Guild Wars 2

I have sort of a funny situation. My main character’s name is Legend Ari in Guildwars 1. I did reserve that name for a while in Guildwars 2 on a low-level character, but I must have deleted it for lack of space. I added the person who has Legend Ari now and sent them a mail politely asking for the name, if they do not really care for it.

However, it’s patch day and they aren’t logged in yet. I have a feeling this person may not play anymore. Is there a way to have this name made available to me again if said person hasn’t logged in for over 6 months or some such?

Elunarie.9283:

Is there a way to have this name made available to me again if said person hasn’t logged in for over 6 months or some such?

Nope. One thing about GW2 is it allows players to come and go as they please and take time off. They can come back after that time with no repercussions. You will need to find a different name.

Okay, thanks for the answer. I thought that might be the case, and I appreciate it myself (I’d be upset too if I came back after a few months and my name was gone). Yes, hopefully they will respond and not mind allowing me to have the name. Sometimes being polite makes the difference ;3!

Just wanted to let you know that I am in an identical situation, where the name I desired appeared taken, so I emailed the owner. One thing that I really regret was that I didn’t reserve the name back when it was still available, which was something like a year ago. I figured that the name was so rare and weird that no one beside me would claim it, so I might just as well wait until I get a new character slot and until I sketch a proper persona for that name in my head. Time went by, and when I got everything set, the name proved to be taken Even worse, once I added that person, I learned he’s not playing at all anymore. He must have created the character in question, maybe played for a week or two, and then left.
So like I said in the beginning – I emailed him, but since he’s no longer playing, he hasn’t read the message. I figured a good way to let him know of the case would be PM-ing him here, on the forum, as he would obviously get an email notification of a forum private message. But I tested it, and bummer, there are no email notifications on this forum

You could always put an accent on the i in Ari.

I was wondering, what happens to the character names on accounts that have been terminated? If a character with a name like “Captain Tightpants” is banned for botting, is that name effectively removed from Tyria forever? Or is the name made available somehow?

I can imagine (since I read about it regularly via your Twitter and Dev Tracker posts) a player coming back to the game after several months, only to find that they’ve been banned for botting or gold selling because their account was hacked while they were away. As I understand it (and of course I don’t have firsthand experience), the player’s account is usually eligible for a rollback once they’ve addressed their security issues; if the character names were made available while the account was terminated, there would be some obvious issues.

However, I also see a lot of:

771796 – Final Answer: The account was closed for the use of a disallowed third-party program. It was not hacked by an unknown third-party; the termination will not be reversed.
765913 – Final Answer: The account was closed for the use of a disallowed third-party program. It was not hacked by an unknown third-party; the termination will not be reversed.
780117 – Final Answer: The account was closed for the use of a disallowed third-party program. It was not hacked by an unknown third-party; the termination will not be reversed.
787289 – Final Answer: The account was closed for the use of a disallowed third-party program. It was not hacked by an unknown third-party; the termination will not be reversed.

Please note:

• Responses flagged as “Final Response” will not be reviewed again.

Is that a different situation? Are character names freed to find new, loving homes, or are they sadly put down removed from circulation?

I don’t have the patience today to ‘search’ for a quote, but I believe in the past it has been stated that one of the consequences of having an account banned is that the character names used are forever out of reach.

Some people who have been banned buy new accounts, and would then, possibly, have their chosen character names available, again, if this were not the case.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Some people who have been banned buy new accounts, and would then, possibly, have their chosen character names available, again, if this were not the case.

I don’t see any reason why this would be a bad thing, though. I mean, they have to have names, right? And if the names themselves were the reason for the ban, then they would presumably be censored, wouldn’t they?

Honestly, I’m amazed that anyone is able to pick a good name anymore. I made a new character a couple of weeks ago, and you wouldn’t believe how many names I tried before I found something that would work.

FYI: If you’re trying to name a sylvari, don’t bother with any of the Wikipedia lists of poisonous or medicinal plants, or the scientific names of any of the genera or species that sound even remotely like a sylvari-like name. I tried for over an hour, but I eventually had some luck by adding “la” to ‘Myristica’. I also tried a great many Irish names, but they were all taken.

While there are obviously some decent names still available if one is original enough (or doesn’t mind adding extra letters to a name that someone else already claimed), the pickings are undeniably becoming slimmer by the day. As more people purchase the game or buy character slots, more names are taken. Sure, some are released when characters are deleted, but either that character will reclaim the name or it will take another name that isn’t already claimed, which pretty much cancels that out.

The fact is, there is a large but finite number of good names. As time goes by, the number of unclaimed names (however large) grows smaller. I see the list of “Final answer: No, you botted and weren’t hacked, your account is dead” posts continuing to grow, too. I think we could mitigate the potential name shortage by releasing the names of characters on accounts that have irrevocably been terminated.

Perhaps, some day, the policy will change, but personally, I would not hold my breath.

Good luck, though.

Hello (: I know this post is a month old but I’ve been having the same problem with a Gw1 name that I had for my main monk and its taken by an inactive player in Gw2. I’ve been dying to try to speak with this person for months but i have no idea how to do that. I noticed you guys found the emails to the accounts that you needed help from? Could you tell me how you did that? or Is that alright to ask? I’m not sure…I never post anything on here and don’t know how it all works lol. Saw this post and I saw a little glimpse of hope! But yeah..please get back to me if you can ^^ I’ll be very grateful with any information !

Faith Annalyn.7193:

Hello (: I know this post is a month old but I’ve been having the same problem with a Gw1 name that I had for my main monk and its taken by an inactive player in Gw2. I’ve been dying to try to speak with this person for months but i have no idea how to do that. I noticed you guys found the emails to the accounts that you needed help from? Could you tell me how you did that? or Is that alright to ask? I’m not sure…I never post anything on here and don’t know how it all works lol. Saw this post and I saw a little glimpse of hope! But yeah..please get back to me if you can ^^ I’ll be very grateful with any information !

I believe they mean they emailed inside Guild Wars 2. That is, they friended the name they wanted then sent an email to that account. They didn’t send an email from outside the game to the email used to login.

Astral Projections.7320:

Faith Annalyn.7193:

Hello (: I know this post is a month old but I’ve been having the same problem with a Gw1 name that I had for my main monk and its taken by an inactive player in Gw2. I’ve been dying to try to speak with this person for months but i have no idea how to do that. I noticed you guys found the emails to the accounts that you needed help from? Could you tell me how you did that? or Is that alright to ask? I’m not sure…I never post anything on here and don’t know how it all works lol. Saw this post and I saw a little glimpse of hope! But yeah..please get back to me if you can ^^ I’ll be very grateful with any information !

I believe they mean they emailed inside Guild Wars 2. That is, they friended the name they wanted then sent an email to that account. They didn’t send an email from outside the game to the email used to login.

I figured out how to message the account on here, thank you. (:

nearlight.3064:

You could always put an accent on the i in Ari.

Keep in mind, doing that makes your character name difficult to type for players with English keyboards.

You could always try Ari The Legend, Legendary Ari, or something similar.