(Statement): World of Warcraft is now approaching nearly two decades of life, with over 10,000,000 players at it’s peak, and many times that number of player characters. For a game that has a population this size, that means there is a serious scarcity of names for new characters. The current system to release names is inadequate, and needs to be removed or altered. Releasing names after an account has gone two expansions (4-5 years) without activity is absurd. All someone has to do is get on for one day in 4-5 years and the name timer is reset!
(Theoretical): Imagine that you’re going to make an Orc, and you want a traditional Orc sounding name. Maybe Grok? Let’s go with Grok. You make your character and- name taken. You look at the armory. Seems there’s a 120 Orc Warrior named Grok. Good for him! Blizzard suggests using special characters. Okay, let’s try Gròk. Hrmn… nope, a 120 Orc Shaman has that. Grók? Taken by a… Dwarf Hunter? Well, maybe that does sound a bit dwarvish… Grôk. WHY ON EARTH IS THERE A BLOOD ELF PALADIN WITH THAT NAME?! Grõk. A level 20 Vulpera?! Grök. Doesn’t even show up on the armory! What is this? A level 1 alt? And now I’m out of various alt codes to even make an ‘o!’
(Statement): This game is simply too old to support the current method of releasing names.
(Commentary): There are two methods I’d like to present by which we can go about resolving the issue of name scarcity. The first (and my personal preference) is to allow players to choose a second name/surname for their character at character creation. The second, is to harshly curtail the windows of time before the name of a character is no longer secure.
(Hypothetical): The surname/second name option is in my opinion the superior option. Let’s assume you’re making a Worgen, and want a traditional sounding name, like Thomas. Well, good luck getting that with our current system. But, you could be Thomas Ravencroft. That name’s taken? How about Thomas Blackwood. Thomas Thornfield. Thomas Emberstone. Thomas Amberlight. Suddenly getting that name of Thomas is infinitely easier!
(Commentary): The second method I’d like to present is drastic changes to our existing system to free up names sooner. My personal suggestion is below, and revolves around two factors; an active or inactive subscription, and character level. Also, keep in mind that under this system, logging into the specific character at least once will reset the timer until the name is released. This not only assures activity, but also if someone else wants the name that the person holding it can be mailed a request to discuss it’s release.
Active Subscription:
- Character at Max level: 3 Months before the name is free.
- Character at previous expansion’s Max level: 1 Month before the name is free.
- Character below previous expansion’s Max level, down to level 10: 1 Week before the name is free.
- Character at level 10 or lower: 1 Day before the name is free.
Inactive Subscription:
- Character at Max level: 3 Months before the name is free.
- Character at previous expansion’s Max level: 1 week before the name is free.
- Characters below the previous expansion’s Max level: 1 Day before the name is free.
(Commentary): These are my thoughts on the matter. Obviously, I prefer the second name, as it opens up infinitely more names and should ensure that the problem of name scarcity is resolved for the remainder of World of Warcraft’s life span. If, however, something with the code absolutely makes this impossible, then it’s high time names were released sooner than 4-5 years, assuming someone holding a name doesn’t log in during that time window at least once.