So I missed some account migration period and I've been getting the run around but automated chat services all morning.
Did Microsoft just buy Minecraft so they could disable accounts and recharge people later? I just want to play on the server my friends just created but now I can't?
It really would seem that there's no way to recover your account now, I saw a video by someone who deliberately sacrificed a Minecraft account to see what would happen, and that seemed to be his conclusion, that it's just lost and you have to buy the game again.
This was some bullshit, unfortunately. Far as I'm aware nobody who had their account disabled has been able to squeeze a drop back from Microsoft, even though you're obviously legally entitled.
While this is very true, it's also relatively common for such breaches to actually be remedied by lawsuits (though obviously not from the poorest people who have no way to fund that). And in the UK for instance, I've successfully forced the hands of a few companies via the fair trading office, financial ombudsman and advertising authorities; All it took in those cases was a couple emails to the right place. Consumer laws do help.
I suspect Microsoft is big enough, and the population who haven't had their Minecraft account back is probably small and poor enough, though, to indeed be denied their rights.
I turned on support for cracked clients on my server, because about half the people who play on it missed the deadline. A lot of longtime players I play with will only pick it up for a few months once every 3-5 years, and so obviously they weren't paying attention to this arbitrary money grab deadline.