It's not good news, not that anyone is expecting much from them. 9DGermany did their test on the template characters and things weren't a total disaster, so G1 is going to be releasing templates to us in their version of the game, based on what we submitted as lost characters so many months ago.

We aren't getting our old characters back. We are getting a character that is close to the level of our old characters, with a package of equipment that is suitable for that level. It works out like this;

Level Ranges
1-80 = No Template character
81-100 = Level 96 Template Character
101-115 = Level 108 Template Character
116-128 = Level 120 Template Character
129-139 = Level 132 Template Character
140-150 = Level 144 Template Character
151-160 = Level 156 Template Character
161-172 = Level 168 Template Character
173-188 = Level 180 Template Character
189-200 = Level 192 Template Character

For me it means that my SpearDriver (DB6, or level 198) character will be dropped 6 levels and that seriously sucks. At Dissolved Body levels it takes at least a week of grinding just for one level. My AxeDriver character will gain 2 levels, and my nuker will drop 1 level. Still, that's only part of the story. The characters will come with zero karma, no epithets, and probably no elixirs either. They apparently all have a messed up build too, with Essence being set to 1 per level. Oh and, skills are all going to be set to c10. You think book prices are expensive now?

One of my least favorite G1 forum mods, Pelos was displaying both his abusive arrogance and ignorance over the lack of epithets. Yes, we need the Killer of Shen Mo epithet. That's why every frigging player in the game goes through pain of camping him, with every single character they have. I sure wish that guy would go back to the Knights Online forum, assuming that he knows anything about that game.

An awful lot will depend on what that "package of equipment" contains. We'll need clothes and weapons and there is little hope that Indy21 can get all the right stuff on each character. We aren't getting any of our old equipment back, and that includes all the coin mall items. I don't know if I'll be able to play at all if that's the case. Warriors don't do well on the Tibet map without a dodge deco. Hell, nobody does well grinding at the Altar either without one and that's exactly where I'll have to go with my AxeDriver hybrid character.

It looks like the process of claiming a template character will overwrite one of the existing characters on your account, which probably means deleting all the equipment you have on that character. I'll be moving stuff around today to try and save what I can.

There are also no answers about conflicting names, and lot of people are dealing with other players who have squatted on their old character names. There are also a lot of people out there who didn't get the chance to fill out that character claim form, and for now they are completely out of luck.

All in all this just hasn't been thought through very well, but I'm looking forward to whatever else comes up. I'll sure there will be issues.