Veteran Player returns - Chars Reset?

[Terve]

I started playing back in the days of Y2K and stepped away from the game for about 6 years… I came back on the “Return to Britannia!” trial just to see how things have changed and ran into some odd issues… anyone else hear of these?

1) On one of my two accounts, all char names were changed to some obvious generic ones, on all servers
2) I’m listed as apprentice on all chars, and stats have been reset back to noob levels
3) Everything is missing from the bank
4) I’m standing in the middle of some forsaken mobs on an island that kill me on site (not a nice welcome back… but maybe this was where my old house was? Too long ago to remember)
Now, I took this with a grain of salt thinking it was because I hadn’t played for ages, but then my other account is just fine. All chars have their skill at the right levels, all items are in their bank, names are right, and they are still on their mounts!

Has anyone heard about this happened? The GM only sent me a message about being hacked… but who hacks you, pays to change your name, and all my skills total ~100... that isn’t possible – once you have 700ish points, you can’t drop back down to 100.

Any thoughts here? The GM wasn’t helpful =/

EDIT: I have my mini house deed and a Mininova fireworks wand in my bank...

 

[Zooithion]

Are you sure you are on the shard that you had your developed chars on?

 

[Kri]

If it is indeed the correct shard it sounds to me like someone deleted your characters and created new ones. Probably to farm some type of reward / gift...

 

[Apetul]

… but who hacks you, pays to change your name, and all my skills total ~100... that isn’t possible – once you have 700ish points, you can’t drop back down to 100.

Any thoughts here? The GM wasn’t helpful =/

Or... someone just delete your chars and then create new ones (starting chars have 100 skill points) with different names.

 

[Terve]

Are you sure you are on the shard that you had your developed chars on?

Most definately... the other account has the expected chars and is on the same shard.

I also have a few chars on several other shards on the "bad account" and those follow the same issues I noted above.

But thanks for the sanity check.

 

[Terve]

Or... someone just delete your chars and then create new ones (starting chars have 100 skill points) with different names.

Well, while I can't ever say with 100% certainty that I wasn't hacked; I find it quite unlikely.

For one, the subscription ending date in my account is around the time I remember canceling my account – plus why would my chars have their mini house deeds on them? They were selling for like 20k-30k gold at the time, figure that would be worth something

And weren’t these only available to chars that were active at that time? I tried creating a new char and it wasn’t in my bank…

Not sure, but I’d hate to delete one or two of them just to find out that EA might be able to restore it… guess if no one else has ever seen this I’ll have to wait till Monday and give them a call – but guessing I won’t have any luck

 

[sablestorm]

I have heard of some players who have returned from a long absence and had their accounts reset in this fashion. I myself had some very old accounts that I have not logged into for half-a-decade which were intact, but I always logged into them during every Return To Britannia promotion. So I'm sorry you are starting anew, but if you happen to be on Pacific, I can offer what aid I can to get you settled.

As for the island you speak of, was it Magincia? Much like the original Ultima series, Magincia was destroyed by daemons. Perhaps in the future Katrina the Shepherd will lead the crusade to cleanse the island city and rebuild it in it's more humble incarnation.

 

[Terve]

I have heard of some players who have returned from a long absence and had their accounts reset in this fashion.

Everything's a curse and a blessing... not having played for 6 years, I really need to go back to square one (it took me two days to figure out it was /msg instead of /whisper or /t ).

Although it would be a good refresher to start up from scratch to get the hang of it, it would be even better to have a few 7xGM chars sitting around when needed

So I'm sorry you are starting anew, but if you happen to be on Pacific, I can offer what aid I can to get you settled.

I appreciate the offer - if I ever swing over, I'll look you up!

As for the island you speak of, was it Magincia? Much like the original Ultima series, Magincia was destroyed by daemons.

Jumped through the portal, got schooled by 5 corrupted souls to find out yes, the coordinates match Magincia

Perhaps in the future Katrina the Shepherd will lead the crusade to cleanse the island city and rebuild it in it's more humble incarnation.

And perhaps find all my skills that seem to be lost somewhere out in the city

Either way, I really appreciate the info sablestorm. Cheers.

 

[FrejaSP]

This is not first time we have "return to britain", so the hacker maybe did without having to pay for the account.
Did anyone know your login and password, maybe a "friend" who thought you would never be back.

 

[Terve]

This is not first time we have "return to britain", so the hacker maybe did without having to pay for the account.

Who knows, but I really don't think its a hack.

Of my chars, only two are marked as young; and these are exactly where I remember then being, just with a new name.

If it was hacked, they went to a lot of trouble replacing all my chars on all servers with ones named "one, two, three..." Seems like a lot of work - I'd just hack and leave or if I was a jerk, hack and delete the chars. No reason to create new ones.. meh.

Did anyone know your login and password, maybe a "friend" who thought you would never be back.

I share this info with those who know my bank info... no one. Whenever possible, even with games I grab a security token for that little extra bit.

No one is ever safe, but I try to do my best and never share anything.

At this points its not that big of a deal. I deleted one of these placeholders and started a real char.

Maybe I'll try calling EA on Monday just to see what happens...

Thanks for the comments though. I'm looking forward to starting up again - had a good time playing last night, even if I couldn't remember how to smelt the ore... it goes on the forge, not anvil

Enjoy the weekend

 

[FrejaSP]

It sounds like someone getting holidays rewards on the chars.
The reason for deleting and making new chars is.

1. It gives them time to loot your bank on the char without old friends notist something is wrong and calling a GM

2. It make it easier to tell the buyer of the hollidays items what char to look for.

It sure look like a hack. It may even had been worth a month of gametime for the hacker.

Also there was a kind of quest, you could do one a week, if you made a new char, I think it was upto the last clean up Britainnia event, it gave some nice point for it. Do the chars have stealth on them now?