old festival hats

ok, heres the deal. i got the dragon mask with a character ive now deleted, but i kept the hat hoping to be able to use again one day far in the future. heres how you get around them being "i was at the festival" sensitive. when i copy a hat for a character i no longer have, the original is deleted. (hat copying between characters killed this idea most likely) do they have any record of deleted characters? if so, this would help greatly. i believe the guild i started still had him as founder after deletion, though this wouldnt prove much. maybe just a weekend to have this option.. im still not deleting it. or - better idea - make it so you cannot own hats older than your account. simple. chances are, if you were at the festival, you got the hat. its not like theyre hard to get at the time of distribution. i dont know... help guys! i "earned" it! =P the guild wars community isnt lacking intelligence. anyone else have this problem? or any solutions thatd work better than mine (probably/hopefully)?

awaiting the flames... (and appreciating those that leave them out).

Once they are copied you can remake them for any chara you make on your account...though now that you have deleted the chara that made it I don't think that the festival hat guy will copy it.

I don't quite understand what you mean by own them older than your account?

if i started playing at the beginning of factions, i can get the dragon mask, but could never get a hat from wintersday 2005

i think you are saving something that you will never be able to use. should have done a copy before you deleted.

Try making a char with the same name as the one you deleted and copy the hat with him.

ANet has stated in the past that they have no way to restore a deleted character. If you deleted the character, all customized items are unusable by any other of your characters, even one with the same name.

That will never work, name do not determine the character, maybe a hidden variable or Id or something. But you can't use the armor of a character in another even if the name is the same.

Here he have a dilemma.

- Older player won't like new ones getting thing they could not
- But it's not fair that a player the never knew about the game can't get something...

Hm... what about a 'give away' event, where people can give for free those items, and that limited fixed amount would be gifted to new ones?
It could be done in next Wintersdays. Older player could not complain, since they would be the ones giving away to NPCs the event items the new ones would get.

i deleted the character before the inclusion of festival hat npc's so.. =(

well know you know, get another hat during the next dragon fest!
sorry that you cant wear it. :C

yea... slightly comforting. i like the 2005 wintersfest more than 2006 hats, so maybe itll be the opposite with the dragon fest. if not, i can always lie to myself and say i like it more. maybe they can force me to prefer it by adding a bit of armor to it?