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Guess they really don't want old players back
spydermr2
Member Posts: 336
Ok. I've got my copy of Dark Majesty, which I haven't used in several years. I have no idea what my characters names were, or what servers they were on. I contacted Turbine and said, look, I've got my copy and it has its own unique registration code, but that code was registered years ago. I don't recall which of my credit cards I used back then (and may not even have that CC anymore), nor do I remember what my character(s) were named and what servers they were on. Please help so I can get back in the game and decide whether to buy the expansion.
When I went back to EQ1 again, and wanted to combine my old EQ1 account with my EQ2 account into a Station Pass account, Sony, the much-maligned SOE, had no troubles doing exactly that. It took them about ten minutes on the phone to use my personal information (verifying I am who I am that way), then combined the accounts into one Station Pass account. They wanted me back, and they got me back.
Turbine, on the other hand, and I have to quote this: "We regret to inform you that we cannot assist you if you do not know" the information I went through above. I'm not trying to migrate old characters into a new account. I'm trying to get my registration code reset, but FROM ME, TO ME. They can verify who I am without having to have character/server information, or the CC information. Or, at least, everyone else. Guess Turbine can't, since they "regret to inform me" that they can't help me with that.
Goes to show you who wants the business back and who doesn't. Pity. I loved AC1 and was looking forward to getting back into it. I guess Turbine really is as bad as so many people say it is.
-- update: They keep sending emails saying 'sorry we cant help you with the migration'. The funny thing is, I don't WANT TO MIGRATE ANYTHING. I just want them to reset the registration code on my copy of Asheron's Call -- I bought it years ago, I'd like to use it now, but I don't recall my ID and password. All they should have to do is verify my identity and do this. But hey, I guess I have my answer: they don't want someone to come back and pay them a monthly fee. Tells me everything I need to know.
Sorry, folks. Turbine doesn't appear to want people, so I guess my return to Dereth will die stillborn.
Comments
When the accounts were migrated from MS to Turbine, the only thing that Turbine was given WAS the character database. They were supposedly not given the names/cc of the players because it would be an infringement on the privacy right of customers. Not CDkeys, or anything like that.
So, the trick is to remembering your characters, even one would help, for those that are trying to migrate their accounts now, after the transition period is over.
Good luck!
One player's great game is another players derisive snort!
http://www.darthmyr.com for free guild forums
Sony has the budget for personal calls and slightly better technical support. Sadly, Turbine does not at this point. You are one of the very few with this problem. How bad is your memory that you can't even remember ONE name on ONE server? You can't even guess on what your characters name was? I could see if you bought AC:DM and played for like a couple minutes then never again. However, you say you loved AC1 so obviously you spent some time playing.
As has been pointed out in my other post in the General Discussion area, it isn't asking too much for any company to be able to look up your information (personal information: name, address, phone #, registration code) and verify yep, that's the reg code, and it is assigned to you. And then free it up so it can be re-registered or provide the username and password that I used before.
As to the "you can't remember one character and the server name it was on" part. Hm. Let's see. It's been 4+ years. How many games have been played in that time? Hm. EQ1, EQ2, WoW, SWG, DAoC, and more. Multiple characters per game, on different named servers. No, actually, I can't recall the name of characters from that long ago, much less the name of the server those characters were on. Factor in the # of NPC names and PC names I've created as the GM for a pen-and-paper D&D 3.5 world that I regularly run and hm, how likely am I to remember to associate one name to the name of a specific server from 4+ years ago? Not bloody likely.
As I said, it isn't asking much for them to look up the registration code and see, hm, yep, it's you, we'll get you the info you need or reset the reg.code to be useable by you again. Strangely enough, even the start-up company I worked for in 2001 was able to do that -- and that was on a shoe-string budget, because we knew that the most important part of our business was having a working database of our clients.
Turbine, on the other hand, runs ads for "come back for 60 days" --- and doesn't provide for any assistance to those who would like to come back. Oh, wait, I forgot: it's actually "come back, but be ready to pay for the software all over again, cause we can't even look up your name and associate it to a registration code".
And that's supposed to encourage me about their ability to manage the game? No, I haven't played since it was owned by Microsoft -- though from this experience I have to wonder whether Turbine's acquisition of its game was such a good thing or not.
Sounds like a good security measure. I don't want anyone to steal my cd slip with the key on it and get my whole account.
I remember playing RPG's years back that I LOVED at the time, yet now I cant remember any of the names of my characters. Is that a crime?
It doesnt mean that his memory is bad, just that a few years went past and he had better things to remember.
Sucks for you then, I have no problem remembering my names.
SPY -
STOP BITCHING ALREADY.
You posted this complaint on the main boards as well. Exact same thing.
I immediately followed it with your solution. Do you listen? Nope. Not a chance. You continue to post this silly complaint over and over, and just ignore any possible simple solutions given to you.
You don't want your old characters anyhow. Besides, you can't remember their names as the customer support asked you. You don't know your old credit card number as well.
First of all, this is a complaint against yourself, not Turbine. Since you last played, they have migrated from Microsoft to their own billing system. And the customer support rep is only doing his job by trying to verify the needed information to make sure that you are who you say you are. Congrats to them!
YOUR SOLUTION:
Shatup for one with this silly complaint which makes you look like you are an EQ1 fanboy simply trying to flame Turbine.
And as I have already told you, even if you got your old acct log on and password, you would need to pay $12.95 in advance for your first 30 days to play and update all your billing info -and- you would also be downloading years worth of huge patches which would probably take hours even with a fast connection.
So instead, since you are curious about the expansion anyhow, BUY THE NEW VERSION, "THRONE OF DESTINY", CREATE A BRAND NEW ACCT, and you need nothing further. It has all the DM included, and all the patches you don't have... and it is only $29.95, and includes your first 30 days free.
This solution will save you a lot of trouble, and may very well save you money as well, especially if you decide you want to upgrade to ToD anyhow.
But I know that you will ignore this possible and common-sense solution and continue to post your rants and complaints against Turbine because they just wont set you up with your old account info even though you can't verify ANY of the needed verification information. {sighs} It's all Turbines fault they have a security verification process to prevent people from stealing accounts.. who cares that you can't verify anything... they should just give you any info you want regardless. yeh yeh we know.
- Zaxx
First, they are the ones advertising "60 days to returning players for free". How unique, to want to take them up on their offer! Oh, wait, that's right, if you can't remember a character name and the matching server name, we can't let you take advantage of that offer (regardless of whether you have the name, address, and all the other vital information to verify the account's identity, including the registration code), but we're happy to CHARGE you for your returning software (which would sort of be against the whole point of the "...to returning players..."
Second, my solution is very basic: look up the registration ID and verify the account information tied to it. AKA, they took over the billing from Microsoft, which strangely enough means that they have to have records to KNOW WHO TO BILL. Which means they have to have obtained the database of customers -- or else they wouldn't know who to bill.
But hey, I can see where that's so incredibly difficult.
Spyder, all turbine received was the character database information, when you migrated your acct during that migration period from MS to Turbine, that is how they got the billing information.
Perhaps it was not posted here, but on Turbine forums they were very specific on what information MS was allowed to hand over (billing information which was tied to a CD key) was not allowed to be given
Now that the migration period is over, all Turbine has is the character information. The customer is the one that needs to give character names/worlds they are on and can proceed from there. The 60 days are basically for those that did not migrate and wish to resume playing.
Good luck.
One player's great game is another players derisive snort!
http://www.darthmyr.com for free guild forums
Morrigan is right, Microsoft did NOT give your personal info to Turbine when Turbine bought out the franchise. So Turbine does NOT have your personal info to compare to your present info!!!
Turbine can ONLY look up an account IF you provide character names and servers from the character database that Microsoft provided. That is the ONLY info that was given to them to tell one account from anougher. And "migration" IS what would be happening if you gave your character info to Turbine.... they would transfire the correct account info from the Microsoft database to the NEW Turbine database with YOUR personal info that YOU provide at the time of migration.
So, Turbine support is fully 100% correct that they can not help you locate your account.... you are not giving them ANY info to go on, and Microsoft did NOT provide the info to Turbine that you expect to be able to use.
If you want to blame anyone, blame Microsoft and the privacy laws