Name changes

[Hanak]

When naming conflicts occur due to the consolidation, players are given priority based on a variety of factors such as character play time and if they have already had to rename their characters as part of the first character transfer program back in June. Please do keep in mind that this does not encompass all of the factors taken into consideration, but those are an example of the major ones.

 

While I can sympathize with what you folks are trying to do here - make the player transfer service what it should have been - you have in effect hurt your paying subscribers who have already suffered renaming characters once throught that first move already. Does someone who is level 50 that stopped playing in January gets the name a current subscriber's level 2 character has? Yes, even though they've payed out from February till September I have guildies that have to change names AGAIN.

 

You guys are in a tought spot, but to be loyal and fair to active subscribers the following criteria should have been considered into two categories:

1] If they have already voluntarily transfered to the destination server (or already on it) AND have an active subscription, their name is locked in. No one can disrupt that. It's what's fair to the people who came and changed names to begin with. (Unless you guys retro that somehow) The folks that didn't transfer when the inevitable was going to happen even though they have an active subscription need to fall under this category as well.

2] If they do not have an active subscription and are on the destination server already, the naming conventions you have already designated should work without a hitch.

 

There are two options here: either Bioware is inept at considering some ramifications because they are new to the MMO market (the customer can help you figure this out too! we get ugly sometimes and no one is ever happy but we can provide some valuable input) OR some big wig and their excel file says that if we move everyone we could get back x number of people to increase revenue. I believe in the first option, but as these issues continue to show up it is harder and harder to convince guildies otherwise.

 

And why not just talk to us about the criteria you guys were going to use for this rather than be so hush hush and BAM it hits us? Talk with us, some of us are normal.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Hanak

[AshenK]

Everyone do me a big fav?

 

Go look at the naming system they have with STO and tell me why that wouldn't work? You have one unique name that for the most part is the account name and after that you can take whatever first, last, middle name you want.

[MasterWxman]

I have two high level characters that I have been playing with frequently since early access. I transferred then to Harbinger specifically so I would have name preference over the thousands of (likely unplayed) charterers that were going to be forced onto one server... but NOW I get hit with a rename. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

 

I think that either...

 

A. It was 100% random. Bioware is flat out lying when they say how they were choosing preference.

 

OR

 

B. Players that didn't transfer willingly ended up getting name priority.

[Chacha]

JUST RESET ALL CHARACTER NAMES!

 

Then we active loyal players will have our rightful names. Those inactive players will change theirs later if they come back because they are inactive right now. Simple!

I don't want to change my name for the inactive players! They have gone! Focus on us active players, Bioware.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Chacha

[Surakis]

How is this fair? Shouldn't players *already* on servers have absolute preference based on the fact that they're *already* there? Every one of the other factors should be secondary.

 

Why do people define "fair" as getting what they want?

[Ephesia]

Why do people define "fair" as getting what they want?

 

Because people think being fair has to do only with "being fair to them". They don't care about others or the ramifications of what they want. I want to keep my name and that is fair. No I won't change it because someone else has it because it's only fair that I have more rights to that name as them.

 

Selfishness.

[HarleysRule]

I think if they had the same rules in place the first time as this time, there would be a lot less rage. The only character name I lost back then that I cared about was lvl 30 and lost it to some lvl 13 that was probably just a bank mule or crafter alt, but if I had told BW to **** off and stayed put, that now level 50 probably would have kept the name. Go figure.

 

BTW I lost several names first time and didn't care, but this time I lost no names, but am furious because it appears the game is run by chimps. They've handled it this in an extremely piss poor fashion.

 

They almost have to change the naming system. I'm sure BW expects somewhat of an influx of F2P players at least initially, and now that the (for now) 500k subs with 12 character slots each are all on less than 20 servers, you REALLY are going to run out of non-gibberish names. FFS just go to a Cryptic style naming system already.

[JediMB]

I had to change the names for two of my characters after the server merger.

 

One of them I just decided to delete instead, since I only created it a couple of days ago to see if the name was still available on the server. For the other, although I really liked its original name, I took the opportunity to change to another name I'd wanted to use, but ended up spelling it in a way that wasn't satisfying to me. Oops.

 

Overall it wasn't a big deal, though. Hopefully I can spend Cartel Coins on renaming that second character in the future, to an alternate spelling that looks better.

Edited September 19, 2012 by JediMB

[Jacen_Starsolo]

So apparently I just lost my guild name. -__-

 

I had the guild name of "Relic" PRE-LAUNCH and was ported into Port Nowhere when the game launched (we also had the highest number of members on the Guild Pre-Launch on the SWTOR Guild site with Relic as the guild name). We even made it to the guild summit back when it was hosted at Bioware. Since then we were forcibly moved to Prophecy of the Five when the first Server transfers went live to stay on a populated server. Since then we've been active and playing the game with a healthy member base as we have since the start of this game...

 

Now I log in to find we've been changed to "Relic @ Prophecy of the Five" I did a double take and went to the server list to find....We're still on Pot5. I can't change the name back to "Relic" because apparently someone else already has it?!? We were here first....they should have to change it. The only possible reason I could think of our "Play time" for the guild is lower is because we had to recreate it come 1st set of Server transfers...But that shouldn't have been counted against us!

 

Please Bioware, we are rather attached that guild name...and I'd hate to lose it to a guild of 6 schoolmates just running around casually

 

In the first transfers earlier, I thought guild information did not transfer like this time. So in your statement, you said you transferred before which suggests you reformed the guild on Po5. And that would mean you were no longer the actual longest running guild with that name on the servers since the start date was changed to whatever date you reformed on Po5. I know it sucks. I probably lost a name because of the same situation.

[AlbViana]

I'm originally from Canderous Ordo and I'm playing since April. Everyday.

I have 2 characters, my main, created in April, used to be named Wenthworth (ohh, come on dude, it's an actor name, what were you expecting?), level 50, endgame gear, dailies, a nice amount of valor and social X. And I had to rename it. Ok, I have done it, logged it like 2 minutes after the servers got available. Changed it to Wentwörth (almost the same, but not the same, guildies and friends are complaining about the difficult to whisper and I'm not liking it, it's just a name? yes, but it's what I chose since the beginning). Tried to add the Wentworth to my friends list and it says WENTWORTH DOES NOT EXIST.

What?....

 

My other character is a Marauder level 14, just created it because of the possibility of HK-51 needing an Imperial. He is already named Häyden, no need to change, the ¨ was already there.

[Surakis]

Because people think being fair has to do only with "being fair to them". They don't care about others or the ramifications of what they want. I want to keep my name and that is fair. No I won't change it because someone else has it because it's only fair that I have more rights to that name as them.

 

Selfishness.

 

Yep.

[Suzina]

When naming conflicts occur due to the consolidation, players are given priority based on a variety of factors such as character play time and if they have already had to rename their characters as part of the first character transfer program back in June. Please do keep in mind that this does not encompass all of the factors taken into consideration, but those are an example of the major ones.

 

I wish we knew what encompasses all of the factors taken into consideration. I wish I knew why clear open communication was not used in this case. I wish I knew why clear open and honest communication was not used in the first round of transfers.

 

I logged in and found my guild name changed. When I attempted to change the guild name back to what it has been since before launch, I was told "That name is not available!" I was shaken because I've built a lot of my identity and pride into my guild's name. I knew no one else had taken it, yet it wasn't available.

 

I had filed a ticket. The ticket was deleted with no response.

 

As it turns out, I merely had to rename the guild on my original server and we were auto-changed back to our real guild name. I nearly renamed my guild with something completely different, simply because the in-game pop-up window told me that the name was taken, even though I knew it wasn't being used by anyone.

 

I spent a few hours really upset. This could have been avoided with clear, open and honest communication. We were not even told that this server consolidation was happening during yesterday's patch until after it was over. I have no idea why it is SO hard to say, "Here's what we're doing in tonight's patch." or "Here are the rules by which we will force name changes."

 

Having an in-game tool tell me I qualify for a "free rename" is not communication. It's spin. I don't need spin, I need information.

[Ambisextrous]

I am also one of the pissed off who has been forced to have a name change. If you wanted to force name changes on people on the original servers maybe you should have moved everyone to a new server instead of pissing off a large number of people. I spend an extreme amount of time finding names I like only to be forced to change because someone transferred to my server. That is the worst idea I've ever heard.

 

What benefit do I get out of these people coming to my server? I didn't have any issues with my server. Queue times were acceptable, getting groups for heroics was not a problem. Now I get latency, more idiots flooding general and PVP. I lose the uniqueness of a legacy, I lose my character's name. Where is my perk to being on a destination server because the free name change just isn't doing it for me.

 

You need to do something for the people who are being forced to find a new identity. Not only that you also need to do something about the crappy @ Server tag attached to duplicated guilds because that too is moronic. You would think with all the MMOs that have come out and failed that you would take a few notes to maintain subscriptions. Gamers are protective of their names. We build an identity around that name, and people who were on destination servers have been royally screwed.

 

This is one more reason why I am now seriously considering going to play with pandas because even that is less ridiculous than what you have done.

 

As for people who are saying those of us are QQing about fairness: say you have been on a server since launch and have used the same name since launch then suddenly without notice you are being forced to change your name. You would be pissed off too. It's not about being fair, it's about being honest.

 

When ever I have been transferred to a new server I've just assumed that if there was someone on that server with my name that I would change mine. I was okay with that because I was moving and the perk to me was that I got off a dead-end server. This is one way they could have done it. OR if they didn't want the issues at all they should have renamed the servers, announced (in advance) that in the case of conflicting name changes that the person with the name the longest would get priority, then everyone is happy and they wouldn't lose subscriptions due to something that was so easily avoided.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Ambisextrous

[ObiJuanShenobi]

what the hell, all the toons I originally had on po5 didn't get to keep their name....only my toons that transferred over got to keep their names....this isn't cool.

 

Same! Its bs

[KyaniteD]

As it turns out, I merely had to rename the guild on my original server and we were auto-changed back to our real guild name. I nearly renamed my guild with something completely different, simply because the in-game pop-up window told me that the name was taken, even though I knew it wasn't being used by anyone.

 

Not sure I understand what you did there. How did you rename your guild on the original server when they've been unavailable since the transfer?

[Surakis]

I am also one of the pissed off who has been forced to have a name change. If you wanted to force name changes on people on the original servers maybe you should have moved everyone to a new server instead of pissing off a large number of people. I spend an extreme amount of time finding names I like only to be forced to change because someone transferred to my server. That is the worst idea I've ever heard.

 

You do understand people were forced to move. Why should you have naming rights over these other customers? Why does "fair" always seem to be "getting my way"?

[Graydon]

These replies blaming the customer for not picking a unique name are absurd and ignorant.

 

A paying customer should not have to worry about losing their chosen names, it's Bioware who should worry and they have failed. Other MMO's believe in this philosophy.

 

You fail your paying customers your business fails. Simple.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Graydon

[Ambisextrous]

You do understand people were forced to move. Why should you have naming rights over these other customers? Why does "fair" always seem to be "getting my way"?

 

I was also forced to move on one of my characters from another server, so yes I am aware of how it works. I should also point out that my server was a destination server last round and it was quite populated! Even with that I would have had no issue giving up the name of that character because someone else had it who was on my destination server. I actually feel really bad knowing that someone may have been forced into a name change because of that character since I know how I feel having my character forced into a name change.

 

The fact that they gave absolutely no indication of their intentions however is where my real issue is. Had they made a post in advance saying hey we're doing mergers and should name conflicts arise the person with the name the longest will have priority. OR, like I said in my last post move everyone to new servers with new names and make the same advanced notice about possible name changes, this could have been avoided.

 

A little communication goes a long way.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Ambisextrous

[TUXs]

I spent a few hours really upset. This could have been avoided with clear, open and honest communication. We were not even told that this server consolidation was happening during yesterday's patch until after it was over. I have no idea why it is SO hard to say, "Here's what we're doing in tonight's patch." or "Here are the rules by which we will force name changes."

 

I could not agree more with you on this. Bioware doesn't appear to have ANY ability to properly communicate. Something like this should have been announced and communicated about a month ago, not 24-hours prior.

 

I honestly don't believe Bioware cares at all about those of us playing/paying, only those who MAY play. Moves like this just cement my opinion on this as does their lack of any real honesty when doing Q&As or replying with stupid things like "soon". Good companies COMMUNICATE! Bioware fails so much at this that I find it hard to believe anyone there is actually surprised by SWTORs failure. But...it was obvious during development that they didn't care what the customer wanted, they wanted us to play the game THEY wanted, despite customer requests. I see this trend of arrogance continued in their failure to communicate.

 

They aren't developing anything revolutionary, they aren't being innovative, they've lost 4 of 5 customers already, they've "consolidated" servers TWICE in 9 months...yet they act like they're creating something that will sweep the industry by storm. Reality is...SWTOR failed. SWTOR isn't anything but a punchline right now...not something the rest of the MMO industry is watching with baited breath. They keep so tight lipped about everything (not just this) that they fail to ever generate any buzz or create any excitement. 1.4, F2P, ultra super duper servers...it's all so slow to develop and over hyped that people don't care.

 

If Bioware could change ONE thing...I suggest it be a major renovation in how they communicate with their customers. Sadly, we're not all as locked into this game as they seem to think.

[Andryah]

I wish we knew what encompasses all of the factors taken into consideration. I wish I knew why clear open communication was not used in this case. I wish I knew why clear open and honest communication was not used in the first round of transfers.

.......

I spent a few hours really upset. This could have been avoided with clear, open and honest communication. We were not even told that this server consolidation was happening during yesterday's patch until after it was over. I have no idea why it is SO hard to say, "Here's what we're doing in tonight's patch." or "Here are the rules by which we will force name changes."

 

Having an in-game tool tell me I qualify for a "free rename" is not communication. It's spin. I don't need spin, I need information.

 

Out of curiosity, what would have been avoided?

 

As for communications...... as a forum member, you completely missed the multiple pages of information (including an FAQ) communicated on Monday about what was going to happen, and how?

 

While I agree that more communications in general is better, constant complaints and QQs about commuications has become the Bioware QQ-de-jour. Someone does not read devtracker, blame Bioware communications. Someone wake up in the morning with a headache... blame Bioware communications. Taxes increase on your payroll, blame Bioware communications, etc. etc. Yes, I am exaggerating to make a point, because it needs to be made.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Andryah

[KyaniteD]

Out of curiosity, what would have been avoided?

 

As for communications...... as a forum member, you completely missed the multiple pages of information (including an FAQ) communicated on Monday about what was going to happen, and how?

 

Yeah. you're right. 24 hours is plenty of time. /sarc

[Urael]

As for communications...... as a forum member, you completely missed the multiple pages of information (including an FAQ) communicated on Monday about what was going to happen, and how?

 

To be fair, it was worded in the usual EAware speak and was not clear. There was no indication in all the information presented that EVERYONE was being moved to NEW servers (the current survers we are on only have the "names" of the old servers but are in fact new servers).

 

Also, they could have let us know in advance that this was going to happen ( with regard to it's effects on names ) so that people could play some of the alts whos names were lost due to inactivity.

 

Also, the guild naming thing could have been better explained.

 

I agree that "some" information was put out about this round of tranfers, but you have to admit that they left out some key information that would have been helpful and perhaps would have mitigated the firestorm that is currently raging.

 

[Andryah]

Names mean things to most people...it's an identity...online or irl.

 

I agree.

 

However, they are not the end of the world.

 

Your level of venting would be justified IMO (see how I noted it was my opinion), IF Bioware changed your name to avoid a naming conflict and did not let you change it. That would be a truly FORCED name change.

 

I had name changes required on 9 characters in July. I changed them, was happy with the results, and moved along.

 

You all can just continue to rant if you like, but exactly what is achieved by it?

[TUXs]

Out of curiosity, what would have been avoided?

 

As for communications...... as a forum member, you completely missed the multiple pages of information (including an FAQ) communicated on Monday about what was going to happen, and how?

 

Monday...when they forced this merge on Tuesday. Less that 24 freaking hours. That's **edit** poor communication.

 

What if the Guildmaster is out of town? On vacation? Sick? Working? Taking a break? My guild name was messed up until nearly midnight last night when a CSR thankfully fixed it. That took 30+ minutes. Moving guilds, renaming every toon, resetting UI's, custom chat tabs, custom chat channels...these are NOT simply things players should 'expect' to take in stride.

 

This whole naming thing is so poorly thought out that I'm SHOCKED at the absolute disconnect it demonstrates. First names mean something. Guild names mean something. There are good ways to do something like this, then there are bad ways...Bioware did it the worst possible way imo.

[Ooloi]

I got to keep all my names, on both servers I'm on (both of which have ended up being destination servers).

 

But I have to say, as an ardent roleplayer for 38 years, that names count for a lot.

 

If they truly want an mmoRPG then this issue should have been initially approached in a different way and dealt with subsequently in a different way than they have.

 

At the end of the day I could care less about how high a crit I can manage or how many people get to see my "amazing awesomeness" in PvE or PvP - for me it's about story, lore, personal fashion (how my character looks), names, and role-playing. Very little has been done since launch to encourage any of this. I didn't come here to play a 1st person shooter or Mario, or a game which is all about how fast I can spam click two buttons while spinning my mouse around in fast circles for hours on end.

 

When all is said and done, I play those games which cater somewhat to my interests. At the moment, SWTOR isn't heading in the right direction for that, alas.