Naming

[VPrime]

If someone no longer logs into the game, is there any reason that a name they use would never become available for anyone else?

[srmalloy]

According to the declared name policy, if the name is on a high enough level character, it will remain 'in use' forever.

[VPrime]

2 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

According to the declared name policy, if the name is on a high enough level character, it will remain 'in use' forever.

 

Ok so, assuming it's a high enough level character, even if the person never logs in again, that name would never be available to anyone else?

[MistressOhm]

The naming "expire" policy (currently only as a little 'warning' tickmark next to the character in the list) leverages idle time since last login AND character level.

 

If it's a low-level character, then the policy kicks in sooner, than it would on a high-level character.  

 

I don't know if there is a character level that is completely immune (as in, "50's will always keep the name in perpetuity with no login / play required"). 

 

Currently the HC team is still working on the "balancing" and has yet to actually turn on any mandatory renaming or name availability/expire times.  All you'll see is the warning tickmark, stating that IF the policy were fully in effect, you COULD lose a name if you don't play the character Soon(tm). 

[lemming]

Current that is just a warning system  from Page 4 is:

• The name release policy as (linked) described some time ago has been implemented and will begin to phase in starting with Page 4.
  • Level 1-5 characters will be flagged as inactive if they have not been played in the last 30 days.
  • Level 6-49 characters will be flagged as inactive if they have not been played in the last 365 days.
  • Level 50 characters will never be flagged as inactive.

[Doomguide2005]

7 hours ago, VPrime said:

 

Ok so, assuming it's a high enough level character, even if the person never logs in again, that name would never be available to anyone else?

Partly it's because unless you have a crystal ball you've no idea if the term "never" will be accurate.  I was last able to log in sometime around late Feb 2020.  In March Covid-19 hit, my son was barely 2yrs and buying a new computer to replace the dead one was on a back burner.  I'm finally in a position to order one, have done so and I'm  awaiting its arrival.  But my wife called the other day to see why we hadn't gotten a recent update.  Well one part is currently unavailable, don't yet know how vital or replaceable that part is (they're supposed to call back) and yay for messed up supply chains.  But I will be back.

I've only 2 50's so those are safe.  And honestly if I lost a name or two I'd be fine with it.  Small price to pay to finally be back.

[Player2]

10 hours ago, VPrime said:

 

Ok so, assuming it's a high enough level character, even if the person never logs in again, that name would never be available to anyone else?

Any character that reaches level 50 pretty much takes that name out of available use on the same shard that character is in.  It might become available on one of the other 4 or may suffer from being permanently unavailable forever.

 

The only issue I have with your statement is how do you know a player will never log in again for certain?  What if they take off for a year or five because of health issues, military service, broken down computer, incarceration, or whatever?  Maybe they won't ever come back.  But maybe they will because there's some sense of security that the character they put enough effort in to reach level 50 will still be there waiting for them?

[TheZag]

im fine with how the team is working the name policy but i was in the military and if i were to stop playing for several years,  it would be unrealistic for me to expect my names to still be mine upon my return.  If nobody took them,  great.  Also if i went back to warcraft now after 10 years, i would expect my names to be taken as well.   Its great when the team can accommodate long absences with reserved names but we dont own the names either.   

[MTeague]

It can be rough if you're very very picky on names, like me. 

I don't even have 50 characters grand total, because I don't like settle-for names. 

I try to get single-word names when I can. I try to get something that a hero or villian would actually *want* to be called. (ie, not a joke name, not a horrible pun). And if I want "Firehawk", I don't want "the Incinerating Avian", or "Burning Parakeet".  I did eventually accept "Flameshrike", though. 

 

I can't complain though. I still get to play CoH. I'd pretty much given up hope on that until my annual google search results came back with hits in 2019.

Edited November 20, 2022 by MTeague

[srmalloy]

6 hours ago, MTeague said:

And if I want "Firehawk", I don't want "the Incinerating Avian", or "Burning Parakeet".  I did eventually accept "Flameshrike", though. 

You can always play with the character's background and use a foreign language. For example, 'Feuerfalke' or 'Flammenwürger' (German), or 'HI no Taka' or 'Honō Mozu' (Japanese).

[BlackSpectre]

I can tell you, after being away from COH for 7 years, I would have been seriously bummed if BlackSpectre was taken. I was just lucky it wasn't (however "Black Spectre" was taken... so got it by the skin of my teeth). If I ever take another long hiatus, I'd be very bummed if that name was given to someone else. But COH is a different animal for me than most games. It's kind of my digital home. Other games, if their names were deleted, wouldn't phase me at all. Please NEVER give my name away, even if I NEVER come back to play (right, like that will ever happen! LOL).

 

The name policy could still be improved with a more nuanced approach... or just add more nuances. For example, I'd be OK with making most level 50 names available after 2 years of not playing the game at all (on any character, any server).  However, I would permanently save toon names that are also the player's account name. One permanent name per account. Just a suggestion.

 

[Sir Myshkin]

I'm not going out and making a 100 alts or anything, but I've yet to run into a problem with a naming convention on any character I've made so far. Some more obvious names here and there have been taken on the off chance of "if it is, fun, if not, lets be more creative" when I went looking. Comparatively to when the game was "Live" there were hundreds of thousands of users creating characters and folks still managed fine, here we're just in the several thousand range I don't think we really have anything to stress right now.

 

So I can't name my character "The Blender", maybe there's a more creative spin option out there that's better anyway?

[Doomguide2005]

23 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

I can tell you, after being away from COH for 7 years, I would have been seriously bummed if BlackSpectre was taken. I was just lucky it wasn't (however "Black Spectre" was taken... so got it by the skin of my teeth). If I ever take another long hiatus, I'd be very bummed if that name was given to someone else. But COH is a different animal for me than most games. It's kind of my digital home. Other games, if their names were deleted, wouldn't phase me at all. Please NEVER give my name away, even if I NEVER come back to play (right, like that will ever happen! LOL).

 

The name policy could still be improved with a more nuanced approach... or just add more nuances. For example, I'd be OK with making most level 50 names available after 2 years of not playing the game at all (on any character, any server).  However, I would permanently save toon names that are also the player's account name. One permanent name per account. Just a suggestion.

 

And at 2 years I'd be SOL.  But I'd also be surprised as hell if either of my 50's (or any of the rest) lost their names to someone getting to use the name because mine came loose.  More than likely any I might lose would get reclaimed by me on return to the game.  I think Sir Myshkin is right it's pretty darn unlikely.