Transfer character from one WoW License to another on the same realm

[Drevin-earthen-ring]

*edited to clarify these are WoW Licenses on the same Bnet account (though in the Bnet launcher they are referred to as Accounts)

I want to transfer some characters from one WoW License to another. I had two Licenses from way back because the realm character limits used to be much lower, so I had one for Horde characters and one for Alliance, but that’s no longer an issue so I want to consolidate them. I’ll be transferring between Licenses, but it will be on the same realm. I’ve looked at the support documents on this and I’m uncertain if I’ll be able to keep my character names.

On the one hand, there is this in the documentation (emphasis mine):

• If your character’s name is taken on the destination realm, you will be asked to rename your character at no extra cost. This is applicable when you transfer a character to another WoW account while remaining in the same realm
• Your character’s old name will be reserved for you on the source realm for 30 days

This makes me think that I can transfer them, then just immediately rename them to their old names. However, further down in the same document it says (again, emphasis mine):

In addition, when transferring to another WoW account

• You must select a new name for your character
• Your old character name can only be used on the source account for the next 30 days
• If staying on the same realm, when you are given the option to select a Realm Destination, leave the option blank

Now, maybe it’s just poor wording and “new name” just means that I’ll have to go through the renaming process but still be able to use the old name. But, before I go and spend real-world money to transfer characters, am I going to be able to keep the names?

[Idontknowhow-darrowmere]

The realm wouldn’t matter. The account domain supersedes realms, and transferring characters between accounts was disabled when Warbands were implemented.

[Jeysca-wyrmrest-accord]

Just to be clear you can transfer between wow licenses (is wow 1 and WoW2) but not different Battlenet accounts (ie log in via different emails).

[Drevin-earthen-ring]

As I understand it, that is only for different Bnet accounts. This is under the same Bnet account just a different WoW account.

[Kozzae-4668 (Kozzae)]

@Drevin-earthen-ring

I had two accounts

People tend to use the word account differently. For my purposes, there is a bnet account (Email), then wow licenses (wow1, wow2, etc) on your bnet account.

Transfers were disabled between bnet accounts, but you can still transfer between licenses on the same bnet account. You might get prompted to rename if both characters with the same name are on the same server.

If you delete or rename a character over level 30 I believe, the name will be locked to you for a varying amount of time. I thought it was license based, but could be bnet based. So if you transfer and are asked to rename, but you know the character is deleted, try reusing the name.

[Drevin-earthen-ring]

So, I went ahead and spent the money to see what would happen.

Yes, you do get to keep the character name when transferring between WoW licenses/accounts but on the same realm. It will force you to select a “new” name on first login, but you can just use the old name and it will accept it.