Shard locked?

[Rotpar]

I haven't played the game in years, came back to get this free expansion, also annoyed that the Secret World is dead...

First thing I'm told is that the last shard I was on was locked. Then it dumps me to pick a new shard and none of them have any of my old characters on it.

Do I have to start over again? Granted, I never made it very far...

[Wolverine]

check in Glyph if you have selected the right region
log into every existing shard, don't just "look" at them
your characters should turn up somewhere

if not, contact the Rift support
a GM should be able to find your characters

and you might have to rename your characters too, since they were probably moved to another shard

The Secret World is turned into The Secret World Legends... we have to wait and see how that plays out.

[Rotpar]

Ok, characters found. Now to figure out how to claim the expansion.

[Wolverine]

http://www.trionworlds.com/rift/en/2017/05/10/free-expansion-weekend-may-10-14/
just logging into the game will do it.

[76561198232113252]

You guys keep responding brilliantly before I even get here! Thanks so much... and Rotpar, welcome back to RIFT! :)