Guild Wars 2

Creating single names in this game is a super pain in the butt. For RP, Sylvari – Asura, only take single names, rarely a title for Asura and each is limited to certain languages or style.

I don’t know if its one name locked across all Worlds or just to your Home world. I have never left mine so I wouldn’t know.

The hardest part of making a new character should not be the name. That appears to be the case.

So my suggestion.

If a name is locked to all Worlds, change it to individual World lockouts and force name changes to those who transfer and find someway to differentiate those who “Guest” and Name* works in other games.

If that is impossible then add an expiration date (120 days) from last logged in to where the characters name is freed and a forced name change is applied if that name is taken when they come back.

Lets face it, this game is not an active sub game so there has to be 100,000 dead accounts that may or may not be logged into… ever! I know its a bit much but its getting ridiculous.

Jumping through hoops to find a name is not fun. Even when you “settle” with a name, your never happy and it does take away from your enjoyment every time someone says it.

This might also deter some awful names like “Slap Worthy”, “I C U DIE” or “L O L Monster”

I know plenty of players who just gave up and mashed their keyboard and said “That about as good as I can get”

BEFORE YOU POST CONSIDER THIS
******************************************
Just say for a moment, ANet released information that over 1 million accounts with 3 million characters have not been logged in since 1 month after launch. Which based on the last Info release from ANet is very possible.
******************************************

so someone displaced by a natural disaster or serving their country who doesn’t have access to their account should lose their name ? No i think I’ll pass on this idea

The whole point of a non-sub game (or B2P) is that you can drop in and out of it at any time, be it days, months or even years.

To the OP, you do not have a right to claim a name that someone else has already taken for their character just because you’re late to the party. This is a nonsensical idea, frankly.

I don’t know if I’m the only one or what, but I haven’t had problems finding names. Especially in the case of asura as there is so many fun titles that mean that you can basically take ANY name. And if that doesn’t work, double a consonant somewhere. My latest asura was Apprentice Glitch.

Only once my first choice for a sylvari was taken and that was something very specific.

There would be a problem with email and whispers also since its cross server. Now, as long as you know the character name you can email/whisper them. If names were unique to a server only, then there may be multiples with the same character name. This would force the email and whispers to be either addressed to account name only or restricted to the server.

For example, lets say you do a dungeon run with Player X and you want to do more. You type Player X in your friends list and multiples of that character show up. Which one did you want? Non unique character names brings up multiple problems.

uknortherner.2670:

The whole point of a non-sub game (or B2P) is that you can drop in and out of it at any time, be it days, months or even years.

To the OP, you do not have a right to claim a name that someone else has already taken for their character just because you’re late to the party. This is a nonsensical idea, frankly.

If its so “nonsensical” then why is it… almost every other MMO and Dungeon crawler has a mechanic in place for this issue, be it expatriation dates or a request form.

Regardless of what time someone arrives, I arrived Day 1 so I’m not “late to the party,” Anet still only makes money off of those who are active. Remaining active, like other games, ensures your character names. Not to mention the names are NOT owned by the player.

There are many people that for various reasons may get called away from games for extended periods of times. I’m one of them. I’d rather not come back to see all my names gone. I can see names freed up for accounts that have been permanently terminated for violating ToS though.

JustTrogdor.7892:

There are many people that for various reasons may get called away from games for extended periods of times. I’m one of them. I’d rather not come back to see all my names gone. I can see names freed up for accounts that have been permanently terminated for violating ToS though.

That is one idea and a good one. With 3.5m copies sold, highest connected at one time is 460,000 which still leaves a lot of inactive accounts.

Just say for a moment, ANet released information that over 1 million accounts with 3 million characters have not been logged in since 1 month after launch. Which based on the last Info release from ANet is very possible.

Now I do see what players are getting at, I just don’t agree.

I do see the benefit of having name expiry date, even if its 6 months. Log in once ever 6 months. It might even bring old players back to the game and increase the player base. Seeing the character selection screen is all it takes.

Some people that get called away from gaming for various reasons don’t have the option to login and look at a character screen during that time. People that can’t play due to no fault of their own should not be punished and lose their character names.

People that don’t want to play for some time but want to hold their character names will just login every few months to keep their names. This would not necessarily result in an increased player base.

JustTrogdor.7892:

People that don’t want to play for some time but want to hold their character names will just login every few months to keep their names. This would not necessarily result in an increased player base.

Yes it would, it would sort out those who have an interest in the game from those who bought the game during launch and decided it wasn’t “their cup of tea”

You said:

I do see the benefit of having name expiry date, even if its 6 months. Log in once ever 6 months. It might even bring old players back to the game and increase the player base. Seeing the character selection screen is all it takes.

No, people that wanted to keep their names but were not interested in playing at the time would just login to keep their names. They would probably not login to keep their name and then suddenly decide to start playing 2 hours a day. It wouldn’t necessarily increase player activity. To do that Anet needs to add more things to entice players to jump in game and actually play. Keeping a name isn’t going to do that.

I understand what you are saying about names taken up by players that will never come back. However, there is no real fair way to free up those names without penalizing people that cannot play, or even login, for an extended period of time due to no fault of their own. I may very well be one of those people soon. I enjoy this game and have created names for my characters I really like. I would not like to come home in 6-8 months to find all my character names blank and see someone else running around with them.

JustTrogdor.7892:

I understand what you are saying about names taken up by players that will never come back. However, there is no real fair way to free up those names without penalizing people that cannot play, or even login, for an extended period of time due to no fault of their own.

Is it fair for a new player to join the game, one who is interested in the Lore, prefers following racial naming rules, and wishes to get into the game? Is it fair to have every single name taken by some launch day fan boy who tested the game and never came back?

Instead of catering to possible chance someone may come back, cater to the ones populating the worlds and giving you someone to play with. This isn’t about right or wrong or fairness(contradiction of above post) its about addressing a growing issue that is only getting worse.

Read up on Sylvari naming resources and spend hours checking each name

’ The Sylvari seem to have one name, Killeen is most likely related to the Irish name Cillian meaning Shadow. Faolain pronounced as “Fee lahn” means “little wolf” from the Irish word Faol meaning wolf. The Irish name Felan is a derivative of this.[ShadowedSin]

EXAMPLE NPC NAMES
Faolain
Killeen

RELATED REAL WORLD CULTURES
Scottish Gaelic
Welsh
Irish

LINKS
Behind the Name – Irish:
http://www.behindthe...com/nmc/iri.php
"

You will find 90% of the first names taken. Almost every name in that language tree has been created. Even the ones you would think, “no way in hell does someone have that name” I have personally spent hours going through the lists from multiple sites.

This is a growing issue and its only getting worse.

You can’t claim that every name you want is taken by someone that played at launch and never played again. There is a good chance the names you want are being actively used and I would think more so with lore related names. I would think those interested in lore would not be fly by night players.

You are still neglecting the fact that some people, with real world obligations, may not have a choice and my not be able to login for extended periods of times. This has nothing to do with names taken by people that may never come back. These are players who have, like you, put thought into their character names but are unable, at no fault of their own, to login and play for extended periods of time. Trust me, many of these people would probably love to login and play if they could. Now, let’s say for some reason you had no Internet access for 6 months. Upon gaining access you login to play only to find that all your character’s names are gone. How would you feel? You would probably be in the accounts forum as a very angry customer.

There is a difference between people that will never play again and people that can’t play for extended periods of time due to other reasons. Your use it or lose it in 6 months idea would work for people that did indeed stop playing but would punish those that want to play but can’t for extended periods of time.

I played Guild Wars 1 for 4 years and there were times i didn’t log on for several months at a time then I would start up again. It’s not unlikely that I might stop playing this game for a few months then restart. I wouldn’t want to lose all the character names I have invested so many hours on.

I think people coming back to find they have lost their character names would discourage many from restarting, especially if it happened more than once.

Again, you catering to players that do not keep this game going. Why should they have that privileged. They bought the game, not the character names. Do they keep this game alive? No, they do not! Active players, the ones in your guild, the ones you party with and yourself keep this community active.

For anyone reading this, you keep this game active. To the millions of people, yes millions, who bought this game and haven’t been on in over a year… They do not. Regardless of their personal problems or obligations.

Will it suck when they come back to a forced name change. Maybe or maybe a better name will be open.

You need to stop worrying about those who haven’t been on in over 6 months. Chances are, they aren’t coming back. Worry about new players!

One other thing, this method is not new to MMOs. Name expiration hell even character expiration has been a part of MMOs since Diablo 1.

Since you brought up GW1, even it had a method to free up names but most where unaware of it.

I would suggest a support ticket method but that would only help veteran players who know their way around the game.

Stand up for the absent players, ill stand up for the new players.

You know… the ones who will contribute to the community.

Sorry, but that’s the nature of the beast. Either you have to fight with millions of other people to get the name you want, or there are no unique names. GW and GW2 go with unique names, therefore you have to fight. Deal with it.

BuGsY.7281:

You need to stop worrying about those who haven’t been on in over 6 months. Chances are, they aren’t coming back. Worry about new players!

Again you are not considering players that do play, want to play, and will play that may not be able to temporarily, not by choice, but because of real life obligations that do not give them the option to play for extended periods of time. Again, if you lost Internet access for 6 months and came back to find your character names gone how would you feel?

Say someone can’t play for 6 months because for example they were deployed. Tough kitten right? If someone has some family crisis that takes them away for an extended period of time, tough kitten right?

As I stated, as an active player I will be in a situation where I won’t be able to login for an extended period of time. If I come back and my names are gone Anet will have lost an active player and a paying customer that buys gems on a regular basis.

JustTrogdor.7892:

As I stated, as an active player I will be in a situation where I won’t be able to login for an extended period of time. If I come back and my names are gone Anet will have lost an active player and a paying customer that buys gems on a regular basis.

You just made my point.

BuGsY.7281:

JustTrogdor.7892:

As I stated, as an active player I will be in a situation where I won’t be able to login for an extended period of time. If I come back and my names are gone Anet will have lost an active player and a paying customer that buys gems on a regular basis.

You just made my point.

/signed x 10000 or more…
Maybe if the inactivity period was 2 years or more, I could understand… chances are that player isn’t coming back then; but any shorter duration could also be something getting in the way of the player actually managing to play the game.

You’ll just have to create another single-word name for your character if one is taken.

I can see the point in this request. Even my original name took me a couple of hours to create. For 9 characters I’ve probably spent and hour each thinking of a name. Not that they were taken, just that I wanted it to be specific. Now, they all create a theme together. Thus, losing the name would make me very angry.

Keep at it OP, even a single name can be found when you add length.

One way to solve this issue is to try to come up with original and personal names for the characters, instead of “common” one.

I have yet to find a single name on any of my character (last created quite recently) that wasn’t free.

lordkrall.7241:

One way to solve this issue is to try to come up with original and personal names for the characters, instead of “common” one.

I have yet to find a single name on any of my character (last created quite recently) that wasn’t free.

I agree.

Every single name on the “Gaelic baby names” website is used up? Be creative and find something of your own. It could be more awesome.

I’ve had no problem so far creating unique characters with unique names.

I am not 100% happy with how character names are handled in GW2 either: I think

• the name field should be longer
• capitalization shouldn’t be enforced (thinking of my good friend Mcallister here which looks 100 times dumber than McAllister would have)
• allow for apostrophes and hyphens (you may think that apostrophes, aside from RL examples like O’Brien or d’Agestino, would make many players take on really dumb fantasy names only consisting of apostrophes and the letter y, but it cannot possibly be worse than all the “Jóhñ ?mìth” type of names we already have in game now)
  _________________________________________

However, as long as these restrictions are in place, we can still easily come up with unique character names. Here’s some practical advice:

Humans

If your desired name is taken, give them a middle name or middle initial. “John Smith” may be taken, but “John N Smith”, “John Sterling Smith” or “John Smiths” may not be.

Charr

If you want to name your Charr according to Charr lore, your name will consist of 3 different parts, so it will be very, very easy to find a combination that hasn’t been done before, even IF you have your mind absolutely set on the first name or warband.

“Zeera Cinderwind” may be taken. “Zeera Ashenwind”, “Zeera Cinderstorm”, or “Veera Cinderwind” probably won’t be.

Norn

Even if you follow the pattern and create a norn with a real-life Nordic first name, you can take some creative freedom with the spelling. Secondly, as norn like to boast about their life achievements, how about a last name that reflects that?

If your first choice “Olaf Kegbrawler” is taken, how about “Olav Kegbrawler”, “Olaf The Kegbrawler”, “Olaf Barrelbrawler”, “Olaf Keghurler”?

Asura

Naming asuras can be the most or the least difficult to do, depending on your willingness to go with a title.

Strategy number one: randomly double a consonant.

If “Klicks” is taken, try “Klikks”, “Klixx”, “Gliccs” etc.

Strategy number two: since asuras typically have short names, they can “afford” (in terms of maximum letters) a title. That opens up hundreds of more combinations and also gives the character some nice “flavour”.

Is your new character “Genius Klicks”, “Master”, “Prodigy”, “Stipendiary”, “Advocate”, “Agent” or “Scholar”? I haven’t even gone into the titles that are used in game already such as “Peacemaker”.
I really wanted “Glitch” for my asura warrior because she is such a klutz, so I went with “Apprentice Glitch” and I’m quite happy with it.

Sylvari

I don’t think the Gaelic connection is particularly relevant here because nobody understands a word of Gaelic anyway, so you might just as well make something up that mimics the general “soundscape” of existing sylvari names. (Also, I’m not convinced that that is a general rule anyway: Pretty sure that NPC Leurent is pronounced in French.) If you feel particularly uncreative, use an existing name (NPC or whatever) and just change one or several letters to similar ones.

For example, you like the name “Gamarien”, there’s “Camarien”, “Garmarien”, “Gamarian”, “Galarien”, “Gavarion” and any combination or variant of those. Now Gamarien is a pretty high-profile NPC so people may already have done many of these variations and finding the one that works for you may be a bit annoying, but if you pick a less prominent NPC I predict that you won’t have any problems with this approach.

And also…

And my last bit of advice is: If you don’t feel particularly creative yourself, discuss your new character’s background, concept and personality here on the race subforums – other people may have awesome ideas.
_________________________________________

TL;DR: many people here on the forums will help you out finding names. If your first choice is taken, try variations. Think inside the Lore but allow yourself to be creative. I believe that this will solve the naming problem for you.

BuGsY.7281:

JustTrogdor.7892:

As I stated, as an active player I will be in a situation where I won’t be able to login for an extended period of time. If I come back and my names are gone Anet will have lost an active player and a paying customer that buys gems on a regular basis.

You just made my point.

Actually no. My point was that people coming back to play after not being able to do so for various real world reasons would likely be upset and not want to play anymore if their names were gone. This in turn would reduce the player base not increase it.

You are talking about players that just decide to no longer play. You keep cropping out and ignoring the points about players that enjoy the game but cannot login due to no fault of their own. That will be me at some point and many others are probably in that situation now or have been. When I am able to play again I will and if my names are gone it would be a game breaker for me.

You never answered my question. If for some reason you had no Internet for 6 months and you came back to find your character names gone how would you feel? Answer honestly.

I’m not going to keep going round and round about this. Be creative and come up with names you like.