Account Management Information

From SE and PlayOnline: This is a courtesy notice to help clarify several points about FINAL FANTASY XI Content IDs and PlayOnline accounts. If you wish to suspend your FINAL FANTASY XI play only temporarily, please cancel your Content ID rather than your PlayOnline account. If you cancel a Content ID, the corresponding character data will be stored for ninety days without any recurring charges. After the ninety-day period has passed, the character data will be deleted and cannot be recovered. You can extend this period by reactivating the Content ID and then cancelling it again; your character data will then be stored for an additional ninety days. However, please note that the usual monthly charge will apply for the month in which the Content ID was reactivated.

Comments

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Playonline Account
# Apr 12 2006 at 7:08 PM Rating: Decent
1. Ok, so let's say I'm still paying for my content ID's but I haven't been able to get on POL for idk let's say 1 year for example (while still paying the whole time for the content ID's). Will my POL Account be deleted?

2. If my POL Account was deleted in that manner, would I have to buy another FF Account or be able to revive it before a certain period?

3. If I have to buy another FF Account in the same manner, will my characters still be there since I've been paying for them the whole time?

TY

Edited, Wed Apr 12 20:17:36 2006
heh
# Nov 22 2004 at 4:20 AM Rating: Decent
A service message brought to you from your friends at SE. It is so obvious they are trying to hold over policy to keep peoples accounts open when they decide to try another game, seeing EQ release and WoW which is due Nov 23. I'm sorry SE but tactics like this WONT keep customers.

And say I did decide to come back after a few months, would I return if I had to start over again? HELL NO. Great Marketing SE!

*shall never play another asian MMORPG*
About cancelation
# Nov 16 2004 at 6:46 PM Rating: Excellent
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727 posts
Ok, Im seeing a lot of misunderstanding here, even after this message from SE to clarify the situation...

Here is the problem: You have ONE account, and one or more content IDs.

POL ACCOUNT: Free
FIRST CONTENT ID: $12.95 per month
ADDITIONAL CONTENT ID: $1.00 per month, per ID.

All content IDs are pro-rated ONE TIME ONLY, and only during your first 2 months of the game. This means when you first get the game, you have 30 days of free play. If you start your IDs on the 15th, then it is free till the next month's 15th. You are then charged $6.50 for your main ID, and $.50 for each additional ID.

Again, this is for the FIRST 2 MONTHS ONLY. After that, you are charged full price for creating content IDs, no matter when you create them. This means if you create a new ID, be it a new main one or a new additional one, you will be charged $12.95/$1.00. Even if you create them on the 29th of the month.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, on the the problem many are having...

If you want to keep FFXI, but NOT PAY your monthly fees, then you must cancle the CONTENT IDs.

You do NOT want to cancel your account. Your account is FREE, and is the account you use to access POL. You do not even need to keep POL loaded on your computer. You can delete the whole thing, so long as you keep your login and password. (login is 4 letters followed by 4 numbers, password is whatever you set up). Then, 6 months from now, you should be able to reload POL and FFXI, add your existing login and password, and go purchase yourself a new $12.95 content id.

If you do cancel your account, then you are canceling the $50 game you purchased. Im not sure that is the best policy for SE to have... And as I have never done, I would think they should at least slap a giant "WARNING: YOU ARE ABOUT TO PERMANENTLY DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT" and accept button. Perhaps they do, I dunno.


People who are upset because they have to go buy a new game have to do so because they accidentally deleted their POL account, and not the content IDs like they were supposed to. They made the mistake, and are now upset that SE is not willing to fix it. I have sympathy for them, and I would hope SE could find a way to work this out...

I don't know how it is for everyone else, but I have always been pretty clear on the difference between the account and the ids. So somewhere, SE made that clear to me. I always knew that POL was free... In fact, that was one of the things SE was marketing it as. I did NOT know that canceling the POL led to deactivation of my registration codes... but I knew that there was never any reason to cancel the account.

Anyways, thats what this public service message is trying to convey. If you just want a temporary leave, make sure you cancel the correct one.


Edit: I have not recently read page 11, so I dont know what it states. There may be something there about 6 months inactivity deletes you POL account... But I dont think so. I believe that a POL account is permanent, so long as you do not actively delete it. Feel free to reply with a correction if it is stated otherwise.

Edited, Tue Nov 16 18:51:12 2004
heeelp me
# Nov 16 2004 at 1:39 PM Rating: Decent
im about to buy ff11. I dont know whether to get it for pc or ps2. But my main problem is that i dont know what you have to pay for it. So i hear its 12.95 blah blah blah but sheesh i am soo lost. Someone lend da chocoboman a hand please...thnx:)
Simple Question
# Nov 15 2004 at 11:18 AM Rating: Decent
Wow what I gather from others posts is that if u cancel everything from POL including accounts everything... after 3 months even ur CD KEYS become invalid and u can't create another account without buying another game??? This seems rather harsh please correct me if i'm wrong. Just a little confused.
RE: Simple Question
# Nov 16 2004 at 6:25 AM Rating: Decent
47 posts
As I understand it, that is the case, yes. Have a quick look at page 11 of your game manual for verification.
Sqare-Enix lost me as a customer permanently because of thei
# Nov 15 2004 at 1:03 AM Rating: Decent
My wife and I purchased two copies of the game back when it first came out so we could play together. Because of work and real life, we had to put the game on hold for a while. We just didn't have the time to play anymore. So I cancelled both content ID's fully realizing that we would have to create new characters when we were able to start playing again. This was not a problem. What I didn't realize is because we haven't used either account in 6 months, Square-Enix has completely deleted our PlayOnline accounts from the system and we cannot sign up again and play unless we purchase 2 new copies of the game from the store. Because of this rediculous policy, we will not be doing business with Square-Enix anymore and will probably be moving on to Worlds of Warcraft or Everquest 2. And yes, before anymone mentions it, I have been told that this is clearly mentioned on page 11 of the game manual. I don't remember the last time I actially read a game manual completely before playing a game. Usually, I use them as a reference when I need to look something up if the game I'm playing even came with a manual instead of just some type of quick reference card. My point is, when this game first came out we spend $50 each for 2 copies of this game, and whether or not we are actively playing the game online and playing the monthly fee, it is an unacceptable policy that we now have to repurchase 2 more copies of this game to play again.
RE: Sqare-Enix lost me as a customer permanently because of
# Nov 15 2004 at 7:16 AM Rating: Decent
47 posts
On what information did you automatically assume that your account would be kept for longer than 6 months? When postponing an account for that long, I would have thought you'd have a detailed look at the manual to find such information, rather than working on your own assumptions about S-E's policies.

Granted, the fact that you will have to buy another 2 copies of the game to receive valid POL IDs is beyond ridiculous, but it seems to me you could have saved yourself the trouble by having had the sense to research what you were about to do.
RE: Sqare-Enix lost me as a customer permanently because of
# Nov 15 2004 at 11:51 AM Rating: Decent
I didn't ASSUME they would keep my account at all. I just had no idea that they would go as far as not allowing me to sign up again without having to purchase the game again. This is not standard practice with any other game I have played so why would I ever assume that it would be with Final Fantasy? As I said in my original post, I was well aware my acount would be removed from the system after 3 months. I had no problem with that.
RE: Sqare-Enix lost me as a customer permanently because of
# Nov 16 2004 at 6:22 AM Rating: Decent
47 posts
I can't honestly see that with the still-growing but small number of MMORPGs on the market, there would be such thing as a "standard practise" when it comes to policies about account storage.

I feel that a better way to have dealt with situations like yours would be to have some kind of reactivation system, where a customer who has been inactive for a length of time can contact S-E with the original activation key and the details they registered with, to be allocated a new POL ID.

However, deciding never to deal with a company again not because of a lack of service, but because of failure to read through their terms and conditions correctly just seems like an act of spite from my point of view.
Just deserts.
# Nov 14 2004 at 9:51 AM Rating: Decent
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484 posts
This would all seem relevant if I wasn't going to be stuck in another country for a year.

Edited, Sun Nov 14 09:52:11 2004
Careful!!!
# Nov 12 2004 at 6:36 PM Rating: Decent
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71 posts
As far as I understand it you still have to pay each month for the $12.95 to keep your playonline account. If you cancel your account - which means you stop paying for it - your char info will be deleted immediately. If you want to keep your char info for 90 days you must keep the playonline acct thus paying each month. Then to start back up you just reactivate your char, still keeping the same playonline account. (assuming you didn't cancel the playonline acct) If you did you have to start all over again with nothing...
RE: Careful!!!
# Nov 12 2004 at 6:44 PM Rating: Decent
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545 posts
Quote:
As far as I understand it you still have to pay each month for the $12.95 to keep your playonline account. If you cancel your account - which means you stop paying for it - your char info will be deleted immediately


Your playonline account is free.
Your first content ID costs $12.95 per month.
All additional content IDs cost $1 per month.

To stop paying and keep your character around(that's the whole point of what we are trying to do here, right?), you cancel all your content IDs and keep your free playonline account. You can always go onto playonline and access the usual menus and friend list etc.

To keep your character intact, reactivate the content ID within 90 days. If you have several characters, reactivate all of them. This will cost you the normal fee of 12.95 for the first and $1 for each additional.
leaveing
# Nov 12 2004 at 5:29 PM Rating: Decent
I dont plan on leaveing just yet but if I go it will be a result of SE not fixing the fubar'd economy of this game. If I leave that for reason then I don't plan on coming back. That sucks because I LOVE this game.
More questions
# Nov 12 2004 at 2:49 PM Rating: Decent
OK, so when I deactivate does the 90 days start counting from that day or the last day in the month I payed for? So then there is no way to go 3 whole months without paying... so really we only get 60 days that they save our charactor for free?
RE: More questions
# Nov 12 2004 at 7:22 PM Rating: Decent
**
457 posts
when you tell SE that you dont want your content ID, they send you a message (or mail, I forget) saying that they recieved your cancelation. It also says that the content ID that you canceled will not take affect until your next billing cycle. Then the 90 days is after that.

So if you are billed on the first, and cancel on the second, you have already payed for that month, so your character is still active. on teh first of the next month, the character that is tagged to the canceled ID will be come greyed out on the character select screen. After 90 days, it will dissapear. I dont know if its 90 days, or 3 billing cycles. I see peopel say 90 days, but I think it may be 3 billing cycles.

I dont know what happens if you reactivate a character. I deleted a content ID last year in november, and in my december billing cycle, they inactivated that character. At my billing cycle in march, I think my character dissapeared on that day.

I hope this helps clarify things
____________________________
lolgaxe wrote:
Thinking outside the box is fine, but the owner's manual is on the inside.
RE: More questions
# Nov 12 2004 at 4:13 PM Rating: Decent
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118 posts
from what I understand you can cancel your ID's as soon as they billed you for the month and still be able to play for that month. your 90 days doesn't start until the last month you paid for is over.

As for recovering Content ID's I'm not sure how they'd charge you. If you reactivated them the day before your last month is over, I'd hope they didn't charge you for "that month" which you only got the last day of <_<

Honestly, I wouldn't chance finding out if waiting until your 90 days, just to see if you'll be charged for 2 months or if you'll have no chars, depending on which day you reactivated them.
New question
# Nov 12 2004 at 2:49 PM Rating: Decent
Accedentally double posted... see above.

Edited, Fri Nov 12 14:51:42 2004
not that hard
# Nov 12 2004 at 2:28 PM Rating: Decent
i don't know what all of you are complaining about, you don't have to keep the actual game installed, just POL which only takes up 306MB on your HD. also, it's really not as difficult as you all make it sound to go in and re-activate/de-activate content IDs. just have your POL ID and Password ready and it'll only take to 5 minutes at most.
Reactivating
# Nov 12 2004 at 2:25 PM Rating: Decent
So if I deactivate my content ID as long as icomebac and reactive them withing 3 months and pay the $12.95 for my char. all my stuff will stillbe there. But if i have multiple char. do i need to reactivate all the content ID's or after the 3 months will the ones I did not reactive be deleted?
RE: Reactivating
# Nov 12 2004 at 2:27 PM Rating: Decent
Sorry about the lod post sheet i messed up onit but i have fixed.
huh
# Nov 12 2004 at 1:35 PM Rating: Decent
When I quit I cancled my IDs, is that all I need to cancle? I dont want them billing me
I hate you, SE
# Nov 12 2004 at 11:19 AM Rating: Decent
Well, doesn't this mean that either I have to keep POS- I mean, POL on my harddisk, or reinstall it every 3 months? Is there a way to show SE that I might still love her after 3 months without installing the software?
Looks like Square didn't clarify enough
# Nov 12 2004 at 3:25 AM Rating: Decent
Does anyone know if you reactivate in the middle of the month if you are charged the full $12.95 or is it proactive charge like it was for the first month after the free month?
RE: Looks like Square didn't clarify enough
# Nov 12 2004 at 7:44 AM Rating: Decent
FinalHeven,

I have canceled and re-activated my content ID's several times and have never had a discounted charge for a half month.

What usualy happened to me was if I re-activated my Content ID mid-month they would wait till the next month then charge me for two months at once.
Heh heh
# Nov 12 2004 at 2:40 AM Rating: Excellent
*
246 posts
"Just to let you guys know who are quitting for EQ2 or WoW, that it's not too late, and you still have 3 months to see the light and come back. Don't make any PERMANENT decisions. Come on back and we'll still love you!"

- SquareEnix

Edited, Fri Nov 12 02:40:55 2004
RE: Heh heh
# Nov 12 2004 at 3:13 AM Rating: Decent
hahaha you took the words right out of my (hands)
SE Please take note
# Nov 12 2004 at 1:42 AM Rating: Default
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688 posts
Wouldn't it just be easier if they made a kind of "inactive account" status and let you pay a reduced fee? I mean, basically what this says is that you can keep your character as long as you want, as long as you pay about $12.95 every three months and go through a bunch of hurdles and red tape to get your character reactivated.

Just charge people $4.25 a month and let them keep their characters... it's the same thing, less hassle.
RE: SE Please take note
# Nov 13 2004 at 12:45 PM Rating: Decent
Hurdles and red tape? Just de-activate your ID when you stop playing, make sure to activate it again before 90 days is up to keep SE from deleting your character/s and immediately de-activate. Repeat as needed. Activation and de-activation is only a matter of a few clicks. I don't see the hurdles and red tape.
RE: SE Please take note
# Nov 12 2004 at 10:18 AM Rating: Decent
you mean $4.32?

>.<
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