Name / Race Change Issues:

Went to bring back my Orc Warlock. I had the name on a level 1 character saved.
I bought a race change to restore my old school Orc Warlock. I then deleted the level 1 to start the process.
In the divergent 20 seconds it takes a person to remake a character someone Alliance side knew to take the name and now is attempting to ransom it to me. I am posting here only so people are advised Blizzard (if the GMs are to believed) will not do a thing to stop these thieves even if you had the name 20 seconds earlier. Apparently poaching a name while a person does a race change is perfectly acceptable. That’s twice this has happened now.

The name thief for context is almost certainly, the same troublemaker I kicked from a Orc guild I ran in WoD; since one of their friends just contacted me on Discord and said he wants a million gold for the name to be released. I will not pay it. Less than a hour ago I had that name. Can’t believe Blizzard won’t do the right thing and is allowing this sort of behavior.

Just be aware this is happening folks. Peace.


Context:

At the time I initially wrote the above, and made this thread. I was operating under a set of mistaken beliefs. I thought that the character name I had secured was on the Wyrmrest Accord Server, a fact that elated me as the name was mine in MoP until an incident happened that resulted in me losing it. I always believed the loss of said name was intentionally done because I'd had to remove a guild member over some issues in the same time span.

It was a very sore point of contention, which was worsened by various bad actors at the time. So when I got the name back the other day, I felt like I finally had closed an old wound, and when I went to race change my character and 'restore' my old character, I quickly found the name was taken. I took this to mean that someone (likely the same person) had just filched the name while I was in the process of using the race change I had just bought for that purpose. Turned out the person on Discord I vented this to, also used it as a pretext to gaslight me. Either way, in the above assessment I was wrong.

As it turned out, I had actually created the character on a different server, and mistook it for my prime server, because I am still getting accustomed to having all my characters on the same page, rather than changing servers manually as we've done since the game started. Anyways, that's why I was so irritable. Felt like being stolen from a second time. Now I am not offering this as an excuse, but merely as some context on why I felt as I did and responded as I did. Thanks for understanding folks. I got it wrong here, and so I'll be the first to admit as much.


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Unless the toon is lvl 30 or higher the name is fair game 30 or higher locks it to the bnet account. Unfortunately a GM wont intervene.

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Yeah I know. So now I have to engage in the 5 year wait again, and try to reclaim the name when he lapses his account where he sat on my name for 5 years to spite me. But what chafes me the most? The 50 bucks I spent on race changes? Useless now, and that’s likely why the dirt bag did it. His only goal was frustration of purpose nothing else.

I feel like a 20 second window though should be enough for a GM to realize “Hey this is being done for malicious and underhanded reasons. The other guy is actually in the middle of re-racing their character.” Clearly it’s not however.

The one thing i dont get is why u told him in the first place thats no ones buissness but your you left u self open to jerks like that. And no GM wont intervene the other player had every right to the name.

3 Likes

Woah back up a second. I didn’t tell him a thing. He’s been on ignore for a while. No, what he likely did was friend listed my name on every one of his characters, and the moment I deleted it to apply the re-race to my Warlock; he logged and swiped the name while I was redesigning my orc on the race change screen. That should not be permissible.

Fair enough but the name is his now to do with what he wants and it wont matter how much time passes as long as his accounts active the name will never be freed up unless he deletes it under lvl 30.

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Unfortunately, it’s hard to prove intent.
For all we know it’s the other way around and they got the name fair and square and you wanted it.

I’m not saying that’s the case but that’s why it’s hard to prove and why Blizzard is unable to intervene.

20 seconds after someone deletes the name and is in the process of re-racing a character the same individual that took it 5 years ago makes a level 1 character to foul you up? That’s some pretty high and rare odds. Especially at 10:00pm. That’s all I’m going to say. Shame on Blizzard for enabling such people.

I know you’re frustrated, but it’s not Blizzard’s fault.

7 Likes

To a degree it is. Originally level 1s were locked for a period of 24 hours to accounts. This was to facilitate situations exactly like mine. It’s fine though. No skin off my back. I just hope this dirt bag understands that I’ll be here till servers shut, and every day will test that name. So he better be vigilant and he better stay active, or I’ll have it back again along with the name for my Paladin that he stole the last time this happened.

This isn’t new.

If a player is able to use the name, it’s fair game regardless of intent. We don’t own the names. Blizzard does. In fact, Blizzard owns everyone on our accounts.

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I’m just going to warn you on this, but you might want to change the tune a bit. Referring to someone who grabbed the name as an “Alliance clown” is turning down a line that you don’t want to cross. Especially when the other person may not know if the name was being reserved.

Please, observe the Forum Code of Conduct before going on.

Now, to the topic, if you deleted a character, and the name was made available for everyone, then Game Masters will not intervene. Because the name was made available for everyone on your realm, and someone got lucky and got that name when it was made available. Sorry, but there is nothing nobody here can do.

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Cheerfully amended. And it’s fine. I reclaimed it once after 5 years of harassment and constantly being reminded by the individual of what he had stolen… and I will get the name back again, even if it takes ANOTHER five years. Pretty poor form however that it should even happen in the first place.

  1. If the person is messaging you, place them on ignore.
  2. If you feel they are violating the In-Game Code of Conduct with the communication, report them.

But judging by here on the forums, and how you’re making a fuss, it seems that you’re probably been communicating with the person over the name, and started the whole ordeal. Like seriously, just move on. It is only a name. It isn’t the end of the world.

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Until the player starts whispering people and pretends to be you.

I’m chill. I’ve passed word on to people about this theft. Still say shame on Blizzard for enabling this… twice.

I liked playing Darkspear more than Orcs anyways so maybe this is a sign.

Seriously:

Ignoring a Player

There are several ways to ignore a player in World of Warcraft:

  • Right-click on the character’s name in the chat log and select Ignore Player.
  • Enter the following command in the chat box: /ignore charactername
    Note: For characters on other realms, add a hyphen and their realm name (without spaces), e.g. /ignore Thrall-EarthenRing
  • Follow these steps to ignore from the Social menu:
    1. Open the Social pane (“O” by default).
    2. Click the lower Friends tab to view the Friends List.
    3. Click the upper Ignore tab.
    4. Click the character to highlight them, then click the Ignore Player button. If you can’t see the character, click the Ignore Player button and enter their name in the text field, then click Accept.

While ignored, the player cannot whisper you, initiate duels, or send group invitations. You will not see their messages in public chat channels, and you will not be placed in a group with them via the Dungeon Finder system.

World of Warcraft®

To report a player in World of Warcraft:

  1. Select the player’s character and right-click the target character portrait or right-click the player’s name in chat
  2. Click Report Player
  3. Select the most appropriate option
  4. Click Report

If they do try and impersonate you within the game, yes, that also can also be reported

4 Likes

Not really. It’s a legitimate gripe. Pay $50 to Blizzard, go to use the race change to bring back your character and 20 seconds after you deleted the level 1 to free the name up you find the initial person who took the name 5 years ago swiped it back, and then goes on to have his friend message you because he knows he’s on ignore and blocked on Discord. Or is that you on an alt? Same Achievement point count and pet-names. Interesting. But no matter. Neither here nor there. I reclaimed that name once, and I will again. Same as the Paladin name they stole prior.

I’ve put them on ignore Ayukama. Communication was shut down about an hour ago.

Good luck everyone. Done in this thread. Still disgusted however.

I’m still not clear (and it doesn’t really matter) how this person knew what time you were deleting that character to rename it. This info was posted somewhere that you were going to do this.

No one, absolutely no one, stalks a name 24/7 for years on the off chance that you decided to delete and rename a character. That is not impossible but it’s lower than the drop chance of a holiday mount right there.

I don’t know if you posted on social media, told a friend who told a friend, or even told them to egg them on but something isn’t adding up here to me.

In the future, just make sure any character you want to use as a name place holder is above level 10. Easiest is to make an allied race, but it also takes less than 20min ton level a character that much.

7 Likes

That is not the case, and Blizzard knows; as they have access to time-stamps and character deletions. While I can’t really offer more to you to sway your mind, I can say with certainty that if Blizzard investigates this; they will see my story is completely accurate and what I described is exactly what happened.

I did not post on social media. I did not tell anyone. I simply deleted my level 1 place holder, and in the 20 seconds it takes to redesign a character; I found when I went to complete… the name was now taken. That’s pretty tight timing, unless intentional.

I traced the now stolen name to an Alliance character on my server. It’s happened once before. …And all of this is in the system. In an ideal world, Blizzard would do something to punish such opportunists. They should, but then this world is far from ideal.

Your not getting the name once u delete a lvl one toon the name. Is fair game and blizzard wont steal it from a active account.

2 Likes