Maybe, possibly...

[Threndor]

Thinking of checking out the new Istaria. I've read several similar posts, so will try to ask ones i haven't seen yet (though I bet they are out there somewhere, and I missed them).
I remember having a Sslik (I think the name was Zephyr.) and an adult Dragon (I think the name was Talimon.) Yeah, I played long enough ago where that wasn't an awkward name!

1) I would want to try the free-to-play first (sorry, but tech was bad back then, I would want to check out playability first). Would that mean I would have to wait on the Dragon?
2) Could I get a name change for him, if I did upgrade the account and unlocked him?
3) how many characters are you allowed? (My wife and I are notorious alt-o-holics, though I mostly recall just those two as you could be all the 'alts' you wanted in one toon).
4) If we found those two, would that be enough info to find any others?
5) I like community, not that great an RPer... how are the server populations matching up? (If Chaos has more, then that is probably the best place.)
6) (big one!) We quite before that big subscription over-charge fiasco, but our friend was caught in it... Who is running the billing now, and is anyone having problems?
6a) Do we have to give a Credit Card to open the free to play option?

Games played (in order): EQ, Horizons, WoW, EQ2 (repeat last two a couple times). All in all I think THIS game has the best crafting. I absolutely loved being able to help world-usable buildings, craft items that people actually wanted/needed to use, etc. I remember fun times duo-AOEing piles of elementals (mid-level) or watching a guildie/friend go melee-berzerker AOE on some high level ones. Good story, good lore, things to keep you busy for a long time. The issue was in the graphics, slow/weak servers, lag, and downtime.
WoW cataclysm is fun leveling all the alt-family, but once there, kind of 'meh' for getting on the instance/heroic/uber-heroic/raid treadmill.

I appreciate you time reading that wall of text there, and look forward to players' insights to the current game.

[Akrion]

1) I would want to try the free-to-play first (sorry, but tech was bad back then, I would want to check out playability first). Would that mean I would have to wait on the Dragon?

Free to play limits you to having 1 human character on a new account. (You can't use an existing account for free to play). You can play a trial account for a week, letting you use a Dragon, but it won't be an existing one. However, perhaps you could send a ticket in to support and see if they may grant you some time to test the waters.

2) Could I get a name change for him, if I did upgrade the account and unlocked him?

You can pay for a name change.

3) how many characters are you allowed? (My wife and I are notorious alt-o-holics, though I mostly recall just those two as you could be all the 'alts' you wanted in one toon).

It's 7 slots per gifted subscription (you can have multiple subscriptions on 1 account). It might be 3 or 5 for a basic subscription. I can't remember.

4) If we found those two, would that be enough info to find any others?

I'm not entirely sure I understand this question completely. If you're asking if one or two of your characters still exist and can be restored, then I'm sure all the characters you had still exist.

5) I like community, not that great an RPer... how are the server populations matching up? (If Chaos has more, then that is probably the best place.)

Chaos definitely has a higher population than Order. Chaos is the Normal shard and Order the RolePlay shard. Though you can find Roleplay on Chaos. Typically on Order you're assumed to be in-character unless you specify with ((Out of Character brackets)) in some way. You're likely to find more serious RP more frequently on Order.

6) (big one!) We quite before that big subscription over-charge fiasco, but our friend was caught in it... Who is running the billing now, and is anyone having problems?

Billing issues are most definitely no longer a problem. Istaria changed hands (again) from EI (who screwed up billing) to Virtrium. A noteworthy difference would be that Virtrium isn't simply running Istaria to make money.

6a) Do we have to give a Credit Card to open the free to play option?

I don't think you do. But I haven't done Free to Play, so I can't say for sure.

The issue was in the graphics, slow/weak servers, lag, and downtime.

These can still be issues, but Virtrium has at least been working on improving everything. The servers only typically go down every Tuesday for maintenance, and only for a few hours. Though some times the servers may drop for a couple days if the Devs are applying a large content update.

[LungTien Temeraire]

Hello, Threndor, and welcome on Istaria. I hope you'll enjoy the game and the community, whether shard you will choose. Are you sure you have to pay for a name change, Akrion? I have seen the option to change names on the launcher.jar, does it require to pay?

[Dracaena]

On the character count, that depends on what type of subscription you get. Basic access is $9.95 with no property and 5 characters. Property Holder access is $14.95 (plot or lair) and 7 character slots.

See what you think of things with the free to play, and which shard does depend on what is important to you. I think Akrion already covered the high points of the two shards. Though one advantage of the lower population of Order is better real estate selection.


Hope to see you around,


Dracaena

[Velea]

A few bits of mis-information here as I skim that I'd like to clear up

1) An existing account can have Free to Play on it. You need to contact support to have it added manually, and you would have to delete any characters other than a single human character, but you can technically have Free to Play on an existing account.

2) The Welcome back Trial is two weeks, not one.

3) Full information on different access types and what services are provided here: http://community.istaria.com/pg.php/subscriptions

4) Presently name changes are in the testing phase through the launcher.jar and so you do not have to have a Name Change token on your account. Changes can be made for free during this testing time. (That will change at some point.)

5) You can submit a support ticket to have us look for your old characters and reinstate your old account free of charge. However, if the old characters were on Chaos and you want to play on Order (or vice versa), there would be a Character Transfer Fee needed for each character that is being moved.

6) You should not have to input payment information if you are creating a new Free to Play account.

[Threndor]

Thanks for the replies, all.

Velea, further questions for you:
1) 'Threndor' has been my standard avatar name since forever, when I tried to create a new account it said the name was taken... Is there a way to find out if my old account is still lying around, or if someone else legitimately has taken the name?
2) Is there a way to find out if I previously had a human character that I could use for the free to play? (I honestly only remember my top 2 toons {Zephyr and Talimon} at this point; but I know there will be more.) Its just that I have played a ton of MMOs and 'poor lowbie' is not so much fun anymore.
3) I am pretty sure we played on Chaos before, just not 100% sure is all. Finding the account would also confirm that too, I am sure. But also most likely not a priority if I am at the 'free' level.

I will admit I really miss my dragon (my first flying toon ever), so... yeah... excellent odds I will end up subscribing at some point, depending on budget, etc.

[hallucin8]

Welcome home Threndor
It seems your initial questions have been answered now I hope, as for these latest three, I think the response will likely echo "Please submit a support ticket" (https://support.istaria.com) You can submit a ticket without logining in.
As for Q1, if it's taken and not by you, then until that toon is deleted, the name will likely be taken forever. You could try slightly different spellings of it, or put your desired last name (if you have one) in your first name as well.
By my guessings, they cannot remove a toon from an account and move it onto a F2P account. So if they were to manually make your old account a F2P, then you would have to delete all except 1 human toon to keep it as a F2P.
Q3 would likely be solved by a support ticket.
Best of luck and hope to see in Istaria soon

[Akrion]

Though one advantage of the lower population of Order is better real estate selection.

That's a good point. x3 You'll definitely find more unclaimed property on Order.

[Frith-Rae]

Its just that I have played a ton of MMOs and 'poor lowbie' is not so much fun anymore.

I just wanted to comment on this for ya- highly encourage you to check out the game from a fresh reroll. The beginning game and through the first 30 or so levels has gone through a complete overhaul and buff since you were here last and you will miss the latest tweaks to gameplay that has really flushed out the experience if you start with your old character.

That and due to so many other tweaks and game complexity you might just find yourself totally lost if you Try to start back in game with your leveled character.

Buts welcome back and hope you stay!

[Threndor]

True enough Frith, and I learned a lot right off the bat with just trying to get some basic camera/toon control down.

Like I hate having the free camera mapped to my mouse's wheel button, tough to keep that thing depressed for long periods! I mapped it to my right mouse button (it wouldn't let me map it to left + right, unfortunately), and mapped the standard right click's 'open interaction list' back to that middle button (also considering the keypad's divide button).

Already got some help from some wonderfully nice people on both the 'newbie' channel and the Mithril Order channel.

Results of the first day of play: 8 war, 4 cleric, 4 mage, 8 BK, 5 Miner, 3 Outfit, 3 scholar, 1 gatherer (oops! heh) and saw 2 dragons RoP to Ancient!