Claiming Character Names - Mail Forwarding

Community General Discussion
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Didn’t Blizzard release names every so often on accounts that were clearly abandoned? What if it’s on some unused level 10 on a server that they never played?

I’ve been after a couple names that fit the RP (not that I RP) and the look of the character I’m making. Some are simply abandoned. I’ve reached out to them via in-game mail, but nothing. They’ve been offline so long that armory doesn’t know who they are.

Blizzard refuses to contact them for us, and we’ve no way of finding out a character they’re more active on.

If there was something Blizzard could implement such as an automated letter from Customer Service that comes on your active character saying “Hey, it appears you have mail on character, server.” This would only send if the initial mail has expired or is about to when reaching the 30 day mark.

Most of the people I’ve made contact with have been very cool about giving up the names.

I refuse to take accents in a character name. It looks extremely stupid. However, IF the names natural spelling requires it, like my name, then I’m fine with it. But I won’t take it if I have to make it different. It’s not the same.

We’re still actively playing, we’re paying as well, and it’s ridiculous to allow an active account to claim a name on a server they don’t play, on a character they’ve never logged in on.

I have certain names claimed for potential characters, and if someone came on and it was one of those names, I’d likely give it up. Clearly they’re also a fan, and I’d rather a fan of that name to get it, than some random.

Please think of a method for us to be able to get names that are claimed, but after potentially reaching out to the current owners. The Mail Forwarding option I describe, which can be automated, would be perfect. It doesn’t even have to wait the 30 days. If the character is clearly abandoned, then the mail would forward faster.

If the account is inactive for less than 2 years, send an email that their claim to a name is about to expire. If the account is inactive for over a year, release the name. People quit the game all the time. They’ve more important things to do. So why not let someone else enjoy the name they so desire?

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Maybe that person keeps the account active, you’ll never know.

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I think Blizzard would be better served working out an overhaul to how names work than they would messing with player-centric mail forwarding and name release notifications.

There’s no reason there can’t be more than 1 “Tom” on Moon Guard. Either have a hidden #1234 that you can get by right click - copy name, or allow surnames (or a space, to include races who don’t normally use them), or use Btags instead for mail/invite purposes. Something.

If anything in the short term, I think there should be rules against “reserving” names to begin with. The amount of people who hold like 20 names on 5 different high to full pop servers with the intent of selling them is way too damn high. Way higher rate of that than there is people holding names to ACTUALLY use in the near future. Guess it’d be hard to enforce anything other than what they post in chat though.

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How do you know their accounts are actually abandoned? If it’s a “placeholder” alt that exists purely to reserve a name it’s possible they just don’t log into it - or their main is on another server

…or it could be as simple as they delete scammy/unknown-looking/suspicious mails, like I do. Once in a while an RMT bot will send me a mail letter offering to sell me gold on ______ website URL, I simply delete said letters from my mailbox

Personally I maintain a decent number of “reserved” names on low level alts on various servers - but I rarely even visit said server pages… so even if a non-RMTer sent me a mail letter chances are I would never even notice it in the course of the typical WoW session (the toons I actually play are on a completely different server)

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As long as the account said character is on, is active. It does not matter what
level the character in question is. The name will stay on that character.
Even if the account owner never plays that character. They will not remove
a name from a active account. The account has to be inactive for two (I think)
expansions before the name will be released.

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My understanding is that now it is by bnet. Any account on a bnet that has an active account (or one that has been logged in recently enough) will retain the names on the inactive accounts on that bnet as well.

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It doesn’t have to be the wow account, it is the bnet account that needs to be active. So they don’t even have to be subbed. they could be playing overwatch.

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This is literally the point of OPs post, people taking names and sitting on them for years on characters they’ve never touched. There’s currently no way to contact them to ask if they’re willing to free the name up for someone who will actually play with it.

In all honesty though, there just needs to be a hidden @#1234 system in place so that people can grab the names they want without having to hope that someone doesn’t log into their bnet account once in the next 4 years and the name frees up.

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I have a friend who may never play again, who unsubbed in 8.3, who logs in annually just in case he might want to play in the future without losing his name.

I have low level alts on various servers, none of them for the purpose of reserving names. I may or may not level them some day. That’s a legitimate way to play the game.

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That works too… you don’t have to be subbed. Log into a level 1 character is all it takes (or less. play hearthstone)

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People sell names? I have a Furiosa on my server, even a “Sword”. Maybe it’s worth a good price!

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Nah, my names are mine.

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Not anymore. They can log into Bnet once every four years, play a game of Hearthstone and keep their names in WoW.

This is correct.

I don’t need Moon Guard to have seven billion people with the same name, no.

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I can tell you I have lost names for place holders even when active and never warned so it can happen.

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only btag should remain unique names should be repetable

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Here are my thoughts on the name situation. Take it as you will.

a) cannot have same name any primary lore character, with or without special characters

b) ability to have a purely cosmetic last name added for characters of any race that uses last name if the player account has an active sub, at least one max level character and the name is race appropriate; account holder permanently loses the privilege after first vulgar use across all of their accounts

c) apostrophe allowed for characters of a race that used apostrophes in their names if the player account has an active sub, at least one max level character and the name is race appropriate; account holder permanently loses the privilege after first vulgar use across all of their accounts

Releasing character names

a) characters on a starter account without subscription: name automatically released after 30 days of no play

b) all level 19 and under characters on subscribed or unsubscribed account: name automatically released after 90 days of no play

c) all level 20 and over characters on a unsubscribed account: all names automatically released at two year mark

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I didn’t know about the disappointing battle net change. That’s annoying. I’m paying for WoW, and (maybe) they’re not. if they’re not paying for a sub to the game, then they should lose certain privileges for example, on claimed names that are on characters that are not max level.

Nothing in the game is ours to keep. We can pay for it but still lose it. Paying sort of lets us keep it for a time, but why should Blizzard care about protecting said things if the player doesn’t care enough to sub let alone play?

Is it logging into battle net or actually playing any game? I know many have the bnet app on their PC and it automatically logs them in. Shouldn’t it require a sign-in every 30 days to weed out those who aren’t actually active?

I’m not asking for much, but I do feel that paying players should have more access than people who are no longer paying. Why cater to people who no longer care about it? If you care that much, you’ll make a minimal effort. But the current system sucks because I’m paying, I’m playing, and I’m missing out on something because of this.

A little backstory to me, just so there’s context. I am autistic. I for the life of me cannot play a character unless I have an attachment to it from another source of something I like. I couldn’t make a DH until I got a suitable name, and I had to wait 90 days to get a name released from someone, which I had to buy. It’s just a thing I have to accept or find an alternative.

But it still comes down to names held hostage by someone with no intention of actually using them. :frowning:

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You don’t know that.

Now imagine you’re hit by a bus. You’re nearly killed, and spend three months in hospital. Now that you’re finally recovered enough to be able to enjoy WoW again, you discover all your character names have been released by Blizzard and taken by some other player.

Given the backstory you’ve just shared, what would you do? Would you just pick another name, or is your chosen name so meaningful to you that losing it ruins that character for you?

Now… aren’t you glad Blizzard has a system and a policy in place that protects you from that outcome?

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I had this characters name reserved for almost 12 years because that is how long it took Blizzard to decide if Worgen get to be monks.

I have a few other names currently on reserve when Worgen Shaman, Paladin and DH combinations are unlocked.

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They will never ever take names away from people