I have a similar issue albeit on the opposite side of the coin per say. My situation was the same in that since I could not do anything in the Beta and Early Access phases that I decided to indefinitely start playing on a JP server. Lo to my behest, I grew fond of my character and enjoyed playing in the JP server. Although I was on the FOREVER ALONE state I carried on with the thought that heroes are lone wolves and started to please myself (not in that way). Today, this maintenance happened. And I couldnt log in due to the game being unable to retrieve an update. So I went to a friend and copied his 'boot' directory over to mine and it resolved my issue.

"I WAS REDEI!", I thought, as I hastily punched in my great password of 12389179082 characters.
I was able to log in, patched, and my game came up. What greeted me to my horror was a character I was able to create in Phase 2 of Beta... instead of my handsome Drow-ish character (that looks like me IRL by the way, minus the effeminacy that plagues all elf races in lore) that I created in Early Access. My JP server list disappeared!

I am now contemplating crafting a girlfriend made of wood. Maybe she will cheer me up.