Welcome to the game!
You may have been talking to me on Reddit =)
Oh yeah, quite possibly! Haven't played since then because of the new iPad Pro release and the game not being optimized for it. But now that the big patch is out, I'll start playing again!

unfortunately it doesn't seem like my old character will transfer over (not that I got any far), so guess I gotta dig up my old iPad and delete said character so that I can re-use the name haha.
Contact support! Do not delete your old toon.
Let them know via in game supporr from your new account and they will ask you a few questions.
Name, level, amount of gold, items carried, etc... as long as you can answer those basic questions they will migrate your character to a new account for you.
This is one of the main issues with using a guest account and why I have been advocating to have the guest account system ocerhauled. Luckily, you seem to be a patient person but...
COME ON DEVS!!! WE LOSE PLAYERS TO THIS SILLY MECHANIC!!
Understandably, they have been putting everything on backburner while the engine change has been hammered out, but now I feel is the time to overhaul this guest account stuff.