Original post>>>
Hello all.
It's been awhile since I have actually posted on this board, and I have read the very informative *Sticky* about returning players... but I have a few questions about certain things that were not discussed.
Let me tell you my story first so you can see what I did when I quit playing FFXI the first time and can inform me if what I want now could be done (or what I did then could be undone).
Story first. Questions will start with a bolded "Questions:" text at the bottom.
About four or five years ago I was playing FFXI and I had a L.60+ character with a lot of subjobs leveled up (L.20+) and some items that were costly back then... Well... WoW came out and I started to play that while keeping my FFXI account active too.
A little over 3 months later I decided I couldn't afford two MMOs at the time, so I choosed to keep WoW and close my FFXI account...
Back then I wasn't aware that I could close my account by simply cancelling content IDs while the character was still on said ID, so I deleted my main character (we'll call him Pent for now) along with two mules I had and then cancelled their content IDs. At no point did I EVER cancel my PlayOnline account.
Fast forward to 94 days later...
I start getting the FFXI itch so I reactivate a content ID, and then call SE to see if I can get Pent restored... The SE rep I talked to said I was 4 days late and the character was not available to be restored. He then said that I should wait a couple of months and use the Return to Vana'diel event (the first year of the event) to restore Pent. I then asked if it was alright if I was to just start a new character and play that til then and the rep said that that was fine. So I made a new character named Pent on the open content ID. (What is weird is that I couldn't restore Pent, but I was able to restore my two mules without a hiccup.)
Fast forward to two months later...
So the Return to Vana'diel event started and off I went to restore my original Pent. Figuring that I wanted my original Pent to be "Pent" I deleted the second Pent (around L.25-ish) off of the content ID. I went through the steps of the event only to find out that my original Pent was NOT available to be restored, so after a little bit of reading around on the Return to Vana'diel website I found that if I delete a character on a content ID and then made a new character on the same ID the first character would be unable to be restored....
So I called up SE again and told them exactly what the first rep said and how he didn't warn me about NOT reusing the content ID... after they told me they couldn't help me I got mad and cancelled my content IDs again.
I even tried the Return to Vana'diel event the next year and was unable to see the orginal Pent then too, so I finally gave up.
Today, I noticed a news post on VanaFest and decided to look around the FFXI website and I came to the Restore a Character page... and I noticed that the actual eligibility requirements seem to have changed: (the bold text is red on the orginal page)
Quote:
Eligibility for the Character Reactivation Service
The applicant must be a current PlayOnline member.
- The applicant has cancelled a FINAL FANTASY XI Content ID, and is unable to use the regular Content ID reactivation process because the reactivation period has passed.
- The applicant has deleted his or her character.
* The above eligibility also applies to applicants who have deleted their characters on their Content IDs before creating a different character on the same Content ID.
* The above eligibility also applies to applicants who have deleted their characters on their Content IDs before cancelling the ID itself.
edit add: * Even if you are eligible for this service, there may be rare cases in which character reactivation is not possible. (added to clarify that sometimes stuff just happens)
Applicants will be ineligible for the service if any of the following apply:
- The applicant has cancelled his/her PlayOnline account, but has never obtained a FINAL FANTASY XI Content ID.
- The character has not been deleted automatically or deleted by the applicant.
- The character has not been deleted and can be reactivated using "Reactivate Content ID" under Membership.
- The applicant is currently playing, using the 14 Day Free Trial.
- The applicant had his/her PlayOnline membership revoked due to violations of the "PlayOnline Member Agreement," "PlayOnline Software License Agreement," "FINAL FANTASY XI Software License Agreement," and/or "FINAL FANTASY XI User Agreement."
The applicant must be a current PlayOnline member.
- The applicant has cancelled a FINAL FANTASY XI Content ID, and is unable to use the regular Content ID reactivation process because the reactivation period has passed.
- The applicant has deleted his or her character.
* The above eligibility also applies to applicants who have deleted their characters on their Content IDs before creating a different character on the same Content ID.
* The above eligibility also applies to applicants who have deleted their characters on their Content IDs before cancelling the ID itself.
edit add: * Even if you are eligible for this service, there may be rare cases in which character reactivation is not possible. (added to clarify that sometimes stuff just happens)
Applicants will be ineligible for the service if any of the following apply:
- The applicant has cancelled his/her PlayOnline account, but has never obtained a FINAL FANTASY XI Content ID.
- The character has not been deleted automatically or deleted by the applicant.
- The character has not been deleted and can be reactivated using "Reactivate Content ID" under Membership.
- The applicant is currently playing, using the 14 Day Free Trial.
- The applicant had his/her PlayOnline membership revoked due to violations of the "PlayOnline Member Agreement," "PlayOnline Software License Agreement," "FINAL FANTASY XI Software License Agreement," and/or "FINAL FANTASY XI User Agreement."
The actual bolded part was what caught my eye...
According to this it now seems that it may be possible for me to restore my original Pent.
Questions:
Q: In your opinion (or if you know it to be true, because you have done it), should I be able to restore my original Pent considering I reused the content ID which I think he used to be on when I put a newly made character with the same name on said ID? (I said, "I think he used to be on" because he was on my first content ID and that was the one I reactivated to make the newer Pent.)
Q: Is it possible to restore a character that use to be on a content ID that is now being used by a mule/character and actually put the newly restored character onto a different ID?
Q: Does FFXI and Windows 7 work well together? Any known bugs?
The last expansion that I bought was the Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and I saw that I can buy the complete collection for like $15 now... but I like my hard copies of the discs so paying to download the expansions so I can have them right now is out of the question... I can wait a few days to get the actual box.
Q: Is there a place to download the updates to the game up to my last expansion without having to reactivate a content ID to do so?
Q: Does SE still bill/charge everyone around the first of the month? Considering today is the 28th and if I reactivate a content ID today I would get charged a full month for 2-3 days left in this billing cycle and then get charged for the upcoming month... I would rather wait til the new cycle begins before reactivating if SE still charges full price just for a couple of days...
Q: When does the next billing cycle begin?
Q: Are there any places online that will actually sell me the game with the expansions, let me download the game after I purchase it, and will send me out the box with the discs?
That's it for now, any and all help is GREATLY appreciated.
Also, any further opinions, updates, comments, and facts that might be helpful to me is appreciated too.
Thanks!
Edited, Feb 28th 2010 11:37am by PentUpAnger
Edited, Mar 2nd 2010 9:29pm by PentUpAnger
