Hi all, dumb question. I purchased a name change as a name I wanted had appeared to free up - I can’t add them as a friend on either faction. It’s been a name I’ve had an eye on for a long, long time as it is my Dad’s hunter’s old name, and when I brought him over to my home server, I had to change it. However, despite the name not showing up ingame, it is showing me ‘name taken’ when I try to change the name.
H e l p.
Well its quite possible it was freed up and someone claimed it blizzard does free up names every couple of expansions if the accounts been inactive long enough.
Most notably, if it’s a Pandaren placeholder that never made it through the opening quests to choose a faction? That would be the easy answer.
Especially if it’s on our Moon Guard - names that may free up go so very quickly. Some people play the name market like they do the AH, sadly enough.
If you want, leave the name here and perhaps in the morning when the SFAs come in for the day, one of them may be able to give you a response. If it’s not letting you add them as a friend and it’s not letting you use the rename token for the name change, posting it here shouldn’t cause it to be taken out from under you.
The armoury here is also not always accurate.
You could try creating a new character with the name, that would give you a quick green or red checkmark. Then you’d know if it was an issue with the name or your rename token.
If you post the names wait a minute or so then edit it out. The blues here can see edits that aren’t made super quickly. That way they can check but also no other nefarious person could potentially snag it in the meantime.
Don’t you choose a faction for pandaren at character creation, even if you go through the Wandering Isle starting zone? …or are pandaren going through the original starting zone still considered Neutral until leaving the Isle?
Pandaren characters that choose to play through the original starting zone will not have their faction chosen yet (no faction symbol on character screen).
Also, those Pandaren cannot use either faction’s specific heirlooms.
Pandaren characters that choose to play through Exile’s Reach will have their faction chosen. Their faction symbol is displayed on character screen.
Ah… The more you know!
Seems likely that the character has been inactive long enough to time out of the armory, but not long enough to free up the name.
Oh, no. I’m not referring to the armory - I’m referring to actually trying to manually add the character to my friends list ingame. On both sides it says the character doesn’t exist.
You can pop in a ticket and ask it be checked, but I suspect it may be a non-factioned character as previously mentioned.
Trying to add them on both factions is usually a very good method, but it’s not exhaustive.
While we could look to see if it’s in use - if it is, we won’t be able to free it.
Awesome! Out of curiosity, what category should I use for that ticket? Every time I tried to pick something similar it just directs me to the FAQ post about how ya’ll don’t release names, etc.
Names would be a tricky category as names are not released manually by GM staff, but asking for clarification on the status of one probably would be a non-specific category. Try
https://us.battle.net/support/en/help/contact/180/ticket
and keep the description simple. Like "just checking the status of a name - “name here” that can not be used on - “server here”
Was this a character that was on this WoW license?
I’m just guessing, but is the original Hunter a level 65 Void Elf Hunter from Sisters of Elune? Or the level 61 Night Elf from Wyrmrest Accord that you had to use a special i to create?
I’m afraid in both cases the names are on use on recently active accounts, so aren’t likely to be eligible for release any time soon.
It would have been the 61 Night Elf hunter. That’s absolutely fine, I just thought I’d check since for a little bit it was coming up as not found; I thought I’d check! I’ve been trying to keep an eye on it since I didn’t realize it was taken when I transferred him. Thank you both for all of your help! <3