So, I’ve had an Xbox 360 for about 9 years now, and only a few weeks ago did I connect it to the internet. So, I went ahead and played Halo Reach and asked me if I want to go online and lose -437000 credits. I was like “Sure, I’m probably gonna keep my armour and rank (of which I was almost Lt. Colonel).”, but no, I lost all my armour and my rank (of which my armour I loved dearly). Is this normal? Are those lost forever, or can I go offline and play with everything I previously had?
Pulling a quote from another thread:
> Sounds like you were playing offline and came online at which point, everything resets. This is an intentional feature put in by Bungie to prevent offline boosting.
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> - snickerdoodle, My Credits, Rank, and Armor are gone, 13/8/18
I believe it’s lost forever unless you want to re-earn everything, unfortunately.
Hey OP. Looks like you’ve hit on to a measure that Bungie added into their game to prevent boosting accounts offline and taking them online. Sucks if you’ve not been playing on XBL all this time, but there’s no way round it I’m afraid. If you go offline again I believe all your stuff will still be there. More info available here on Bungie’s old FAQ for Reach: http://halo.bungie.net/news/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=Reach_FAQ#_3
> Going Online for the First Time
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> If you initially earn offline Credits and then take your profile online, there will be a onetime check to see how many Credits you’ve acquired. If that amount is over 26,250, you will need to forfeit some Credits. This check is in place to ensure a level playing field and to eliminate foul play.
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> If you choose not to authenticate, you can still play online, but you will subsequently appear as a default Spartan with a default emblem and colors. If you want to change your mind, simply reboot your console and upon your next foray into online matchmaking, you’ll be prompted again.
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> If you have purchased shiny new Armory items, the authentication process may reclaim armor pieces in order to bring the Credits balance into a positive state. The end result is Armor + Credits = 26,250. No more, no less.
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> If you have less than 26,250 lifetime Credits earned when you go online for the first time, you won’t have to worry about any of this complicated math.
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> Note: Authenticating Credits does not provide any personal information to Bungie. It’s only used to track Credits per gamertag.
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> Once you authenticate your Credits with our online servers, you will not see the Credit loss dialog ever again (unless you decide to create a new profile). If you go back to playing offline, the game will simply cap you at 1,000 Credits per day until you reconnect to LIVE. If you are playing while connected to LIVE, there is no cap and you can earn Credits to your heart’s content.