Remove the One time character restore rule!

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Originally Posted by Paladinleeds

I have lost items due to stupidity before. So what, I was stupid, I don't deserve them back. Now stuff bought from the Mog Station, just make those (aside from consumables like dyes and maybe housing items), unable to be discarded/sold etc. So you can't get rid of them. There we go, no need to call a GM about those. Buy them for the wrong character, too bad, deal with it, but they shoud include a double check after you insert your payment details to tell you what character they're going to. Check it's the right character, and then submit.

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I'm still not sure why you're so vindictive toward people when their actions and wants don't affect you in the slightest.

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Originally Posted by Naunet

I'm still not sure why you're so vindictive toward people when their actions and wants don't affect you in the slightest.

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Because it takes away time from other GM responses. Yoshi has already said the FFXIV support team is very small. If you close off this avenue, it opens up more time for the GMs to handle things like dealing with harassment reports. RMT and the like is handled by the STF which is different, but the other things are all handled by the same team. If this comes across as vindictive then I'm extremely happy to be considered vindictive. And if you get me banned from the game permanently without appeal for it, I'll just play another game. I already have contact outside of the game with my closest friends in this game so no skin off my back. Yes I enjoy the game but getting permanently banned without appeal from it wouldn't be the end of the world to me.

Why would you delete your char in the first place. Not playing for a long time doesn't mean your char has to be deleted. That's just being dumb, and we can't do anything about that, sorry.

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Originally Posted by Paladinleeds

Because it takes away time from other GM responses.

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I highly doubt this would have any noticeable impact on GM response times. It's simply not that common an issue, and honestly SE could automate the process if they wanted (as Blizzard has).

What kind of drama even happens on this game? Are people really that abusive towards one another? How pathetic.

I didn't read every post but this thread seems "odd" to me, and that's being generous sorry. I actually never knew they had a character restore feature since well, they don't need to. If I delete my character that is on me; now if it gets deleted that is another story, one that I wont express here. But basically if someone decides to stop playing, deleting your character is an "odd" choice. I mean if I stop playing a single player game like, Pokemon, other Final Fantasies, Tomb Raider, etc, should i delete my save file, NO! Its the same here, my character is my save file, I just file it away until later, when I want to play.

Oh and the post/s I read about it's a ploy to get players to buy the jump potions, NO, JUST NO. Stop making everything SE does, from now until a decision is made, about jump potions. Can I personally see using them, no, because I'm playing the game right now. But, can I see a use and a need for them, yes, why, because this is not a single player game. In order for it to stay alive SE has to be able to bring in newer players at anytime. So honestly when 7.0 roles around, would you really expect someone to trudge through 6 expansions? And if you say, "Yes, cause I had to do it" well, that's the reason the world is the way it is now. We should make the next person's journey(life) easier not harder.

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Originally Posted by Rennies

What kind of drama even happens on this game? Are people really that abusive towards one another? How pathetic.

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This is my first MMO so I can't really comment, but from what I hear, and have experienced, the FFXIV community is quite tame. There are elitists, but they are few and far between, thank god.

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Originally Posted by Rennies

What kind of drama even happens on this game? Are people really that abusive towards one another? How pathetic.

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Only on the forums....

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As per the OP, I understand the reasoning for the one time character restore. SE's support team has lots to do, if they took away the 1 per person rule, they'd likely be swamped just restoring characters constantly, rather than helping the folks that have genuine support issues, or combating RMT.
I am sorry you wont get your character back, but when you restore a character you are warned that it is a one time deal per account anyways. I did this a few months ago when I accidentally deleted the main off my alternate account while removing test characters I'd made. They are pretty good about letting you know you can only do it once, so make sure its the right character being restored and make sure its worth it.

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Originally Posted by ShigureKosaka

I disagree with you wholeheartedly, I think its wrong to force a 1 time restore policy but yet they will sell Jump potions come next expansion to get people 50+ But not allow a person to recover a already built character.

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What does what thing have to do with the other? I suppose they could add it as a paid service if it's taking time away from the GMs. Consider it a lesson though not to just brashly give in to emotions as there can be permanent consequences to doing so. Leave the character and just don't use it next time.

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Originally Posted by Naunet

I highly doubt this would have any noticeable impact on GM response times. It's simply not that common an issue, and honestly SE could automate the process if they wanted (as Blizzard has).

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I am sure you haven't noticed but 14 is run by two hamsters and a spinning wheel. They clearly say all the time, "If you want that we are not doing something else." Also to the automated restore. This game has some serious design issues compared to other games. Or at least we are led to believe and that's why X thing isn't possible.

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Originally Posted by Rennies

What kind of drama even happens on this game? Are people really that abusive towards one another? How pathetic.

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People do receive threats of physical violence on this game. Because my friend decided to do some content with me instead of some other guy, that guy threatened physical violence against me. It's rare, but it does happen. I've also had one of my friends have lies spread about them to try and damage their reputation in this game.

There is really no need for a character to be deleted multiple times. You can cancel your sub, uninstall, etc, come back a year and a half later resub and everything will be as you left it character wise. If you have a personal house, you'll lose that though.
If its drama that is causing you to delete your character, stop doing that and just do one or more of the following; server transfer, name change/fantasia.

Changing server, name, race and gender will not work against a stalker -or anyone- who already have your lodestone ID since that remains consistent despite all of the aforementioned changes.

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Originally Posted by myahele

Changing server, name, race and gender will not work against a stalker -or anyone- who already have your lodestone ID since that remains consistent despite all of the aforementioned changes.

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Why would person want to restore a character if this is the reason it was deleted for?

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Originally Posted by Paladinleeds

People do receive threats of physical violence on this game. Because my friend decided to do some content with me instead of some other guy, that guy threatened physical violence against me. It's rare, but it does happen. I've also had one of my friends have lies spread about them to try and damage their reputation in this game.

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Oh, yeah, I've had people spread lies about me. But that's not really relevant enough to consider deleting your own character. The blist function exists for a reason, as does the report function. And if someone believes anything they're told, they aren't worth being friends with.

I just wanted to chime in on this too. I did the mistake of deleting my main character on XI a very very long time ago. When I came back to it about a year later, they were willing to try but couldn't find it due to which content ID was being used for what (if I remember correctly.) I ended up making a new copy of my main for about little more than half a year because of that, at which point they changed their system apparently and were able to recover it finally. After that fiasco I learned my lesson and do not personally delete any characters of mine no matter the reason. Its actually kind of fun too since on some games I had alts that I didn't touch for years, then came to find an item in their inventory that could no longer be obtained, making it rather valuable on the market of that game.

I wouldnt say its a "rule" they're having here - its a courtesy and they're telling you "We are going to do this ONCE for you. We're going to dig into our data once to get something back you throw away."
They wouldnt even have to do this and its not a feature that should be treated lightly - depending on when you created the character it might get into conflicts with names, its taking away time for that guy who's doing the restore, restores arent always easy and smooth etc.

I fully understand that someone can do something like this in a very emotional situation, I've seen it happen. But, personally - and this might sound a bit drastic here, bare with me, please - there have been times when deleting my character would have felt like a "mini"-suicide. And when I felt tempeted to delete my character I stayed away from the game. And its the best advice I can give anyone - if you feel the urge to delete your character, step away, clear your head, come back tomorrow and see if you still want to or if you cant just walk away. Dont do stuff like this an expect a company like SE to pick up your pieces for you... So, no, I dont feel like anything needs to be done here - unless on the side of the people deleting their characters multiple times.
Dont kill your character if you dont want them to stay dead...

Half of this thread... I don't even.... /facepalm.

If you really are the dramatic type who rage-deletes characters over stupid little things repeatedly, you really believe you deserve extra attention to fix your problems? That's definitely what seems to be the core idea. As for the person who found out it is account-wide, yes they should probably alter this slightly. But seriously, if you are short-sighted enough to repeatedly discard your character of your own volition, you get no sympathy.

As for hacked deletes, there should be more leeway for this, but to prevent abuse there should be measures to prove account hacking as well.

I don't understand. . . . Deleting a character = Forever gone. . . Just because an exception happens doesn't mean it should result in entitlement. . . When you delete a character you forfeit your right to continue your progress. You must start over like the rest of us mere mortals who make a new character. No Exception.


I'm sure that deleting a character may be beneficial for anyone who is on a gaming therapy. But do realize when you delete it, do send your hopes of it coming back to the trash. Because the point of deleting a char is definitely not aligned with the idea of it coming back. I'm sorry to say the following, please prepare yourself . . . . :


Start over. Don't delete your character again. And please get a grip on balancing your life and a video game.

All I can see from this thread is OP vs Everyone else. Now, OP, think for a moment, why would they change something on one person opinion?

How many years have MMOs been out? How many MMOs have you played OP? It's not like a single player game where you need to restart because you've forgotten what you were up to. Why would you ever delete your character if you have an attachment to them? The only characters I've deleted have been ones I don't care about(from WoW and test characters in FFXIV to see how races run/emotes etc).
It's just like in RL, would you really throw away something that you've loved for the past few years?

The request from this thread just sounds like a "get out of jail free" card, OP was stupid multiple times and wants SE to bail him out all times.

TLDR;

OP: SE needs to change the policy because I lack the brain to think properly.
Everyone else: No, you gotta suck it up for your own stupid mistake.

I'm with everyone else.

Compromise: first time recovery is free, every subsequent time requires a 99¢ fee.

That way it still discourages people wantonly deleting characters, but allows people to change their minds after the fact, if they so choose.

The other option would be to allow for "retirement" for characters. You can't log into them, and they aren't in active memory on the servers, but they can be "come out of retirement" with relative ease, and without having to pay (in this situation, set a limit on the number of retired characters a player can have, and limits on how frequently players can retire and revive characters).

On the restoration page, I read this:

"We can only restore deleted characters or retainers if restorable data is available. We cannot guarantee that all deleted characters or retainers can be restored."


Sounds like giving people the ability to restore their characters multiple times may not always be possible if they wait too long. So unless you delete characters as much as you use fantasias, you're not gonna get anything back if you decide to have regrets a year later. Even then, I'm sure asking for restorations too many times might get your restoration privileges revoked for abuse.

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Originally Posted by Evangela

Why would you want to delete your main character twice?

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Fixed that for you.

But...why would you delete a character in the first place? I can't see a single valid reason to even consider doing so.

I mean, even if it were an issue with a stalker, I'd think you'd want to at least attempt to deal with it through either the in-game authorities (i.e, GMs) whose job it is to deal with people who harass you in-game...or if it escalates to real-world stalking, to the actual real-world authorities?

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Originally Posted by ShigureKosaka

I disagree with you wholeheartedly, I think its wrong to force a 1 time restore policy but yet they will sell Jump potions come next expansion to get people 50+ But not allow a person to recover a already built character.

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Escept that those were never intended to be used by returning players, but rather by new players who don't want to play through ARR and HW before they can get to Stormblood. Restoring a character is not as easy as tapping the magical gm screen with your glittery wand, and there's a good reason you can only use certain GM services such as character restoaration once. But plenty of people seem to think of the GMs and devs as the magical code-holders who can do absolutely everything with the game and the only reason they don't is them being big meanies. Please try to see the reason behind those restrictions before you go out and complain.

Why delete it in the first place? It's not SQEN fault you being stupid :)

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Originally Posted by Madepossible

On a side note: enough Erza Scarlet level 1 characters being there for years now and se doesn't do shit about that. I find this interesting of most MMO companies, the cool names are all lvl1 so why not just rename those lol sometimes I don't get it.

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Eve Online did this two years ago. They went through trial accounts that were created up to year before and gave the characters generic names. Six million names were freed up.

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Originally Posted by Madepossible

Why do you even delete your character in the first place? Just leave it there! On a side note: enough Erza Scarlet level 1 characters being there for years now and se doesn't do shit about that. I find this interesting of most MMO companies, the cool names are all lvl1 so why not just rename those lol sometimes I don't get it.

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I hope Square Enix made those accounts to take names away from uncreative hacks who feel the need to name themselves after their favorite anime characters.

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Originally Posted by Rennies

What kind of drama even happens on this game? Are people really that abusive towards one another? How pathetic.

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I had a friend who got pissy after the presidential election and wouldn't stop harassing me so I finally pulled out some choice words and he ragequit the server. :'P I've also heard of at least two abusive relationships, and many instances of people having lies spread about them. Anywhere there's a bunch of people interacting socially, there's gonna be drama. Online games are hardly an exception, lol.

Back to the topic at hand, I'm with the majority of people here. Most people wouldn't even THINK about deleting their main character, let alone deleting it TWICE. Drama is no excuse. I've run into serious drama in other games, and it was nothing that a server transfer and name/appearance change couldn't fix. In one extreme case I just rerolled, but kept my old character. There's really no reason to delete a character you spent so much time and effort on, regardless of what may transpire in your online social life. Deleting it twice? I'm sorry, but that's just plain not thinking ahead and considering the consequences of your actions. I think there are better things to allocate resources to than this.

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Originally Posted by Jpec07

The other option would be to allow for "retirement" for characters. You can't log into them, and they aren't in active memory on the servers, but they can be "come out of retirement" with relative ease, and without having to pay (in this situation, set a limit on the number of retired characters a player can have, and limits on how frequently players can retire and revive characters).

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What for, really? If you dont want to play a character, there is a simple solution: dont log in with that character. SE really doesnt need to spend time to develop a "fix" for something that isnt theres to fix and that they cant fix - as harsh as it sounds: thats the mind and lifes of people deleting their character multiple times...

Edit: Or even better: just uninstall the game and leave your character be, no need to kill them when you remove the game that you would have to reinstall (and depending on your connection/set-up that can take a bit...)

Honestly, the restore function is there if your account gets compromised and your character is deleted/stuff taken. Not for silly children who can't deal with the consequences of their actions. Don't go whining to S.E. to 'undo' your decision. Live with it.

I really appreciate all of your opinions, But the Fact of the Matter Is My opinion of this subject is the same. The Policy Needs to be changed to allow more then once.

I would Also Really appreciate it if you all refrain from making bigotry comments on this forum.

Come to a very populated server and you will see how cruel people can be in this game.

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Originally Posted by ShigureKosaka

Come to a very populated server and you will see how cruel people can be in this game.

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I'm on the most populated server you can find.

I felt like this was clickbate ;_;

Then your one of the lucky ones and haven't run into the bad side of this community.

what kind of bad side of the community that forced you to delete your character not once, but twice?

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Originally Posted by ShigureKosaka

The Link is instead of letting a person restore there character beyond once, They are now gonna force them if they wanna return to start over and buy a jump potion...

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I'm not all for it but that's the reason right there why it will most likely never change. There is more money involved rather than having a restore. You could say "make the fee equal" but you would have to make it equal to the story / job jump potions + a bit extra to cover the potential loss of monthly fees. Money wins, and unfortunately it always will. I get to make that clear today after the holidays back to some customers, so it will not be fun but it's what comes down the ladder.

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Originally Posted by Evangela

can't they just stop playing the game by their own will?...

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They can't, I'm not saying it is right but some can't stop, and they'll take full advantage of that. If you come back and realize your character is deleted, then they say "you can't recover, but you can remake them." you're either going to fork out the cash or you're going to say screw it. With as addicted as some seem to be with this game, I'd bet they would put out the money. When you take those numbers up to the higher ups, beyond Yoshi-P & Co. the kicker is they do not care one bit about a single person. Someone saying they'll quit is like taking a grain of sand out of the beach.

Say if 50 people quit and delete their characters, come back only to find they have to re-create. A small number I'm sure will just go all over again, level 1..others will see it and go "I'm not doing this all over again" and leave. The remaining will pay the cash.

It won't get harder to re-gain what you need as things go on. We will get to a point where we can solo older content safely and get glamour items. Right now some people are soloing level 50 content, it will just get easier as we get to 70. OP is right, there is money lost, but the probability that money being gained is higher. She's right, it needs to be removed..just won't. Maybe some good will come from this, maybe they'll increase the number instead of removing it. That's a middle-ground or a starting point of some sort.