What Criteria Should've Been Used to Determine Name Changes

[Leematon]

Seeing as Bioware are refusing to spell out in full how they determined which characters got to keep their names and which had to change, I think the time is right to get peoples' views on what criteria should've been used. Below is what I believe is the fairest. Feel free to agree / disagree / come up with alternative ideas as you wish:

 

In order:

i) The character belonging to the player that has paid the most money into the game to date (include the fact that CE owners will have paid more than SE owners, and assume 6-month subscribers have paid the same as 6 x 1-month subscribers);

ii) The character with the highest level;

iii) The character that is further into the story (thus giving right-minded players priority over ‘power-levellers’);

iv) The character belonging to the player with the greatest number of name changes across ALL his characters;

v) The character that has had to have it's name changed last time around;

vi) The character belonging to the player that purchased the grander edition of the game initially;

vii) First-come, first serve.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Leematon

[Ephesia]

The Butthurtness level because of the name changes are amusing.

 

Names have to be unique and server merges were necessary. Deal with it as it is and stop giving names more attention than they are worth. What is important is the smoothness of the gameplay and the MMO feel in the game. Even if you are named a presumably sucky nick like "GolanHills21" it won't matter if you are a good player with decent behavior towards others people will still like you.

 

Guys, move on already. You can't please everyone and make everything perfect. Developers have chosen correctly to address the more important issue in favor of a less important one such as this.

[Mdgshorty]

I think first come, first serve is the best one.

 

In regards to the money related ones, its not really fair because not everyone can afford a whole lot.

In regards to leveling, its really not fair either as not everyone can level fast. Remember people have real life and some may only be able to level once a week.

[Rothie]

The criteria should be

 

1: Creation Date + /played (in other words, if you made the character on prelaunch day one, but only played it since last month, you lose to someone who made theirs 4 months ago, but play it regularly)

 

2: Subscription length (someone who’s subbed from the beginning having priority over someone who canceled at any point since launch) [number 1 trumping 2]

 

3: Character was forced to change name in first wave of moves. (doesn’t beat 1 but beats 2)

 

4: if 1 2 and 3 are equal RNG, low number changes.

[Leematon]

I think first come, first serve is the best one.

 

In regards to the money related ones, its not really fair because not everyone can afford a whole lot.

In regards to leveling, its really not fair either as not everyone can level fast. Remember people have real life and some may only be able to level once a week.

 

Points taken Mdgshorty. I personally also have a life away from the pc and am only advancing my characters slowly. However I placed the money one higher as keeping up your subscriptions demonstrates a greater loyalty to the game, which is also one of the reasons first-come, first serve is not very fair at all, and is at the bottom of the list.

[TMar]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5170943#edit5170943

 

Really look at dev track first.

 

 

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.

 

You're not telling them anything they don't already know.

[ImperialSun]

Seeing as Bioware are refusing to spell out in full how they determined which characters got to keep their names and which had to change, I think the time is right to get peoples' views on what criteria should've been used. Below is what I believe is the fairest. Feel free to agree / disagree / come up with alternative ideas as you wish:

 

In order:

i) The character belonging to the player that has paid the most money into the game to date (include the fact that CE owners will have paid more than SE owners);

ii) The character with the highest level;

iii) The character on the planet that is further into the game (thus giving right-minded players priority over ‘power-levellers’);

iv) The character that has gone through the greater number of name changes to date;

v) The character belonging to the player that purchased the grander edition of the game initially;

vi) First-come, first serve.

 

Sounds like you are saying THE fairest way in your opinion would be to base it on who has more money irl...good one.

 

You must be VERY butt hurt indeed

 

Driz

[Leematon]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5170943#edit5170943

 

Really look at dev track first.

 

 

 

 

You're not telling them anything they don't already know.

 

Which is the very reason I've started this thread. Bioware have NOT come completely clean and listed ALL the factors.

[TMar]

Which is the very reason I've started this thread. Bioware have NOT come completely clean and listed ALL the factors.

 

Which is the very reason they didn't, because they don't. It isn't about "coming clean". Deal with it or move on. Dumb threads aren't doing anything.

 

EDIT: You started this thread to "decide what the criteria should have been". We can sit here and talk about what I should have had for supper last night and it's not going to change what's coming out my butt today. Move on already.

Edited September 20, 2012 by TMar

[turjake]

What all these complaining people are trying to say is:

1. Me, I get to keep my names, or freely change to whichever name I want, taken or not.

2. Rest of players in whatever order, I dont care as long as #1 is true.

Edited September 20, 2012 by turjake

[Chacha]

We don't need any criteria. Just reset or initiate all character names before F2P begins.

[JansanRuno]

For a start they should have given every account with an active subscription priority over any account with no active subscription. There were over 2 million active accounts at launch and now they say 500,000 so there are 1.5 million times whatever average number of characters of names taken that may not ever be used again.

 

I believe most (but not all) of the people still playing took advantage of the free transfers over the past few months. Most (but not all) accounts left on the old origin servers were accounts of people not playing anymore.

 

This last server merger brought in all of those ~1.5 million dead accounts and all their character names.

 

But then maybe they did give priority to active accounts. I don't know all the criteria they used.

Edited September 20, 2012 by JansanRuno

[Surakis]

What all these complaining people are trying to say is:

1. Me, I get to keep my names, or freely change to whichever name I want, taken or not.

2. Rest of players in whatever order, I dont care as long as #1 is true.

 

Funny how these "suggestions" always seem to offer preferential treatment to the author of the post.

[Surakis]

For a start they should have given every account with an active subscription priority over any account with no active subscription. There were over 2 million active accounts at launch and now they say 500,000 so there are 1.5 million times whatever average number of characters of names taken that may not ever be used again.

 

I believe most (but not all) of the people still playing took advantage of the free transfers over the past few months. Most (but not all) accounts left on the old origin servers were accounts of people not playing anymore.

 

This last server merger brought in all of those ~1.5 million dead accounts and all their character names.

 

But then maybe they did give priority to active accounts. I don't know all the criteria they used.

 

You do know that those who moved voluntarily may have been moved again? I moved from from a low pop server to a new destination server only to be moved again in this week's server merges.

[JansanRuno]

You do know that those who moved voluntarily may have been moved again? I moved from from a low pop server to a new destination server only to be moved again in this week's server merges.

 

Yeah, I know. I moved voluntary myself and lost 4 names when I did that. This time I was force moved and lost 1 name.

 

I'm just saying that the millions of character names on all the servers for accounts with no active subscription should not have any priority over character names for people still here playing and paying a subscription.

[Surakis]

Yeah, I know. I moved voluntary myself and lost 4 names when I did that. This time I was force moved and lost 1 name.

 

I'm just saying that the millions of character names on all the servers for accounts with no active subscription should not have any priority over character names for people still here playing and paying a subscription.

 

Base on what little has been said about the name change rules, this go around, inactive account probably wouldn't have had priority.

[MadBlue]

Which is the very reason I've started this thread. Bioware have NOT come completely clean and listed ALL the factors.

 

Think about it. Even if BioWare gave the specific details on what went into deciding what would qualify for a rename, unless they had appended each character that was flagged for a rename with the specific reason why it had to be changed, people wouldn't know why their characters had to be renamed. And even if they had done that, it wouldn't stop people from claiming that it was unfair that their characters' names had to be changed,

 

Most likely if you lost a name it was because, as Joveth has stated, either someone was using it for a longer time than you, or they had been forced to rename the character after a transfer. Time used probably accounts for the majority of the cases, as a lot of people who had to rename resorted to apostrophes and accented characters rather than picking a completely different name. Rest assured that you didn't lose it to someone who created a character with that name on day one and quit the game a week later (as some of those who lost names in the free transfers may have). What more do you really need to know that would make it acceptable to you?

 

And seriously, "come clean?" What, is the dev team being interrogated about a stolen cache of diamonds?

Edited September 20, 2012 by MadBlue

[FourTwent]

Seeing as Bioware are refusing to spell out in full how they determined which characters got to keep their names and which had to change, I think the time is right to get peoples' views on what criteria should've been used. Below is what I believe is the fairest. Feel free to agree / disagree / come up with alternative ideas as you wish:

 

In order:

i) The character belonging to the player that has paid the most money into the game to date (include the fact that CE owners will have paid more than SE owners, and assume 6-month subscribers have paid the same as 6 x 1-month subscribers);

ii) The character with the highest level;

iii) The character that is further into the story (thus giving right-minded players priority over ‘power-levellers’);

iv) The character belonging to the player with the greatest number of name changes across ALL his characters;

v) The character that has had to have it's name changed last time around;

vi) The character belonging to the player that purchased the grander edition of the game initially;

vii) First-come, first serve.

 

lol at your number 1 reason. im not even going to read anymore. I actually appreciate and respect bioware for going with time /played as a main contributor for who gets a name(and i rarely get to play an hour a day)

 

look, you know this is just a 'i wanna keep my name and you shouldn't get my name' thread. your 'list' is gonna be different from someone else's list because their list would get them the name, just like your list would get you the name.

 

GROW UP, it's a game and its just a name

Edited September 20, 2012 by FourTwent

[CommunitySupport]

Hello everyone! Because we already have a thread for discussion of this issue, we're going to close this thread and ask you to join in the conversation there: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=533429.

 

Please note this post from Community Manager from Joveth Gonzalez about the topic:

 

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.