I need some clarification on how name releases work.
I do not have an active subscription, but I want to make sure I keep my name, just in case I decide to come back at some later date.
I understand that names are released after two expacs of inactivity.
Does this mean I can log in once during the next expac and the name would be safe again? Do I have to have an active subscription? Or can I just log in on my now free veteran account?
If I have to have an active subscription, do I have to have the newest expac? Or can I just get a month subscription, log in, and be done?
In order to log into your higher level characters, yes.
No, this isnāt necessary. As long as you donāt abuse it, you can ticket and request for a dayās credit to log into your characters to secure your names.
Do I actually have to log into the character in question to keep the name alive? (The high level toon.) Or is just logging into the account sufficient.
I mean, itās no big deal to throw $15 at WoW every expec to make sure the name is safe. I just want to make sure I am doing it right. Nothing will irritate me more than to come back and find my character has been renamed.
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As for your questions.
As we understand it, as long as you have been active within the last 2 expansions, characters on the account should be safe from having their names released. However, Iāve made some clarification requests and will update this thread as soon as I get a response.
You need to have had an active account. Inactive/Starter Edition accounts donāt qualify. I have inquired if characters 1-20, assuming they have been active, retain their name.
No, you donāt need to own any of the expansions. As long as you have a base standard edition, that has been active in the last two expansions, you should be good.
I am looking into getting some specifics on if you just need to just have game time, or you need to log into a single character during that time, or you need to log into any character you want to reserve the name on. As soon as I get details back Iāll update this thread.
Logging into the account āshouldā be enough. Personally, Iād recommend logging into any character with a name you want to keep though. While the system shouldnāt require that you do so, there was a bug a while back that allowed for some very old names on active accounts to be released.
Thankfully when it happened to me, I was able to take back the ones that mattered to me I left the ones I didnāt care about so that other players could snag them if they wanted.
Edit: Thanks for looking for more details too Vrak!
I do wonder a bit. Both of my accounts were active in Legion ā one constantly, one infrequently ā and both lost names. So, it would be lovely to know what the requirements are.
I vaguely remember there being something that happened in Legion that released names that, by all known statements, shouldnāt have been released. (Probably could go look for the threads, but basically there was an oops moment.)
Of course, a name can get āreleasedā an entirely different way as wellā¦
All one needs to do is report the name, and it could just as easily be taken away. Sometimes a name gets flagged and only forces you to change it the next time you attempt to use a Blizzard service.
The only time a reported name is released is if it violates the naming rules. At that point, itās put on a list of names that players should no longer be able to use.
As for only flagging it for when you use a Blizzard service, Iāve never heard of that beforeā¦and Iāve been here a while Could you link where that was confirmed by Blizz?
Thatās what happened to me too. It was confirmed in the old forums by either Vrak or Orlyia, that there had been some names incorrectly flagged and released. The only thing players could do though was try re-naming back to the original name. I didnāt have any trouble getting back the ones that mattered to me, but I did it right after it was noticed.
Yeah, names that are found in violation, are usually flagged so they cannot be used again. Doesnāt impact characters that may already have that name, retroactively, but a name on āthe listā wouldnāt be able to be used going forward.
I left the ones I didnāt care about so that other players could snag them if they wanted.