So at what point do the characters revert to? I don't know when the patch was introduced.

This is another sign that shows how develepors and lead sales reps prematurely wanted to meet that deadline and how they dropped the ball once again. Apart from being a major spinoff of a popular game, AO offers unique gameplay in that it's core design will remain buggy for the longhaul. With a lifespan of 4 years, Funcom is hoping to meet a netgain of quadruple or more of thier initial investment. One question to the people who play the game: "Will Funcom invest as much interest into the game on your behalf as you invest as much into their pockets?" Consider other flops and successes of multi-player on-line games. Apart from specific elements of an individual game -which is only a sales ruse or a "pitch"-, one would have to consider the gaming industry as a whole and decide who will be supported.

A profit making company does not regret a fallback which concerns a player's interest in-game. It will, however, be aware that these fallbacks may lead to cancellation of accounts. If a company -which plays the spinoff game- has not yet figured out and devised a system in which to fully contain an exploit, then it shouldn't have been marketted in the first place. I personally do not see this "fix" of a "widespread" rollback a step forward in the ongoing development of what some say will be a successful game unless we take ourselves away from the gameplay and look only at the revenue the game is creating. This rollback clearly shows the lack of consideration from AO's lead teams.

Is this rollback to be expected again? Is there no way to weed out the users who have used the exploit? What types of actions will be taken in the future if there was an exploit of a different nature found? Will this action still preserve the balance and playability of the game?