Some Facts About Character Restoration

- It may take up to a week for the restoration to take place, possibly longer if you choose to make the request right before a major holiday/long weekend. Just be patient.
- The maximum grace period allowed between deletion and restoration is 12 months (one year). In other words, if you deleted a character back in 2003, you won't be able to restore it because it's 2006. If you deleted a caracter in June of 2006, you most certainly can restore it. (Currently it's November 2006. You can restore a character that was deleted between November 2005 and now)
- If everything pans out correctly, your character will be restored as you left it. All your jobs and levels will be intact, any crafting levels you have aquired ect. All your gil will be in your wallet, and any items stored in your Mog House will be there. However, any items you had in your Delivery Box or items you put up on the AH will NOT be returned to you.

What You Can Expect While Doing Character Restoration

Putting a request in for character restoration, in theory, is easy. Provided you have patience for extremely long lines to actually get in touch with a representitive to put forth your request, the process isn't hard. However, there IS information you personally need to know about your account and character. Having all this information on your person (whether you write it down or memorize it. I suggest writing everything down on one sheet of paper) will make the process go much more smoothly, and will save you the frustration of calling back. (Or using Web Chat, if you prefer)

*The Verification Process*

The first thing the rep will ask you do to is verify that you are really you. S/he will ask for a bunch of information pertaining to yourself, so be sure everything is accurate. The information they go by is the information you put in your Membership Profile. You can access this by going to Service & Support on the main POL screen. Click on Membership, log in and view your information. I suggest anyone who is unsure of what exactly is on their profile go ahead anc heck that information BEFOREHAND, and update the information if it is inaccurate. (For example, if you moved recently, or got married and your name changed ect.)

The rep will ask you for the following information:

Your POL ID
Name
Address
Birthday
First 4 and last 4 digits of the credit card being used
POL Registration Code

Your POL ID is the 8 character code assigned to you when you. If you ever have to log in to purchase/cancel/reactivate content IDs, this is the code you will use to log into the more secure server.

Your name is self explanatory. Use the name you use in your membership profile. If you write "Joseph L. Smith" then tell the CSR your name is Joseph L. Smith, not Joe Smith. Only reason being is that it'll make the validation much easier and smoother.

Address, once again, is self explainatory. If you'e moved recently, check your membership profile and make any changes. I neglected to change mine when I moved, and the address I gave the CSR was wrong and he said it didn't match. But after I gave him my old address, everything was gravy.

Birthday....if you don't know your birthday, I feel sorry for you.

First 4 and last four digits of the CC being used: I'm going to assume everyone knows what I am talking about. It's also much easier to read if you use the format 0000-xxxx-xxxx-0000. ***TIP*** If you are playing the game, and the credit card is under another person's name, I tend to find the transition smoother when you simply inform the CSR that while yes, the game is your, the credit card isn't, and to give the name of the card holder. It's not neccessary, but it makes you look better.

POL Registration Code: This was included in the manual when you bought FFXI. If you don't have the Reg code, you're SOL basically, unless you get a really nice CSR who doesn't mind bending the rules. It should be a 20 digit code.

*The Restoration Process*

After the rep verified your information, s/he will ask information about your character. They will ask for the following:

Character Name:
POL ID:
Levels/Jobs:
Date/Time of Deletion
World: (server)
Race and Gender:

All of the above is pretty self explanatory, I think. If it helps, include your rank and nation in there as well.

Registration Maintenence

CSR's will not be able to take requests for character restoration during registration maintenece. I tried, and I failed miserably. Instead, I used the time to ask questions that were left unanswered, so at least I made some use out of my wasted time. Unfortunately, there is no work around this, and you just have to keep an eye on the POL website until the maintenece is over.

Random Stuff

- If you restore your character, and the name of your character was taken by someone else (damn them, how dare they!), your name will show up yellow in the character log in screen, and you will be forced to change your name.
- The content ID used for the character you need to restore MUST be open. Otherwise, the restoration will most certainly fail.
- Character restoration is NOT 100%! But, you can increase your chances drastically by giving them concrete information.
- If your restoration should fail, all hope is not loss. You can reapply as many times as you want if you're a persistant ass like I am. (Took me about 4 tries to get the restoration)
- You can file for restoration either via phone or web chat. (Personally, I found it much more efficient by phone, but I do understand the non-toll free number keeps people from calling)
- You CANNOT file for a restoration via Help Desk in game or GM chat.

EDIT: I recently found out that if your character restoration should fail, you can reapply. The whole "one time per content ID" only applies if you actually had a character restored. So if you applied for restoration, and it fails, you can keep reapplying.

EDIT 2: Added some info I neglected to write in the first time around.

EDIT 3: Added some missing info, deleted some stuff that was unconfirmed ect ect.
--------

Hope this helps anyone in need of a character restoration.


Edited, Nov 3rd 2006 at 8:45pm PST by Erawyn

Edited, Nov 4th 2006 at 8:28am PST by Erawyn

Edited, Nov 9th 2006 at 12:23am PST by Erawyn

Oh, whoa. This thread educated me. I just hope I won't have to use this knowledge.
But again, it never hurts to know. Thanks.

That's exactly what you will need to verify. Most of the CSR's are sticklers when it comes to that......


I've deleted and restored 3 times though. The same POL ID. The same character. As soon as 2 weeks after deletion and as long as 10 weeks. Basically it comes down to getting a CSR who is friendly and wants to help. I had several give me the 'we can't tell you anything because you don't know your POL registration code'. But everytime I'd just call again until I got someone who verified the other information and decided that was enough.

We just had someone in our limbus group who got hacked and got their character deleted. Was only deleted for 3 days and after numerous requests he was told it was hopeless. Tonight I found out he was using online support instead of calling over and over until he got a resonable CSR to work with. I'm pretty confident that if he could call and get a cool CSR they could find his account.

I've been pretty wishywashy quitting so many times. But I can tell you the 'only one restore per ID or character' is a myth. It's all about getting someone that wants to help you on the other end of the phone. Once they look past 'restored in april 2005, restored in novemember 2005' and put the request in, its just a matter of if the character is still there or not.

In other news they were trying to restore 'Barbar' instead of 'Barber' last time. Make sure they have your info correct.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. You're saying they'll now restore a character onto a Content ID that had a new character made on it? This is news to me. Since i tried to have two characters restored a year ago, and they EXPLICITLY told me if you deleted a character, then made a new character on that same ID, they will NOT be able to restore the former.

If this has changed, I have two characters I miss dearly I would love to bring back. Please confirm this. Also what about time limits? These two guys have been dead since December of 2004. I love how SE progressivly changes their policy for restoring characters and accounts.

To answer a few questions:



Hm...can anyone else verify this? I understand you can have infinate attempts at chracter restoration, but I was under the impressions (because that's what they told me). I believe you, but you gotta understand, I won't want to hand out the wrong information to people.



It's possible. I'll look into it.



Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. That is what they told me. I don't see why there would be any other reason to restore your character if you didn't delete it.

The time period is 12 months, so if you have 2 characters you deleted in December of 04, it's far too late. I forgot to mention that, so I will add that. Upon deletion, characters are stored on the servers (or however they do it) for 12 months before they are deleted from the servers.



This is correct, although it would seem like a silly reason to restore a character. One would just have to simply delete their character, then creae a mule using the same name and then apply for restoration.

Edited, Nov 4th 2006 at 8:29am PST by Erawyn

I spoke with a guy named Charles over the phone the other night. He told me if my character was to be restored, and ym name was taken, that a GM would throw a rename card at me. He also said that a reason for a failed restoration would not be because someone stole your character name.

I weep for my lost characters. Shame they'll never come back. Rate up for the clarification though.

Let em see if I'm understanding your correctly:

You have a character named XYZ and played on Server A. You want to restore XYZ, but on Server B. Is that what you're trying to say?

To the best of my knowledge no, they can't do that, but it's worth a shot to ask them anyway. SE has sponsored server migrations in the past.

The account or the payment information?

If the actual account is under a sibling's name (meaning their information is filled out on the Membership Profile, and not yours), you have to give them your sibling's info. If it's just a credit card, you can simply give th3 first 4 and last 4 digits of the card, and just inform them the name the card is under.

Probably to match against the billing address of the credit card. Dunno, but that is my guess.

I didn't see this mentioned, forgive me if I missed it, but does the restored character retain any items/gil from its 'previous life'?

Edited, Nov 6th 2006 at 2:31pm PST by Jetsam

If you delete your character with 15 million gil in its pocket and a full relic gear on its person, then when you restore the character, you will still have all that on you.

They won't return any items you had on the AH, or anything that was in your delivery box though.

GMs will throw a Rename Card at you. You won't be able to name you character Bob, but you will be able to rename your character.

I have a question, I knew someone that from what I was told restored his character and renamed it... but he also changed the characters race (was Elvaan and renamed character was a Hume), at first I thought it was just a different character but they seemed to have the same job levels and equipment as the older one.

Anyone know how that is possible? If I ever see him online again I wanted to ask but I haven't seem them in awhile.

This I am unaware of, therefore have no information on it. I never really thought about it, to be quite honest. If I find something out, I'll post it.

Yo, is there any way to find out the exact date and time of when the character was deleted? Like, in any POL/FFXI menus? Any help would be appreciated, thanks =)

Gasp! Where can I do this at?

One more question. I activated my account a couple weeks ago, and I accidently cancelled it (long story v.v;;..). Now I know that the ID last until the last day of the month. Do you think that will have an effect on my character restoration process? Should I wait till next month, when I re-activate and not cancel?

I tried three times to get a character restored that was deleted in june 2006 and all three times restoration failed. I gave them every detail possible about my toon and all three times was a failure.

Thanks for the info Erawyn, that helped greatly, and it narrowed my dates down to 2 possible matches. I'm also using some screenshots to narrow the date down as well. I owe you one.

I gotta have your input on this though. This has been my seventh time submitting a Char restore app, and I just failed. I'm gonna submit another one, but I don't know what I'm messing up on.

I give them my char name, my rank and nation (which I know for a fact is correct), and then my sex and race. Now here's the tricky part: I talked to a total of 5 CSRs, and they each told me a different thing. One said that the more jobs I give them, the better my chances are of getting my char back. Another guy told me the lesser the jobs, the better the search for the char, and the chances of the jobs I give could be wrong (which I agree with, I only remember three of them), and to give 1, or maybe 2 jobs. Now I've submitted with all 3 jobs, and haven't found it, submitted with only 2 of the 3, and haven't found it. I'm curious to submit as the one main job, but I'm still kind of uncomfortable about it. What do you think I should do?

Also, I've mentioned before that I narrowed the dates down to two. Well I've submitted on both of those dates, and nothing has came up yet. I deleted him back in October 2006, so I mean that was about 6 months ago, (deleted on the 25th or 26th of Oct). I seen a post above stating that deletion within 2 months whould be a pretty good chance of restoration, but how about 6 months? Since the whole "12-month hold" would apply, how do sooner deletion times affect the chance? Wouldn't I get back my character even if it was 10 months after deletion? I was a bit confused on that, but anyhow. .


I've written down all my attempts on paper, and I'm playing around with what I got, but I'm running out of options here. When you tried 4 times, did you use the same info over and over again, or did add and/or correct info with each app submitted? I'm also curious as to whether I should just keep submitted the same info 4-5 times, rather than trying once, before moving on to diff. jobs and dates.


How do you think I should submit this next one? Should I use previously failed info that I know is correct? Should I just take out and use one job? Should I submit the same info over and over until they find it?

I'm soooo sorry for submitted this long, and probaly boring post to ya, but I just want to get my character back, and you seem to know more than anyone else lol. And maybe some other people have the same problems as I do, and would like to find out as well ^^;;. Any input from ya would be greatly appreciated, you've already helped me out before =D.

I couldn't afford to pay for it for those 5 months, but now I can, so I was hoping to start where I left off... *shrug*

Nothing wrong with bumping a thread as helpful as this one.

Gavorial, good luck getting your character back.

Edited, Apr 4th 2007 9:49pm by ImperialNinja

Gravorial:

My problem was my date was wrong, or I gave too big of a window. When I narrowed it down (kinda like you did), it went through successfully.

Keep in mind that you can give them 100% accurate information, but restoration is never 100%, as I stated in my OP. Unfotunately, your character may very well be lost forever. It sucks, but you just gotta roll with the punches.

As far as your jobs question, I always found that the more you know, the better. I knew the majority of my job levels. Different CSRs have different standards, so the one that said "less is better" might very well be pulling your leg and trying to make less work for him/herself. (I've worked customer service, and yes I'm guilty of doing that as well. It happens) Or he/she may be right, I don't know. I, personally, gave them 4 jobs: WHM, BLM, WAR, MNK. Those were the jobs I spent the most time on. I didn't bother mentioning low level jobs (10 and under) unless I was specifically asked.

All I can tell ya is keep being persistant if you're up to it. Like I said, your charater might be gone forever, and there's nothing you can do about it. And if that's the case, I'm sorry.

ReTiCuLeX:

When I fled for a restoration during maintenece, I was told by the CSR that he couldn't put my request through, so i spent that time asking questions instead. if he filed your request during amaintenece, either you got a very compassionate CSR, or he just did it to shut you up.

I'd say wait out the week. Or if you're impatient, call them up during normal business hours when maintenece isn't an issue and ask if your request got processed. By the way, you're VERY lucky to get by without the POL reg code. I moved and lost the book, and it was in the possession of my former roommate, and he was gracious enough to give me the code over the phone.

Unfortunately, no. I had to track down my old roommate to get my reg code. Personally, I think it's retarded. I remember when they put codes on the actual CD case. I had my CD cases, but not the book.

I guess try to find it lol. Other than that, i unfortuantely don't have any answers.

This info is helpful to others who need it :)

The grace period isn't 12 months, it's 3 months. After 3 months they might still have your character, but they won't garuntee it. I tried to get a character back about 6 months after it was deleted, and they couldn't restore it for me.

I beleive your char is deleted after so many months of inactivity. (I think 3 months.) But i could be wrong.