Issues with the first year guardians

I'm probably just out of the loop, but when I logged in I ran around getting thanked by all the diff. People and given items and a dope black shader I think called the old guard. I tried logging onto a diff character to repeat but got none of the same treatment, was it just a one time deal per account or am I missing something? I don't think it's the first year thing because I didn't get a guardian to 30 despite playing a lot in the first bit, I just never combined all my motes of light to get one to 30 and wasn't aware of the bonuses or cutoff date. Sad panda.