Restoring characters Should be a player's option

[jimmybob.5628]

So I Have a sone with autism and when I am away He likes to get on the pc and play GW2 and when he dos he Deletes my Characters I  rectified the situation by getting my self a gaming laptop. But at the same time I do believe that accidents happen. So if Arenanet would Be able to come up with a system to Help Restore Deleted Characters some thing that player can do them Self like a button . I think this could be a step in the right Direction and a quality of life improvements . 

Edited November 21, 2021 by jimmybob.5628
Feel to long

[Sinmir.6504]

Although, in this case, it is breaking the policy to share your account.

[Gibson.4036]

Use alt keyboard characters when naming your characters. The ones with accent marks and such.  This makes it much more challenging to delete them.

Plus, bonus fantasy points for names with meaningless accents and umlauts.

Edited November 21, 2021 by Gibson.4036

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

Why not change your password and make a free account for your son and let him play on that. If he gets a character to level 80 you can consider getting him a paid account. 

[Danikat.8537]

I think Anet can restore characters, but you have to contact Support and ask them to do it, and it's dependant on how long ago they were deleted and what info you're able to provide. I think you at least need to tell them the name and if you've used that name more than once you'll need other info so they can find the right version.

But if your son also likes playing GW2 and you don't want him messing with your account the best solution is to get him one of his own to play.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

I remembered that they used to restore deleted characters so I did a quick google and found this statement  from an previous thread. 

 

Quote

 

Thank you for contacting the Guild Wars 2 Support Team.The tool that we use to restore deleted characters to an account is currently down. Unfortunately, we do not know when a fix will be implemented but it is being looked into.Please feel free to touch base with us at a later time and we can attempt a restoration then.We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If there is anything else we can assist with, please let us know."

 

[JustTrogdor.7892]

 

29 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I think Anet can restore characters, but you have to contact Support and ask them to do it, and it's dependant on how long ago they were deleted and what info you're able to provide. I think you at least need to tell them the name and if you've used that name more than once you'll need other info so they can find the right version.

But if your son also likes playing GW2 and you don't want him messing with your account the best solution is to get him one of his own to play.

 

21 minutes ago, Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

I remembered that they used to restore deleted characters so I did a quick google and found this statement  from an previous thread. 

 

 

Anet did restore deleted characters for awhile.  Then they stopped doing it again for some reason.  I don't know if they stated why they discontinued the service:

https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010181213-Restoring-a-Deleted-Character

Quote

Character restorations are no longer a service that we provide. We urge players to be careful when making the decision to delete a character.

Edit:  According to the Wayback Machine the page linked above changed from how to request a deleted character be restored to they no longer offer it as a service sometime between April of this year and June of this year.

Edited November 21, 2021 by JustTrogdor.7892

[Astralporing.1957]

It's no longer a service they provide. This does not mean they do not restore characters - only, that having them do that becomes much harder to accomplish. Previously you could ask for a character restoration without even supplying a reason for it, and they did it (but only once per character, iirc). Now, you need to persuade them that there's a good reason you try to ask them for it.

I guess, their tool did not get fixed, after all, and they have to do restorations manually, which is why they do not want it to be something being done too often.

[Khisanth.2948]

Deleting characters is for deleting characters.

It is not for archiving characters. Should it have an archiving option? I have no strong feeling for it either way.

The option is at the delete step, same as you would do when you throw stuff out.

 

In your case you could simply disable the saved password option and there is also 2FA.

[JustTrogdor.7892]

16 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

It's no longer a service they provide. This does not mean they do not restore characters - only, that having them do that becomes much harder to accomplish. Previously you could ask for a character restoration without even supplying a reason for it, and they did it (but only once per character, iirc). Now, you need to persuade them that there's a good reason you try to ask them for it.

I guess, their tool did not get fixed, after all, and they have to do restorations manually, which is why they do not want it to be something being done too often.

Do you have a source for that?  Just curious because as I read they just don't do it anymore?   More digging I did found a complaint on the BBB website dated 1 Sept 2021 where Anet responded to the customer also saying they no longer restore deleted characters.  Here is what they said:

Quote

While we no longer restore characters, we can at times make exceptions and restore items lost this way. After review, I followed-up on your issue with the customer service team and they should have contacted you yesterday. 

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by JustTrogdor.7892

[AgentMoore.9453]

Not that I think this would happen often, but if they implemented a 'restore character' button like OP suggests, couldn't people artificially bypass their active character slots by deleting and calling back characters at will? I think they want to keep restoring characters limited for a variety of reasons, but this is at least one that comes to mind right away.

As to OP's situation, I think your best bet in this scenario is to:

- Create a free account for your kid (and later upgrade it when package deals (or promotions) for the full game are available
- Secure your account (Separate laptop, sure, but consider changing your password as well)
- Contact support; explain your situation as well as the steps you've taken to secure your account, and request a one-time restoration of the deleted characters with the understanding that this shouldn't be an issue in the future
- Be ready for them to say 'I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that'
- Let us know how it went here on the forum - I'm curious

[Blude.6812]

3 hours ago, Sinmir.6504 said:

Although, in this case, it is breaking the policy to share your account.

Although that sounds harsh, they (Anet) could simply say no to the restore because of it. Then again an understanding support person could give a one time restore with the caveat that they wouldn't do it again. Having an option for the player to restore characters  themselves wouldn't even be considered for a variety of reasons that wouldn't be in the games best interests.

A separate account and PW (free or otherwise) would seem the best way of addressing the issue in the future.

 

[LucianDK.8615]

Wow for example allows you to undelete a character every 7 days. Simple press of a button.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

29 minutes ago, LucianDK.8615 said:

Wow for example allows you to undelete a character every 7 days. Simple press of a button.

Does WoW sell character slots? Because in this game that could be used to have more characters without spending money on character slots. Make a character, delete when not playing it, undelete when wanted, rinse and repeat as needed. 

Edited November 21, 2021 by Just a flesh wound.3589

[LucianDK.8615]

1 minute ago, Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

Does WoW sell character slots? Because in this game that could be used to have more characters without spending money on character slots. Make a character, delete when not playing it, undelete when wanted, rinse and repeat as needed. 

 

You get 50 character slots PER server.

If you are in a group of 4 linked servers, it effectively gives you 200 characters to play with.

Edited November 21, 2021 by LucianDK.8615

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

1 minute ago, LucianDK.8615 said:

 

You get 50 character slots PER server.

If you are in a group of 4 linked servers, it effectively gives you 200 characters to play with.

 So far most players, as many free characters as you want in WoW. 
 

[Danikat.8537]

2 hours ago, Blude.6812 said:

Although that sounds harsh, they (Anet) could simply say no to the restore because of it. Then again an understanding support person could give a one time restore with the caveat that they wouldn't do it again. Having an option for the player to restore characters  themselves wouldn't even be considered for a variety of reasons that wouldn't be in the games best interests.

A separate account and PW (free or otherwise) would seem the best way of addressing the issue in the future.

 

I've never seen it confirmed but I suspect things like this are one reason most MMOs don't allow account sharing. I used to have to share games with my siblings and it caused problems in any game that didn't have completely seperate save files/characters. It could have caused a problem in Ultima Online even though the characters were seperate (including seperate banks) because for a while my sister made money by scamming newbies and people wanting ERP. Fortunately her older siblings caught her and put a stop to it before she was reported, but if she had been I assume the entire account would have been banned and telling Support "No that wasn't me, it was my little sister!" wouldn't have achieved much.

It's much simpler for Anet if they can treat each account as 1 person and don't have to fix problems like one character using gold/materials which "belong" to another one or only one person on the account breaking the TOS.

[Solvar.7953]

If a backup is not taken right at the moment the character is deleted, this could also lead to item duping:  I sell/transfer all the items on the character elsewhere.  I delete that character.  The automatic restore is from a time before all the items were transferred, and I suddenly have them again.

I suspect part of the restoration process is the person doing the restoration doing a look at the character (and perhaps logs) and making sure nothing odd was done with that character.

There have been cases is the past where a rollback happened on the server, and people lost progress (restore was from a day prior).  

[jimmybob.5628]

13 hours ago, Sinmir.6504 said:

Although, in this case, it is breaking the policy to share your account.

Not Sharing account he just click on the game and it loads he see the Characters and Deletes them I have used the ALT code but he seem to figure them out He is smart but he is also not understanding of the work I put in to them. So I bought the gaming laptop. He has the desk top and has his own account that he dos not play . so in this case I would like to point out That a restore function some thing like world of warcraft has would help a lot of player's out. So they do not have to go thru the ticket   process It would Be available every seven days . So if some one's account got hacked or a verry made significant other or kid get on your account or some dumb friend who want's to play a prank on you. That way you can restore that delete  Character. Just one person thought 

[Friday.7864]

Uhm, passwords are supposed to prevent what's happening to you. If you leave everything unlocked it's as if you're asking for stuff to get deleted in your case.
I'd suggest locking the laptop each time you leave it unattended.
If typing in passwords is a chore for you there are Windows Hello usb fingerprint scanners and cameras you can plug in for instant access to PC.
 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

This sounds fishy.  Can you not change the password on your account and/or your laptop, and not let him know?  I have two accounts and I have both passwords memorized.  Are you not able to do that??

[Astralporing.1957]

2 hours ago, jimmybob.5628 said:

Not Sharing account he just click on the game and it loads he see the Characters and Deletes them I have used the ALT code but he seem to figure them out He is smart but he is also not understanding of the work I put in to them. So I bought the gaming laptop. He has the desk top and has his own account that he dos not play . so in this case I would like to point out That a restore function some thing like world of warcraft has would help a lot of player's out. So they do not have to go thru the ticket   process It would Be available every seven days . So if some one's account got hacked or a verry made significant other or kid get on your account or some dumb friend who want's to play a prank on you. That way you can restore that delete  Character. Just one person thought 

It's a bit more problematic.

The way you'd want it to work would require for anet to back up every single character on the moment of deletion (to prevent the abovementioned item duplication issues). And it would require the character database to contain every single character that was ever made (including, for example, a ton of weekly keyfarm characters some of us have made - and deleted - throughout the years). And i am talking about an active database, not a backup copy stashed somewhere offline.

Besides, how you'd think this might work? You click on "character restoration" and see a list of keyfarm characters, all with the same name? See only the most recent one? See only a select number of X last-deleted characters (which would effectively give you X additional character storage slots for free)? What would happen if you deleted a character and made a new one with the same name? Should the old one be still available for restoration or not?

What would happen if the game allowed you to restore, say, 5 most recently deleted characters (although, see the "additional character slots" issue i've already mentioned), and your son would have deleted 10? With the ones most recently used by you being first on the login list, so probably also first to be deleted? Whoulc you then not be arguing for support to restore those more important 5 characters as well?

I can already see several issues with the idea - and i am sure there are issues that I didn't think of yet.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Astralporing.1957

[The Greyhawk.9107]

Maybe I missed this part but why does your son keep trying to delete your characters?

[Linken.6345]

12 hours ago, The Greyhawk.9107 said:

Maybe I missed this part but why does your son keep trying to delete your characters?

Might be that the OP is spending to much time in tyria according to their son.

So deletion of characters remove the urge.