[DarkRanger]

I think I'd prefer to start a new character than play a rewound version of an existing one, especially since I haven't actually saved a character state since the ending campaign, but I am attached to their traits and storylines. But at that price, the data better be making you money, so I definitely suggest spending the donations on new hardware to reduce lag and prevent another wipe out.

[NOITCA]

I say either option would be cool, start fresh or from February.

$1500 bux is too much to recover my PC's. Now, the only question would be how much scripting is going to be lost from February, and how much is it worth to recover.

All those new areas (i.e. Gauros Keep, etc..) and overland travel to all of Thay will be lost, right? Or are the databases the only loss?

But, yea, to recover my PCs, heh, hardly worth the money, much less the effort. The journey is 75% of the entertainment for me. Thanks for all you guys do.

[Balanor]

The vacation went well, thanks for asking. Expensive, but well. I might have to readjust prices for the resort on the northern Alaor island as I forgot just how expensive stuff is when you're eating and drinking on an island (kidding).

Bert, I'll call that data recovery place today and see what they have to say. It will take days to get the drive back and then days to get it to them if that is the route that's attempted.

NOITCA, no scripting, area loss, or travel setup will be lost. In fact more is going to be added with the large addition of the city of Surthay now available in the most recent module. The databases and characters are what is lost.

I've already got a plan to backup the server vault and databases to a OneDrive folder on the new drive (which gets synced to the cloud), as well as to an external drive or USB that will always be connected to the server. The new hard drive is an SSD, which may help eliminate some lag issues but could wear down faster. Depending on how things turn out, I may purchase a second HDD just to have in case the first should fail unexpectedly after a short-ish amount of time again.

I'll discuss with the DMs some ideas for moving forward and will look at comments here for your ideas and what could work moving forward. If it comes to a full/partial 'reboot' again (I did want the first one, I don't want this one), I completely and totally get that everyone wants to have their character back to where it was. But we need to balance just how much we (everyone) are expecting of the DMs (and what they're willing to take on) since we're looking at dozens and dozens of players that would need this done, and so it is done in a way that is fair to most, or all, players.

[MilesBeyond]

I've no strong opinion one way or the other - I just want to add my voice to those who are saying that whatever you decide, we'll play it and we'll have fun.


Question, though - would it be possible for us to use the retirement system here? Maybe tell the server that everyone had just retired a (for argument's sake) level 8 character? That way people would get a bit of a boost on restarting any characters, it would (theoretically) be minimal work for the DMs, and it could only be applied to one character per player, and even then only characters made before the next server reset, so we shouldn't have to worry about exploits.

[Balanor]

Question, though - would it be possible for us to use the retirement system here? Maybe tell the server that everyone had just retired a (for argument's sake) level 8 character? That way people would get a bit of a boost on restarting any characters, it would (theoretically) be minimal work for the DMs, and it could only be applied to one character per player, and even then only characters made before the next server reset, so we shouldn't have to worry about exploits.

Unfortunately, there I no automated way to do that since character levels were lost with the character file and databases. DMs could manually give X amount of XP to reach a certain level if it's determined that's the route to take, but as that is getting to the character rebuilding details, I'd need to discuss with them and have a plan in place for everyone as we move forward.

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I called the place that Bert linked to and the person I spoke to sounded like English was not his first language and we had these uncomfortable pauses after I'd ask him a question in which it seemed like he wasn't getting exactly what I was saying. They are by far the cheapest option...but this call didn't give me a lot of confidence in them. Of course, since it is 'only' NWN data, maybe we don't need the best...?
I also called Kroll Ontrack http://www.krollontrack.com/ps211-data-recovery/ and spoke to a guy who seemed much more knowledgeable and gave the impression he knew exactly what was going on. He *seemed* to believe they could do it for around $1000, but their prices vary between $700-1300. The nice thing with them is that they diagnosis and determine what they can recover before they charge, unlike Best Buy who takes the money first and even if they can recover only a bit, charges that much.

So long story short, in either case, I'm having Best Buy send me back the drive and will look at sending it away to another (cheaper) location. If anyone has other recommendation to check out, please post them.

[Miscr3ant]

As painful as it is for some, just re-boot, rather than try to figure out just how much stuff we had, where our XP was, how much Note, etc. It will be much better for the staff, and even the players, in the long run. As Noitca said, it is the journey, not the destination. :)

For us, we will probably re-create our Tempus twins (cause we were having a ball), but are using the re-boot as an excuse to transfer up to the Northern Temple in Gauros Keep. ;) Maybe we can stir up some usage up there. :D

And I never did like Teygard's voiceset anyway. :P

[Balanor]

Just an FYI - I'll try to be in the forum Chat Room as often as possible over the next few days. The link is at the top of the site here. Feel free to join in if you want to talk or want any most recent updates.

[Bela]

I'm with Miscr3ant and Noitca on this.

I feel that a re~boot however upsetting it will be for some if not most of us is the best and fairest way around this. It would take a lot of stress from the DM's and yourself about getting main characters back up to where they were.

If you do go with the restart from February, I still wouldn't ask for a build up on any of my girls, I will play with them from that reset. As I said previously, I cannot remember what items they had or forged items they had made or even how much gold they each had, so would not be able to give that information to a DM.

As far as I am concerned, and can't speak for others, I will continue playing with what the server brings in for me, if that is lower level girls from February then so be it, if it is a new build and start again for them because of a re-boot that is also fine by me, I have as much enjoyment of building and creating a character as I do playing them.

[MilesBeyond]

Question, though - would it be possible for us to use the retirement system here? Maybe tell the server that everyone had just retired a (for argument's sake) level 8 character? That way people would get a bit of a boost on restarting any characters, it would (theoretically) be minimal work for the DMs, and it could only be applied to one character per player, and even then only characters made before the next server reset, so we shouldn't have to worry about exploits.

Unfortunately, there I no automated way to do that since character levels were lost with the character file and databases. DMs could manually give X amount of XP to reach a certain level if it's determined that's the route to take, but as that is getting to the character rebuilding details, I'd need to discuss with them and have a plan in place for everyone as we move forward.

That's a shame. Honestly, that doesn't seem worth it. I'd rather start from scratch than dump a massive amount of extra work on the DMs.

For us, we will probably re-create our Tempus twins (cause we were having a ball), but are using the re-boot as an excuse to transfer up to the Northern Temple in Gauros Keep. ;) Maybe we can stir up some usage up there. :D

And I never did like Teygard's voiceset anyway. :P

Hahaha that's the one awkward bit. I'd probably recreate as well, since I was just getting into Killian's character and story (and depending on whether we go back to the February server or start over fresh, I'd probably recreate Alek too), but it'd be a little strange at first.

Are these "new" characters who need to reintroduce themselves to each other? Do we have them just keep going as they were before as though nothing ever happened?

[Gwydion669]

Even a grand would be too much for data. If it's left in the kitty, better to be used on hardware, I reckon.

As painful as it is for some, just re-boot, rather than try to figure out just how much stuff we had, where our XP was, how much Note, etc.

Wha? Catching characters up ain't difficult at all! Maurice was 23rd level, was carrying around 2 million talons on him, had completed every quest four times, and had two of three Deathly Hallows picked up in a random treasure drop in the Heart of the Isle! I won't even bother to mention the +6 plate at 10% weight or the +5 vorpal bastard sword of sharpness.

Don't believe me? Give me 7 minutes with my editor/leveller and I'll send you a bic file. Gimme an extra 2 minutes and it'll even be date-stamped August 2nd. :P

In the customer service industry, I often find myself saying, "I'm sorry about this, sir, but it's not about you. It's about people in general. In general, people suck."

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Are these "new" characters who need to reintroduce themselves to each other? Do we have them just keep going as they were before as though nothing ever happened?

Heh. You can always do what Maurice does with my bud's characters. As far as Maurice is concerned, they're all "Nicky." He just keeps changing his name to hide from disgruntled husbands. And shepherds.