Per Blizzards support Article:
We do not assist with releasing character names. Names automatically become available if the Battle.net account that holds the name has remained inactive for the past two expansions.
I could almost guarantee there is a market for people who would want to track/request a name. Currently, unless I am unaware, there is no way to know if a name is about to become available.
- Request a Name that is unavailable (Does not matter if the player is active or not). For X$ a service would email the user asking if they would like to participate in a free name change. For active users, a response is not required. For inactive users, a response in X amount of time would be required. To avoid spam, there would need to be a threshold on the number of times a BNET user could request the same name. A disclaimer would also need to be signed as the inactive user could respond saying NO. To me, this is OK, at least I would have peace of mind knowing I had a way to try and get the name I wanted.
If Blizzard does nothing else, having a notification when trying to select a name that is unavailable that informs you when it would become available would be nice to have.
Or , be more creative and choose your own name instead of trying to steal one from an active user.
The current way works fine.
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I’m sure there is. But selling names like people sell domains is a bad idea.
Steal from an active user? There is nothing in my post that would result in stealing an active player’s name.
True, people could be more creative and choose a different name but if your name is tied to everything in the game and people call you by the name I would rather it be the name I have always had.
Then why are you trying to take another players name and forcing them to reply to a random email ? The email I use for WoW I check every 6-8 months just to keep it active, are you saying that if I don’t check that I could lose one of the names of my 70+ characters because you want it even though I’m an active paying customer ?
Your suggestion is just a way for you to be able to find a loophole to steal another person’s name, you are right your name is what people in game call you by, but it’s also what the other person that you want to take their name from is known by.
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Not a fan of stealing inactive names. If that player comes back and finds their favorite names are missing…they are not going to be happy.
As an alternative, Blizz should definitely change the naming rules and allow a space.
I am also not a fan, but I think the 2 expansions (generally about 4 yrs) was a good compromise as the number of names used got very large.
Simpler system: Have level 1 (or level 10 in the case of allied races) that have never been logged in so much as once flagged every 6 months with an icon that lets the player know to log the character in one time or it will be released. They don’t have to play it or level it, just log it in once.
Per my post: “For active users, a response is not required.” I also made no suggestion as to the time frame for inactive accounts to respond to an email.
My suggestion is really more meant to have some sort of way of gathering data on a name I would like to have. This is also why I stated: “If Blizzard does nothing else, having a notification when trying to select a name that is unavailable that informs you when it would become available would be nice to have.”
And how would they know that with accuracy ? let’s say someone played BfA but skips shadowlands, then plays the next expansion and you get a notification that after xx expansion the name will be available so you wait patiently but when you go to make the name it tells you it’s on an active account and not available ? there is no way for them to know when, or if, a player will reactivate to be able to do this.
Iv had people ask to buy mine with gold.
was it one of the other 6 Dwarfs ?
or we could just. . .you know. Not.
No it was this one, I also got this name on another realm as well where i got offered gold for it but of course i refused and said no.
Y’all need to get creative with names.
Blizzard is already tracking the usage of an account. Per their statement: “We do not assist with releasing character names. Names automatically become available if the Battle.net account that holds the name has remained inactive for the past two expansions.”
Meaning, if I wanted to select the name “Somalion” but you had logged in during BFA and not shadowlands. I would get a notification from blizzard stating the name at this time would not be available until 1 more expansion release. To me this is good enough, at least I have some sort of information.
No. I have several “good” names on the most popular servers, I have ZERO interest in getting e-mail spam because other people want those names, regardless of whether I’m required to respond. Nor do I want any sort of invasive system that lets people effectively track my account usage by automatically informing them that my entire account has been inactive for X amount of time. It’s none of your business.
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