IT isn’t outsourced, so your post is based on a false belief.
Since you haven’t shared your issue, there’s not a whole lot more I could add unfortunately.
18 Likes
I think you misunderstand the entire structure of the Blizzard support systems. The forums and the in-game newcomer mentor system are not part of their official IT support.
- Blizzard does not allow players to provide free work that is done by Blizzard staff. Players do not answer tickets, EVER, and nothing a player says represents Blizzard.
- The existing player programs are the Forum MVP program where other players may answer questions on the forums. You can read more about that here: Welcome! Please read-- Scroll down to the MVP part. That applies to Community MVPs for each game, but there are CS/TS MVPs who are similar.
- In-game there is a mentor option that players can engage in if their account qualifies. It does not provide any IT support. They may answer new player questions about gameplay. https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/274860
Any actual tickets (the only way to ensure a Blizzard response) being answered are being answered by Blizzard staff.
The forums and the in-game newcomer mentor system are not part of their official IT support. They exist for players to help other players. Blizzard provides no gameplay hints or help at all actually. That is entirely left to players to work with other players or third party sites like Wowhead.
Edit again for the many-ith time.
Blizzard did have staff who replied on the Tech Support forums sometimes. They have not been seen since January around the time of the Microsoft layoffs. Blizzard, as you might know, was part of a purchase by Microsoft. How that impacts the actual ticket taking for Tech Support tickets, I don’t know.
16 Likes
None of this is true except that Tech Support is done via online ticket submission (which is NOT outsourced). Forum Tech Support is hit or miss as you are not guaranteed a Blizzard employee (Blue) will answer and the forums are not staffed 24/7. The CS and TS forums are information desks meant to give information on how to get assistance from Blizzard, or if possible support from fellow players that might have answers. There is absolutely no official “guidance from voluntary players” in game so I don’t know where you think that is happening.
Blizzard doesn’t outsource their support and never has. Also IT is NOT the same as what a GM does. Also the GM department works 24/7 however it can take time to answer tickets as their are more customers than just you having issues. Also note that getting answer you don’t like doesn’t mean that it is wrong.
13 Likes
I don’t think the OP mean actual Tech Support… I think they are mistakenly using IT to mean what GMs do. They mention that their tickets are being answered by quoting the TOS, which makes me believe that they are trying to appeal something or reporting something.
8 Likes
Might be. I was taking the IT part rather literally.
7 Likes
This is a Blizzard employee, not a fellow player. All GMs go by a pseudonym.
6 Likes
Given this is mainly a player discussion forum, context to what the ticket was about would be beneficial, but you don’t seem to want to give it or have lost interest in this post already. Perhaps it might help to understand though, if you understand what a GM does. Hope this post helps.
8 Likes
I took a nap, but this exact response is the EXACT reason why I made this post. Look at what you guys have done in 3 hours of downtime.
My issue pertains to a name in game that was reserved by my character although that character had to be restored from being deleted.
It is not taken by a Active Player but the name itself is Bronjahm, an NPC in an ICC dungeon of old.
It has been back and forth when the issue at hand is simple:
Error: “That name is taken. Taken names can’t be claimed (even if inactive)”
Then the issue seems pretty cut and dry, if the name is taken by a player, ultimately there is nothing a GM can do about that.
If a name is blocked or reserved by developers, because they are using it for a lore character there also is nothing a GM can do either.
10 Likes
Excuse me, my name is taken on Moon Guard-RP Alliance Server. I have photographic proof of this. According to the naming policy no name is to be freed if it has already been claimed by an authoring account.
Has this name not been Stored, the character itself is.
I have also attached a glitch I found, it says Live Chat and Phone Callback is Unavailable, are these options I can choose?
2 weeks ago
Baenre
Error: “That name is taken. Taken names can’t be claimed (even if inactive)”
2 weeks ago
Jonoqonoho
Hello Baenre,
Thank you for reaching out. This is Game Master Jonoqonoho, or call me Jono. I’m gladly assisting you today, and will be handling your help request with the utmost care. ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ
So sorry for the delay in reaching you. Thanks for being so patient with us - I know wait times have been pretty crazy and the wait time is not meeting our personal standards yet.
I can see that you are contacting us regarding a name that you want in WoW. As a gamer myself, I’ve totally understood your issue, and rest assured, I’ll do my best to assist you with that.
After taking a closer look at your account, I just want to kindly inform you that All the character names in a Battle.net account automatically became available after the Battle.net account remained inactive for two expansions. As Game Masters, we can’t release the name of a character for you, even if the player who has the name has stopped playing.
And for more information regarding that matter, you can kindly check out the following link:
(PROVIDED LINK TO KB)
I understand how frustrating this must have been for you, and we apologize sincerely for the inconvenience that this has caused. We also wish for your contentious support with us here at Blizzard.
Looking forward to hearing back from you. Please don’t hesitate to contact us again for any further questions. Until then, happy hunting! *:･ﾟ✧♥
ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
Regards,
GM Jonoqonoho.
2 weeks ago
This ticket has been marked as Answered.
2 weeks ago
Baenre
I understand how frustrating it must be to handle support waves but I don’t think you fully read my request. I am still reading the new Terms of Service and have not completed the Articles, has something changed to where ‘Error: “That name is taken. Taken names can’t be claimed (even if inactive)”’ is invalid?
1 week ago
Orratmatpo
Hi there Baenre!
I’m Game Master Orratmatpo, and I’ll be doing my very best to assist you for today! I’m sorry I couldn’t speak with you directly, but I really do appreciate your patience and hope this will help 
I do apologies for the delay in responding, things have been a little bit busy here but I tried to get to you as quickly as I could.
This error means another character with the same name already exists on your realm.
• If the character with the same name belongs to you, you can delete the character that has the name.
• If the character with the same name belongs to another player, you must choose another name.
All the character names in a Battle.net account automatically become available after the Battle.net account remained inactive for two expansions. Blizzard Customer Support will not help with releasing the name of a character for you, even if the player who has the name has stopped playing.
Blizzard Customer Support will not release names at all for WoW Classic or Wrath of the Lich King Classic, regardless of how long the account or character has been inactive.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡GM Orra｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
1 week ago
This ticket has been marked as Answered.
1 week ago
Baenre
It begins.
1 week ago
Baenre
Apologies that was a typo, can you see the screenshots that I’ve provided? I made this character when these rules were not in place. There is no Player Character with my name.
1 week ago
Woranachis
Hey there Baenre!
Game Master Woranachis here, thank you for reaching out to us.
To clarify, I verified the name in question in Moon Guard(RpPvE) realm, and the name Bronjahm is indeed taken by another character, said character has not be inactive for the total of 2 expansions thus the name will not be released.
Under the current policy any and all character names automatically become available after the Battle.net account remained inactive for two expansions.
There are no legacy policy considerations, every account is managed and is subject to this policy.
Elements such as creation time, legacy status, or any such factors are not taken into account, and all accounts are subjected equally.
For further details please check this article:
(PROVIDED AN EU SUPPORT LINK TO KB)
I understand this may be something you are unsatisfied with, and rather see it changed.
Although we as support cannot implement these changes on our end, I suggest you voice your opinions in our forums.
You can submit feedback and suggestions on our community forums at ((PROVIDED LINK TO PLAYER FORUMS))
This is the preferred way for our developers to reference. In the forums, they can take a look at the opinions and suggestions from the community and even make changes and implement new features in future updates and projects.
Please take into account that feedback posts will not receive a reply even if your feedback is taken into consideration. Rest assured however that someone will look over your suggestion!
You can also make a suggestion using the in-game “Submit Feedback” option that is found on the Support menu.
-Press the Esc key to open the Game Menu, and click Support.
-Click Submit feedback or bug report.
-Click Submit a suggestion.
-Follow the guidelines on the submission form, and enter your suggestion.
-Click Submit.
I understand, and appreciate the fact that you were likely hoping for another answer, and I wish I had one more suited to your expectations, but I hope I was at least able to shed some light on the matter.
All things considered I hope I was able to be of assistance.
Best regards.
Game Master Woranachis.
1 week ago
This ticket has been marked as Answered.
6 days ago
Baenre
I apologize, but (EU SUPPORT LINK) is an article pertaining to EU, not US.
Would (LINK TO US FORUMS) be converted to the EU forums?
I would like to understand the logic between this decision I am confused is all, thank you.
Under the naming policy all names become available after inactivity after two expansions, can you check my submitted payment logs to understand that this account was never inactive?
I appreciate all you do.
3 days ago
Baenre
Hello,
Any updates here?
3 days ago
Nythfearii
Greetings,
This action has been taken in accordance with our Terms of Use and our In-game Policies ( (PROVIDED LINK TO KB) ), which all players acknowledge and agree to prior to playing. These policies and conditions allow us to maintain a fun and safe game environment for all of our players.
Our Battle.net Terms of Use can be found at ((PROVIDED LINK TO TOS))
Regards,
Game Master Team
Blizzard Entertainment
3 days ago
This ticket has been marked as Answered.
2 days ago
Baenre
Did you even read your own policy, where does that say anything pertaining to what I’m talking about regards to releasing a name that has not been inactive other than the character was deleted.
Show me the exact excerpt.
(No update as of Today. I have no reason to be making a fool of this unless it’s literally making a fool of me.)
Seems like the character name you mentioned, and server, are existing characters per the armory. But the character shows little activity since 2020 roughly. So if the account is inactive, and that is a big if, the name likely could find itself free.
But, the GM staff can not free up the names in advance, even if asked by a ticket, and it appears they have already addressed that.
10 Likes
8 Likes
So your issue has to do with a character name not being free for you to use, not IT support like your thread title suggested.
All the contacts you have had are with Blizzard staff - GMs. They are the only ones who answer tickets.
From the answers it is pretty clear that the name is not available for use and they can’t free that for you.
Also, they don’t accept screenshots from players as sometimes people, sadly, falsify them.
I am not sure why you think your issue had anything to do with IT support, or why other players were answering tickets for you. I am confused. What did you hope to accomplish with your thread? The claims you are making are not relevant to your issue as well as inaccurate.
10 Likes
Actually I am seeing Shadowlands achievements in '22, so a long way away from being freed by the 2 expansion rules.
10 Likes
So nobody is reading. As I said in my primary post.
I have been the active user on this account for 10+ Years. The account has never gone inactive.
I think you mentioned the character had been deleted though, depending on the level when it was deleted, it likely was purged. A character name over level 30 would have held that name to your account for a short while, I believe 30 or 90 days, but then it would have been released and someone else could have used it.
10 Likes
Your tickets were answered by Blizzard employees.
This forum is not a contact point for employees though, this is a player to player discussion forum. We are not providing Customer Service, simply trying to understand your issue and clarify the answer you received.
You are trying to restore a character, but the name was taken when the reserved status was released, after the character was deleted.
A name is held by an account for a short period, but not forever.
In your case, the name was released, the name was then used by a different player, now unfortunately it is their name until they have been inactive, at which time it will be automatically released for anyone to use.
12 Likes
What started out as an Customer Service - Ticket Support issue has now become an IT Tech issue because the tech in place is prohibiting the policy that Blizzard is using to police players.
My name has not been claimed and should not be because freed names are not released unless the account falls inactive for two expansions.
I have decided to restore my character from the Bin. The name is flagged, no one is using this name on my server, and if so it voids the policy that was in place.
I have provided screenshots from the IN GAME dungeon that this NPC has the name I have suggested.
This has no longer been a CS issue, but now a Technical issue. Which is why I am here on the forums.