Use the Welcome Back Gift at your own risk!

[Sendryn-sentinels]

I had this in another thread, but I thought it should be its own thing so people see the issues before they use this functionality.

For those that don’t know, Blizz implemented this:

Welcome Back Low Level Characters with New Gear Update Feature on the Patch...

So here’s the warning I have for y’all— and that Wowhead article covers some of it, too:

Warning for this new Welcome Back Gift:

• you will have your bars reset
• you will be given new gear and bags, regardless of whether your old gear and bags are better (old stuff will be in the mail, though)
• your quest log gets wiped
• it’s treated as a boost and you are locked out of instanced content for 24 hours
• if it’s an Allied Race, this “boost” makes you ineligible for Heritage Armor

And Nobully also noted this:

@Nobully-blackrock

if you use the “gear update” on a DK who was in the starter zone, their quest log is cleared, they’re ported to the city, and everyone in the city remains hostile

So… use this “perk” at your own risk.

[Rita-velen]

Also, the gear isn’t that great, and definitely not worth the hassle of resetting everything if you have it set up. Though it’s great for returning players who have random cata “?” icon spells on their action bars and 12 slot bags and quests that don’t exist anymore and gear that is ilvl 30 from the squish.

[Kennie-malganis]

@Rita-velen

not worth the hassle of resetting everything if you have it set up.

Semi-related but I’d recommend myslot for anybody with duplicate alts of the same class/spec. It basically lets you port your bars from one char to another in a few seconds.

[Briselody-lightnings-blade (Briselody)]

@Sendryn-sentinels

if it’s an Allied Race, this “boost” makes you ineligible for Heritage Armor

Oooof that one’s rough. I was definitely considering using it on a few of my allied race alts that I hadn’t bothered getting armors on, appreciate the heads up.

[Sendryn-sentinels]

Yeah, I saw that and was like, “… seriously?” LOL

[Lucifer-stormrage]

I did it on my level 60 demon hunter just to see what it did and was surprised when it completely cleared my bars.

[Nobully-blackrock (Nobully)]

although it may be a bug, the “boost” will also currently lock the toon out of character services for the standard cooldown period.

[Sendryn-sentinels]

Thanks! Forgot to add that.

Also adding this thread link, because trial accounts are allowed to use the Welcome Back Gift— and they have no access to mail to get their stuff back. So I’m linking the suggestion from the bottom of the thread:

@Noedesha-the-scryers

After a 2 day wait on a ticket and 2 tickets (having to reopen cause of the auto reply) this is part of the reply:

Now I can most certainly understand you wanting to see if this is possible here. I have looked into this for you here, and we were able to add a day of game time to your account for you. =) In the future though we won’t always be able to apply free game time to your account.

Now, yes, this 1 day sub did resolve my current issue this time, but as stated, “we won’t always be able to apply free game time to your account”. Meaning this is not a fix or a solution for a problem that others may find themselves in. So Blizzard needs to consider:

• allowing trial and non sub accounts access to specifically those mails (as they come from your character so maybe restrict based on that)
• block the Gear Upgrade feature from accounts without an active sub
• give a warning prior to completing the Gear Update that unless you get an active sub on the account within the next 30 days you’ll lose the items in your mail

So heads up for anyone on an unsubbed account. You may lose all your items if you use this feature, and don’t get a sub on your account within the 30 days.

[Hyeekam-aerie-peak]

Ah, so this is why my characters can’t make the WoD crafting items needed to buy more recipes. 24 hour lockout huh, damn. Good to know it’s not the crafting UI being broken.

[Lejk-nagrand (Lejk)]

@Sendryn-sentinels

• you will have your bars reset
• you will be given new gear and bags, regardless of whether your old gear and bags are better

I wish I knew this beforehand. Sigh.

This patch, I swear. Lazy and poorly implemented, I can’t help but feel it’s a sign of things to come.

[Valdivion-malganis]

Used this on an alt that was 270 ilvl in SL. Lost 100 overall ilvl.

It’s trolling unless they’re handing out 300 ilvl gear imo.

[Elissawe-draka (Elissawe)]

@Briselody-lightnings-blade

@Sendryn-sentinels

if it’s an Allied Race, this “boost” makes you ineligible for Heritage Armor

Oooof that one’s rough. I was definitely considering using it on a few of my allied race alts that I hadn’t bothered getting armors on, appreciate the heads up.

Yeah, that’s terrible. Same, I apprreciate the heads up.

[Fizztrain-remulos]

Shouldnt lock you out of heritage. Confirmed by blue.

Using the 'Welcome Back' gift locks you out of the Heritage Armour

[Chillproof-moon-guard]

Wish I’d seen this post over the weekend. I decided to try the “boost” on a pally alt and wasn’t happy about having my action bars reset. And the gear they equipped me with was almost 100 ilvls lower than the stuff I already had.

I was given the option to clear my quest log or keep current quests, however.
It also let me run ABT that same day, so maybe they fixed the legacy raid lockouts.

[Sendryn-sentinels]

@Fizztrain-remulos

Shouldnt lock you out of heritage. Confirmed by blue.

@Chillproof-moon-guard

I was given the option to clear my quest log or keep current quests, however.
It also let me run ABT that same day, so maybe they fixed the legacy raid lockouts.

Good info to have! Hopefully they will continue to fix things!

[Malochai-moon-guard (Malochai)]

You do have the option to skip resetting the quests and keep them.

The gear was better for a lot of my characters that I hadn’t blown the dust off of in awhile. For the character I am currently on, I had to put on the stuff that was mailed back to me, but most of my character benefited from the Welcome Back Gift. I honestly hope they keep this for awhile.

If you haven’t played the game in awhile, the changes can make once good gear go to crap. A friend of mine had a boosted 110 character they hadn’t played, when they logged in the gear on their now level ‘50’ character was worst then what my level 20 characters were wearing. This really helps to get them up and running if you haven’t played them for a few expansions.

If you geared them up recently, it wont be better. But, if they have been sitting for awhile this is a great way to get back into the game.

[Lunarbeast-grobbulus]

Blizzards oversights are getting redic.

[Lustrois-norgannon]

I just wanted to say, there should have been options for what you’d like done. For example, only clearing the quest log would have been a great option. Give us a list of things we can select from. Bars should ever only be at the bottom of the list and with a warning message when you click it.

[Malochai-moon-guard (Malochai)]

Does anyone know if the ability to get heritage armour is going to be messed up with this? Is it broken on both allied races and regular races, or did they fix it?

[Sarama-firetree]

@Kennie-malganis

I’d recommend myslot for anybody with duplicate alts of the same class/spec. It basically lets you port your bars from one char to another in a few seconds.

Well that would have been very helpful for my bundle of pallies!