Frequently Asked Questions about the Conversion

1) Conversion?  What conversion?
On October 30, 1995, Nightmare flipped the switch on an old system and
went to a new one.  So many things were different about the new system
that old player data did not directly map to new player data.  A
conversion program was thus run on all existing files to translate
them into the new system.

2) What was the goal of the conversion?
To maintain player investment in their character.  In other words, the
ultimate goal of the conversion was to translate what was done with
your old character into what would have been done with that character
had you played it under the new system.  The ultimate deciding factor
is to preserve your status within your class.

3) My skills are all much lower than before, what happened?
Converting skills from the old system to the new system is much like
converting Japanese Yen into American dollars.  In other words, the
numbers do not mean the same thing, so a one-to-one conversion is not
possible.  In fact, many of the same skills are not even present under
both systems.

4) So how were skills converted?
Each skill under the new system has its importance with respect to
your class.  The conversion program factored in how accomplished you
were at that skill under the new system with how important the skill
is to you as a member of your class under the new system.  Two skills
which you had at an equal level under the old system, therefore may
end up at two separate levels under the new system, with the more
important one being higher than the other.

5) Stats are all over the map, what's up with that?
Stats have no relation to the old system stats.  Instead they were
converted based on your level and race.  Race has a lot more
signficance under the new system, and the differences are important.
Thus allowing people to circumvent those differences by doing direct
conversion from the less restrictive old system would have been
counter-productive. 

6) Where are all of my languages?
Languages were not converted, since under the new system you will not
be able to make up language names on the fly.

7) What about my money?
Money was not converted for the beta program.  The conversion into the
new economy is yet to be determined as of the writing of this FAQ.

8) I am really not happy with what happened to my character, what can
I do about it?
Certainly, a mass conversion is at best imperfect.  In certain cases,
it probably will miss the mark completely.  If you really feel that
your character is unplayable in the way you would like to play it,
talk to Descartes about it.  Before you do so, however, please try
playing the character for a few hours, looking for the new things your
character is capable of.  And please, when you go to discuss the
conversion with any arch, understand that we have done our best to
make things run in a way that works best for everyone.  Do not tell us
how much the conversion sucked :).

    -Descartes