The last one was, 5 years ago? Would be good if there were another one.
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They are scheduled for every 2 xpacs
Character names on accounts that have been inactive for the past two expansions automatically become eligible to be used by other characters. We do not assist with releasing character names manually.
https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/11226
So I’d guess every ~4 years
I wonder what “inactive” means though. Is that “player hasn’t logged in” or “no sub time was added”
There is no sub time last I checked but then that wouldn’t explain how trial accounts.
the last one was about 5 months ago…
In all honesty, it might be both. If it was based solely off of sub time then players in trial accounts would constantly lose their names. On the other hand, it’d be bad business to release a name from someone with a potentially active sub. I wouldn’t imagine there are many that go 2+expansions with an active sub but without logging in but I could see someone stopping playing but forgetting to cancel their sub, especially if they’re on the 6-month renewal.
Name releases seem to happen about twice per expansion, but only names on accounts inactive for two years are released. There’s been at least two in BFA.
Inactive means no sub, no activity at all.