Privacy
What we collect, why, and who else handles it.
On this page7 sections
In short
- Free visitors have no account. We never ask for a name, email or login.
- If you subscribe, Stripe collects your email at payment. That is the only contact detail we hold.
- Your builds, name shortlist and other tool data stay in your own browser.
- Subscribers can save characters with their subscription and turn on patch alert emails. Both are optional and off until you use them.
- You can send us a report of what you saw in the game without an account. A display name and an email are optional, and the email is never shown.
- No advertising, no tracking cookies, no selling of data.
A summary. The full text below is what applies.
What we keep
A visitor cookie
The first time you open the site it sets one cookie holding a random ID. It lets us count your 5 free AI questions a day, and limit how many reports and build link counts one browser adds. It is not linked to your name or email and it lasts up to a year. Opening a shared build link (an address that starts with /b/) does not set it.
A hashed IP address
To stop one person from clearing cookies to dodge the limits, each AI question and each restore request is also counted against a one-way hash of your IP address. We store the hash, not the address, and we cannot turn it back into one.
Question counts, not questions
For each AI question we record that one was asked, when, and the two identifiers above. For a subscriber the count is kept against the subscription instead of the visitor ID. We do not save the text of your questions or the answers on our servers.
Subscription details
When you subscribe we store your email, your Stripe customer and subscription references, the subscription status and the date the current period ends. We also keep the Stripe checkout reference with the visitor ID of the browser that paid, so the link back from checkout turns Premium on in that browser only. A second cookie in the browser you paid in remembers that Premium is on; it lasts up to 400 days and is renewed while you stay subscribed.
Restore links
If you ask for a restore link and the email has an active subscription, we store a one-way hash of the link, the hashed IP address it was asked from, when it expires (15 minutes) and whether it was used. The page answers the same way for every address, so it never reveals who subscribes.
Saved characters (Premium, optional)
If you save a character on the companion page or under My characters, we store what you entered for it: its name, faction, race, class, spec, level, ruleset, professions, an attached talent build and your notes. You can change or delete each one there, up to 12 per subscription. When you ask the companion about a saved character, those details travel with the question.
Patch alert emails (Premium, optional)
If you turn on patch alerts on the digest page, we store that choice and a random code for the unsubscribe link, and email the address you gave Stripe when new digest posts go up, at most once a day. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link that needs no login. For each announcement we keep how many emails were sent, not who received them.
Player reports
If you send a report on the contribute page (a price, a drop, a quest or a correction), we store what you typed, the source you gave (the day you saw it, or a public link), when you sent it, your visitor ID and the hashed IP address. The last two are there to limit how many reports one person can send and to spot the same report sent twice.
A display name and a contact email are optional. A person reads every report before anything is used. Reports are not published as you typed them: what we use is rewritten into the site's own data. Your email is never shown on the site and is never part of the files we make from accepted reports. We use it only to ask you about that report.
Build link counts
When someone opens a shared build link (an address that starts with /b/), we add one to a counter for that build and one to its counter for that day. That is how the popular builds page is made. Nothing about you is stored with either counter.
So that one browser counts once a day for each build, a short-lived marker is kept apart from the counters. It is made from the build, your visitor ID (or the hashed IP address if the cookie is not set yet) and the hashed IP address, and it is gone within 2 days.
Page counts
When page counting is switched on, it records only the page path and a simple event name such as “checkout started”. No cookie, no ID and no IP address are attached.
What stays in your browser
Talent builds, your name shortlist, gear wishlist, alts and tracker progress are saved in your browser's local storage and are not sent to us, unless you are a subscriber and attach a talent build to a saved character. Clearing site data removes them. Your companion conversation lives on the page while it is open; the recent turns travel with each new question so the answer has context.
How long we keep it
- AI question counts. The record that a question was asked, with the visitor ID and hashed IP address, is deleted after 62 days.
- Limit markers for reports and build links. Deleted within 2 days.
- The visitor ID and hashed IP address on a report. Removed 30 days after you send it.
- The contact email on a report. Removed 30 days after the report is reviewed. Until it is reviewed, it stays with the report.
- Reports we do not accept. Deleted 90 days after the review. Reports we accept are kept, with their source and the display name if you gave one.
- Build link counts for each day. Deleted after 60 days. The all-time count for a build is kept; it holds nothing about visitors.
- Restore link records. Deleted 7 days after the link was asked for, whether or not it was used.
- The checkout reference. Kept with your subscription record for as long as that record exists, with the visitor ID of the browser that paid, and deleted with it. It is not removed on a schedule.
- Everything else on this page. Kept until you delete it or ask us to: your subscription record, saved characters and the patch alert setting.
The clean-up runs once a day, so a deletion can come up to a day after the period ends.
Who else handles your data
Do not put personal details in questions to the companion or in character notes. We do not sell or rent data to anyone, and no advertising network runs on this site. Page visits are counted with Vercel Web Analytics, run by our host. It sets no cookies and does not follow you from site to site.
Your choices
- Clear the cookies. Deleting this site's cookies removes the visitor ID and turns Premium off in that browser. Subscribers can turn it back on with Restore access.
- Stop patch alerts. Use the unsubscribe link in any alert email, or the switch on the patch digest.
- Cancel. Manage billing on the pricing page opens the Stripe billing portal.
- See or delete what we hold. Ask and we will send you, correct or delete the subscription record tied to your email. Saved characters and the patch alert setting are deleted with it. Stripe keeps payment records as the law requires. Email celyun55@gmail.com.
- Remove a report. Write to us from the contact email you gave with it, or describe the report, and we delete it.
Children
ForeverGuide is not aimed at children, and Premium is for adults who can make the purchase.
Changes
If what we collect changes, this page changes first and the date at the top is updated. See also the terms.