Old player seeking to get his account back

[Fate is Mine]

Hello there,

I am having a bit of an issue and i don't know where to look for help so i will post it here in hope of finding a positive answer.

I am having troubles reactivating my UO account.
I have the username and password, but the email linked to it got hacked so i cannot access it.
My UO account is linked to an EA account that i know nothing of, so i can't reactivate my account.
I tried to look for a support phone number but could not find one, so i sent an email to the support team explaining my situation.

They answered (extremely fast at that) saying i needed to reply to their mail with all my details.
I sent all the details they asked for, and got confirmation of the details matching my account except for ONE question, the most important of all, the answer to the secret question.

I know it is stupid of me to have forgotten it, but i filled that around 10 years ago, at the time i was 13 years old, and was not wise enough to see the importance of this.

I even sent a mail back asking if i could send a photocopy of my ID to prove i am the owner, the only answer i got was basically : No secret answer not account.


Does anyone see a solution here ?
I really do want to play again, so i am asking to anyone, player or mod, to see if there is a solution for me.


Best regards,
Fate

 

[Lady Storm]

well......... that secret question was the safeguard for the accounts security and I for one do understand why they might get hinkie if you cant come up with the answer.
But.... its tiny but.... did you keep the original cd? there is a code on it that proves your the creator of that account to a point.
See many sold their accounts and kept the cd's and tried years later to get back what in reality wasn't theirs any more.... many real owners got hacked by the creators getting back those accounts by fraudulent means.
So you see that question is paramount to your id of said account.
I don't know which question you answered at the time..... but as you said you were 13 start thinking like a 13 year old and the way you thought of things back then...
I have a old guildmate who's sons created accounts for them to play on using totally made up names and info.... suffice it to say a few years later when they wanted to return to the game both were sad to find out the system had changed and both for the life of them couldn't remember a lick of it when a UO rep asked for info. Pays to write all this down! even at 13.

 

[DevilsOwn]

I'm gonna be in serious trouble some day since I don't recall ever even being asked to answer a secret question.... is this something that's been happening always?

 

[Lady Michelle]

I'm gonna be in serious trouble some day since I don't recall ever even being asked to answer a secret question.... is this something that's been happening always?

I wanted to unlink an account I was asked what the answer to the secret question was.
I said there is no answer because I never set one up for that account guy checked and said I was right I never did set one up.
They do asked weird questions though I was once asked for the persons credit card I was giving the account to.
I found that weird to I said Why would I have that its not my card told him forget it thanked him and hung up.

 

[Lady Michelle]

Hello there,

I am having a bit of an issue and i don't know where to look for help so i will post it here in hope of finding a positive answer.

I am having troubles reactivating my UO account.
I have the username and password, but the email linked to it got hacked so i cannot access it.
My UO account is linked to an EA account that i know nothing of, so i can't reactivate my account.
I tried to look for a support phone number but could not find one, so i sent an email to the support team explaining my situation.

They answered (extremely fast at that) saying i needed to reply to their mail with all my details.
I sent all the details they asked for, and got confirmation of the details matching my account except for ONE question, the most important of all, the answer to the secret question.

I know it is stupid of me to have forgotten it, but i filled that around 10 years ago, at the time i was 13 years old, and was not wise enough to see the importance of this.

I even sent a mail back asking if i could send a photocopy of my ID to prove i am the owner, the only answer i got was basically : No secret answer not account.


Does anyone see a solution here ?
I really do want to play again, so i am asking to anyone, player or mod, to see if there is a solution for me.


Best regards,
Fate

They tell you what the question was at least?

 

[Stiles223]

I wasnt asked for a question, if the account is old enough they did not even have security questions back then.

 

[Fate is Mine]

Thank you for the answers, it seems like i will not be able to recover my account with the look of things.
Yes, they gave me the secret question i need to answer to, but as i said, unfortunately it was really a long time ago and i was too young to understand the importance of it.

Well, i am kind of sad to see that i can't access my account, i don't see myself starting over,
i would not feel at ease playing UO with a different account, so much history

 

[Stiles223]

Don't give up hope. I got mine back like 2 days ago (I have a thread about it on this page somewheres near the top). I had to guess some of the info. One of the questions asked was what email the account was under.

It was before 2000. I had MANY email addresses. My first batch of potential answers was wrong much to my surprise. So I asked them if there were any other questions they may ask that I may know the answer to. The next email was one indicating that the account was given back to me. Seems they just were like "whatever, have your account back"

I did give them plenty of other accurate info though such as address, name, billing name, phone number etc etc from back in the day.

 

[Miri of Sonoma]

Did they even have secret questions 10 years ago? I thought that it was something new they created with this new account nightmare??

 

[MalagAste]

There was NO secret question until Account Management forced it. So unless you played UO in the last 2 years you would NOT have set up a "Mythic Master Account" therefore your account would not have had one. It's only been since then that one was ever implemented. So either you had sold your account to someone who's actively playing it... Someone hacked your email and took your account long ago and is still using it... Or someone Hacked your email took your account and sold it to someone who's still playing it. Or you are phishing for someones account info... Which is why a Secret Question and such were put in place in the first place. You could ask them if the account is currently "Active" and Paid... If it's not tell them that obviously you are the owner because if you were looking to hack and steal the account obviously then the account would be paid up and active..... but if you did indeed "lose" the account info and want to restart it then obviously as the owner of an "Inactive" account it wouldn't be currently active. Try using that logic on them... it might work.

 

[Fate is Mine]

There was NO secret question until Account Management forced it. So unless you played UO in the last 2 years you would NOT have set up a "Mythic Master Account" therefore your account would not have had one. It's only been since then that one was ever implemented. So either you had sold your account to someone who's actively playing it... Someone hacked your email and took your account long ago and is still using it... Or someone Hacked your email took your account and sold it to someone who's still playing it. Or you are phishing for someones account info... Which is why a Secret Question and such were put in place in the first place. You could ask them if the account is currently "Active" and Paid... If it's not tell them that obviously you are the owner because if you were looking to hack and steal the account obviously then the account would be paid up and active..... but if you did indeed "lose" the account info and want to restart it then obviously as the owner of an "Inactive" account it wouldn't be currently active. Try using that logic on them... it might work.

Well as i said my uo acc is linked to an ea, and the email address that leads to the ea acc got hacked, so cant recover it from there (perhaps what i don't understand is that the secret answer is for the ea acc not the uo one ?).
I know the account is not active as i have the username and password and when i type them in it says the account is blocked because i did not pay for it, so it is definitely not active.
Why always jump in "you are trying to steal an account" conclusion, i am just an old player who made a mistake and because of that can't log his account, i am not saying ea screwed me, on the contrary, i made a mistake and would like ea to help me recover it.

 

[Miri of Sonoma]

Yes the secret question is linked to the EA id or actually it might be the Mythic master id. Many of us are in a fog regarding the new account management structure and just barely manage to stumble through it. I would venture a guess though that if you don't have access to the ea id (which is an email id) your chances are slim. It sounds like someone who had the uo account information already linked the account. Keep trying with customer service.

 

[Lady Storm]

OK you say the account name and password is there now the question is... did you make a master EA account and link your account to it?
We have only had that a few years now.
How long sense you last logged in?
Please understand many of us here are leary of all things concerning accounts info. Too many have been fished and hacked.
As for your issue, you gave them a lot of info outside the secret question... are you sure you got any such question?
We are trying to help you...

 

[Fate is Mine]

Apparently my uo account is linked to an EA account that i don't know off, and i guess that the secret answer is for the EA account, so i don't know the answer to that.

So i am left with the details of my UO account and that is it.
I gave them all the informations they asked for except this one, but i cannot invent it as i am not the one putting it in the first place..

 

[Lady Michelle]

Apparently my uo account is linked to an EA account that i don't know off, and i guess that the secret answer is for the EA account, so i don't know the answer to that.

So i am left with the details of my UO account and that is it.
I gave them all the informations they asked for except this one, but i cannot invent it as i am not the one putting it in the first place..

Someone stole the account the password would of been changed since you have the password you know it hasn't been stole. My nephew quit playing long time ago I had only his username and password even though I had no idea what his email was for that account. I still was able to link the account because I had the username and password.
https://accounts.eamythic.com/
go create a new account and see if you can link the uo user name to it.
being a old account you will have to add on uo_ to it like this uo_username.

 

[Fate is Mine]

I just had another concern...
I tried typing anything in the UO login screen as a password and the same message appeared, meaning that it is not certain that i in fact do know the password to the account...

Isn't there a phone number i could contact to settle this once and for all ?

 

[Lady Storm]

I am going to step out here on a limb and say e mail Mesanna... explain the info you have and don't forget to add in the last date/month/year you played that account. If you didn't sell it and I take it that you did not. This info can help her determine if the account has been active recently. If your lucky she can set it back up for you to start playing. No Promises mind you but its worth a try.

 

[Naxatilor Feluka]

Your best bet is probably to provide them with proof of the last method of payment used on your account. The endgame with EA is always MONEY = OWNER. Any account ownership disputes are settled this way.

 

[Mina_Lino]

returning to UO since they changed the logins is truly hell.

They should have kept it simple like back in the old days...just filling in your user id and pass.
Or at least drop the whole master mythic stuff...just login with your email and pass...

 

[Lady Storm]

EA and simple don't mix... I sometimes think the Ea board were all crash test dummys in a past life

 

[Veldrane]

returning to UO since they changed the logins is truly hell.

They should have kept it simple like back in the old days...just filling in your user id and pass.
Or at least drop the whole master mythic stuff...just login with your email and pass...

My wife and I just returned to UO - we played from 97 to 00 and then again in 08. I spent a week trying to navigate the account management nightmare and that was with already having almost all of the information I needed to recover the accounts. The current state of account management is truly a road block to regaining former players.

 

[Ray_Martin]

Back in 1997 people made emails on name change whims. LOL I've had at least a dozen emails.

 

[Lady Storm]

Veldrane is not the only one that has told this forum the trouble the new management program has given returning players....
I for one have invited many of my older friends who quit years ago back.....
ahhh... well the last one I talked to said they gave up after hours of frustration trying...
I even walked them through the stratics postings of how to do it and it was not them that had the problem...
EA billing is a nightmare. Plain and simple.
Bonnie I know you just run UO but cant you talk to them about this?
I mean they want our money don't they?

 

[Veldrane]

Not to derail the thread, but if anyone from EA is interested in hearing my experience with reclaiming my accounts, I'd be willing to talk to them. My area is more retail ecommerce UI / UIX but this shares the same basic principals. Not saying I know how to fix it, just that I can give meaningful feedback on what I experienced.

 

[DJAd]

When in account creation does it ask you to create a secret question? I can't remember doing it and can't see any options on the account management page.

 

[MalagAste]

I wrote the EA CEO's awhile back about it got a nice letter from a fellow Kyle Cooper.... they told me they looked into the matter and declared nothing wrong...... thanks for my input... they will consider it case closed.

At which I told them to stuff it and stop billing me from the Netherlands I'm tired to trying to explain to my CC company that I'm not doing anything fraudulent ...... just trying to pay for my game by autopay I can't help they bill me from out of country when they are BASED in the US.

 

[Tina Small]

When in account creation does it ask you to create a secret question? I can't remember doing it and can't see any options on the account management page.

There no longer seems to be a way to create or edit your secret question(s) from the Bioware Mythic Account Management site. However, if you log into your EA or Mythic Master Account on the Origin.com site, you can do some editing of your secret question(s). It is not terribly user-friendly, however, and if you set up a secret question in the past, either through the Bioware/Mythic site or shortly before we got dumped off the original account management site that was just for UO and don't know what the answer to that question is now, you won't be able to edit your password or secret question(s) through the Origin site. If you are able to get into that section however, because you can answer your current secret question or don't have one, it looks like you can select up to 3 of the following choices as your secret question through the Origin site.

• What elementary school did you attend?
• What is the name of your favorite pet?
• Where did your parents meet?
• Where did you go for your honeymoon?
• What street did you grow up on?
• What was the last name of your third grade teacher?
• What was your first girlfriend or boyfriend's name?
• What was the name of your childhood best friend?
• What was the make and model of your first car?
• What was your dream job as a kid?
• What is the name of your favorite cartoon?
• What was the name of your favorite stuffed animal?
• What was the name of the first concert you attended?

It seems like we had the ability through the Bioware Mythic Account Management system to set up a secret question and an answer, because I remember it coming up the first time I used that system when we switched to it in August or September of 2011. However, I just can't remember if it was optional or mandatory that you used it. In any event, somewhere along the line after that, we lost that functionality on the Bioware Mythic site and the only way I can find now to mess with "secret questions" is through the Origin site.

We also had the ability on the old account management system for UO to set up a secret question. This was added in September 2007, but only new accounts set up after that time were required to create the question and answer. http://uo.stratics.com/uoherald/news/news.php?newsid=220 . I think most people who had active accounts created before then didn't bother with it. I cannot remember if those secret questions and answers were carried over to the Bioware Mythic Account Management system, however.

 

[Flutter]

Every time I see these posts I worry it's my ex husband trying to claim my accounts. We haven't spoken in five years so he wouldn't know much other than what he finds online as far as address. But he'd remember account names.
I'd rather they just not give the information out. At all. Ever.
It isn't hard now to get started with a new account. There's alacrity scrolls and you can eat pink scrolls all the way up to 120 skill if you don't feel like working.
Your house would be long gone anyway so there's no plus or minus there. If you think your bankbox filled with 366K and your silver vanquishing short sword is going to get your somewhere it's not.
Start from scratch. Hell if you join a guild you'll get all armored and weaponed up rather quickly.
There's no reason for people to want these accounts back. Nostalgia? I get it. But gosh. More harm than good can come from these types of things IMHO

 

[DJAd]

However, if you log into your EA or Mythic Master Account on the Origin.com site, you can do some editing of your secret question(s). It is not terribly user-friendly, however, and if you set up a secret question in the past, either through the Bioware/Mythic site or shortly before we got dumped off the original account management site that was just for UO and don't know what the answer to that question is now, you won't be able to edit your password or secret question(s) through the Origin site.

Thanks Tina. I logged in via origin.com and went to the "about me" tab and then picked "manage account security" and there were options for the secret question! I guess these are for my Ultima Online account also?

 

[Veldrane]

Every time I see these posts I worry it's my ex husband trying to claim my accounts. We haven't spoken in five years so he wouldn't know much other than what he finds online as far as address. But he'd remember account names.
I'd rather they just not give the information out. At all. Ever.
It isn't hard now to get started with a new account. There's alacrity scrolls and you can eat pink scrolls all the way up to 120 skill if you don't feel like working.
Your house would be long gone anyway so there's no plus or minus there. If you think your bankbox filled with 366K and your silver vanquishing short sword is going to get your somewhere it's not.
Start from scratch. Hell if you join a guild you'll get all armored and weaponed up rather quickly.
There's no reason for people to want these accounts back. Nostalgia? I get it. But gosh. More harm than good can come from these types of things IMHO

I understand what you are saying, but it's not quite as easy to start over as you think.

Alacrity and pink scrolls are way out of reach cost wise for any new player and the initial stages of UO are a bit boring. It can be a huge benefit to reclaim an old account that already had several GM characters (doublely so if they were crafters). Sure, the templates will need reworked but it's a huge boost to getting past the initial game play and into the more "fun stuff". Returning players are going to want to drop in and be back up to speed fairly quickly instead of having to spend a month or two getting back to the point where they can start enjoy the new fun stuff that drew them back.

Then there is also the account age to consider for veteran rewards - most notably the skill cap increase.

 

[Obsidian]

They changed the skill cap increase in pub 82. All characters regardless of account age have a 720 skill point cap.

 

[Veldrane]

They changed the skill cap increase in pub 82. All characters regardless of account age have a 720 skill point cap.

Excellent, I did not know that.

Though the rest of my post still stands. Returning players are less likely to come back if they need to start from scratch and the account management nightmare is huge PITA that only serves a a deterrent. However, it sounds like this topic has been discussed to death in the past and I'm not adding anything new that people don't already know - so I'll stop here.

 

[The Zog historian]

Every time I see these posts I worry it's my ex husband trying to claim my accounts. We haven't spoken in five years so he wouldn't know much other than what he finds online as far as address. But he'd remember account names.
I'd rather they just not give the information out. At all. Ever.
It isn't hard now to get started with a new account. There's alacrity scrolls and you can eat pink scrolls all the way up to 120 skill if you don't feel like working.
Your house would be long gone anyway so there's no plus or minus there. If you think your bankbox filled with 366K and your silver vanquishing short sword is going to get your somewhere it's not.
Start from scratch. Hell if you join a guild you'll get all armored and weaponed up rather quickly.
There's no reason for people to want these accounts back. Nostalgia? I get it. But gosh. More harm than good can come from these types of things IMHO

I can understand why people want to get the same accounts back, but I dread that someone at EA won't exercise due care and will turn over an account improperly. Years ago, a friend wanted to reactivate after being gone a couple of years. I don't recall what standards were require at the time, but he didn't have the original account code nor the original Visa debit card, and he didn't quite remember his login. He was one letter off, and the rep still gave it to him. "Know Your Client" used to be part of my domain, and I'd have fired anyone who did that.

 

[Flutter]

I can understand why people want to get the same accounts back, but I dread that someone at EA won't exercise due care and will turn over an account improperly. Years ago, a friend wanted to reactivate after being gone a couple of years. I don't recall what standards were require at the time, but he didn't have the original account code nor the original Visa debit card, and he didn't quite remember his login. He was one letter off, and the rep still gave it to him. "Know Your Client" used to be part of my domain, and I'd have fired anyone who did that.

Not just that. I know someone who had information on an account and the customer service rep not only gave him that account information, but information on all accounts ever associated with that email, which included some accounts he had "sold" or given away literally YEARS ago.

 

[Flutter]

I understand what you are saying, but it's not quite as easy to start over as you think.

Alacrity and pink scrolls are way out of reach cost wise for any new player and the initial stages of UO are a bit boring. It can be a huge benefit to reclaim an old account that already had several GM characters (doublely so if they were crafters). Sure, the templates will need reworked but it's a huge boost to getting past the initial game play and into the more "fun stuff". Returning players are going to want to drop in and be back up to speed fairly quickly instead of having to spend a month or two getting back to the point where they can start enjoy the new fun stuff that drew them back.

Then there is also the account age to consider for veteran rewards - most notably the skill cap increase.

I understand your point. But keeping in mind the person has been away from UO for some time, what a great way to relearn the game.
I recently made a new character on a shard I've never played on. I am literally role playing a newbie and having a blast doing so.
I am looting everything, selling to NPCs and being totally self sufficient. AND my swords skill is already 75 in just two log ins.
I think it's fairly easy to get started in UO. It's no fun for some vets who have never left and who have "been there done that" but for a returning player it's pretty perfect.