Guild Wars 2 has been out for 2 years now, and with the flow of new characters being created every day it’s getting really hard to come up with a name that’s not already taken.
I am certain there are a several thousand accounts that have been inactive since the game has started. So why should these dormant accounts have reservation to a particular character name, when they haven’t set foot in Tyria for over 2 years?
Can A-net please address this problem, and loosen up some character names for the rest of the community?
It’ll never happen. Since you can leave for years and return, they wouldn’t want to do anything that would discourage a returning player to leave, like forcing them to rename their characters.
I suggest you become more creative in your naming because if you are running into a problem naming, it’s because you aren’t unique in going for the low hanging fruit of punny names or anime/TV/movie/book character “homage”. There are way too many Drizzts in too many fantasy MMOs already. Try harder.
I bet that there is a LOT of players who played for something like a week or month after buying the game at launch. And then realized it is too hard, too easy, too boring, too exciting – anything that took them away from GW2. Then uninstalled the game and never come back.
I think this game exists for so long that players can expect some nickname wipe from ANet.
I suggest you become more creative in your naming because if you are running into a problem naming, it’s because you aren’t unique in going for the low hanging fruit of punny names or anime/TV/movie/book character “homage”. There are way too many Drizzts in too many fantasy MMOs already. Try harder.
Lol, there’s always that one person on the forums who makes baseless assumptions.
What happens to say people that play GW2 and are in the military. Say they have to deploy of 18 months or longer? Is it fair they come back and find their names gone? I don’t think so. What happens if someone doesn’t have the means to play for an extended period of time due to illness or other circumstances? Is it fair for them to lose their names? I think not.
I’ve never had a problem coming up with names in GW2. I’ve occasionally run into one that’s taken, sure, but that’s to be expected. There are tons of online name generators out there, and countless “baby name” websites, too.
“Be angry about legendary weapons, sure, but what about the recent drought of content?”
-Mike O’Brien
Because we can’t be angry about both?
It’s a nightmare trying to give asura and sylvari lore correct names these days. Sure, you could just use a title for asura but it almost always sounds bad and if you RP it hinders character development. Would be really helpful to people who actually care and play the game to be able to name their character without taking 2 hours to find a semi-decent available name.
I’m only here because sometimes I just like to watch things burn.
What happens to say people that play GW2 and are in the military. Say they have to deploy of 18 months or longer? Is it fair they come back and find their names gone? I don’t think so. What happens if someone doesn’t have the means to play for an extended period of time due to illness or other circumstances? Is it fair for them to lose their names? I think not.
It is fair. They chose to join the military, and they know as a consequence they may be gone for 18 months. That is no basis for them to be able to hang onto a name that is not in use for over a year and a half. Not to mention, I know plenty of people in the military who still game. They’re not in constant warfare 24/7, simply because they are deployed.
And if you’re gone for over 2 year due to an illness, I think you have bigger things to worry about than losing your name in an online game.
I’ve also never had trouble coming up with names. The few times the name was taken, I was able to either come up with something new or change the spelling/characters so that it worked.
I think OP’s suggestion would be pretty unfair to players who have to go inactive (deployment, extended travel obligations, or any other reason) for an extended period. Maybe if they could manage to isolate only perma-banned accounts and release THOSE names, I’d be cool with that. But otherwise, nope. Just find ways around your issue that won’t penalize other players.
But otherwise, nope. Just find ways around your issue that won’t penalize other players.
If they’re inactive for over 2 years, they are no longer considered a "player’.
Since they aren’t “playing” the game.
People who have other obligations in life can find a way to log in to keep their accounts active. If not, then it’s their loss. There’s no reason Anet should keep inactive account names dormant simply because someone “might” come back.
What happens to say people that play GW2 and are in the military. Say they have to deploy of 18 months or longer? Is it fair they come back and find their names gone? I don’t think so. What happens if someone doesn’t have the means to play for an extended period of time due to illness or other circumstances? Is it fair for them to lose their names? I think not.
It is fair. They chose to join the military, and they know as a consequence they may be gone for 18 months. That is no basis for them to be able to hang onto a name that is not in use for over a year and a half. Not to mention, I know plenty of people in the military who still game. They’re not in constant warfare 24/7, simply because they are deployed.
And if you’re gone for over 2 year due to an illness, I think you have bigger things to worry about than losing your name in an online game.
LoL. So if you for some reason lose your internet for say 8 months you would have no problem when you come back and find all your names gone? I doubt it. You would probably post throwing a fit that you lost your names.
But otherwise, nope. Just find ways around your issue that won’t penalize other players.
If they’re inactive for over 2 years, they are no longer considered a "player’.
Since they aren’t “playing” the game.
People who have other obligations in life can find a way to log in to keep their accounts active. If not, then it’s their loss. There’s no reason Anet should keep inactive account names dormant simply because someone “might” come back.
Actually, the fact they “might” come back is exactly why. People who come back after an extended period of inactivity, come back to play their characters, the ones they created. Getting forced to change your name can definately make that person just stop right there and not come back at all.
After all, Anet would want those players to come back instead of giving them one more push to ensure they wont even bother anymore at all. And they did talk about being able to return without loosing anything, that includes their character’s name.
Also, it’s not that hard to come up with a new name, i make new characters regularly and at the worst i’m down to my fourth-fifth choice.
This never happened in GW1 so it’s not going to happen in GW2.
It’s a subscriptionless game so there are always people coming in and out of the game. Just because someone isn’t playing now doesn’t mean they wont soon. Coming up with names isn’t the hard, especially since you can use multiple words with spaces between…
But otherwise, nope. Just find ways around your issue that won’t penalize other players.
If they’re inactive for over 2 years, they are no longer considered a "player’.
Since they aren’t “playing” the game.
People who have other obligations in life can find a way to log in to keep their accounts active. If not, then it’s their loss. There’s no reason Anet should keep inactive account names dormant simply because someone “might” come back.
Actually, the fact they “might” come back is exactly why. People who come back after an extended period of inactivity, come back to play their characters, the ones they created. Getting forced to change your name can definately make that person just stop right there and not come back at all.
After all, Anet would want those players to come back instead of giving them one more push to ensure they wont even bother anymore at all. And they did talk about being able to return without loosing anything, that includes their character’s name.
Also, it’s not that hard to come up with a new name, i make new characters regularly and at the worst i’m down to my fourth-fifth choice.
So, if someone comes back to play new content. They will uninstall instantly if their name has been reset?
Even though you yourself just wrote “Its not that hard to come up with a new name”
You contradict yourself, which is why your argument doesn’t work
I suggest you become more creative in your naming because if you are running into a problem naming, it’s because you aren’t unique in going for the low hanging fruit of punny names or anime/TV/movie/book character “homage”. There are way too many Drizzts in too many fantasy MMOs already. Try harder.
Lol, there’s always that one person on the forums who makes baseless assumptions.
move along
Then what’s the problem then? How can two people come up with the same name if they aren’t referencing some preexisting name from other games and mediums or humorous play on words. I’ve never had problems coming up with race appropriate names without resorting to accented vowels, first time, every time, in every MMO I played.
As others have suggested, if you are having problems there are numerous fantasy name generators or baby name sites to come up with something.
But otherwise, nope. Just find ways around your issue that won’t penalize other players.
If they’re inactive for over 2 years, they are no longer considered a "player’.
Since they aren’t “playing” the game.
People who have other obligations in life can find a way to log in to keep their accounts active. If not, then it’s their loss. There’s no reason Anet should keep inactive account names dormant simply because someone “might” come back.
Actually, the fact they “might” come back is exactly why. People who come back after an extended period of inactivity, come back to play their characters, the ones they created. Getting forced to change your name can definately make that person just stop right there and not come back at all.
After all, Anet would want those players to come back instead of giving them one more push to ensure they wont even bother anymore at all. And they did talk about being able to return without loosing anything, that includes their character’s name.
Also, it’s not that hard to come up with a new name, i make new characters regularly and at the worst i’m down to my fourth-fifth choice.
So, if someone comes back to play new content. They will uninstall instantly if their name has been reset?
Even though you yourself just wrote “Its not that hard to come up with a new name”. And for what? because you can’t come up with a single name?
You contradict yourself, which is why your argument doesn’t work
I didn’t contradict myself at all. It isn’t the difficulty of coming up with a name that would drive away those that return after an extended amount of time. It’s the fact that they loose part of their character, that they are punished for not playing for a time when the game was very much advertised as “take a break, come back and you won’t have lost anything”
Being forced to change your character is jsut pushing players who come back away.
I think taking away names from accounts that haven’t logged in for a time is wrong. One of the greatest things about GW2 for many people, is that you don’t have to play every day/week/month or even year. Your account is still there, right where/how you left it. If you came back to a game to find all of your names are gone it lowers the chance that you’ll play that game.
Names in any game are on a First Come, First Serve basis. If the name you want is taken, pick another. Anyone who plays an online game has had to pick a different name at some point.
And if you still insist that you want Anet to wipe names, then here is the only way that would happen.
While I could see a game doing this after a very, very long time in operation, GW2 isn’t nearly old enough to call for it, in my opinion. Yeah, it’s frustrating when your name ideas are already taken, but there are plenty of available names that aren’t taken, if you’re reasonably flexible. I’d rather I have to take a couple tries to get a name I like that’s available than to reset people’s names for inactivity, at least at this point in the game’s life cycle.
I suggest you become more creative in your naming because if you are running into a problem naming, it’s because you aren’t unique in going for the low hanging fruit of punny names or anime/TV/movie/book character “homage”. There are way too many Drizzts in too many fantasy MMOs already. Try harder.
Lol, there’s always that one person on the forums who makes baseless assumptions.
move along
What’s thebaseless solution? You came up with a name somebody else has already taken. That doesnt speak too well about your originality. On top of that, you request anet to wipe old accounts’ names so you can use your unoriginal name instead of coming up with sometng new? Many words come to mind, lazy being the first one.
But otherwise, nope. Just find ways around your issue that won’t penalize other players.
If they’re inactive for over 2 years, they are no longer considered a "player’.
Since they aren’t “playing” the game.
People who have other obligations in life can find a way to log in to keep their accounts active. If not, then it’s their loss. There’s no reason Anet should keep inactive account names dormant simply because someone “might” come back.
Actually, the fact they “might” come back is exactly why. People who come back after an extended period of inactivity, come back to play their characters, the ones they created. Getting forced to change your name can definately make that person just stop right there and not come back at all.
After all, Anet would want those players to come back instead of giving them one more push to ensure they wont even bother anymore at all. And they did talk about being able to return without loosing anything, that includes their character’s name.
Also, it’s not that hard to come up with a new name, i make new characters regularly and at the worst i’m down to my fourth-fifth choice.
So, if someone comes back to play new content. They will uninstall instantly if their name has been reset?
Even though you yourself just wrote “Its not that hard to come up with a new name”. And for what? because you can’t come up with a single name?
You contradict yourself, which is why your argument doesn’t work
I didn’t contradict myself at all. It isn’t the difficulty of coming up with a name that would drive away those that return after an extended amount of time. It’s the fact that they loose part of their character, that they are punished for not playing for a time when the game was very much advertised as “take a break, come back and you won’t have lost anything”
Being forced to change your character is jsut pushing players who come back away.
There’s a difference between a name you’ve just thought of and a name you’ve been using for weeks or months (or even years). In the first case yes it’s annoying if you can’t use it, but chances are you’ll have had other ideas, or can go a few steps back in the process and find an alternative. In the second case you’re likely to have gotten attached to exactly that specific name, it may even define important parts of your character.
That’s certainly what happened to me. One of my GW2 characters is named after a GW1 character I made as a random throw-away. The name was just an idea I had on the spur of the moment, but after 3 years I’ve gotten attached to it, even though I don’t play the character that often.
Same with my asura. It’s not the same I originally wanted, that was taken. But I’ve sometimes considered coming up with a better one, or checking to see if my original idea is available now, and I always come to the conclusion that even if it was I wouldn’t want to change it now, because it wouldn’t be right for the character.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
It’s a nightmare trying to give asura and sylvari lore correct names these days. Sure, you could just use a title for asura but it almost always sounds bad and if you RP it hinders character development. Would be really helpful to people who actually care and play the game to be able to name their character without taking 2 hours to find a semi-decent available name.
All but 2 of my ~20 characters have lore appropriate names. I’ve spent that amount of time coming up with the perfect name, but never just grasping at straws for any decent sounding name. And to say that it’s hard for asura? Come on. Throw a couple of k’s in there, and an i on the end, and you’re golden. For sylvari, add an ae to the middle and a ‘vyn’ or ‘ella’ or ‘ette’ to the end, maybe throw in an ‘r’ somewhere. Boom. Plenty of names.
My asura and sylvari all have a single name, as well. (With the exception of my very first character, because I didn’t know asura weren’t supposed to have last names.)
“Be angry about legendary weapons, sure, but what about the recent drought of content?”
-Mike O’Brien
Because we can’t be angry about both?
But otherwise, nope. Just find ways around your issue that won’t penalize other players.
If they’re inactive for over 2 years, they are no longer considered a "player’.
Since they aren’t “playing” the game.
People who have other obligations in life can find a way to log in to keep their accounts active. If not, then it’s their loss. There’s no reason Anet should keep inactive account names dormant simply because someone “might” come back.
I paid money for this game as much as they did, so yes, I am a Gw2 player regardless of how much I play. I don’t see why that makes me less important. And yea, I don’t care for having my efforts into a character wiped just because people can’t think of a name.
Most of the names that I wanted were taken by release day. Deal with it!
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
There was one thing Diablo 3 did right IMO and that was that character names weren’t unique, but your account name was, and that’s what everyone would see.
I wonder if that would become a viable solution someday…
I mean your account name is what we see on the forums after all.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
There may be several thousand abandoned accounts, but there are several trillion word combinations that make for legitimate names which are untaken. Unless you’re trying for names from other media, there really shouldn’t be a problem.
Of 14 characters, I’ve only had trouble naming one—my NPC lookalike, “Scarlet Briar.” For her, I just accented one of the letters. The rest of the names, I created on my own, and all were untaken.
You’re the one who chose to get an account on a game that specifically advertises “being able to leave for long periods and then come back” as a selling point. They’re not going to close inactive accounts.
It’s a nightmare trying to give asura and sylvari lore correct names these days. Sure, you could just use a title for asura but it almost always sounds bad and if you RP it hinders character development. Would be really helpful to people who actually care and play the game to be able to name their character without taking 2 hours to find a semi-decent available name.
I got single word, class appropriate, lore appropriate names for 2 of my Asura in the last couple months.
Zapp I’ve had since 10s into early access before launch.. but Bonkk (my warrior) and Spooqi (my necromancer) are newer characters.
I am certain there are a several thousand accounts that have been inactive since the game has started. So why should these dormant accounts have reservation to a particular character name, when they haven’t set foot in Tyria for over 2 years?
Lol, there’s always that one person on the forums who makes baseless assumptions.
move along
The lack of self awareness is real. For all you know, the name you wanted might still be used by an active player.
ANet shouldn’t be taking names away from players, even if they haven’t played in a while. What kind of incentive is that to come back? I’m sorry “Cloud Sephiroth” and “Khaleesi Stark” were taken, but you’ll just have to come up with something else.
ArenaNet will not release permanently banned account Character Names, either. One of the penalties of having your account banned is the inability to use any of your former Character Names on a new account you might purchase.
Thus, no names will be released. Just like all those players that have decided to go back to Guild Wars, and play on their long-dormant accounts now, Character Names will always be reserved for, and associated with, the original account.
I’m sure you can come up with a name that pleases you. Many players do so multiple times per week. =)
Human/Norn => Use a first and last name (Eldric Cooper / Ulvric Johansson)
Charr => Use a first and warband name (Rawl Dustblade)
Asura => Use a title and a first name (Magicist Friff)
Sylvari => You’re kittened!
Interesting. I don’t remember ever trying to make a name that was already taken – and i’m not very imaginative when it comes to naming things. Most of the names i used for my GW1 chars (that i haven’t reused in GW2 yet) are also still not taken. I just don’t use any preexisting names from games, books, movies etc (or at least not knowingly, some did slip through on accident ;p).
Actions, not words.
Remember, remember, 15th of November
Another player who cant get past Bob… .. seriously OP if you cant open your mind a little and use some creative thinking then your gunna need to get used to feeling unhappy…
Bottom line is you have no idea which accounts are banned, dormant etc, etc or why.
Do you have some data to suggest that the name Bob will still become available if ANET decided to release a stretch of those account names, heck what’s to say they did and someone else got in an took the name before you could log in and create it .
Simple fact is naming is not difficult if your prepared to loosen up on your creative thinking, maybe try thinking outside the box a little or if all else fails there are a wide variety of naming sources available to you that can help.
If ANET were to enforce a time limit on account inactivity that would see character names deleted then I personally think it will cause more of an issue than this non-issue your imagining.
But otherwise, nope. Just find ways around your issue that won’t penalize other players.
If they’re inactive for over 2 years, they are no longer considered a "player’.
Since they aren’t “playing” the game.
People who have other obligations in life can find a way to log in to keep their accounts active. If not, then it’s their loss. There’s no reason Anet should keep inactive account names dormant simply because someone “might” come back.
There’s no such thing as an inactive account for GW2. There’s no identifier as to whether a person is still interested in the game and just not playing. In WoW, this kind of thing works because they view the subscription status and subscription history – if you aren’t paying the subscription for several months/years, they will choose the person who is. The only names that should be freed are names that were on a perma-banned account.
Interesting. I don’t remember ever trying to make a name that was already taken – and i’m not very imaginative when it comes to naming things. Most of the names i used for my GW1 chars (that i haven’t reused in GW2 yet) are also still not taken. I just don’t use any preexisting names from games, books, movies etc (or at least not knowingly, some did slip through on accident ;p).
I’ve found a few that were taken. For example I wanted to call my asura Xixxi but that was taken, I switched it to Xexxi and got it. But that’s about the most it’s even taken me to find one that’s free.
Most amusing is probably when I found that ‘Already In Use’, ‘Name Already In Use’ and ‘All Names Taken’ were all taken.
If you really want a particular name it’s always worth checking periodically because it might have been taken by someone like me who frequently makes and deletes characters, so although it’s taken when you tried it might be free 24 hours later.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
I disagree about account names being released due to general inactivity….
…but accounts that are permanently banned should definitely have their character names released.
As it has been mentioned previously, locking out those names is part of ban process, so you won’t be able to recreate your characters on another account.
Actions, not words.
Remember, remember, 15th of November
It is fair. They chose to join the military, and they know as a consequence they may be gone for 18 months. That is no basis for them to be able to hang onto a name that is not in use for over a year and a half. Not to mention, I know plenty of people in the military who still game. They’re not in constant warfare 24/7, simply because they are deployed.
And if you’re gone for over 2 year due to an illness, I think you have bigger things to worry about than losing your name in an online game.
No. Just… so much no.
You’re simply trolling and picking fights with anyone who disagrees with you, and most people do, because your own arguments are, frankly, the arguments of a horrible person. Seriously, you could have had a valid point, until you started just making really unpleasant ‘points’ like the one above. The illness one in particular was just offensive.
I disagree about account names being released due to general inactivity….
…but accounts that are permanently banned should definitely have their character names released.
As it has been mentioned previously, locking out those names is part of ban process, so you won’t be able to recreate your characters on another account.
That and what if their account had been hacked? And was only permabanned due to the hacker’s behavior? There are a ton of posts in support that go, my friend tried to return from a long break to find his account banned.
I have 10 characters so far; I know some people have 40 but, I have yet to make a name that wasn’t already taken. Maybe I’m just lucky. And there’s nothing saying that a wipe is going to release any name you’re even remotely interested in. Chances are Cloud is still playing or at least checking in.
There was one name I found semi surprising to find that was taken; kharon the ferryman. other than that (and I’m still making new toons) I haven’t had any trouble coming up with names that suite me.
I wouldn’t mind however if we were able to have multiple players under the same name and I say that because we have a ANet ID # hence for me Mufasa.8415; when that arises why not in messaging guild logs and chat just add the ANet ID at the end of names created more than once. OR leave it how it is and keep thinking of a name.
Drunken Mufasa
The Stonemouth Keep
Tarnished Coast
