Permanently lost characters

[Ahyoka]

About 6 months ago I logged in to find that three of my characters had vanished. It was appararently due to some realm maintence gone awry. Lots of other people lost characters too. Me, I lost my two hunters, and a druid. They were all max level and my hunters had some very special pets.
I'm pretty out of touch, cause I quit not long after that (reasoning that I would return when my characters were restored) but I'm fairly sure that the oil-covered wolf and bird, the grubs, the tiger with a collar are still no longer tameable. Thornah had all of those. So that even if I did start over, I wouldn't be able to get my pets back.
My other hunter, who was my main...she's another story completely. She did have an oil-wolf, and every single spirit beast except Loque and the new Draenor one. But all those unique pets and spirits beasts aren't the real loss...two of her pets were memorials to real-life pets I had recently lost. Losing that character and her pets was a huge blow. They were a connection to two real-life animals that I still miss horribly. Losing them was like Blizzard walking in and tearing up pictures of my real-life pets.
But I believed Blizzard when they said I would get all three back, along with their pets. I was absolutely promised by multiple GMs that I would get them and all their pets back. And so I waited. A very long time went by. A few days ago I got this email from customer service......

Hey there --------,

I wanted to follow-up with you in regards to characters you had reported missing on your account. I’m extremely sorry to have to report this to you. After the course of our investigation into Suwanee, Thornah, and Ahyoka we were unable to recover the characters as we were not able to find the necessary information on our end to do any sort of restorations of them.

As someone who has played WoW for many years and has grown connected to my characters, I completely understand the frustration with the loss of these, and the time you waited for us to look into this. I’ve gone ahead and applied 172 days of game time to your WoW1 account to compensate for every day you were without these characters while we looked into. If you have any further questions about this please feel free to respond to this e-mail directly.

Regards,

--- -.
Customer Support
Blizzard Entertainment

I read it twice and sat there just stunned. My characters, and even more so, their pets, are permanently, irrevocably gone. Someone I know that lost multiple characters during the same maintenence fiasco did get theirs back a few days ago, albeit with the wrong name and race on one. But let this be a warning to anyone who may have lost a character to their bloody maintence: you may never see it again. And don't believe them when they say it will be fine.

[Lisaara]

You probably should've put in the report sooner, for starters. Sucks you lost them, but I think you waited way too long and that's likely why it got lost, unable to be recovered. Data failures do happen, even to back-ups.

[Loki]

You probably should've put in the report sooner, for starters. Sucks you lost them, but I think you waited way too long and that's likely why it got lost, unable to be recovered. Data failures do happen, even to back-ups.

I think the idea is that it was Blizz who took a long time to try and get the characters back, rather than a delay in filing the report. You could try and get some sort of max-level character boosts out of them (or at least Level 90 boosts), which admittedly isn't much but it's the least they could do after losing the characters on their end.

[Lisaara]

You probably should've put in the report sooner, for starters. Sucks you lost them, but I think you waited way too long and that's likely why it got lost, unable to be recovered. Data failures do happen, even to back-ups.

I think the idea is that it was Blizz who took a long time to try and get the characters back, rather than a delay in filing the report. You could try and get some sort of max-level character boosts out of them (or at least Level 90 boosts), which admittedly isn't much but it's the least they could do after losing the characters on their end.

They can't do anything unless they know about it(Gms aren't in charge of the database, btw. That's a totally different department). Also when a database fails, sometimes information does get lost. In this case, she got unlucky and her characters happened to be one of many that can't be recovered.

But that's not to say Blizzard is bad or didn't do their best. I'm positive they did all they could and they kindly gave her a crapton of game time to try and make up for it.

I'd recommend remaking the characters and boosting/leveling them. Make new memories. :3

[Castile]

wow thats horrid. I think i'd cry if I lost one of my 10yr old toons!!

[Lupen202]

I don't know what I'd do if I lost my characters either; yeah you can boost but it's not the same.

After eight years there is no replacing my main Neiara. I know they're just pixels but I'm terribly attached to her & her pets, especially the wolf I've had since the first day I joined. So many achievements, rare pets, character-only mounts (rbg), transmog, etc. Not to mention having to level up to 100 again, train all of my followers and get all of my garrison blueprints again...

I'd most definitely cry, lol.

[Kalhoun]

I would be so upset if this happened to me. I'm sorry.

[Lisaara]

I'll be honest, I'd probably cry too. I'd just understand they did their best.

[zedxrgal]

I'm sorry but I'd be asking for a hell of a lot more than 172 days of game time. That DOES NOT make up for that "data" being permanently lost. When Nesingwary crashed out and died with that first realm merger several of us lost toons. Mine took WEEKS before they were restored and that was with my constantly messaging a GM asking for a status and putting in tickets. I was freaking out then and in tears my mains would be permanently gone. I could only imagine how you must feel. My heart breaks for you.

I'd ask for at least three boosts to restart the lost toons but give them a different back story. Like. They're a sister /brother too the toon or something. I don't know.

Personally. I wouldn't come back to game. I don't know that I could get over that kind of loss. At least not for a VERY very long time.

[Ahyoka]

You probably should've put in the report sooner, for starters. Sucks you lost them, but I think you waited way too long and that's likely why it got lost, unable to be recovered. Data failures do happen, even to back-ups.

I guess I wasn't clear on when I opened a ticket. I opened a ticket the same day they vanished, 6 months ago. It took the GMs 6 months to "conclude" their business, all the while assuring me that I would get my characters back.

And yeah, that's my thinking too. 172 days doesn't cut it. I really can't see playing WoW again after this. I had had those characters for literally years. They had backstories and so did their pets...its....just too disheartening and overwhelming to think of start over.

I really appreciate the kind words. I hope none of you have to go thru this kind of thing ever. *hug*

[Lisaara]

*hugs tight*

I know it sucks....but in truth...are they really gone? Would a remake, especially with the brand new models, really be so bad? Their backstory isn't gone cause you still have it. Sure, you can't get the glitchy pets again, but that's when you can make a new story.....perhaps they perished heroically trying to defend their mistress or they were needed elsewhere(like the Pokemon episode Bye Bye Butterfree).

Hehe, just trying to be optimistic, I suppose, even if the situation isn't ideal. ^^;

[Kalhoun]

I just can't imagine all that work being gone. I have something like 135 days played on Kalhoun. That's a crazy amount of hours. The majority of my WoW life has been experienced through him. He has done the most achievements and collected the most gear, pets and mounts. I guess since titles, mounts and battle pets are now account wide it wouldn't really matter if he disappeared tomorrow. And sure, I could re-roll another Kalhoun, as his personality/character lives in my head (not to mention he's been race/faction changed three times now, so I'm used to "recreating" him). BUT... it would still sting a lot to lose a character you spent THAT much time on.

I would seriously look into them giving you level 90 boosts at the very least. That won't replace any gearing progress you made at 100, but at least it won't be as bad as completely starting from lvl 1. I'm actually surprised they didn't offer it.

[Lisaara]

I'm sure it would still sting. I guess what I'm trying to say is while it will sting, it won't be AS bad since the character is alive so long as you deem it so.

[peanutbuttercup]

Wow if that happened to me with my main, no amount of character boosts, game time or anything would be able to make it up for me. It's just not the same... I couldn't just recreate the character and then go on and act like it was ok - I don't RP or think up stories but still... yeah, it just wouldn't be the same for me.

One time during WOTLK a data glitch made me think I lost my main pet (couldn't access it, couldn't see it), and I was ready to quit the game over that because I wouldn't even consider having it restore (it wouldn't be the same) but thankfully it resolved itself.

[Danielfboone]

Honestly, if that happened to me, I would delete WoW from my system and never play it again. Playing after something like that would just bring back too many memories. Even 6 months of game time wouldn't assuage the pain.

[Vephriel]

That is awful, Ahyoka. I agree with the others, keep pushing for something more because game time would mean absolutely nothing to me in comparison to what was lost. Maybe you can find a different GM who knows more, or maybe you can talk to someone higher up. I'd just keep pressing the issue if it were me, that's a horrible thing to happen.

[SylviaDragon]

Oh my god that is just...horrific. *hugs* I am so sorry to hear about that. what a mess. If something ever happened to Sylvia I would just be broken. So many pets, mounts achievements, ect that are impossible to re-obtain. I know i would have to quit and find a new game if that happened. a chunk of free game time seems like a very empty consolation.
I think getting a free boost to 90 for each toon lost is very much within the realms of a reasonable request for something like this. I would be contacting a gm for more information on what happened anyway.

have you checked the character restore button? I know its a long shot but may as well see. nothing to lose.

hope your week will get better Ahyoka.

[Ardawen]

I have no idea how i would react if this would happen to me. I know i have lots of charaters but some are realy dear to me. It might stop the fun i have in this game, but i would not know for sure. I agree that this is a bit odd as a return for losing 3 characters. I hope that if you deceide to keep playing to make new beautiful memories. If not i would understand.

[Divixon]

yikes

[Ahyoka]

I decided not to press for a different GM/customer service rep, since I had talked to so many over the course of this and they all read from the same script. Instead, I sent an impassioned plea to the one who had contacted me and explained what my characters meant to me, and most especially what the memorial pets for my real life cat and dog meant. I know, pouring one's heart out to customer service is like shouting into the void. But, none the less, shout I did. The customer service rep said that s/he really wished s/he could give them back and that my email help him/her understand what they meant to me and that if there was something they might be able to do, that I could ask.....
Well.
I mulled over if I really wanted the break I've been on to be a permanent one and I decided that yes, in fact I did. I can't go back after losing my hunters like that. With that in mind, there was only one thing that made sense, in my heart anyway, to ask for. Afterall, what good would a character boost do for someone who won't be using it? So, I asked for something that I know I won't get...but they did say to tell them if there was anything they could do.....
I asked for an in game memorial, a little grey cat and a little black dog, just tucked away somewhere safe. I know it won't happen. But in the end, it was the only thing to ask for.
So that's where this story ends. It's been a lot of good years, but all things end. So, farewell fellow hunters. Even tho we don't exactly know each other, I've been along for the ride in spirit if not in membership Walk with the Earthmother.