Deleted characters and birthdays

I have four lvl 80 characters atm waiting for their first birthday, since I deleted all old ones. My first character was human, because it seemed like safest option (I was also completely new to mmorpgs). I didn't play that character for past three years, because I was tired of humans. Basically, I waited for her 6th birthday to get the gift and deleted her.

I don't believe deleting characters should be punishing. If I don't feel like playing that one character, I would like to delete it with clear conscience and not keep it around to collect dust for years just for that gift.

I think it would be better if personal (character birthday gifts) were something small, something that can obtainable by other means, while unique skins, scrolls and the rest could be tied to account age. Something like anniversary of your account and you (player) get a birthday gift on that day.

So, in short:

• every year, your character gets their birthday gift (something non unique, but still neat and useful), obviously on their of their creation
• every year player gets that more unique gift for anniversary day of your account

Thoughts?

That's exactly what happens. There are achievements for reaching certain character ages, rewarding special Exotic backpack and armor skins.

I am totally against this. I dont want more limitations of rewards. That's just silly. I dont play all my characters but I enjoy the birthday gifts and love to get unique skins for my characters being around for so long.

The game and its birthday system is almost 7 years old. Right or wrong they aren’t going to revamp the whole birthday reward system to accommodate those who delete their chars.

However, you could always make a ticket and ask for your oldest char to be reinstated. You’ll need an empty char slot, the name to be available and they need to still have records on it. Give that a try and don’t delete it again if they do reinstate it.

I guess it would nice to reward long term accounts instead of marking it only through character longevity. May be one of those things buried in the depths of old code that they would rather not touch. I was lucky enough to keep my first toon from the head start; my sympathies to the folks who did not.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The game and its birthday system is almost 7 years old. Right or wrong they aren’t going to revamp the whole birthday reward system to accommodate those who delete their chars.

However, you could always make a ticket and ask for your oldest char to be reinstated. You’ll need an empty char slot, the name to be available and they need to still have records on it. Give that a try and don’t delete it again if they do reinstate it.

I deleted every character fully aware I will miss out on the gifts. I don't like having characters collect dust, especially if I know I will never play them again. I just think it's a sloppy system, that's all. Things we get are account bound anyway, so it would be better to have them as account gift, rather than character tied. Ah, well..

Let’s say that someone had routinely remade their characters across a span of three years. Should they get a birthday gift for each of those characters ever made? Is that fair to other players?

No one is punished for deleting any characters. I fail to understand the point here.

@kharmin.7683 said:No one is punished for deleting any characters. I fail to understand the point here.

For example, 5th birthday gift rewards luminous skin. What does a player who plays the game for 6 years, but has new character get? Mini Jennah.

Didn't read all posts but I have the same "issue". Deleted my old chars / still do that since 800 Gems for a char slot upgrade is a pretty dumb price imo. Would love to see Account Birthdays instead of character Bdays or both of them so people like me don't get punished like this. I have ~2300 days or so on my Account and afaik there is nothing like an account Bday :(

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The game and its birthday system is almost 7 years old. Right or wrong they aren’t going to revamp the whole birthday reward system to accommodate those who delete their chars.

However, you could always make a ticket and ask for your oldest char to be reinstated. You’ll need an empty char slot, the name to be available and they need to still have records on it. Give that a try and don’t delete it again if they do reinstate it.

They don’t need to “collect dust.” I have a lot of chars and I’ve found a use for each one. I have chars parked at chests and nodes. I use them for storage of wanted but seldom needed items (at 100 plus slots vs 30 for a bank slot they’re a good deal). I also use them for alternate elite spec builds, for example one necro is a Reaper and the other is a Scourge. All my level 80s are fully set up and I switch between them as wanted for play variety. I’ve had level 80 chars that I set aside for a few years then restarted when new elite specs came out and I wanted a char for that. In addition, each year I get 5 teleports, a valuable Dye Kit and other goodies for each of my char’s birthdays. That alone has paid off the cost of buying the char slots.

@kharmin.7683 said:No one is punished for deleting any characters. I fail to understand the point here.

If you mean they are not flogged then I suppose it's not punished. However if two people made accounts on the same day at game creation and one deleted characters while the other didn't then one account has at least five characters with sixth birthday gifts plus the others before that while the other account does not.

The first account might even have simply stopped playing and still get the 'loyalty' gifts while the second might play every day for all six plus years.

I haven't deleted mine but the system sounded ludicrous when described to me(I WAS going to delete my first toon) and still seems on the crazy side.

I am still quite new but will hit my third birthdays this summer...not being able to delete is just silly. I have twelve characters and while it's nice having old characters for storage purposes I would still like to delete and remake my second char. But I can't. Even third year gifts are nice. I'm looking forward to them.

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:Let’s say that someone had routinely remade their characters across a span of three years. Should they get a birthday gift for each of those characters ever made? Is that fair to other players?

Yes but birthdays have been a thing with Guild Wars since like 2006. The system shouldn’t change just because certain people chose to delete and remake characters.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The game and its birthday system is almost 7 years old. Right or wrong they aren’t going to revamp the whole birthday reward system to accommodate those who delete their chars.

However, you could always make a ticket and ask for your oldest char to be reinstated. You’ll need an empty char slot, the name to be available and they need to still have records on it. Give that a try and don’t delete it again if they do reinstate it.

I have 8000 hours in game, mate. I know how things work. If you have 50 characters sitting on farming spots, that is your decision and I got no problem with that. I personally like to keep characters that I actively play with and don't keep those that I don't play with. It's a simple matter really. Why I decide to delete my characters is my business. I just don't think tying birthday gifts to characters was well thought out idea, because if you wan't to keep getting next new gift, you have no choice but to keep your character.Don't you think it makes more sense for player to get reward for being loyal to the game for six years, rather than having a six years old character. I doubt anyone at Arena net cares how old are our characters. They are probably more happy about knowing people stuck with the game for 6+ years.

Keep in mind that this was also how they did birthday gifts in Guild Wars - with it being tied to character and not account.

The thing is your method punishes players who have alts and don't routinely delete their characters.

1 set of gifts per account vs 1 set of gifts per character.

I don't have the numbers, but I'd imagine that you are probably in the minority with deleting every character.

I personally have 10 permanent characters (I have 11, but 1 is a character for key runs, she gets deleted weekly) that range from 6.78 years old to 1.78 years old. Your suggestion would reduce the gifts I get for each year ten fold. So instead of getting 10 year 8 dye packs, I'd only get 1. That's 9 dyes that I could have gotten but was denied just because a minority delete their characters routinely.

So I don't agree with your suggestion, though I do sympathize.

@"serialkicker.5274" said:It's a simple matter really.

It's not: you want ANet to change an entire game mechanic to accommodate your personal preference.While you're free to want what you want, ANet is not free to adapt the game just because some of us think it would be a good idea.

Here we are about to celebrate the game's 7th anniversary. It doesn't seem as if it would be the best use of their resources to change things.

Why I decide to delete my characters is my business.Certainly.

I just don't think tying birthday gifts to characters was well thought out idea,You mean: you don't like it. Near as we can tell from ANet comments, they did think about it.

you have no choice but to keep your character.I don't have a problem with that requirement.

Don't you think it makes more sense for player to get reward for being loyal to the game for six years, rather than having a six years old character.

Actually, no. I think it makes no sense at all to consider "loyalty" with regards to character creation/deletion. Arguably, the person who buys new toons rather than deletes characters is "more loyal." I think it digresses from the point.

As I stated above, I agree it would be sensible to tie anniversary rewards to the account's age. I agree that such a system would have been better for more people in the long run. I am sure that if we started with such a system, no one would ask for it to be changed to the one we have.

That isn't at all the same as thinking that it would be good for the game today to change the system.

Anet want players to buy character slots. They are not going to remove one of the incentives for doing so. Personally I don't consider any of my characters disposable. I only delete characters/saves in games that I mod so much they bug out anyways. The current system works fine and I don't think deleting characters should be rewarded.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"serialkicker.5274" said:It's a simple matter really.

It's not: you want ANet to change an entire game mechanic to accommodate your personal preference.Nice misinterpretation. Sentence was applying to previous one that explained how I treat my characters and has nothing to do with Anet.While you're free to want what you want, ANet is not free to adapt the game just because some of us think it would be a good idea.Are you part of Arenanet staff? If not, then please don't suggest you know what they know is good for them. Last time I checked, this is forum and one of the reasons forum exist is for feedback, discussion and suggestions.Here we are about to celebrate the game's 7th anniversary. It doesn't seem as if it would be the best use of their resources to change things.Again, what you think is waste of resources is your opinion. I think WvW is waste of resources and I don't around telling people who love that mod such thing. We all have our preferences and reasons to play the game. We all have our wishes and we all would wish to have more of what we love in game. You are free to make your suggestion and I'm free to make mine. I am fine with people disagreeing, if they provide reasonable answer as to why and not just "because I don't like it or I don't need it".

I just don't think tying birthday gifts to characters was well thought out idea,You mean: you don't like it. Near as we can tell from ANet comments, they did think about it.So, everything they think is automatically 100% correct or best approach or idea?

you have no choice but to keep your character.I don't have a problem with that requirement.You don't. I might not have some other problem that you have. What do we do now?

Don't you think it makes more sense for player to get reward for being loyal to the game for six years, rather than having a six years old character.

Actually, no. I think it makes no sense at all to consider "loyalty" with regards to character creation/deletion. Arguably, the person who buys new toons rather than deletes characters is "more loyal." I think it digresses from the point.What? Did I read this correctly? You are saying throwing money for more character slots is being more loyal? Some rich kid could spend 1000 bucks on game and play it for one month and stop, while some poor kid might spend 50 bucks over 6 years, but play the game and support it by helping people and being part of community. But with your logic, first kid is more loyal. Ok.

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The game and its birthday system is almost 7 years old. Right or wrong they aren’t going to revamp the whole birthday reward system to accommodate those who delete their chars.

However, you could always make a ticket and ask for your oldest char to be reinstated. You’ll need an empty char slot, the name to be available and they need to still have records on it. Give that a try and don’t delete it again if they do reinstate it.

So what you’re saying is you deleted chars with full knowledge of the consequences and now you want ANet to revamp a 6+ year old reward system because now you want the rewards.

Good luck on your request.

I have one old character from the beginning and did not play with him a long time but now I discovered him again and it is actually much fun to play the character. It is your fault if you deleted characters.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The game and its birthday system is almost 7 years old. Right or wrong they aren’t going to revamp the whole birthday reward system to accommodate those who delete their chars.

However, you could always make a ticket and ask for your oldest char to be reinstated. You’ll need an empty char slot, the name to be available and they need to still have records on it. Give that a try and don’t delete it again if they do reinstate it.

I don't remember requesting anything. I just shared my opinion on this, in my opinion, flawed system. Perhaps at some point they will think about it and change it. I don't believe it would be THAT hard. Simply for next birthday, instead of putting unique skin that is only available through birthday gifts, could be instead put as anniversary gift when you account reaches 5th year or whatever. While character would still get birthday gifts as normally, just not special items like these unique skins. Just quick example, I haven't thought it through a lot, so might be imperfect. I just wanted to express an opinion and have a discussion.

@"serialkicker.5274" said:What? Did I read this correctly?Almost nothing you posted suggests you read what I wrote correctly, no.

For example, what I said was that loyalty is a bad choice of comparison. It can be interpreted in different ways. And more importantly, it distracts from the very point you are trying to make. Did you actually want to argue about the definition of "most loyal customer"? I understood that your intent was to agitate for a change in the anniversary reward system, which doesn't depend on agreeing who is "most loyal" or "more loyal."

For example, what I wrote was that no one would be arguing to replace an account-based definition of account anniversary with a character-based definition (the current system), had ANet started the other way around. That doesn't mean that ANet didn't think about their original choice or even that it was a bad one at the time.

For example, what I wrote was that it didn't appear to worth the time to change, 7 years into the game. You seem to have interpreted that as if I was speaking for ANet, as it's impossible for anyone else to make any reasonable guess as to how tricky such things are to actually implement.

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The game and its birthday system is almost 7 years old. Right or wrong they aren’t going to revamp the whole birthday reward system to accommodate those who delete their chars.

However, you could always make a ticket and ask for your oldest char to be reinstated. You’ll need an empty char slot, the name to be available and they need to still have records on it. Give that a try and don’t delete it again if they do reinstate it.

Your suggestion that they completely revamp the 6+ year birthday reward system is a request for it to be done.

You might consider who ANet values more when they look at these types of suggestions. Do they value the account that never buys char slots but only deletes and remakes or do they value more the accounts that buy multiple slots instead of deleting multiple chars. They’re going to value more the accounts that puts more money in their pockets. They aren’t going to revamp the reward system to favor the accounts that aren’t high value to them, especially after years have gone by and most people are fine with the current system.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"serialkicker.5274" said:What? Did I read this correctly?Almost nothing you posted suggests you read what I wrote correctly, no.

No, that is not what you said. That is what you are saying now, after I replied. Let's look at your quotes.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:While you're free to want what you want, ANet is not free to adapt the game just because some of us think it would be a good idea.Anet decides to what they can and want to adapt to. Quite a few things were put or changed in game, because community expressed a wish for or gave feedback.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:Actually, no. I think it makes no sense at all to consider "loyalty" with regards to character creation/deletion. Arguably, the person who buys new toons rather than deletes characters is "more loyal."First part I agree with you. You even quoted the part that agrees with you. I also don't think loyalty has anything to do with character creation/deletion. That's why I said, Arenanet probably doesn't care how old are our characters, but how many players they have that play the game from beginning, that would be more interesting for them and they would consider those people loyal, wouldn't they?Second part, you obviously said we could argue that people who buy toons are more loyal. I know you said "arguably" but still, that makes zero sense. Not even arguably, those can they be more loyal. It just means that some people have money to pay for their convenience.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@serialkicker.5274 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The game and its birthday system is almost 7 years old. Right or wrong they aren’t going to revamp the whole birthday reward system to accommodate those who delete their chars.

However, you could always make a ticket and ask for your oldest char to be reinstated. You’ll need an empty char slot, the name to be available and they need to still have records on it. Give that a try and don’t delete it again if they do reinstate it.

Especially if it may anger players who had a character at 4 and 5 years old who picked an option out of the selection knowing they would be able to get another one next year. More detailed example of the player: On their 5 year old character they couldn't decide between the Ruby Red or the Pumpkin Orange. So they picked one knowing next year, their 4 year old character would be 5 years old and they could pick up the other dye. If your suggestion got implemented between those two dates, then that player may be angry that they didn't get to choose the other dye because their account already got the 5 year birthday gift.

How do you explain to those players who have a lot of characters that they suddenly get a lot less gifts just because you can't keep a single character around permanently?

I lose out 10 fold. You still haven't convinced me why your system is better than the current system.