Legacy names -- allow us to change them

[gregordunbar]

The sad thing about this is that it is going to get WORSE with the upcoming legacy family tree...its as if Bioware hates Roleplayers or something.

 

Hey I know, lets make a system that will make players take their Twi'lek and place them in the same family tree as their Human to unlock leet skiils! gawd...

[somehuman]

The idea that all my characters are literally in a family is just stupid. How can I have a sire (main character) that's the same age as the rest of his family? I'm confused as to why there was a room full of developers and THIS system would make it out without a huge majority voting it down.

 

Nothing about the legacy system makes sense. A surname is something you pick at character creation. You shouldn't choose it halfway through leveling up. You shouldn't be mandated to share surnames on every character.

 

The legacy system is fine if it has NOTHING to do with naming. Let the name system be totally different. Let the legacy system JUST be another xp bar that you have to fill up.

 

I'm not even a roleplayer. I just think the current legacy system is really stupid and doesn't make a bit of sense.

[SethMcloud]

Well, yes, this would certainly be ideal.

 

Have you ever seen the system in LotRO? It's geat. In Lord of the Rings Online, surnames:

 

1) Are not unique, so you can create familes, etc.

 

2) Are not linked to the first name, so, like in TOR, a character's first name remains the unique element, so you don't have to worry about someone pilfering 'your' name if you're John or Fred or something.

 

3) Can be changed at any time by the player.

 

Can you still have a legacy name without linking it to surnames? Of course. Absolutely. And it would still be just as effective of a system without the two being linked.

 

As it stands now, every player who takes surnames seriously must either come up with some ridiculous, stupid, far-fetched explaination for why their sith pureblood Sith Warrior is related to their human Trooper, or must hide the surnames entirely on every alt.

 

And, in the situation where your alt becomes a main? Well, you're just screwed, pal! Because, hey, only one surname per server, and our game is so ***-backwards in terms of programming that we, Bioware, can't even change them!

 

 

Maybe not with THIS much level of freedom but I do support this idea. Maybe even paying in game currency to change your name. Certain RPers would LOVE this feature. Maybe allow the "legacy" to be unchangeable. That would be acceptable as long as the surname part was able to be changed and possibly separate. PLEASE BW I would love to see this happen!

[AsianRob]

I just want to change my repetitive legacy name

[ELECTRICJUDGMENT]

I for one think the legacy system is quite awesome, and I really hope they don't separate the legacy points from the surname because that would be undermining the whole purpose of the legacy system, which is for your character to have a legacy, similar to Anakin and Luke Skywalker or Leah and Jacen Solo. Now, I can totally understand that if someone mistakenly chose a name they didn't want to request a reset so they can choose another one that is available, but separating the surname from the legacy or removing the surnames altogether is stupid, and allowing someone else on the server to use the same legacy name is also stupid and demeaning to those that worked for and rightfully chose that name. Edited January 25, 2012 by ELECTRICJUDGMENT

[Gilpatric]

What amazes me is that BWEA seems to have gone out of its way to make this suck. If you create a name and don't like it, normally the character is low level and you can just delete and reroll. With the legacy name, not only do you have to wait until lv 32, but the name is eternal, it poisons the entire server forever.

 

Why did they do this? There was a huge amount of discussion on the old forum about this. Nobody, and I mean nobody wanted anything like the current system. Many of us, as is well represented in this thread, merely wanted surnames.

 

This is a big enough deal to me that i've cancelled over it. It's my only real gripe but it's a deal breaker for me.

 

In reply to the poster immediately above, why not just seperate the Legacy System from the surname altogether? It is silly to have Republic and Empire characters with the same surname, and it is even sillier to have the different playable species supposedly part of the same 'family.'

 

I feel as if BW has shoved my head into the plate and is demanding that I eat my peas.

 

The whole point of surnames, it seems to me, is to allow greater flexibility, not less flexibility in naming.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Gilpatric

[DarkCarnivale]

/signed

 

[Hatyara]

We should be able to change our legacy name, I put whatever I wanted in without knowing the repercussions of it all. The game did not explain properly what the legacy name would be used for when I was asked to enter in a legacy name.

[Drakonnen]

I for one think the legacy system is quite awesome, and I really hope they don't separate the legacy points from the surname because that would be undermining the whole purpose of the legacy system, which is for your character to have a legacy, similar to Anakin and Luke Skywalker or Leah and Jacen Solo. Now, I can totally understand that if someone mistakenly chose a name they didn't want to request a reset so they can choose another one that is available, but separating the surname from the legacy or removing the surnames altogether is stupid, and allowing someone else on the server to use the same legacy name is also stupid and demeaning to those that worked for and rightfully chose that name.

 

See you're describing a family tree of people, all of ONE race that occurred over a time period of at least half a century or more.

 

In this game, we are talking about 8 characters per server of potentially different races who could not procreate with one another, and all of whom are in adulthood AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.

 

That is NOT a family tree! It's so stupid and ridiculous, I almost just want to start cursing.

 

(and its LEIA by the way.)

[Graym_Inz-Tyr]

See you're describing a family tree of people, all of ONE race that occurred over a time period of at least half a century or more.

 

In this game, we are talking about 8 characters per server of potentially different races who could not procreate with one another, and all of whom are in adulthood AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.

 

That is NOT a family tree! It's so stupid and ridiculous, I almost just want to start cursing.

 

(and its LEIA by the way.)

 

Indeed, not to mention that, as far as I recall, Leia never went by Skywalker anyway. It was Leia Organa or Leia Organa Solo. Not to mention Anakin Skywalker was called Darth Vader for much of his life. With the legacy system the way it is we can't even properly emulate the family the example they used to describe what the legacy system was for.

 

I would completely and totally fine with the legacy system if it wasn't linked to surnames. A unique legacy name is fine. It could even be a character's surname if you wanted, but there's no reason all my characters should be forced to either share the same surname or have none.

 

Assuming they disconnect surnames with legacy names I'd also prefer if surnames didn't have to be unique. A unique first name and legacy name is enough. Leave surname open to any choice you feel like (Barring appropriate restrictions to offensive ones)

 

I'm not even sure my chosen legacy name will work either. I want Inz-Tyr, like my username, but I've heard it will lowercase all but the first letter. Which - if true - is pretty annoying, considering it's standard practice with hyphenated surnames to have capital letters for each part.

[ELECTRICJUDGMENT]

Indeed, not to mention that, as far as I recall, Leia never went by Skywalker anyway. It was Leia Organa or Leia Organa Solo. Not to mention Anakin Skywalker was called Darth Vader for much of his life. With the legacy system the way it is we can't even properly emulate the family the example they used to describe what the legacy system was for.

 

I would completely and totally fine with the legacy system if it wasn't linked to surnames. A unique legacy name is fine. It could even be a character's surname if you wanted, but there's no reason all my characters should be forced to either share the same surname or have none.

 

Assuming they disconnect surnames with legacy names I'd also prefer if surnames didn't have to be unique. A unique first name and legacy name is enough. Leave surname open to any choice you feel like (Barring appropriate restrictions to offensive ones)

 

I'm not even sure my chosen legacy name will work either. I want Inz-Tyr, like my username, but I've heard it will lowercase all but the first letter. Which - if true - is pretty annoying, considering it's standard practice with hyphenated surnames to have capital letters for each part.

 

Dude, I said Leia and Jacen Solo, NOT Skywalker. You do know that Leia married Han Solo, right? Her name became Leia Organa SOLO. They had force-sensitive children, one of which was Jacen SOLO. Also, Darth Vader is a title given to Anakin SKYWALKER as a Sith. Vader is a title, not his surname. The surnames should remain unique and linked to the legacy, otherwise neither has any meaning, and for the people that do actually like their legacy name don't want some random anyone on the server representing them. If you don't like your legacy name, don't use it, but just because some individuals effed up their legacy name doesn't mean BW is gonna spoil it for everyone else that actually gets the whole purpose of having a legacy and being linked to a surname.

Edited January 25, 2012 by ELECTRICJUDGMENT

[Drakonnen]

Dude, I said Leia and Jacen Solo, NOT Skywalker. You do know that Leia married Han Solo, right? Her name became Leia Organa SOLO. They had force-sensitive children, one of which was Jacen SOLO. Also, Darth Vader is a title given to Anakin SKYWALKER as a Sith. Vader is a title, not his surname. The surnames should remain unique and linked to the legacy, otherwise neither has any meaning, and for the people that do actually like their legacy name don't want some random anyone on the server representing them. If you don't like your legacy name, don't use it, but just because some individuals effed up their legacy name doesn't mean BW is gonna spoil it for everyone else that actually gets the whole purpose of having a legacy and being linked to a surname.

 

So what you're saying is, even though Jacen and Leia are the respective grand child and child of Anakin Skywalker, they shouldn't be part of the same Legacy because they have different last names?

 

That explanation is ridiculous. It's the same family tree, yet the whole process discounts the fact that people in the same family tree have last names. Or, in the alternative, it's completely ignoring the fact that all these characters are NOT part of the same family tree given the species difference and contemporary time people for them all.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Drakonnen

[Graym_Inz-Tyr]

Dude, I said Leia and Jacen Solo, NOT Skywalker. You do know that Leia married Han Solo, right? Her name became Leia Organa SOLO. They had force-sensitive children, one of which was Jacen SOLO. Also, Darth Vader is a title given to Anakin SKYWALKER as a Sith. Vader is a title, not his surname. The surnames should remain unique and linked to the legacy, otherwise neither has any meaning, and for the people that do actually like their legacy name don't want some random anyone on the server representing them. If you don't like your legacy name, don't use it, but just because some individuals effed up their legacy name doesn't mean BW is gonna spoil it for everyone else that actually gets the whole purpose of having a legacy and being linked to a surname.

 

I know Leia married Han Solo. Thus why I said she called herself Leia Organa Solo. However, if Star Wars operated by Legacy System rules, the registrar would have told her "Sorry, ma'am, but your father was the first person to complete Chapter 1, so you can't have a last name unless it's Skywalker. Maybe you could go out and marry someone else named Skywalker if you want a last name." Also Vader may have been Anakin Skywalker, but he also didn't use that name for much of his life. Same with pretty much anyone who has the Darth title. Lore-wise, it's not the thing to do to have him use his family name. But with Legacy, that's your only choice.

 

It's pretty bad for RP, and that's not counting the fact that cross-species naming conventions are very different. Chiss, for example, have names like Mitth'raw'nuruodo. I suppose you could say your chiss was adopted by the family of your human chars, but then that's going to be the background for a significant number of chiss in the SWTOR universe - which would be a rare occurence, lore-wise.

 

I don't care if the Legacy name is unique, but there's no reason for surnames to be. Surnames aren't unique in real life, so why in game? Unique surnames are ofen less common in SW. For example - in chiss society, Nuruodo is the House responsible for military and foreign affairs within the Chiss ascendancy. A LOT of chiss have that name.

 

As for "Some random anyone" representing you, that is why I can deal with Legacy names being unique. If someone has the same surname as your legacy name in the system I propose, then there is little risk that reasonable people will consider your reputation sullied considering the perfectly reasonable explanation that surnames aren't necessarily legacy names. If you wish to hang around with unreasonable people, you have my condolences.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Graym_Inz-Tyr

[gregordunbar]

I can safely say that the Legacy system in this game is one of the single worst implemented ideas in Roleplaying game history.

 

Notice I said implemented, not the idea itself.

 

The idea, is fine. the implementation of forcing the same legacy onto all characters on the same server no matter the race is smacktarded in the worst way and the coming family tree is going to make it worse.

 

Hi, meet Jalla'sin the twi'lek who has the same name and is in the same family as George the human, Zipperhead the Cyborg, Vagaari the Chiss and Gruash the Sith. What can I say, my family will bang anyone, anywhere...anytime. I believe his name was Kirk, a captain.

 

Yeah...about the only way you can roleplay the idiotic idea of tying all the races into the same family tree for those leet skills.

 

They can bring in the system without having to tie all characters together in such a way, call it a...friends tree and open up surnames to being different for each character, its pure LAZYNESS to force it for all of them.

 

Make it so they are not unique so names dont run out...the only thing that needs to be unique is the characters first name.

 

Can anyone actually be AGAINST the idea of freeing up the surnames?!?

[ELECTRICJUDGMENT]

I know Leia married Han Solo. Thus why I said she called herself Leia Organa Solo. However, if Star Wars operated by Legacy System rules, the registrar would have told her "Sorry, ma'am, but your father was the first person to complete Chapter 1, so you can't have a last name unless it's Skywalker. Maybe you could go out and marry someone else named Skywalker if you want a last name." Also Vader may have been Anakin Skywalker, but he also didn't use that name for much of his life. Same with pretty much anyone who has the Darth title. Lore-wise, it's not the thing to do to have him use his family name. But with Legacy, that's your only choice.

 

It's pretty bad for RP, and that's not counting the fact that cross-species naming conventions are very different. Chiss, for example, have names like Mitth'raw'nuruodo. I suppose you could say your chiss was adopted by the family of your human chars, but then that's going to be the background for a significant number of chiss in the SWTOR universe - which would be a rare occurence, lore-wise.

 

I don't care if the Legacy name is unique, but there's no reason for surnames to be. Surnames aren't unique in real life, so why in game? Unique surnames are ofen less common in SW. For example - in chiss society, Nuruodo is the House responsible for military and foreign affairs within the Chiss ascendancy. A LOT of chiss have that name.

 

As for "Some random anyone" representing you, that is why I can deal with Legacy names being unique. If someone has the same surname as your legacy name in the system I propose, then there is little risk that reasonable people will consider your reputation sullied considering the perfectly reasonable explanation that surnames aren't necessarily legacy names. If you wish to hang around with unreasonable people, you have my condolences.

 

The purpose of a singular unique legacy/surname across all characters is to extend bonus attributes to those characters. If several players could use the same legacy name, it would completely negate those bonuses. By your logic, neither are first names, so I guess that means you won't mind if there's 10 "Graym_Inz-Tyr" on the server, right? Bull. If you think it's bad for RP, don't display it. Open up the character panel and disable it. I happen to think it's great for RP, but then again realistically I don't have a thousand hours to spare leveling 8 different characters from several different species and demand they all have different legacy names because I have no life.

[Drakonnen]

The purpose of a singular unique legacy/surname across all characters is to extend bonus attributes to those characters. If several players could use the same legacy name, it would completely negate those bonuses. By your logic, neither are first names, so I guess that means you won't mind if there's 10 "Graym_Inz-Tyr" on the server, right? Bull. If you think it's bad for RP, don't display it. Open up the character panel and disable it. I happen to think it's great for RP, but then again realistically I don't have a thousand hours to spare leveling 8 different characters from several different species and demand they all have different legacy names because I have no life.

 

Obviously someone doesn't understand.

 

You don't NEED a legacy name to extend those bonuses because those bonuses could already be linked through your unique account name.

 

No one is suggesting anyone be able to use someone's legacy name for the bonuses, just that surnames be separated from the legacy system entirely.

 

Congratulations for you if you play 1 out of 8 unique stories of a game. That's really a good use of it. But if you play the game long term, chances are, you're going to want some variety.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Drakonnen

[ELECTRICJUDGMENT]

Obviously someone doesn't understand.

 

You don't NEED a legacy name to extend those bonuses because those bonuses could already be linked through your unique account name.

 

No one is suggesting anyone be able to use someone's legacy name for the bonuses, just that surnames be separated from the legacy system entirely.

 

Congratulations for you if you play 1 out of 8 unique stories of a game. That's really a good use of it. But if you play the game long term, chances are, you're going to want some variety.

 

Why would they separate the legacy from the surnames? "HEY EVERYBODY, THIS IS THE NEW LEGACY SYSTEM. IT HAS NO REAL PURPOSE AND IS NOT TIED TO A LEGACY NAME BECAUSE WE FELT THE SURNAME WAS BETTER HAVING NO VALUE OR MEANING WHATSOEVER AND THEREFORE BEING WORTHLESS, AND POINTS WERE BETTER JUST BEING ARBITRARILY EARNED FOR EVERY CHARACTER ON YOUR ACCOUNT, WHILE NOT TIED TO A LEGACY WHICH CANNOT BE NAMED"

 

The surname IS the legacy. If you don't like "smith" being shown for your Twi'lek character, DISABLE IT. You are failing to realize that the whole legacy system is a BONUS, an extra given to us by the devs. YOU HAVE A CHOICE, and you are not entitled a last name for your characters AT ALL!

Edited January 25, 2012 by ELECTRICJUDGMENT

[Drakonnen]

Why would they separate the legacy from the surnames? "HEY EVERYBODY, THIS IS THE NEW LEGACY SYSTEM. IT HAS NO REAL PURPOSE AND IS NOT TIED TO A LEGACY NAME BECAUSE WE FELT THE SURNAME WAS BETTER HAVING NO VALUE OR MEANING WHATSOEVER AND THEREFORE BEING WORTHLESS, AND POINTS WERE BETTER JUST BEING ARBITRARILY EARNED FOR EVERY CHARACTER ON YOUR ACCOUNT, WHILE NOT TIED TO A LEGACY WHICH CANNOT BE NAMED"

 

The surname IS the legacy. If you don't like "smith" being shown for your Twi'lek character, DISABLE IT. You are failing to realize that the whole legacy system is a BONUS, an extra given to us by the devs. YOU HAVE A CHOICE, and you are not entitled a last name for your characters AT ALL!

 

No, you're failing to realize that a vocal majority can have whatever it wants. We aren't limited to this choice. The majority, has evidenced by the former poll that was 70% in favor of disentangling the surname from the legacy system. Believe it or not companies actually do respond to the wishes of their paying customers.

 

You can still have a legacy system with the bonuses, without needlessly tying it to the surnames. It would still have a purpose without forcing all characters to use the same last name. Sure it can be disabled, but then it forecloses upon the option for the other characters to have their own unique surnames, and be fully fledged, seperate characters in their own right.

 

The legacy as a family tree thing is stupid. Plain and simple. It doesn't fit the majority of people's visions for separate characters of varying races.

 

The legacy system as a bonus for people who have played a while and are leveling alts, to reward long term players and such is a fantastic idea. No one I've seen has argued against that portion of it at all.

 

Oh wait, but you typed that other paragraph in caps, which must mean your thoughts are more important and you know what you are talking about... lol.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Drakonnen

[Lollitort]

I was typing in chat, and brought my skill window up at the same time and ended up entering 3 random letters and then enter. No confirmation box for Legacy Window, along with no checking if the name is taken before you even hit confirm. On top of the fact that it opens every time you zone, open your skills, or log in. They really dropped the ball on this one.

 

^this. How does bioware cope with things like this? If we were properly warned, sure, whatever. But we weren't.

[AsianRob]

Please BW, if you're reading. You can tell this is a serious problem!

[Graym_Inz-Tyr]

The purpose of a singular unique legacy/surname across all characters is to extend bonus attributes to those characters. If several players could use the same legacy name, it would completely negate those bonuses. By your logic, neither are first names, so I guess that means you won't mind if there's 10 "Graym_Inz-Tyr" on the server, right? Bull. If you think it's bad for RP, don't display it. Open up the character panel and disable it. I happen to think it's great for RP, but then again realistically I don't have a thousand hours to spare leveling 8 different characters from several different species and demand they all have different legacy names because I have no life.

 

I fail to see how bonuses would be negated. Having a legacy name isn't necessary to recognise a user's alternate accounts and confer bonuses. The game isn't going to confuse you for someone else and give them all your points. I don't mind having a unique legacy name anyway. I only ask that the surnames be unique.

 

If someone else - or ten someones - was named Graym Inz-Tyr I'd probably have a chuckle about it. I don't really care as long as I get my name. Sometimes people have the same exact names in real life too. Ten would be an odd occurence, but hey, if ten people love my name so much it's kind of flattering, I suppose. Of course, since first names are unique, I can't imagine it ever occuring.

 

Yes, I do think it's bad for RP that 6 or 7 of my characters are either all mono-named oddballs in the vein of Cher or bizarrely tied to my main by a series of awkward rationalisations. You can disagree if you like.

 

If you don't have time to spare leveling eight different characters, then apparently the legacy system is failing in its purpose to entice you to create alts. Shame that. However, you appear to be acknowledging that the experiences of those who do have time to create diverse alternate characters would be better served with altering the legacy system to allow for multiple surnames.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Graym_Inz-Tyr

[thesaltman]

Please BW, if you're reading. You can tell this is a serious problem!

 

68 pages and still no BW response. Gets me nervous about how they are handeling their subs

[Caddax]

I have to say that I would like to change my Legacy name also. Seems I inadvertently chose a name that is also a title. So here I am seeing all of these other players with the name I picked.

[Drakonnen]

68 pages and still no BW response. Gets me nervous about how they are handeling their subs

 

The sentiment about this since day 1 when it was announced has been pretty overwhelming on the surname issue.

[Cynistra]

I have to say that I would like to change my Legacy name also. Seems I inadvertently chose a name that is also a title. So here I am seeing all of these other players with the name I picked.

 

Be happy, it seems to be what everyone else wants in this thread