if you add a character in full access then revert to FTP then go back to full access will the character return or is in gone forever when you revert to FTP?
What happens is, Daybreak rounds up all the characters that have been placed in limbo by non-payment and forces them to work in sweatshops to produce those items that NPC shopkeepers sell.
8 or more characters on on paid accounts On silver you will default to 4 slots but people say the others are there - its alphabetical - I am not sure - never had to do it On F2P you only get 2 slots Doll of Character 1296 from loyalty merchant is another way to keep your slots when you go back to silver or free. Characters are never lost forever - see the people returning who are recovering characters from 19 years ago!
I can confirm that the character access is worked out on the criteria of most recently logged in. I have two silver accounts that I make full access periodically, a couple of times i'd forgotten that I logged in one of the least used characters more recently than a well used one and was stuck without the better character when sub expired. I petitioned first time and this was explained to me, tried not to make that error again.
I do not know about FTP. On silver, I have never had an issue with characters being locked. Prestige items and journeymen mercs are unavailable. I try to stay all access and haven't been "silver" in two years though. Last time I was silver my nine toons on Xev were all playable. All eight slots and one added with loyalty doll, which I had added at gold. When I left for about 8 years and came back, I did lose a toon that was below level ten. He was my "vendor" back then. Of course all items on him were also irretrievable.
If your characters were created before EQ went F2P then all of your characters are grandfathered in as being playable. Your account being Silver is also a matter of you having played before EQ went F2P. As other's have stated, base amounts are Free = 2, Silver = 4, and All Access = 8. If you had All Access before Gold and All Access were merged into the current version then your base is 10. You can also buy 3 dolls of character from the Loyalty merchant to increase your playable character slots by 1 each, regardless of having a subscription. Similarly there is another item you can buy from the Marketplace which will also increase your playable slots by up to another 3. If you are the grandfathered Silver from before EQ went F2P and had more characters than character slots, then those characters will be the only ones accessible while you are at Silver level. If your grandfathered characters are fewer than the number of character slots for your account, then you will have the grandfathered characters + the most recently played non-grandfathered characters. If you have no grandfathered characters, then only the most recently played characters up to your limit will be playable. Also, you won't be able to necessarily arrow through all of your characters, you may have to scroll and select them with your mouse. When Mergers happen they delete all characters level 10 or lower who have not been active within X days/weeks of the merger.
