Dear XXxxXXx Hacker XXxxXXXx or whatever your name is,
I have played Guild Wars since the day it launched. It is true that I did not play it faithfully. Indeed, months would pass while I was distracted by “other” MMOs – EQ2, Rift, even (I confess it!) WoW – but I would always return to Tyria, to my ranger Aerynne and her beloved pet cat, Cuddles.
Together we would wander the scorched wastelands, the frozen tundra, the lush jungles – struggling to stay alive and complete every bonus mission. We were a team – we were not strong, or all-powerful, or rich; we did not own rare weapons or priceless crafting goods, tomes or exotic inscriptions and runes. But we were happy, just the two of us and the occasional NPC monk, the wind at our back, the sun in our face – free to explore this bold, beautiful world.
Until you came, like a thief in the night, like a snake in the grass, like a wolf in expensive but slightly gaudy armor. You, who hacked my account and consigned my Aerynne to the dustbin of deleted toons. It was with mounting distress that I attempted in vain to access my account this week past – oh, the horror! I shall never forget those evil words, emblazoned across my monitor: Password Retrieval – FAILED; the “secret questions” I did not recognize and could not answer. (Just what was your childhood nickname, anyway? Apparently, it was not a55h0l3 or 5Hi7H3ad.)
Finally, with the help of my original computer disks/codes and the helpful staff at NCSoft, I was able to lay claim to my account once more. Imagine my feelings – the grief – when I logged on to find my Ranger and her various alt friends gone, all gone, replaced by a family of XxXXxxxX alts.
I am now moving through the various stages of grief –denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance. I have cursed you, wished various evils upon you, shaken my fist at the heavens and hoped you, somewhere, were feeling my wrath. But anger must give way, and the sight of my new Ranger Trevi, now a resident of Elona and about to set sail on adventures of her own, has brought me a measure of peace.
So I forgive you. For that, we can thank Trevi and the calming influence of Elona and my Sunspear sisters. Well, that and the bags and bags of green and gold weapons you left me, the stacks of rare crafting materials, the tomes, potions, figurines, runes. Honestly, who really needs multiple sets of Mallyx and Stygian weapons? Forty stacks of glittering dust? And how many globs of ectoplasm does one really need? And thanks for all the faction – did you know that was account bound?
I wish I could say I felt a pang of guilt as I stripped, then deleted, all your oh-so-uber level 20 toons. I wish I could say it, but I cannot. I really, really, cannot.
R
Just pm me.
