I though you could undelete a character with the same name as an active character if a hundred billion days had passed.
Is that not true anymore?
Um… What lol?
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No, Blizzard closed the loophole that let you get what amounted to a free name change.
If you want to undelete the character, you’ll need to purchase a name change for the existing character.
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I’m not sure that’s true Teufelgott. Quoting Vrakthris about the same thing:
"Yes and no. The system doesn’t allow you to immediately restore a deleted character if it shares a name with an active character on your account. This generally prevents folks from using it as a free name change service.
That said, after 30+ days, you should be able to restore the character without that restriction and be prompted to select a new name instead. In other words, you shouldn’t have to purchase a name change, if you are willing to wait out that cooldown for the deleted character. 
I should note, this would not apply to characters on Classic. In that case, the conflict would have to be resolved before the character could be restored."
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Given the hyperbole in the OP (“a hundred billion days had passed”), one could be forgiven for assuming that a minimum of 30 days had elapsed.
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It’s been longer than 30 days. It did not give me the option of changing her name.
Blizz needs that $10.
But what do you do if you don’t want to rename the active toon? How can you go about undeleteing the deleted one?
Does Blizz really expect someone to rename the active toon, undelete the deleted toon, rename that one, and then re-rename the first toon?
Getting a little greedy, aren’t they?
Let’s try to be a little fair here, since Blizz isn’t the one that deleted your character nor did they make you choose the same name for a new one. So there were some decisions made here completely out of Blizzard’s hands.
Now, according to the Support Article “If the deleted character has the same name as an active character, you will need to delete or rename the active character before using the Undelete service.”
Unfortunately, I’m not too sure how old the quote Fobnop found was so I’m not sure which would be the more accurate.
So you have a couple of options.
- Delete the character with the same name before restoring the old one
- Rename the current character.
- Put in a ticket to see if there’s any way for Blizz to help using the Contact Us option in that link.
Note: There’s no guarantee with this one that they’ll be able to help, but you can ask.
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No, but they did instill the system and they did make the rules and then change the rules.
Let’s not absolve anyone here, either.
The quote was from the end of 2019. In one more day I can test this myself. I’ll undelete a toon that’s been deleted for well over a month and I have another with the name now.
The system will not flag automatically when those 30 days have passed. You will need to contact a game master to intervene and your “what if” scenario becomes the reality.
It was imposed to restrict the abuse of the system to get free name changes, but the manual flagging has been a thing for roughly the last year that I’ve noticed the SFA commentary, but possibly longer.
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They have the ticket system buried so deep I can’t even find it to put one in. The help article just says delete the current character or rename it.
o.O
But I gave you a direct link in my reply. Why not use that option?
It’s the spot that says “Contact Us” and you can click on it.
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How did you find that link? When I tried to do that, it sent me down this unending loop that wouldn’t allow me to put in a ticket for it.
I’ve been posting here for a long time now, so I’m pretty familiar with the ticket options. I tend not to use the box to explain the issue, but instead the “I would rather categorize the issue” option when you get to the contact page.
Then I just follow the options.
But that’s also one of the reasons I like to post here is to try and help people find the right options based on the trouble they’re having 
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