Excraft

That's great! LOL

Yes, you are. Embarrassingly so. @ZacKing is absolutely correct. The HC people have shared technical details on this topic in multiple threads and explained the challenges in working with the separate account and character/shard databases, the difficulties in fixing/upgrading the code to change it so that names don't need to be unique and why they chose to go with the name release code instead. That name release solution is the more simple, low hanging fruit method they are comfortable with using since they are volunteers with limited time. I'm sure there are others who have seen the same HC posts who can confirm the same things. The odds of a single desired name even being in a list of 700,00+ to begin with isn't "1 in 3." You haven't "rebutted" diddly. You've provided your opinion, just like everyone else. You have as much knowledge of what is or isn't in the "inactive" name pool as everyone else does, which is none. You're guessing.

Imagination has nothing to do with it. Of course some people are getting their hopes up that a name they want is going to get released once the policy is live. Of course there are some people who are hoping the name they want is in that 700,00+ number being tossed around. They wouldn't be vehemently arguing for enabling the job right now if they weren't. To say otherwise is being disingenuous. As for the rest, I never said anything about anyone expecting a 100% guarantee. That's you adding in nonsense that I never said. What I did say was that some (not all) people are getting their hopes up and they're likely to be disappointed. That's it. If you don't feel that's the case, good for you. I'm sure we'll have this very same discussion after the name release routine is set live and the inevitable myriad of complaint/rant posts start cropping up about the job not working right because a name someone wanted didn't get freed up for them.

And this is where the false sense of hope is coming into play. People see big numbers like this and are getting their hopes up that the name they're after is going to get freed up immediately when the job is enabled. 700,000 names seems like a lot, but how many of those names are just gibberish? Nobody knows. I'm confused. Aren't you saying you're entitled to a name?

That's fair and I agree as everyone is going to have a different opinion on what constitutes "long enough" or when an account can be considered abandoned. I'd be curious to see this too. It seems to me people are seeing numbers like "700,000 + names will get released!" and thinking that the one they want will be in there. They're gambling on the hope of it being in that list and are going to be frustrated and disappointed when it isn't.

Tell us something we don't know. We all know it is against the rules, that's why there's a discussion about reporting it when we see it.

Items 1 and 2 are spot on. Not sure I can agree 100% with your third bullet point. If a player hasn't logged on in a couple of years, I'm not sure I'd say they're "invested in a character" they obviously haven't played in literal years. I do get where you're coming from though. I'd add a fourth point in that the existing policy is giving a great many people what I see as a false sense of hope in that a name they're after is immediately going to be freed up and they'll be able to get it. It's setting those people up for a major disappointment when that doesn't happen and I imagine there's going to be a whole lot of complaining from people who's hopes were squashed when the existing solution didn't work as they had hoped. Honestly, the best solution to hope for is that HC can bring on enough developers who are able to tackle this once and for all so that names aren't unique. From posts HC folk have made, they understand the issue and what it would take to fix, it's just too big a project for their limited time and small team of people to tackle. Hopefully they can bring on a good group of developers who can make that name upgrade happen as it solves all the problems once and for all of names being taken due to camping or inactivity. No one would have to see the "name is already taken" message again.

This game isn't going to "save the genre". Not even close. Better writing and a major focus shift to quality instead of quantity will.

Being honest here, this is the biggest issue with the solution you all have come up with for this in that in probably isn't going to work as well as many are hoping it will. It's not going to prevent name camping and isn't a guarantee that a name someone is after will get freed up at all. I think it's going to lead to a lot of disappointment, not from people losing names, but from those who were hoping to get one and couldn't. It appears to be giving a lot of people a false sense of hope that the name they want is going to get freed up. I know you all have spoken about the challenges and difficulties of fixing this issue in a more permanent way that would allow non-unique names and that the existing solution was the easier route due to time and effort. However, I do hope that in the future you all consider the better, permanent solution to this issue. It would eliminate name camping and disappointment for all those who cannot get a name they would like and will not get one once the existing system goes live.

Honestly, do you really believe lawyers at Disney don't have anything better to be doing than logging into a 20 year old computer game being run for free looking for ways to sue? Enough with the FUD already.

Honestly, I truly wish people would stop with the spreading of the FUD over this whole subject and giving the impression that Disney has a team of lawyers lurking in the game 24/7 waiting to pounce and shut the game down. Marvel tried (key word being tried) to sue 20 years ago when they were in a much, much, much worse financial state than they are today. Marvel was looking for some quick cash back then because they were in a desperate financial situation. There are literally tens of millions of "illegal" skins of copyrighted Marvel, DC, Disney, Star Trek, Star Wars and just about every other IP there is for just about any computer game you can think of available for download on the internet right now. There's no flurry of endless lawsuits from Disney or Paramount or WB to remove them all. It's just not worth the time, effort and legal costs for any of them to pursue it. With that said, it is against the rules here to make clear copyright violations of existing characters, so don't do it. If you see something, say something and let the GMs make the decision. Yes, it was.

No need to apologize at all, but thank you for doing so. I didn't take any personal offense to your comment. I certainly understand your thinking here and I'm not saying you're wrong, I just think you're making quite a few assumptions about my opinion and ascribing some purposefully negative, insulting connotation to it that isn't there. I'm basing my opinion on what the HC folk are capable of doing from the posts the folks handling the code made posted themselves, so I'm not making anything up and pulling stuff out of thin air. I'm accepting their clear expertise on the subject after reading their comments on it. I'm also not demanding anyone drop everything on work on what I demand they work on. Maybe I haven't made that opinion clear enough, so that's on me. I think @ZacKing summed things up rather well. I too think a larger project that would fix issues for everyone like unique names is a worthwhile effort, with the caveats if the HC folk are able to find enough people to help with that coding effort and if they decide its something they'd like to tackle. Again, to be clear, I'm not demanding anyone drop everything and do this instead. It's entirely up to HC to decide what to work on. I'm just offering a point of view expressing that I believe that's a worthwhile project for the long term. You're of course welcome to disagree. I'll reiterate that I understand they're a volunteer group who are doing this as a hobby. I'm not demanding anyone turn this into a full time job and burn themselves out. I'm not sure where or why some folk here are reading that into it. Just as you call out the small cadre of people who have a clear sense of entitlement, there's also (sadly) a very large cadre of people who want to jump all over and attack anyone who may express any thought that runs counter to or is in any way, regardless of how minor, critical of anything the HC folk do. Both those are extreme positions though and I think most people fall somewhere in the more reasonable middle.

I'm not the one who suggested that they're not professionals and couldn't handle larger scale projects. Aren't they actively looking for more people who can work on development? This may be true for now, but it doesn't mean larger scale things cannot be taken on in the future. Again, I think you're selling the HC team very short.

Out of curiosity, have you ever read any of the posts from the HC folk about the technical aspects of that topic?

Well for starters, I can agree or disagree with changes being made to the game since I'm an individual with my own individual tastes, just like you and just like everyone else. Second, yes, it is my opinion the folks here can take on and handle larger projects if they chose to do so. Just read through some of the more technically oriented threads any of the HC folk working in the code have posted over the years and you'll see quite clearly they have a very good understanding of how things work. I'd even go so far as to say they know it better than the original developers did. Given their knowledge, experience and understanding of some of the more complicated issues the game engine has, I do think they have the talent and skill to take on larger projects and make major changes and code upgrades if they chose to do so. I'm not in any way saying they must do those things and I am in no way dictating what they should or should not work on. Most all of the stuff they've accomplished over the years has been wonderful and I'm very thankful they've devoted so much time and effort into it. Their hard work and dedication is truly appreciated. That doesn't mean I agree with or like every change that's been made and as far as I'm aware, we're all allowed to express our opinions here if we don't care for something. If you don't think anyone should question anything or be allowed to post anything other than lavish praise, petition the HC GMs to change the forum rules to allow "praise and affirmations only". No idea where you're getting any of that from as I never said anything of the sort. I'm certainly not demanding anything of anyone at HC. Your misrepresentation of my posts are definitely more a you problem than a me problem. Your post seems like you're looking to start an argument for the sake of starting an argument for the sake of arguing. Thanks, but no thanks. Not interested.

They are actively looking for more developers.

I've read that thread already, thanks. Perhaps you might want to give it another read though, especially the post where it says there's a chance (albeit a small one) the issue won't be resolved by more hardware alone. So yeah, maybe looking at doing some code architecture improvements are worth it. You've essentially said they're a volunteer staff and can't take on large(r) projects due to manpower. I disagree. I think they can manage it just fine as they look to have a firm grasp of the code and architecture of the game. I'm not suggesting stuff like new costumes, powersets and such should be put on hold completely in favor of larger scale back end code improvements. Just my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

Well from everything we've seen here over the past few years, the HC folk are able to turn out all kinds of new stuff and improvements, so your saying they aren't "professional" enough or lack the talent/skills/knowledge to make larger changes is demonstrably false. Again, from what I understand based on comments from the HC folk, the stuff I mentioned isn't impossible for them to do. Tricky/difficult yes, impossible no. Also, as I understand it - and I could very well be wrong - but the tools to add in brand new animations and such to create brand new powersets with unique animations and such no longer exist. I think you missed this part of my post. Here, I'll re-post it for you and increase the font size a bit for you to make it easier for you to read. Let me know if you need further clarification. Thanks. I seem to recall otherwise. I'll try to locate the posts, but I distinctly remember there being a stated desire to bring in new players and grow the game. Sadly no. I'm sure you're aware of why Double XP and Rikti Raids were enabled on other less populated servers to prevent Excelsior from crashing and collapsing. I can link to the HC post about it though if you aren't aware.

You're not telling me anything I or anyone else already doesn't know and hasn't been repeated over and over and over again. I know they're volunteers doing this in their free time and I appreciate their dedication and hard work, just like everyone else. From my understanding on a couple of the topics I mentioned, based on HC folk comments, they're difficult/tricky, but not impossible to do. Who knows what they may be able to do with more volunteers they have been actively recruiting? The game is struggling as it is with the small number of players it has at the moment. If the goal is to grow the game and the playerbase, something has to be done to attract and keep people who are more used to the QoL features that exist in every other MMORPG on the market.

Not as I remember it, but admittedly I started tuning out whenever she was on screen. I just don't like her character and her extreme narcissism at all.

How is the game going to grow and evolve to compete with more modern games if it doesn't? If you ask me, nonsense like "team diversity bonuses" and recycling of powersets ad nauseam can pushed very far to the back of the line in favor of things like account based storage and properly correcting unique character name issues. Again, Cryptic had corrected this problem in their second generation engine a long time ago.

Never said I was holding my breath, and yes, the HC folk said it would be difficult, not impossible. Their simple and easy fix was the lackluster "name release policy". Were they to tackle issues such as this to really bring the game up to speed with modern games, tracking and releasing names would be a non-issue.

Having played them both within the last week, Star Trek: Armada and Star Trek: Bridge Commander come to mind. Its not like HC is unique in this respect.

This is something that I sincerely hope gets corrected in the future - names being unique. Cryptic changed this in their next generation engine after CoH. They're going to have to do something about this if they want the game to evolve.

It's always been very unlikely that NCSoft would shut anyone down or pursue legal action against any of the pirate servers. Aside from the bad PR it would cost them, it makes perfect sense given the solid reasons @Bionic_Flea points out above - especially that the code is out there now. Shut down one pirate server and another (or more) will crop up to take its place. It's a costly proposition to try and legally go after all of the pirate servers out there. Why would NCSoft bother with that hassle and expense? Instead they drew up a standard "license" agreement (which I have no doubt they will in turn charge a fee for in the future) and have any of the pirate servers sign it if they want to be declared a "licensed" server. Instead of a legal expense, a dead IP can be used to make a few bucks for NCSoft without NCSoft lifting a finger or costing them a dime. Smart move on NCSoft's part. Also, the NCSoft name and logo are still associated with the game, so its free advertising for them. Win win for NCSoft.