x to 2x and then keep it there. It will gradually drop if you stop doing quests. They are usually trivial. Some reward coins too. This helps level up the characters faster. Don't forget to promote them at level 10 so you can get more coins and keep leveling them.

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@Scruffy_McGuffy wrote:

 I've never heard any trash talk or swearing or anything, and there's also a helpful "mute all" button press when looking at the scoreboard if needed.

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You must not play TT late at night.  Try it around midnight PST some time when nightshadow and his buddies are on.  But generally speaking, yes, you are spot on with this.