ShardWarrior

For sure people name sitting is a part of the problem, but again with those you can still get in contact with the owner of the name you are after to negotiate with them for releasing it. There are several threads already on the forums for name releases. People are willing to give them up. Personally, I would bet the bulk of names to get released would be from accounts that are no longer active. @Greycat brings up some good points too. This did not work as well as intended back in the day.

I think it safe to say most of us are the same. However, in this case, any names you may have had here would get released and you were still given the opportunity to come back and chose not to. Fair for all.

If they are sitting on character names but playing other characters, the owner is still active and you still have the opportunity to contact them negotiate with them to release it. Again, I am not sure whether or not people are allowed per the rules to have others log in for them as I think it may fall under the account sharing rule. A GM would be able to clarify. Fair enough to say that courtesy emails is extra work, albeit really not all that much. Personally, I think going with accounts not logged in over a year will free up the bulk of any names. This game simply does not have the population to have that many names being hoarded.

I do not think it would need to pull individual character names, just accounts that have not been logged into at all in more than a year.

Well no, you are just upset that someone disagrees with a proposed policy as it is written. Again, I have no issue releasing names for those accounts that are gone and have no intention of coming back and see no harm in at least reaching out to ask.

How hard is it to use a free mass email service? Querying what accounts are inactive should be no problem at all if they are able to do that to release names.

Why not? I get emails from games I have not logged in to for a while all the time. I see absolutely no harm in it.

Again, please try reading. Scroll up. I am not against a name release policy. I simply suggested that the one offered could use some alteration. And if a name is important as you say it is, can it not be just as important to someone else as well? Should they not be at least allowed the common courtesy of an opportunity to keep it? Just pointing that out.

And doing without a name you wanted is?

Most libraries are not gaming machines nor do they allow you to download software onto them

Agrred, but why should this go only one way?

If someone has a name you wanted and you cannot come up with an alternative, I do not know what to tell you. This door swings both ways. People may have very serious, very legitimate reasons for being away for an extended period of time. Someone mentioned in a prior thread on this subject that their computer died and at present, they are unable to afford a new one due to being unemployed because of the virus situation. I think think people like this deserve some consideration as well as others who may have to be away from the game. Stealing the names like this is not okay.

Except for the people who through no fault of their own are unable to login for a period may lose a name they already had. By all means, release the names on accounts - not characters but accounts - that have not been logged into for more than a year, and after someone from Homecoming has reached out to provide an opportunity for them to come back. If after that, by all means release the names. Just because a policy existed on live does not mean it was a good policy nor should it mean it cannot be improved upon.

Hey, stop trying to use reason. 😉

Being unable to find a different name baffles me. The very same people complaining about names are the very same people complaining about others making homage characters and belittling the players who make them as "not creative enough".

Fine by all of those as well.

Fine by me. I have no issue with that at all personally. I am sure there will be those on here who will villify anyone who agrees.

Does this not fall under account sharing which as I recall is against the rules?

You mean other than risking their lives in service of their country so you are afforded the privilege to sit at home safe and play video games? They are gone for long periods of time and are unable to login.

If easy leveling is what a group of people want and it is keeping them here, then it is helping player retention.

Not sure that was what was being suggested.

I was not accusing you of anything, so apologies if there is a misunderstanding. I completely agree with you - different people like different content. I have never seen a reason to try and force a particular style of play on others. I just found it odd in @Solarverse suggesting that PLing to 50 and repeating level 50 content gets boring, but running lower level content ad nauseam is somehow exempts one from the same "boredom". I can appreciate the passion though and would never begrudge him the ability to express his thoughts and opinions here.

What I am finding curious in all of this is the notion that it is repeating content at 50 that is "boring" and "driving people away", yet somehow repeating the same 1 to 50 content repeatedly is in no way boring. Something does not add up there.

I believe you can use the image, yes. You would just need to know the correct image file name. As for the rest, not entirely sure.

Power leveling existed long before there was a AE. Expecting everyone to level up and play the same game repeatedly on different alts is unreasonable. Some will like that, some will not. Again, this was and is one of the best things about this game - play the way you like. As for the rest, I am in agreement with others who have said lack of content updates are what drive people away and this is a normal part of the MMO world. I did want to add that I believe that the host in the linked video was correct - the game desperately needs more endgame content. There is plenty of pre-50 story content in my opinion. Why the focus is on low level content does not make sense to me. I also believe he is right on the money with regard to the pipe dream of the game becoming legitimate. For me personally, I have run into a lot of people I used to play with religiously on live. Most of them enjoyed the nostalgia of getting to play again for a few months, then moved on. I think this is normal for most and should be expected. It is wishful thinking a game of this age is going to be able to compete with more modern competition on any level.