So, Will the people who changed their name get there rank and Iteams back that they lost? Or will the be lost? FOREVER?
let me try to explain what I think happened as a several time server co-owner. All playerdata is saved in a location before 1.8 that location is server/essentials/world(youruseename) I think its been a while when theyupdated allow 1.8 clients any new clients were saved under server/essentials/world/uuids so it wouldnt look for usernames treating most players who changed there name as new players because there data was saved as a username not a uuid. in theroy your username data should still be on the server and could replace your new data but that would be a ton of work to find everyones uuid copy add the info then paste and save for every player on the server.
provided that the new jar didnot delete the data if it did well then im sorry to say but your items and money are gone. pps all my money was lost on kitpvp and opprison and I didnt even change my name.
There are so many people who have joined mine verse, there's no way the console can save every single player's days.
You can't get items back. When you name change, it's practically getting a new account without buying it. It acts as a new account because you have a different account username.