I'm all for names being freed up from inactive accounts/toons. I also think that there should be some level of name enforcement on RP servers as I'm sick of seeing game handle style names all over the place. I'd even go a step farther and say that in the event a name is currently "in use" (I use that term loosely here) by an inactive account and another account is sitting on a character in re-name purgatory due to that name being lost during the forced server merges last year that that name should be returned to the next account in line. The people that have stuck with this game and continued to invest both time and money should be rewarded. A person that doesn't invest time and/or money in this game should not be afforded, rights, benefits, or protections over a person that does support this game, and to expect such just demonstrates an unfounded sense of entitlement and selfishness. Bioware and EA should reward those that have been loyal to this game, not casually toss them aside in an ill guided attempt to appease players that have long sense left on the hope that they might return. There should be no guarantee that your characters will still have their names if you are gone and inactive that long. If a player doesn't log in for six months to a year, they should be given one courtesy notification e-mail that their names are forfeit if they don't show activity in one month. Simple as that. At that point, is an active player has an identical named character stuck in rename purgatory due to the server merges, that name should be returned to them. Otherwise the name is returned to the pool of available names. If the player that lost their name ever returns, they can attempt to reclaim that name as long as it isn't in use by an active account. If it is in use, well, they had an extended period of time in which they could've shown interest in their account/character but chose not to. Like I said, reward the people that are active. Names are a precious commodity in this game, and by condensing dozens of servers that each had several hundred uniquely named toons into a small handful of servers the already limited naming system in SWTOR was crippled in several ways. Early access players and RP players were wronged in this. Furthermore the introduction of the F2P and Preferred account models further hinders this. Mathematically the game will eventually reach a point where the only viable names for new characters will be things like "Fblthp", and so a purge of inactive names will likely be needed at some point. And don't harp on about special characters being usable for names. That's an asinine fix, insipid argument, and insulting to people that have already been dealt a low blow. We shouldn't have to settle for bastardized versions on names we had before. Not to mention the complications that come with Friend Lists and in-game Mail. Besides, it's good business sense; You keep the currently active customer base happy by freeing up names and allowing people to reclaim those they lost, and BioWare/EA profits off the sell of Cartel Coins for character renames from a once more health pool of available names. Sadly though, it seems the powers that be are contend to continually ignore this issue by burying their heads in the sand, and those that disagree will continue to antagonize those of us that are passionate about this issue with impertinent remarks and arguments.

And we would like you to quite frankly worry about yourself. You have no dog in this fight and yet continually and consistently antagonize and berate those that bring up this topic because it is a real issue and concern for us. If this topic is such a non-issue for you, why are you even here? It is a perfectly valid reason to have that name freed up for other people to use. Why should I lose my character name to someone that hasn't invested time in this game in over a year? I've invested time since then, and likely had more time invested in my character of the same name than they did as I was playing before they left and continued to play afterwards as well. The argument that life happens and a crisis can take someone away from the game for a time is laughably flimsy at best. We're not asking to strip names from people simply because they haven't been on a toon for three months. That is understandable because yes, life happens. But when a character is inactive for six months to a year the community as a whole needs to be considered, and names need to be freed up for that community. When someone is gone for that long, be it for a willing break from the game, to try out something else, financial issues, or whatever else, they honestly shouldn't have any realistic expectations to return to the same character names. Especially when others are sitting on characters in purgatory in hopes that they can reclaim their character's name simply because someone else happened to win the Destination Server lottery.

I would like to see the powers that be implement a policy on inactive and/or abandoned character names. As a player on one of the RP servers that has characters from the early days of SWTOR as well as others that have been recently created, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find available names that have a uniquely "Starwars" feel to them. Not only that, but this also has created a problem where there are a number of names that distract from RP type play. Furthermore, myself and others lost characters and character names during the forced server merges last year. Some of us refuse to rename these toons as they were established characters tied to a uniquely established name, names that are currently taken by some who no longer play the game. Therefore I ask that Bioware and the development team implement a policy that would force character renames on all toons that have been inactive for over a year and either return them to characters stuck in re-name limbo or return them to the pool of available names. This would give a chance for some people to reclaim names and characters they lost during the merges as well as free up names for those creating new characters.

Maybe if you spent less time flaming posts by those effected by this and more time reading them you would have noticed the very detailed suggestion in my original post. But then again, you and the same other four or five recurring people continue to antagonize those that lost their names in a server merge that was ill-handled. People are speaking out on this issue. Just because you are posting loudly and often in a blatant attempt to undermine them does not make you the majority. You've made it crystal clear in a number of replies that you, your wife, and your grandbrother twice removed for all I know had to change names and that you had no issue with it. You clearly have no dog in this fight, so your continued postings of flawed arguments only serve to further alienate those that are affected by this. As I said, flawed argument, and you obviously didn't read my original post as I never advocated taking names from other accounts regardless of whether or not they're subscribed. If anything, we were the ones that had our names taken from us.

Let me start that I'm what you might call a casual gamer. With the exception of a few hours at most spent in WoW, SWTOR is my first MMORPG experience. Up until last week I had enjoyed every moment of my time in-game. And with that, we come to the title of this thread which really says it all. To be blatantly honest, I feel a great disservice was done to those on the origin servers. As a person who thoroughly enjoys creating characters and backgrounds to go with them, characters that I can become invested in and step into to interact with others, I find it insulting that we are expected to sacrifice the names of these characters if we wish to transfer to the destination server. As I stated above, I have been invested in my main character on the Lord Adraas server since January of this year. I made countless friends and bonds with my fellow players and created a reputation with that character among the RP community that was very active there. This is a name that my fellow RP'ers recognize me by and one that I had used for a Star Wars character I had created years prior to SWTOR's release or even development. To say that I am attached to it is an understatement, it is a part of my very soul and self. I stand to lose this name should I transfer as it is currently claimed by someone that is obviously no longer active in the game. Because of this, myself and countless others have unsubscribed from a game that we had enjoyed up until last week. That brings me to the point of my post. The manner in which the transfers, mergers in truth, were handled gave those on the destination servers, whether they were active players, unsubscribed and abandoned, placeholder names, to trial accounts a vastly unfair advantage over those on the origin servers. In handling transfers this way you created a system in which a vast number of subscribers had to take the risk of losing their name while those lucky enough to have been on the chosen destination servers had no risk at all. What's worse, is that by staggering the transfers as you did, each new wave of transferees had to worry about even more names having already been taken. I've watched for over a week now as the topic of transfers/merges, lost names, and overstressed servers have sent several on these forums and in the game into a spiral of emotions ranging from rage to sorrow. Time and again I see the same individuals berating those that post about having lost their names in this ill-handled population shift in a rabid, blatantly antagonistic way when they themselves have nothing at stake in the matter and it quite frankly isn't their business. I keep seeing phrases like "first come first served" and "Nobody has the right to take a name from someone else" tossed about in disturbingly cavalier attempts to further aggravate those of us that lost names. How is this good for the community when these people are already on the verge of leaving? All this attitude does is hurt the game further and widen the rifts that have been created over this issue. I've already seen instances of destination natives belittling and ostracizing transferees, as well as the aforementioned antagonism over the issue of names. The crux of the problem is the fact that preexisting servers that were ill-equipped to handle the surge in population to begin with, as can be witnessed with problems ranging from sever lag to queues to log in, were chosen as destination servers. Not only did it create a situation in which those people on these servers were given an advantage, but it completely throws the idea of first come, first served out the window by essentially giving a select few a head start on claiming names at best, or intentionally going out of their way to spite transferring players by claiming their current names on the destination servers to force them into having to give up their name at worst. True first come first served, as well as being prepared to handle the increased population that several servers migrating onto one would have caused, would have been to use brand new upgraded servers as destinations and open all servers of the same game type as origin servers at the same time. This would have given everyone a fair chance at their names and weeded out abandoned trial and unsubscribed accounts in the process. In fact, this idea is still very much feasible and can salvage the current dilemma. Open all currently existing servers for transfer to a brand new destination server of the same type that's suitable equipped to handle the massive population influx. Furthermore, prompt for each transferred character to verify their name or rename if so desired due to a forced rename from earlier transfers. This makes it where everyone currently subscribed faces an equal chance to get the name they desire. Do this and you may just salvage this situation and even make the most of this, as well as save countless subscriptions in the process. I know you'd save mine, as losing my main character's name is pretty much the only thing that would cause me to leave.

Any chance someone might be up for sharing where this is? I searched Alderaan for close to four hours in hopes of finding these so I could make crystals for the girl and I.