Character Restoration Policy

I may be posting this in the wrong area, and if so I apologize and hope it can be moved to the correct forum.

Rather than write a complete essay on the beginnings of Final Fantasy XIV, it's subsequent rebirth as A Realm Reborn, and then go into detail on the amount of time since the game has been released with each expansion, and then compare it to other MMOs and how they have their own rules for restoration, I rather cut to the chase and be upfront about the One-Time Character Restoration rule and my thoughts on it, as well as play devil's advocate.

I understand why the One-Time Character Restoration rule is in place, I think. It's to dissuade people from deleting their character (and then clogging up Support Desk by asking for it back once they regret their decision), as well as to stop people from making a character with the same name in order to get a free name change when restoring their character. If there are other reasons, I am more than willing to hear them. I understand it takes time to restore a character and that someone has to go into a database to retrieve their data, which may not always be restorable, and that there’s always a chance that issues arise.

However, FFXIV has been out for an extended period of time. In the last seven years, if someone were to delete and then restore their character, they would be ineligible to have their character restored a second time. This means that someone who deleted a character in 2014, and then had it restored would be ineligible in 2020 to have either that or a different character restored for any reason other than having their account compromised. While the data is intact, and able to be restored, it's refused due to having used a one-time token already.

People have emotions, people make mistakes, people regret their actions. I understand that the one-time rule is to dissuade people from these actions, but there are times where people can and will do things they regret and wish to undo.

By giving players a chance to either appeal the one-time rule or having the ability to restore a character more than once, Square Enix and the Final Fantasy XIV Online team would be giving their players a sense of security in case they delete and restore a character, rather than being afraid that if their character was deleted for any reason (such as a sibling, bad decision, or feuding spouse) that they would be without a paddle on a certain creek, so to speak. This would be giving the player a chance to continue their adventures in the land of Eorzea, as a character that they have put time, effort, possibly money in MogStation items and have an emotional attachment to, without having to lose everything and start over.

I genuinely hope that the one-time restoration rule is either fixed or modernized, it is an antiquated rule that dissuades and negatively impacts players who have made mistakes in the past.