Account Restoration Request

#1 - Jan. 28, 2014, 11:15 p.m.

Hi Everybody,

I will probably get critiqued to death here, but here goes.

My brother went into my guardian and removed almost all of the items in the character. This includes sunrise, bifrost, juggernaut, flameseeker’s prophecy, infinite light, immobulus and 3-4 sets of armors.

I know the ‘evil family member’ scenario arise quite often in arenanet’s book when it comes to complaints about accidental deletions. This is also not within company policy framework for restoration because my account wasn’t compromised by a third party in a remote location. It is also my fault for not keeping my computer safely locked up.

I’m not sure if my situation is completely unique, given the amount of rarities that got removed, but I’m certainly discouraged to continue to play the game. In fact, I had stopped since last October (when this happened). Yet, after a few months, I feel the need to reflect this situation to the team, even if there is little to no hope of getting my account restored.

There are accidents like buying the wrong item or deleting an expensive weapon, there are also times like mine, where an entire year worth of playing is wasted because of a simple mistake. I only hope arenanet can look into situations like these and try to come up with a framework for restoration.

Thank you for your time.

Gaile Gray

#2 - Jan. 29, 2014, 9:14 p.m.

First, this is not an “issue” but more of a request, so I changed the subject line so it’s less confusing.

Second, what does “removed” mean in this context? Moved to his account? Sold? Traded? Deleted (destroyed in the trash bin)? Forged? Naturally, some wouldn’t be possible for account- or soul-bound items. But the details of exactly what happened are relevant to your case, should you contact Support. They also relate to loss because if “removed” means traded, then the net is clearly not zero.

You seem to be aware of the limits placed on the use of the ART (Account Restoration Tool), and also knowledgeable about the number of players who ask for exceptions to be made in their cases. I wish I could say your situation was unique, or that it even represented a highly-unusual case. Unfortunately, no, this sort of thing does happen on a fairly regular basis. It’s most common with accounts that intentionally are shared but it’s certainly not unusual with accounts that are not kept secure. (And yes, I call it the Evil Little Brother™ Syndrome, so you’re not far off the mark in what you called it.)

I just sent an answer to a player who heatedly has demanded that we roll-back his account due to his own admitted lack of security. That will not happen for very practical reasons which I sense you understand, including our inability to verify the circumstances, the possibility of abuse through planned “hacking” incidents, damage to the game economy through unwarranted roll-backs without retrieving the items from the (genuine) hacker, etc.

Feel free to submit a ticket to discuss the items you’re most concerned about, but thank you for understanding, out of the gate, that we cannot offer a restoration in this case.