Weren't we promised more character name resets?

[Ylliarus]

If I recall correctly, back when the server merges were being announced and introduced, Bioware had promised they would employ character name resets more frequently in order to free up names that haven't been played for a long time. I think it is high time we had another round of character name resets, as it's been a few years since the last character name resets have been employed and there are a ton of character names that haven't been logged into for years.

 

For example, there is a name I used to have back in 2012 but at some point in time I had deleted the character and moved on to other toons. In the meanwhile, someone else took that character name and for a couple of years now I have kept that character in my friend's list to see if they log in on the character. For several years now that character with that specific name has not come online and nothing about the level or location changes (sometimes you can see that even if they are online).

 

Yet that's only one example and a rather personal one. There are also hundreds of other names of people I used to play with who have not come online in years. All those character names remain unavailable while the owner's of some of them plan to never return to SWTOR (as sad as that sounds). All those character names however could be recycled and given a beautiful second life, which is why I am of the opinion that we need another round of character name resets, especially since such was promised after the server merges from 2+ years back.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Ylliarus

[lord-angelus]

I second that actually

[SteveTheCynic]

If I recall correctly, back when the server merges were being announced and introduced, Bioware had promised they would employ character name resets more frequently in order to free up names that haven't been played for a long time.

I don't recall such a statement (I'm not saying that you're wrong, just that I don't remember it myself). There was an actual purge of very low-level unplayed F2P character names just before the server merges, and a round of unlocks(1) alongside it, but no resets (which sounds like an alternative word for "purges" in my opinion).

I think it is high time we had another round of character name resets, as it's been a few years since the last character name resets have been employed and there are a ton of character names that haven't been logged into for years.

So what? To be sure, there are clusters of names that are hard to get into, but that's because they are vaguely similar to actual names in lore (er, nobody ever uses Révàñ or Luuke or Ohbeewon or anything like that, never), whether it's Star Wars lore or something else. But the endless arguments about creativity and originality and so on are boring, so I won't bother.

For example, there is a name I used to have back in 2012 but at some point in time I had deleted the character and moved on to other toons. In the meanwhile, someone else took that character name and for a couple of years now I have kept that character in my friend's list to see if they log in on the character. For several years now that character with that specific name has not come online and nothing about the level or location changes (sometimes you can see that even if they are online).

Have you been logged in and watching your friend list 24/7 for that whole time? A bunch of my characters don't change location or level, but that doesn't mean I don't log in to them, just that I do it very briefly and only once every two or three weeks. If you aren't logged in to that character at exactly that period of ten or twenty seconds, you won't see it.

Yet that's only one example and a rather personal one. There are also hundreds of other names of people I used to play with who have not come online in years. All those character names remain unavailable while the owner's of some of them plan to never return to SWTOR (as sad as that sounds). All those character names however could be recycled and given a beautiful second life, which is why I am of the opinion that we need another round of character name resets, especially since such was promised after the server merges from 2+ years back.

I don't think it was promised. Or at least not beyond "We will look into how we could do this." Maybe they did look into it, and they decided that it didn't merit a regular recurrence. (Besides, if they follow the existing interval between unlocks, the next one should be some time in the second half of 2021, maybe a month or two before the ten-year thing. Hmm. That might not be the best possible time to do it.)

 

(1) A purge (properly-speaking) will actually remove the names from the characters, while an unlock merely makes it possible for some other character to take it, but if a character whose name is unlocked logs in before anyone does that, the name is retained and re-locked.

[QuinlanSaathis]

Maybe that name belongs to a sub.

They will never purge an active sub and many people take long breaks or just don't bother to cancel.

[DzastinBiberi]

My name was taken on the other server by 50 lvl merc who never logged in for years. I originated from TOFN to TRE and had to change it 'cause it was taken by a dead account. To this day I can't take back my name, 'cause reasons.

 

Just delete dead accounts/names BioWare, if someone stopped playing back in 2012-13 and never came back to the game, what's the point of keeping that account alive and names taken?

[xordevoreaux]

Maybe that name belongs to a sub.

They will never purge an active sub and many people take long breaks or just don't bother to cancel.

 

Active sub here. Lost 2 names during the merge because my characters were of a lower level than someone else's.

[Ylliarus]

I don't recall such a statement (I'm not saying that you're wrong, just that I don't remember it myself). There was an actual purge of very low-level unplayed F2P character names just before the server merges, and a round of unlocks(1) alongside it, but no resets (which sounds like an alternative word for "purges" in my opinion).

 

Thank you I stand corrected, they indeed spoke of looking at ways to do such name purges more often. Still, even if it wasn't promised (or if it was) then I do believe it wouldn't harm anyone to do a little cleanup.

 

So what? To be sure, there are clusters of names that are hard to get into, but that's because they are vaguely similar to actual names in lore (er, nobody ever uses Révàñ or Luuke or Ohbeewon or anything like that, never), whether it's Star Wars lore or something else. But the endless arguments about creativity and originality and so on are boring, so I won't bother.

 

Not what I am talking about. As a roleplayer I get thoroughly annoyed by such names myself. I am talking of original names that one thought up themselves and that have no connection to existing Star Wars characters. You wouldn't believe how often I thought up a name and was sure "no one can think of this", but surprise, surprise, I was wrong. And it's not a matter of creativity or imagination, because I can assure you I am not lacking in either of those.

 

Have you been logged in and watching your friend list 24/7 for that whole time? A bunch of my characters don't change location or level, but that doesn't mean I don't log in to them, just that I do it very briefly and only once every two or three weeks. If you aren't logged in to that character at exactly that period of ten or twenty seconds, you won't see it.

 

This feels like an argument simply for the sake of countering me. No, I haven't been online 24/7 the whole time, but I think that - having come online at various times over the course of years - I would have seen this person online at one point or another. I'd prefer to apply Ockham's razor here and assume the most likely thing, namely that the character simply doesn't log in anymore. It would have been quite the coincidence if in all these years, that person and I never logged in at the same time.

 

Maybe that name belongs to a sub.

They will never purge an active sub and many people take long breaks or just don't bother to cancel.

 

I am an active sub as well. And from what I see, several active subs here have lost their names as a result of the server merges. I think they'd find a name purge - especially of the characters that remain unplayed for years - quite appealing.

 

My name was taken on the other server by 50 lvl merc who never logged in for years. I originated from TOFN to TRE and had to change it 'cause it was taken by a dead account. To this day I can't take back my name, 'cause reasons.

 

Just delete dead accounts/names BioWare, if someone stopped playing back in 2012-13 and never came back to the game, what's the point of keeping that account alive and names taken?

 

I fully agree. Names are an important part of our experience here and I know the feeling of losing a name like that. I lost a name too several months back that was very dear to me when I briefly hopped servers for 1 day. I have strong reason to believe it was taken and reserved out of malicious intent, but I can't prove it. The character however has not logged in for months and it's not fair in my opinion that the name sits unused on a dormant account while I would have gladly played daily using it.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Ylliarus

[xordevoreaux]

My name was taken on the other server by 50 lvl merc who never logged in for years. I originated from TOFN to TRE and had to change it 'cause it was taken by a dead account. To this day I can't take back my name, 'cause reasons.

 

Just delete dead accounts/names BioWare, if someone stopped playing back in 2012-13 and never came back to the game, what's the point of keeping that account alive and names taken?

 

Con:

 

While there are laws protecting what can and cannot happen to U.S. soldiers deployed overseas, such as closing inactive bank accounts and what have you, I'm not sure if that applies to vendors such as Electronic Arts cancelling (or deleting) inactive accounts, but actually deleting the accounts probably veers in that direction. I know were I deployed in back to back assignments in Afghanistan (like two of my cousins were) and then wanted when I got back to blow off steam by murdering every single flesh raider on Tython I could... only to find my account wiped out... wouldn't be fun.

 

 

Pro:

 

Deleting inactive accounts because of 36 months of inactivity could simply be listed in the terms of service and be done with it. Blow the accounts away. Hitting "Play" on the launcher means you agree to those terms. Doesn't matter if you're sitting behind some sand dune disarming an improvised explosive device for your platoon or you just flaked off and don't play any more, inactive is inactive, blow the account away, or at the very least, unlock any associated names.

 

I can see both points. I'm more leaning toward releasing the names.

[JediQuaker]

Most of this discussion of name resets seems to come from people who have a particular name they want to use.

That may be a nuisance, but really only a minor one. There's still lots of names that are just minor spelling changes, such as "B'ill" and "Bawb"

For that matter, I have characters called Quaker, Qua'ker, Qwayker, and Qwau'kur(**). Obviously I can't name them all "Quaker".

 

** Not sure of the spelling for that one. It's an SW that was only made to get Legendary status, that I never use.

[Ylliarus]

Most of this discussion of name resets seems to come from people who have a particular name they want to use.

That may be a nuisance, but really only a minor one. There's still lots of names that are just minor spelling changes, such as "B'ill" and "Bawb"

For that matter, I have characters called Quaker, Qua'ker, Qwayker, and Qwau'kur(**). Obviously I can't name them all "Quaker".

 

** Not sure of the spelling for that one. It's an SW that was only made to get Legendary status, that I never use.

 

Perhaps it's different to you, but for me the names of my characters are part of the experience of why I enjoy this game. For years I have played the character - his name was Ryssius - as a Sith Sorcerer and that class story became the story of Ryssius to me. On top of that, I identified so strongly with that name that it became my nickname for friends who played the game as well. One day I hopped servers and didn't think to reserve the name while I was hopping servers, and just one day managed to severely impact my enjoyment of the game. Because that name meant so much to me and I am certain that many other players here feel the same about their names.

 

Perhaps the more casual player doesn't attach as much value to their toons' names, but for roleplayers it's different. The name is an integral part of the playing experience. That's why changing the spelling won't grant the same effect, because it isn't the same anymore. Changing the spelling feels hollow and empty. For example, if I renamed my character to "Ryszius" I would not be able to enjoy that character anymore because I would continuously be reminded that this is not what it used to be.

 

Had the player who picked the name "Ryssius" been playing daily and finding their own enjoyment in using the name, I could have simply let it go and moved on. Because then I'd know the name received a second life and creates enjoyment for someone else like it did for me. However, I have been watching the name in question in my Friend's list and as far as I can tell (having monitored the name for several months now) that player has not logged into the character a single time. The name that I have come to identify with and love so much sits unused on a likely dormant account while I am desperately trying to do everything I can to get it back.

 

This is merely one example, my example, of how important a name can be to a player. I cannot of course presume to speak for others, but from what I have seen and heard from friends they are roughly the same in their attachment to their character names, so I am certain there are people here who would really want their names back. Especially if they see those names being used by dormant accounts. A name purge would only be fair in that regard.

 

P.S. Before anyone says "so they should do a name purge just because you want one specific name back", no, go back and read what I wrote. I gave myself as an example, an example of which I feel isn't uncommon especially since the server merges. There are already a few players here who stated in this thread that they lost their names to inactive accounts. My own example hopefully conveys a portion of how those players might feel about having lost their names to accounts that no one logs onto anymore.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Ylliarus

[DarkTergon]

Had the player who picked the name "Ryssius" been playing daily and finding their own enjoyment in using the name, I could have simply let it go and moved on.

 

It's quite possible that the player does use it, maybe as a gatherer, or crafter, and only logs in for a min, to set the minions off to work, it could be that you've been unlucky enough that you just haven't seen it. Also, if the player is a sub, and never uses it, but keeps the sub going, even if they do purge the names, it won't get purged. To find out if he is even slightly active, send him/her a mail, explaining you would like the name, and the reasons, maybe even offer to give them a name change token. But send a small amout of credits in the mail, if the person logs in, and doesn't answer, but takes the credits you'll know, but if they don't log in within 30 days ( i think) the credits will be returned to you. It'll give you an idea if the person does log on, even if they don't respond

 

 

* also, I'm not against a name purge. it has both pros and cons, but will leave that for others to debate

Edited April 10, 2020 by DarkTergon

[Ylliarus]

It's quite possible that the player does use it, maybe as a gatherer, or crafter, and only logs in for a min, to set the minions off to work, it could be that you've been unlucky enough that you just haven't seen it. Also, if the player is a sub, and never uses it, but keeps the sub going, even if they do purge the names, it won't get purged. To find out if he is even slightly active, send him/her a mail, explaining you would like the name, and the reasons, maybe even offer to give them a name change token. But send a small amout of credits in the mail, if the person logs in, and doesn't answer, but takes the credits you'll know, but if they don't log in within 30 days ( i think) the credits will be returned to you. It'll give you an idea if the person does log on, even if they don't respond

 

 

* also, I'm not against a name purge.

 

You assume that in my desperation I haven't bombarded the person with such messages already in the months that have passed since the name was taken from me. I have tried to get in touch with the person through various means, but the person simply does not log in. People keep repeating "maybe they just log in briefly and you are unlucky to miss them" but the chance of that is slim and unlikely. I am online quite a bit, especially these past few weeks. The name is not logged into, my messages to the player remain unanswered. I have offered them rename tokens, hypercrates and even simply hundreds of millions of credits, but everything remains unanswered because the player simply doesn't come online on that character.

 

Yet I don't want this thread to be about my personal situation in itself, my situation was an example. My plea is mainly for Bioware to initiate a name purge of inactive names.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Ylliarus

[DarkTergon]

You assume that in my desperation I haven't bombarded the person with such messages already in the months that have passed since the name was taken from me. I have tried to get in touch with the person through various means, but the person simply does not log in. People keep repeating "maybe they just log in briefly and you are unlucky to miss them" but the chance of that is slim and unlikely. I am online quite a bit, especially these past few weeks. The name is not logged into, my messages to the player remain unanswered. I have offered them rename tokens, hypercrates and even simply hundreds of millions of credits, but everything remains unanswered because the player simply doesn't come online on that character.

 

Yet I don't want this thread to be about my personal situation in itself, my situation was an example. My plea is mainly for Bioware to initiate a name purge of inactive names.

 

Was just offering a bit of advice, you never know what people do or don't do in this game. As for the name purge, i personally don't mind if they do it, won't affect me. But as I said, it has pros and cons that i'll leave up to others to debate

[Ylliarus]

Was just offering a bit of advice, you never know what people do or don't do in this game.

 

True enough, and the advice was good nonetheless. The credit thing for example was something I haven't tried yet and just tried out. Perhaps this message will spark a reaction. Do you happen to know how the credits will be returned? Does that happen via an ingame mail or do they simply appear in your credit ledger again?

[Screaming_Ziva]

This feels like an argument simply for the sake of countering me. No, I haven't been online 24/7 the whole time, but I think that - having come online at various times over the course of years - I would have seen this person online at one point or another. I'd prefer to apply Ockham's razor here and assume the most likely thing, namely that the character simply doesn't log in anymore. It would have been quite the coincidence if in all these years, that person and I never logged in at the same time.

 

Had the player who picked the name "Ryssius" been playing daily and finding their own enjoyment in using the name, I could have simply let it go and moved on. Because then I'd know the name received a second life and creates enjoyment for someone else like it did for me. However, I have been watching the name in question in my Friend's list and as far as I can tell (having monitored the name for several months now) that player has not logged into the character a single time. The name that I have come to identify with and love so much sits unused on a likely dormant account while I am desperately trying to do everything I can to get it back..

 

You assume that in my desperation I haven't bombarded the person with such messages already in the months that have passed since the name was taken from me. I have tried to get in touch with the person through various means, but the person simply does not log in. People keep repeating "maybe they just log in briefly and you are unlucky to miss them" but the chance of that is slim and unlikely. I am online quite a bit, especially these past few weeks. The name is not logged into, my messages to the player remain unanswered. I have offered them rename tokens, hypercrates and even simply hundreds of millions of credits, but everything remains unanswered because the player simply doesn't come online on that character.

 

You keep saying the same thing over and over again but you have ZERO proof this character is not being used or is on an inactive account.

 

Just because someone doesn't reply to your in-game mail doesn't mean they are not playing and just because you don't see them online doesn't mean they are not playing.

 

I have a level 29 Sage (one of my 52 characters) that I created many years ago. She sits in my Coruscant stronghold and pretty much the only time I log into her is when we receive a new account reward (Cantina code, etc) and that isn't very often at all. Player to player messages also get automatically deleted after 30 days so I probably wouldn't see any messages on her anyway when I logged in.

 

Tell me this, *if* there is a name purge, and "Ryssius" doesn't become available for you, what then will your complaint be?

Edited April 10, 2020 by Screaming_Ziva

[IzumiCurtis]

True enough, and the advice was good nonetheless. The credit thing for example was something I haven't tried yet and just tried out. Perhaps this message will spark a reaction. Do you happen to know how the credits will be returned? Does that happen via an ingame mail or do they simply appear in your credit ledger again?

 

It gets mailed back to you. (I know this from experience.)

[JediQuaker]

Perhaps it's different to you, but for me the names of my characters are part of the experience of why I enjoy this game. For years I have played the character - his name was Ryssius - as a Sith Sorcerer and that class story became the story of Ryssius to me.

You seem to be extraordinarily attached to a particular spelling. Would your sense of emersion really change if you spelled it Ry'ssius, or Rhyssios, or any other of the many ways to spell it?

And what if they did a name purge and someone else grabbed Ryssius before you could, would you still refuse to use a different spelling?

 

And, btw, Quaker is an online name I've used for a long time. I've had characters named Quaker in FPSes, and RPGs such as GW, GW2, and WoW. However, I'm not 100% invested in a particular spelling.

Edited April 10, 2020 by JediQuaker

[DarkTergon]

True enough, and the advice was good nonetheless. The credit thing for example was something I haven't tried yet and just tried out. Perhaps this message will spark a reaction. Do you happen to know how the credits will be returned? Does that happen via an ingame mail or do they simply appear in your credit ledger again?

 

the mail just gets returned, return to sender as elvis would sing. with the credits in tow

 

Edit, just noticed someone else replied...lol

Edited April 10, 2020 by DarkTergon

[JediMasterAlex]

I concur. Another name reset please.

[Lundorff]

A purge of dead character names? Yes absolutely.

[Ylliarus]

You keep saying the same thing over and over again but you have ZERO proof this character is not being used or is on an inactive account.

 

Just because someone doesn't reply to your in-game mail doesn't mean they are not playing and just because you don't see them online doesn't mean they are not playing.

 

I have a level 29 Sage (one of my 52 characters) that I created many years ago. She sits in my Coruscant stronghold and pretty much the only time I log into her is when we receive a new account reward (Cantina code, etc) and that isn't very often at all. Player to player messages also get automatically deleted after 30 days so I probably wouldn't see any messages on her anyway when I logged in.

 

Tell me this, *if* there is a name purge, and "Ryssius" doesn't become available for you, what then will your complaint be?

 

I don't understand why you react with such apparent hostility. Surely I did not offend you or attack you anywhere in my post? Why then does this affect you so much? Or do I wrongly perceive hostility in your tone?

 

I can ask the same of you, where is your proof that this character is an active account? You have zero proof of your own claim as well, you solely pointed out your personal situation, which is not universal, you know. Sure, there exists a possibility that the player in question logs in regularly at exactly the same moment I am offline. I do not exclude that to be true, but from the facts that I have witnessed and perceived I am more of the opinion that they're inactive.

 

Again, I don't know why you come at me with this amount of hostility. The suggestion of having name purges seems to be appealing to players from what I see in the reactions to this thread. What angered you so much in my posts or thread?

 

You seem to be extraordinarily attached to a particular spelling. Would your sense of emersion really change if you spelled it Ry'ssius, or Rhyssios, or any other of the many ways to spell it?

And what if they did a name purge and someone else grabbed Ryssius before you could, would you still refuse to use a different spelling?

 

And, btw, Quaker is an online name I've used for a long time. I've had characters named Quaker in FPSes, and RPGs such as GW, GW2, and WoW. However, I'm not 100% invested in a particular spelling.

 

I can assure you I am not the only one. I know several people who are this tied to their character names as well, particularly with a specific spelling.

 

And absolutely, if I named the character any different way than Ryssius (I am speaking of this particular character of course) I'd rather not play them than break my immersion and enjoyment of it. I have created new characters in the meanwhile, but I cannot bring myself to play the character who was called "Ryssius" until I can get that specific name back on him. I tried an alternative spelling for a while and that managed to ruin much of my enjoyment of playing the character, as I was continuously reminded that it was not the real thing.

 

Yet as I repeated, this thread is not supposed to be about the example I gave specifically. It's about name purges in general and from what I see of other reactions, other players want it too.

 

the mail just gets returned, return to sender as elvis would sing. with the credits in tow

 

Edit, just noticed someone else replied...lol

 

Hopefully this method will show whether the player comes online on the specific character or not! It will be more solid proof that the character in question is inactive

Edited April 10, 2020 by Ylliarus

[MaximusRex]

Active sub here. Lost 2 names during the merge because my characters were of a lower level than someone else's.

 

That was a different situation. With no merge they will not wipe names from an active sub.

[Ylliarus]

That was a different situation. With no merge they will not wipe names from an active sub.

 

They should consider it for accounts that are inactive or unused, even if they have their subs still running.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Ylliarus

[MaximusRex]

 

They should consider it for accounts that are inactive or unused, even if they have their subs still running.

 

I think it is a hard sell to take something away from someone who is paying, even if they aren't logging in since they don't know why they aren't logging in. If you have a specific name in mind maybe make a ticket and ask if it can be freed up. The worse they can say is no.

[Ylliarus]

I think it is a hard sell to take something away from someone who is paying, even if they aren't logging in since they don't know why they aren't logging in. If you have a specific name in mind maybe make a ticket and ask if it can be freed up. The worse they can say is no.

 

I admit the "purge active sub names" is a bit drastic and quite unlikely to occur. But a purge of the names used by inactive non-sub accounts is doable and feasible.