Account Restorations - Update

#1 - Dec. 11, 2012, 2:56 p.m.

We’re pleased to tell you that we are launching our Account Restoration Tool (ART) today. With that tool, we will be able to restore qualifying accounts that were compromised on or after December 1, 2012.

Read more about the service in our Account Restoration FAQ.

Spanish Account Restoration FAQ
French Account Restoration FAQ
German Account Restoration FAQ

#3 - Dec. 11, 2012, 3:01 p.m.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Congratulations! This is an exciting step forward for players who suffer incidents like this.

Thanks! We are extremely pleased to introduce this tool, which will enable us to help even more players. I’d call this a Red Letter Day for our team!

#7 - Dec. 11, 2012, 3:10 p.m.

Lonami.2987:

This is great; but wait, only one restoration per account? :S

Yes. Our goal is to help innocent victims of account hacks, but to also move conservatively in the process. We offer advice in tickets and in our Knowledge Base and Blog articles about account security, so it’s unlikely that someone will fall victim to a hacking incident more than once.

#23 - Dec. 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.

Boomstin.3460:

Lonami.2987:

This is great; but wait, only one restoration per account? :S

This part seems a bit unreasonable , might be something you would should reconsider. Because lightning does hit in the same place twice. Unlikely but possible.

edit. Apart from that issue everthing else sounds great.

Quam.7218:

I’m really glad that You made something like this – good job! But kitten why only once per lifetime ?

gotdamned.5318:

Will there be exceptions?

What if someone got hacked, changes everything and nothing happens.
Until 3 years later, then he get hacked again, would there be a restoration?

Also, if someone got hacked the first time and changes everything, but get “hacked” a second time (e.g. ‘friend’ watches him while typing the password or even uses the open game as an opportunity)

I can understand that there has to be a limit, but wouldn’t a 1-time-a-year-and-at-maximum-3-times be better?

Every situation is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. We will address such “edge case” issues individually, and make the best determination possible in each of them.

#25 - Dec. 11, 2012, 5:38 p.m.

Nebilim.5127:

I believe the one in a lifetime rollback was put to prevent some stuff

Let’s say a guy that hacked/stolen/exploited hundreds of gold/another person’s account. He will send that gold to someone, then he will contact support and claim to be hacked. Effectively doubling his income. Anet said that sometimes hackers have enough proof to offer that they are the original account owner.

I’m seeing gold sellers offering 5000 gold, i can’t imagine how bad this would be to the economy if anet made rollbacks to everyone like candy.

Thank you for understanding. There are several other reasons, but that one is definitely a concern.

As I mentioned, we will review and discuss exceptional situations with each player as they arise. It is, after all, our goal to help as many players as possible while maintaining solid business practices and looking at the overall good of the game, as well.

#27 - Dec. 11, 2012, 5:55 p.m.

Traldera.5120:

Although I understand the reason behind it, I suggest you slightly revise this once per account policy. GW2 is no doubt designed to be a long term product, with paid for expansions extending the lifetime of an account for many years. Whilst getting hacked twice in a relatively short period of time is unlikely, if is possible that it may happen more than once over long periods of time, particularly if there is a spike in player activity. Such an occurrence would make the accounts very attractive to hackers, much like they were at launch.
For this reason I seriously urge you to consider changing the policy to a once per term policy, such as once per year or 18 months. If not horror stories could emerge down the line and damage the public view of ArenaNet.

We will not revise the overall general policy, and certainly not at this time: the first day of the service.

We will review each case individually and make the best decision possible in that case.

#49 - Dec. 12, 2012, 1:31 p.m.

Please read the FAQ for answers to many questions posed in this thread.

• Yes, restoration is only for confirmed, qualifying compromised accounts.
• Yes, restoration is offered once per account, but we will review each request in the event that an exception could be made.
• No, we do not summarily ban accounts and never look at them again. We always are willing to review an individual player’s situation. (Keep in mind, at some point the review process ends with a final decision that should be respected.)
• The word “restoration” means a roll-back to a saved state, to a “snapshot” of the account on a previous date. The word “reinstatement” applies to those who may have been terminated in error. Players can submit an appeal and their account closure will be reviewed. Such accounts would not be eligible (or even need) restoration unless they provably were also compromised.

And once again, if you wish to discuss your individual situation with a CS Agent, contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

#53 - Dec. 12, 2012, 2:04 p.m.

Azure.8412:

I am at a loss. Ever since i was hacked, i gave up and moved on to my alternate character when my account was hacked. Now, when i leveled that character 25 times and earned a reasonable amount of gold, this account restoration comes. Just asking, why can’t ArenaNet just rollback one specific character?

It is not technically possible to roll back one character. It’s an “all account” situation, as that is how the data is stored.

#54 - Dec. 12, 2012, 2:06 p.m.

TimeBomb.3427:

Question:

If someone’s account gets compromised on January 10th and the latest restore point is January 5th, but they legitimately purchased gems, i.e. sent money to ArenaNet, on January 8th, then will those gems be restored, or at least the money spent on those gems be refunded?

The gems will be addressed, yes. We have those records, and that purchase can be accommodated in the restoration.