New policies regarding inactive character names

[Torta]

Hello, everyone!

The server had been up for years now and we're facing the problem when it's nearly impossible to claim a good and unique names :) Hense, we're introducign the following change — starting the next server update, and every week further ahead, we will free the names of the characters that meet one of the following criteria:

• Below level 10 and haven't logged in for 6 months.

• Below level 20 and haven't logged in for 12 months.

• Below level 40 and haven't logged in for 24 months.

The characters will not be deleted, and will receive their ID number instead of the name. If you ever want to come back to playing it after such a long break, you'll have to choose a new name on your next login.

Additionally:

• The names from banned accounts will not be released, instead we automatically put them in the black list. Later on we'll do a manual review of this roster to set free the names that are not inaproprite.

• All names of characters from Gurubashi WoW and Hyjal Project merges that never logged in, regardless of their level, will be released.

[Vitalius]

I hope inactive characters will not be deleted but renamed instead.

[Andromath]

Those periods to flag a name seem excessively long. Two years for level 40 and below? Six months for below level 10? I mean, this might not be retail where names are a seriously rare commodity, but still.

[Admiralawesome]

I hope inactive characters will not be deleted but renamed instead.

Read the post u kek

Good change.

[Gurky]

I hope inactive characters will not be deleted but renamed instead.

"The characters will not be deleted, and will receive their ID number instead of the name. If you ever want to come back to playing it after such a long break, you'll have to choose a new name on your next login."

It says right in the post it won't delete them.

[Mac]

Good change and a fair policy.

[Karrados]

Those periods to flag a name seem excessively long. Two years for level 40 and below? Six months for below level 10? I mean, this might not be retail where names are a seriously rare commodity, but still.

At the end of the day the player came first and should not be punished for taking an extended break from the Server. It's not THAT unusual for people to drop a game for a few months or even a year and then come back refreshed.

The fact that they do this at all should be good enough.

[Kazgrim]

We need to log into a character, or log into the account, to avoid losing our names?

[Andromath]

Those periods to flag a name seem excessively long. Two years for level 40 and below? Six months for below level 10? I mean, this might not be retail where names are a seriously rare commodity, but still.

At the end of the day the player came first and should not be punished for taking an extended break from the Server. It's not THAT unusual for people to drop a game for a few months or even a year and then come back refreshed.

The fact that they do this at all should be good enough.

I don't disagree that the player should come first, but which player? There's two in play here.

The first is a player whom has stopped playing. Maybe it was an alt and they didn't like the class but didn't want to delete just in case. Maybe they took a break for vacation, or RL issues preventing them from playing. Or maybe they just quit and aren't coming back until a content patch catches their attention.

The second is a player whom is still playing, or even just starting to play on the server. Choosing a good name, one they like a lot, will be important to them. Finding out that name is taken will be demoralizing, the first moment of, 'ughh,' on the server, and one that comes MUCH too early.

Do we ignore the needs of active or new players to coddle those whom may never even return? If so, why?

[Kerguelen]

I think it's a good idea. Maybe a bit shorter for the level 10?
Unless there was a way to allow "alternative" names. Even being able to add an apostrophe ' would make a difference.
Also, if anyone has trouble thinking of a good name, lists of obscure NPCs from retail are a goldmine.

[Kefke]

Also, if anyone has trouble thinking of a good name, lists of obscure NPCs from retail are a goldmine.

Also just baby name sites. Search by just about any kind of mood you want to capture, and there's a list for that. Watch.

1. Cool
2. Intelligent
3. Badass
4. Mysterious

Just search for "[Whatever] baby names" and you'll get a hit basically every time.

[Xerilin]

I think, this is a good compromise. The time before freeing the name should not be shorter. People tend to be attached to their names and first come, first served. So good job on the rules.

I personally don't get the "popular name" thing. I want a name that is mine and not shared by a ton of other characters. If somebody already has my name, I guess I wasn't creative enough. I recently started here and all my names were available. You can make up names or even use the random name generation turtle offers.

I bet, Wednesday is going to see a loooooot of character creation attempts. I hope people consider rp realm naming rules, whike they are at it. Not likely, but a gnome can always hope.

[Vitalius]

I hope inactive characters will not be deleted but renamed instead.

"The characters will not be deleted, and will receive their ID number instead of the name. If you ever want to come back to playing it after such a long break, you'll have to choose a new name on your next login."

It says right in the post it won't delete them.

I'm pretty sure this text wasn't in the original post.

[Theexpell]

Great and positive change!

[Eskarina42]

In addition, it would be desirable to rename disreputable names or those that violate
morals and decency! Even if a letter was swapped so that it doesn't look like the original word :(

[Kairion]

Are there plans for an early warning of potential name claims on ones account. I think it could lead to quite some frustration if you have a name thats been near and dear to you is suddenly snatched away because you forgot to log in on a particular character on your account for a couple months?

[Fin]

Are there plans for an early warning of potential name claims on ones account. I think it could lead to quite some frustration if you have a name thats been near and dear to you is suddenly snatched away because you forgot to log in on a particular character on your account for a couple months?

The log in checks are per account not per character.

If you have not logged on x account for y amount of time you are eligible for the name wipe.

There won't be any warning to alert you.

[Dalijon]

Is there a way to base the tiers of name releases on actual time played on that character? I ask this because I know that, for one reason or another, some characters stay lower level for longer than typical, and there should be no penalty for that. However, no one should be able to lock down a really sweet name by making an alt he or she never uses. Also, player names with less than 8 hours of playtime on the character really shouldn't have much extended protection. However, someone's level 19 or 29 twink, that they spent a lot of time and effort on... maybe a little more leniency. In any case, any break for over a year is not a break anymore. That person is likely never coming back.

[Totuga]

Silly question but:
How will these "freed" names work with the HC leaderboard?
Will the leaderboard people now look as peterxx238478923 ?
If so, please consider hiding them from the board, since it could make for very poor marketing/make the server look dead or not serious to potential new players.

And we want more hardcore turtles :)

[Xerilin]

Silly question but:
How will these "freed" names work with the HC leaderboard?
Will the leaderboard people now look as peterxx238478923 ?
If so, please consider hiding them from the board, since it could make for very poor marketing/make the server look dead or not serious to potential new players.

And we want more hardcore turtles :)

I don't see a huge issue here, as Tinyfin said that times are account based and not character based. So if the player plays any hc character on the same account, it's fine anyway.

[Gnarlylocks]

I think people are too soft. This is great for new comers and also the times are long enough. there is no way in life that you will make a lvl 10 character and be mad because you didnt play him for 6 months and they take your name. you literally have 6 months to just log in into that character... dont be lazy people.

[Thatsdaynk]

Those periods to flag a name seem excessively long. Two years for level 40 and below? Six months for below level 10? I mean, this might not be retail where names are a seriously rare commodity, but still.

At the end of the day the player came first and should not be punished for taking an extended break from the Server. It's not THAT unusual for people to drop a game for a few months or even a year and then come back refreshed.

The fact that they do this at all should be good enough.

I don't disagree that the player should come first, but which player? There's two in play here.

The first is a player whom has stopped playing. Maybe it was an alt and they didn't like the class but didn't want to delete just in case. Maybe they took a break for vacation, or RL issues preventing them from playing. Or maybe they just quit and aren't coming back until a content patch catches their attention.

The second is a player whom is still playing, or even just starting to play on the server. Choosing a good name, one they like a lot, will be important to them. Finding out that name is taken will be demoralizing, the first moment of, 'ughh,' on the server, and one that comes MUCH too early.

Do we ignore the needs of active or new players to coddle those whom may never even return? If so, why?

This might be the worst take I've seen in regards to anything - and I mean absolutely anything

[Skippy1969]

I don't see how they are character based if I have some that were changed and some that weren't on the same account.

[Torze]

I don't see how they are character based if I have some that were changed and some that weren't on the same account.

I cam here to say the same thing.

[Ashkir]

Hi there. I think your timer is off. According to my last screenshot and WTF the last time I played my chracter was in October. But, you guys forcibly renamed it. It's been 4.5 months not 6 months. I think your timer went off based on character creation date for under 10 versus others.

[Lasershadow]

So will these new rules apply to dead Hardcore characters?

[Lexiebean]

So will these new rules apply to dead Hardcore characters?

They do. A bunch of my old dead HCs were renamed already.

[Hark]

Are there plans for an early warning of potential name claims on ones account. I think it could lead to quite some frustration if you have a name thats been near and dear to you is suddenly snatched away because you forgot to log in on a particular character on your account for a couple months?

The log in checks are per account not per character.

If you have not logged on x account for y amount of time you are eligible for the name wipe.

There won't be any warning to alert you.

No offence, but this is definitely not true. I logged in 2-3 months ago and yet half my account's names were gone. I have been able to reclaim some but others have been taken sadly. Either the checks happen on a character basis or the timers are wrong.

[Xero]

So if your character loses their name... you can't login to them any more.

How do you rename them so that you can continue to play?

[Jolikmc]

Your login username is independent from your character names.

When you log in, if your character has lost their name, it will be replaced by a series of numbers. If you try and play as that character, you will be prompted to rename your character. After successfully renaming the character, you can then go ahead and try to play with that character again, and it should work.

[Xero]

Your login username is independent from your character names.

When you log in, if your character has lost their name, it will be replaced by a series of numbers. If you try and play as that character, you will be prompted to rename your character. After successfully renaming the character, you can then go ahead and try to play with that character again, and it should work.

Ah thanks, it's working now.

(Last time when I tried to play as an unammed character, instead of offering me the rename option, it would boot me straight back to the account login screen.)

[Kairion]

Are there plans for an early warning of potential name claims on ones account. I think it could lead to quite some frustration if you have a name thats been near and dear to you is suddenly snatched away because you forgot to log in on a particular character on your account for a couple months?

The log in checks are per account not per character.

If you have not logged on x account for y amount of time you are eligible for the name wipe.

There won't be any warning to alert you.

One of my lvl 7 characters got flagged for renaming despite logging into my account almost daily. The prompt says it is forced to rename due to inapropreate name. But i haven't logged in on the character since the renaming policy has taken effect. I think it may have been implemented on characterlevel instead of accountlevel. can you confirm? (Old name of the Character was "Protlock")

[L1lin]

i want to search about new qeust for saclet something.
which url i can get the message for that or what should i do in turtle database

[Nudibranch]

The log in checks are per account not per character.

If you have not logged on x account for y amount of time you are eligible for the name wipe.

There won't be any warning to alert you.

One of my lvl 7 characters got flagged for renaming despite logging into my account almost daily. The prompt says it is forced to rename due to inapropreate name. But i haven't logged in on the character since the renaming policy has taken effect. I think it may have been implemented on characterlevel instead of accountlevel. can you confirm? (Old name of the Character was "Protlock")

The statement about it being account-based, and not character-based is wrong. I also got a character renamed even though I log in regularly to other characters on the account, which is not what I would've done had I not read the official statement quoted above.

[Boras]

The log in checks are per account not per character.

If you have not logged on x account for y amount of time you are eligible for the name wipe.

There won't be any warning to alert you.

One of my lvl 7 characters got flagged for renaming despite logging into my account almost daily. The prompt says it is forced to rename due to inapropreate name. But i haven't logged in on the character since the renaming policy has taken effect. I think it may have been implemented on characterlevel instead of accountlevel. can you confirm? (Old name of the Character was "Protlock")

The statement about it being account-based, and not character-based is wrong. I also got a character renamed even though I log in regularly to other characters on the account, which is not what I would've done had I not read the official statement quoted above.

This should've never have been implemented. Names should've never been released. You should be forced to pick a new name if it's already taken, not wait and steal a name from someone. They need to reverse this asap.