PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

[isaac17]

So, here's yet another question. I quit playing 4 months ago, and I haven't been paying that whole time. Does that mean I deleted my account? I can't remember what I did to discontinue my playing... So i'd have to buy another copy of the game if I deleted my account, unless there is some way to freeze your account (I can't remember how playonline works).

Anyway, is all lost and I have to go buy another game, or is there a possibility that my account is still out there?

Oh, and I still have my buddy pass (I bought the Vanadiel collection 07), does that still register me for the expansions, or just the basic game?

Thanks in advance

[Mhurron]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

If you can remember your PlayOnline details you can probably just renew your content passes.

If not, there is the Return to Vana d'iel campaign going on now.

Buddy pass is basic game only, and by basic thats no Return of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, or Treasures of Aht Urgan, so it's even less of the game then the first North American retail release.

[isaac17]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

So if I just deactivated my account and somehow remember my info, I should be okay? Or not?

[Mhurron]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

Probably.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

So why exactly is PlayOnline a Bitch (with a capital B)?

[Electricity Gone Human]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

So why exactly is PlayOnline a Bitch (with a capital B)?

PlayOnline's not delivering the reports from the Special Task Force on time. The man has demands, you know!

[isaac17]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

Sorry, before I posted here everywhere else online told me that there was no way to recover that and that I'd literally have to buy a new copy of the game in order to get a new account, which kinda pissed me off.

Sorry for the profanity if anyone was offended

(and thanks for the help... again. Sorry if you're getting sick of me asking all these questions)
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Oh, and is there any sort of password recovery system for PlayOnline? Should i have an email of my information somewhere from when I first signed up? Is there any other ways of trying to figure out what my playonline account name was? Thanks.

[Icemage]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

Oh, and is there any sort of password recovery system for PlayOnline? Should i have an email of my information somewhere from when I first signed up? Is there any other ways of trying to figure out what my playonline account name was? Thanks.

You could probably call PlayOnline Support and ask them to verify the password. If you've forgotten your PlayOnline account name, that could be problematic, but they might still be able to help you.


Icemage

[isaac17]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

I forget, do you choose your playonline account name when you register, or do they make it for me? If it's the latter I'm going to have issues guessing my info, otherwise, there's only a handful of usernames I would have chosen...

[Necropolis]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

There are two parts kind of to the game, POL and FFXI. POL is free and never needs to be canceled, but FFXI has content IDs (how you make your characters) that have a fee attached.

Assuming when you quit the game the first time that you just canceled the content IDs, or just no longer had money from them to draw on forcing SE to cancel the Content IDs, then your POL account is still active.

You POL account name is given to you, and is usually in the form of 4 capital letters followed by 4 numbers, such as GYID1743. You would then choose a password. You also give your POL a username as well, but I think that's tied more to the ffxi part, but isn't really needed for logging into POL anyways.

If you've forgotten your POL login name or password, you can possibly retrieve from calling SE customer service. However, without having that login name you'll have to provide some proof that you are the original owner of the account. Hopefully you still have the registration keys that came with your disc.

When you purchased the collection, it had a registration key for POL, FFXI, and each of the expansions. Your POL username is tied to that POL registration code. In addition to that code, you may have to provide your credit card information (that was originally used or last used with the account), address, name, and possibly other personal information that was provided to SE during registration.

From experiences of friends and LS mates, I understand it to be kind of iffy as to weather or not SE will release that information to you. It really depends on what customer service representative you get, and how you approach the matter. Try to have at that information available when calling and hopefully they'll get you what you need.

Keep in mind though that even once you get back into POL, there's a chance your characters will no longer be there. SE doesn't guarentee your characters to be saved while inactive past 3 months, but they are usually there much longer. Also, they're offering that 'Return to Vana'diel' campaign now, so much more likely that you'll be able to retieve your former content IDs.

If, however, you canceled your POL account upon leaving the game, there is no way to reinstate it to my knowledge. A number of people I know that retired from the game, and deleted the account to prevent them from coming back found that to be a very sure way of preventing them from ever coming back to the game on thier character. I know of at least 3 that quit, deleted thier POL account, and later tried to return that were unable to do so no matter how many calls they made. Not to say it's impossible, but I havn't heard of it happening.

At any rate, a new collection set doesn't run all that much, all you'd really be out is the 20 bucks for new disc and loss of your old characters.

Best of luck to you.

[isaac17]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

Thank you for that!

I have my registration codes still, just forgot the POL account name. According to the return to vanadiel event you just need your registration codes (don't need your account name) but it gives you an error, which sucks. I guess I'll call on monday and try to get my account back, which sucks as I wanted to play over the weekend, but whatever...

[isaac17]

Re: PlayOnline is a Bitch (with a capitol B)

alright, after 2 hours on hold with an asian chick, got my account up and running. I'm going to wait a few days on actually starting, but I'm ready to go!