If you’ve spent 10 hours messing up your attribute point distribution, picked a faction you hate, or keep running into weird quest bugs that won’t go away, you’re probably looking for where winds meet restart character options to wipe your slate clean. I went through this exact same mess last month, when I accidentally assigned all my early points to charisma instead of sword skill, and couldn’t beat the third main story boss no matter how many times I tried. I spent 45 minutes digging through every menu before I found the restart option, so I’m writing this to save you the same frustration. This guide covers every step of restarting, what you get to keep, and when it’s actually worth starting over instead of fixing your current build.
Where to Find Where Winds Meet Restart Character Settings in the Main Menu
First, you don’t have to dig through in-game pause menus while you’re loaded into your save to find this option. I tried that first, and it doesn’t exist there, so don’t waste your time scrolling through the system tab mid-playthrough. You have to fully exit your current save and go back to the game’s launch main menu to access the restart function. That’s the biggest mistake most new players make when they go looking for this setting. A lot of players assume the restart option is in the in-game system menu because that’s standard for most open-world RPGs, but the devs for Where Winds Meet placed it in the profile menu to prevent accidental deletions during play. That makes sense when you think about it, but it’s definitely not intuitive for first-time players.
From the main menu, select the “Profile” option on the bottom right of the screen, right next to the settings cog. Once you’re in the profile menu, you’ll see a small, easy-to-miss text option at the very bottom of the left sidebar that says “Manage Save Slots”. Click that, and you’ll see all your current save files listed, with three small icons next to each one. The middle icon, which looks like an eraser over a piece of paper, is the restart character option. You will get two confirmation prompts before your save is wiped, so you don’t have to worry about clicking it by accident. I tested this twice to make sure, and both times I had to type in a 4-digit confirmation code that pops up on screen to confirm I wanted to delete the save, so there’s zero risk of accidental wipes if you’re just clicking around menus. Keep in mind this only works for individual save slots, not your entire game profile, so if you have multiple characters, you can delete one without touching the others.
What You Keep When You Restart Your Where Winds Meet Character
A lot of players hesitate to restart because they’re worried they’ll lose all the premium cosmetics and pre-order bonuses they unlocked, but that’s not the case. I tested this myself when I restarted my character, and I got to keep almost all the non-save specific items I earned. All premium shop purchases, pre-order bonuses, and account-wide unlocks carry over to your new character automatically, no extra steps needed. That includes any costume skins, weapon transmogs, mount skins, and profile banners you bought or earned from limited time events. You don’t have to re-link your account or contact support to get these items back, they’ll be waiting for you in your in-game mailbox as soon as you finish the tutorial on your new character.
What you won’t keep, though, is any progress tied specifically to the save slot you’re deleting. That includes your character level, attribute points, quest progress, faction reputation, in-game currency like silver and copper, and any regular gear you collected during your playthrough. If you have unused premium currency like gold ingots in your save, spend them before you restart, because those are tied to the save slot and will get deleted along with your character. I made that mistake the first time I restarted, and lost 300 gold ingots I’d been saving for a new mount skin, so learn from my error. There’s no way to transfer save-specific items between characters right now, so make sure you use up any limited use items or premium currency before you wipe your save. You also won’t keep any unfinished event progress tied to that specific character, so if you’re 80% done with a limited time event, you might want to finish it first before you restart.
Situations When Restarting Your Character Is Worth It
Restarting your character isn’t always the best move, especially if you’ve already put 50+ hours into your save. But there are a handful of situations where starting fresh is way easier than trying to fix the issues you’re dealing with. I’ve put together a quick list of scenarios where restarting is the better choice:
- You misallocated 10+ attribute points early on and don’t want to grind 20 hours for a stat reset item, which only drops from endgame world bosses at a 5% drop rate
- You picked a faction that doesn’t match your playstyle, and faction changes are locked until you complete 30 hours of main story questline
- You’re running into unresolvable quest bugs that stop you from progressing the main story, and customer support can’t fix your save file within 72 hours
- You want to try a completely different build, like switching from a melee sword build to a ranged bow build, without having to respec every skill point one by one
If none of these apply to you, you’re probably better off sticking with your current character. Stat reset items do exist, even if they’re hard to get early on, and you can unlock most faction-specific rewards even if you’re in a different faction, it just takes a little extra grinding. If you’re less than 10 hours into your playthrough, restarting is almost always the faster option for fixing any mistakes you made early on. I was only 8 hours in when I restarted, and I caught back up to my original progress in less than 3 hours, since I already knew which quests gave the most XP and which side quests I could skip.
Tips for Starting Your New Where Winds Meet Character Strong
Once you’ve wiped your old save and are ready to make your new character, there are a few small things you can do to make your playthrough way smoother than your first one. First, take time to actually read through the attribute descriptions before you assign your starting points. The game doesn’t do a great job of explaining what each stat does, so don’t just randomly assign points to fill the bar. Strength boosts melee damage, dexterity boosts ranged damage and attack speed, constitution boosts health and defense, wits boosts spell damage and critical hit chance, and charisma boosts faction reputation gains and shop discounts. If you’re not sure what build you want to play, put 2 points into constitution first, so you don’t get one-shot by early world bosses.
Pick your faction based on your playstyle, not just the cool armor the NPCs wear. The Azure Cloud faction is for melee sword players, the Shadow Sect is for stealth and dagger builds, the Spirit Valley faction is for healers and magic users, and the Iron Fortress is for tank players. I picked Shadow Sect the first time because I liked their black robes, but I hate stealth play, so I was miserable for 8 hours straight. You should also skip all the low-level side quests on your second playthrough, unless you specifically want the rewards from them. You get enough XP from main story quests to hit level 20 without touching any side content, so you can save those for later when you need extra gold or gear. You can also turn off the tutorial pop ups in the settings before you start your new playthrough, which will save you a lot of time if you already know how the combat and crafting systems work. Don’t forget to claim all your account-wide unlocks from your in-game mailbox as soon as you finish the tutorial, so you can use your mount and cosmetic skins right away.
At the end of the day, restarting your character is a personal choice, and there’s no shame in wiping a save that isn’t working for you. Now that you know where winds meet restart character settings are hidden, you don’t have to waste time digging through menus trying to find the option when you need it. Just make sure you double check you’ve used up all your save-specific premium currency and you’re okay with losing your quest progress before you confirm the wipe. I’ve restarted two characters already, and both times it made my playthrough way more fun once I had a character that matched my playstyle perfectly. If you’re on the fence about restarting, try making a second save slot first to test out a new build before you wipe your old one, so you don’t regret your choice later.
