Homecoming Server Update (October 1st): Closed Beta, Name Release, and CoC Updates

[GM Crumpet]

On 10/12/2024 at 8:32 AM, Digirium said:

I feel indifferent to the name release because it is indisputable that 100% of characters already got themselves a name.

 

There will be no "gold rush" of players trying to acquire a name already taken by someone 1.6 million seems like a lot of gold but it is fool's gold. The crowd that coveted a name and lacked imagination will still be gnashing their teeth.

 

May be items that matter more will receive attention instead, now it is out of the way.

 

 

 

For a lot of people they had names on live they can't get because someone else got in first. Hopefully this will help at least some of those players. Unless the player holding the name got the alt to 50, then it's sad faces all round. 

[lemming]

6 minutes ago, GM Crumpet said:

For a lot of people they had names on live they can't get because someone else got in first. Hopefully this will help at least some of those players. Unless the player holding the name got the alt to 50, then it's sad faces all round. 

There's a few names I want to see if available without any issue if they're not.

[Fire Chief]

Just one for me just one...got it on all servers I play on 'cept my main server. I actually have the name friended on every alt I have made, and it's been gray ever since I joined, and I tried to get it. Soooooo I'll take the 50/50 40/60 30/70...chance I can get it 😄

[WindDemon21]

1 hour ago, GM Crumpet said:

Some people have dozens, if not hundreds of alts under level 10 they haven't logged in for months or years. There has been plenty of warning that we are going to implement the policy, and plenty of time to start logging the alts in if you don't want the chance of someone sniping the name. Chances are most names are safe anyway. Unless it's something incredibly obvious you were lucky enough to get in the first month or two of the game starting up then the chances of someone taking the name is low, but not zero. 

[lemming]

[Owl Girl]

7 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

Some people have dozens, if not hundreds of alts under level 10 they haven't logged in for months or years. There has been plenty of warning that we are going to implement the policy, and plenty of time to start logging the alts in if you don't want the chance of someone sniping the name. Chances are most names are safe anyway. Unless it's something incredibly obvious you were lucky enough to get in the first month or two of the game starting up then the chances of someone taking the name is low, but not zero. 

i understand, but with respect i don't think that the HC staff knew how much it would break my heart when they considered whether to implement the policy. all i can do is tell You that it does, and if that doesn't matter then all i can do is cry about it 😞

[Logansan]

7 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

For a lot of people they had names on live they can't get because someone else got in first. Hopefully this will help at least some of those players. Unless the player holding the name got the alt to 50, then it's sad faces all round. 

 

This reminded me of the early days of Homecoming, not long after I started I got a tell from some random guy demanding that I change (or delete) my character name so he could use it. His reasoning, he had that character name on live.  I pointed out that I also had the same character name on live, so obviously we where on different servers back then. He confirmed that he was on Freedom, while I was on Infinity.  But somehow he still insisted that he had the right to the name on this new server and advised that if I didn't delete my character he would put in a ticket. He got a bit rude after that, maybe my reply of "LOL" didn't help things.

[GM Crumpet]

4 hours ago, Logansan said:

 

This reminded me of the early days of Homecoming, not long after I started I got a tell from some random guy demanding that I change (or delete) my character name so he could use it. His reasoning, he had that character name on live.  I pointed out that I also had the same character name on live, so obviously we where on different servers back then. He confirmed that he was on Freedom, while I was on Infinity.  But somehow he still insisted that he had the right to the name on this new server and advised that if I didn't delete my character he would put in a ticket. He got a bit rude after that, maybe my reply of "LOL" didn't help things.

I had the same. I had the name on Defiant and someone else had it on a different server and they were demanding I give it to them. They apparently had it on every shard except Reunion and wanted the set. It was a big fat no from me. Later as a GM we would get the occasional ticket demanding we took a name off someone and it was always a flat out nope. You can ask someone nicely if they will give it to you, or even offer them lots of inf, but they have every right to keep the name and no is a complete sentence 🙂 

[LKN-351]

13 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

For a lot of people they had names on live they can't get because someone else got in first. Hopefully this will help at least some of those players. Unless the player holding the name got the alt to 50, then it's sad faces all round. 

 

or alternatively the character with a name you had on Live shares a name with someone who passes on and gets their character put into the game for all the great things they did back in the day.

It's like sad² cause the person passed and cause I wont ever be able to use the name. At least it's for a good reason.

[Nerio72]

10 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

I had the same. I had the name on Defiant and someone else had it on a different server and they were demanding I give it to them. They apparently had it on every shard except Reunion and wanted the set. It was a big fat no from me. Later as a GM we would get the occasional ticket demanding we took a name off someone and it was always a flat out nope. You can ask someone nicely if they will give it to you, or even offer them lots of inf, but they have every right to keep the name and no is a complete sentence 🙂 

I wanted my original Live name for my "Main" Nerio, someone else had it (I cleverly added an S 😉 and lived with it). I emailed them and explained why I wanted it very politely, didn't hear anything for probably over a year and then I got an email from them and they let me have it! Excitement ensued! And then life "made" me take a break for a year...

There are people that will hook you up if asked nicely, and that's awesome. I had given up. 😀

[Widower]

Just a quick update per public request: the exact time we will be activating the system is 9:30 PM Eastern (02:30 UTC). Please plan (or not) accordingly.

[lemming]

17 minutes ago, Widower said:

Just a quick update per public request: the exact time we will be activating the system is 9:30 PM Eastern (02:30 UTC). Please plan (or not) accordingly.

So, that's Nov 1 2130 Eastern, and Nov 2 0230 UTC?

 

(And you might want to add PM to the first post, I saw you say 9:30 there)

[Ghost]

On 10/13/2024 at 7:34 PM, Owl Girl said:

i understand, but with respect i don't think that the HC staff knew how much it would break my heart when they considered whether to implement the policy. all i can do is tell You that it does, and if that doesn't matter then all i can do is cry about it 😞

Oh they knew, and they’re still laughing and high-fiving  about it

😈😈😈

Edited October 19 by Ghost

[Herotu]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what if I move a level 50 with the name JoeBloggs to a server with a JoeBloggs with a yellow triangle? Does that replace their JoeBloggs with mine, as I expect, or is there some other shenanigans to negotiate?

[lemming]

3 hours ago, Herotu said:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what if I move a level 50 with the name JoeBloggs to a server with a JoeBloggs with a yellow triangle? Does that replace their JoeBloggs with mine, as I expect, or is there some other shenanigans to negotiate?

I'm not positive since not a dev, but

A) Level wouldn't matter in this use case

B) When transferred, it would depend if it's treated like a rename or a new character.  If rename, I would guess yours would get changed.  If treated as new character, you'd get the name, and they would get changed.

[Quasar Nimbus]

On 10/14/2024 at 2:49 PM, Widower said:

Just a quick update per public request: the exact time we will be activating the system is 9:30 PM Eastern (02:30 UTC). Please plan (or not) accordingly.

Eastern is currently -4 and won't be -5 until Daylight Savings ends on 3 Nov. Assuming your Eastern time is based on a server Zulu time, it would actually be 10:30pm Eastern. And is that 02:30Z on 1 Nov or 10:30pm Eastern on 1 Nov?

 

Also, can we get official input on how to "claim" a released name? Can it be done through the name change on the character select menu or do we need to create a new hero to claim the name first? Thanks!

Edited October 23 by Quasar Nimbus

[Greycat]

2 hours ago, Quasar Nimbus said:

 

Also, can we get official input on how to "claim" a released name? Can it be done through the name change on the character select menu or do we need to create a new hero to claim the name first? Thanks!

Renaming won't do it. You will have to create a new character. You *can* immediately delete it and rename an older character to that name, however - it is "held" for a few minutes for you when you delete.

 

Edit: Also, as far as the time, they're stating in the main announcement 9:30 PM November 1, so it'd be 0230 UTC on 2 November (assuming the conversion, etc. you mentioned.)

Edited October 24 by Greycat

[lemming]

2 hours ago, Quasar Nimbus said:

Also, can we get official input on how to "claim" a released name? Can it be done through the name change on the character select menu or do we need to create a new hero to claim the name first? Thanks!

From what has been said, a new character, not just a name change.   But you can start one with the desired name, then change it and change the char's name that you wanted to have the name on

[QueenJoy]

On 10/2/2024 at 1:37 AM, Cipher said:

It should be assumed that is the case for any offences or repeated disregard for a GM's instruction.

For community awareness: there is a (one, single) player who has been flagrantly violating the spirit of this update on Everlasting shard at the PI hotel for at least a week's time. I am certain the GMs have received complaints about a specifically named trio of MMs who sit just idle enough, outside of an active league, to passively gain rewards.  The player has accepted invites to league once, but not since. They claim to be "active" but are not engaging with mechanics and are only active enough to continue to cause disruption to others. 

This has caused a significant amount of verbal frustration within leagues to cause players to quit, leave and do something else, or move the league entirely to less populated zones. It would seem this is the very intent of the behavior the CoC is seeking to address, and yet it is being visibly trounced by this player. It harms the reputation of our community enforcement if the guidelines are being so blatantly bypassed right at the outset.

Edit: I, as well as others, have previously submitted support tickets in regards to this behavior. The issue was actively being discussed in league chat, and opinions were voiced that submitting petitions did not matter. Hence why I came here, quoted a senior leader in the City Council, and raised it for community awareness so that it is understood what is being felt and discussed in-game by players.

Edited October 24 by QueenJoy

[Glacier Peak]

11 minutes ago, QueenJoy said:

For community awareness: there is a (one, single) player who has been flagrantly violating the spirit of this update on Everlasting shard at the PI hotel for at least a week's time. I am certain the GMs have received complaints about a specifically named trio of MMs who sit just idle enough, outside of an active league, to passively gain rewards.  The player has accepted invites to league once, but not since. They claim to be "active" but are not engaging with mechanics and are only active enough to continue to cause disruption to others. 

This has caused a significant amount of verbal frustration within leagues to cause players to quit, leave and do something else, or move the league entirely to less populated zones. It would seem this is the very intent of the behavior the CoC is seeking to address, and yet it is being visibly trounced by this player. It harms the reputation of our community enforcement if the guidelines are being so blatantly bypassed right at the outset.

Submit a support ticket. 

[Ukase]

On 10/13/2024 at 1:28 PM, Fire Chief said:

Just one for me just one...got it on all servers I play on 'cept my main server. I actually have the name friended on every alt I have made, and it's been gray ever since I joined, and I tried to get it. Soooooo I'll take the 50/50 40/60 30/70...chance I can get it 😄

This is clever, even if it hasn't paid off for you yet. 

I was thinking about character names earlier today. And, apparently I still am! 

We have the implementation of this naming policy taking effect fairly soon - a couple of weeks, if my memory serves. I hope it frees up a fair number of names that will mean more to someone who's actually going to play. 

But, I am wondering...we've had the discussions ad nauseum, but if there were a way to tell 
how many days (hours) a player on an account played in total across all characters, in addition to the last time they played...that would be super interesting to me. 

 

I mean consider this, someone pops in May of 2019, and then pops out a couple of days later and hasn't come back. They've played a total of 2 hours in that time. 
Is it really reasonable to hold their name in perpetuity, even if they reached level 50? 

Again, the discussion has been had, probably to the point of beating a dead horse. But I would weigh in with not only wanting to know the last day they played, but what was the first day they played as well. Because if they only ever played one day, and they haven't come back in 5 years, odds are pretty good they never will. 

Now, the odds of someone like that getting someone's fantastic or sentimental favorite name are probably low. Very low. Still, it's something I'd be curious about, though they'd certainly never share the info with me, even if they knew a quick and easy way to find out. 

I hope everyone gets the name they want! 
Unless it's mine! 
 

[mechahamham]

As we near the date and time, I'm starting to hear more and more complaints about the impending Release.

 

These pretty universally fall into only two categories:

 

"It takes so much time to log into my 4 pages of level 1 name reservation alts and I have to do that every month?! Why are they attacking me like this?!"

 

"I can't take the risk of losing this name. I have to log in every week. Yes, I know it says one year, but I CAN'T TAKE THAT RISK!"

 

For the first case, it only takes 20 minutes or so to get level 6 to get that year of lag time, Brenda. Also, have you considered that you just *might* be part of the problem they're trying to fix? If you have x pages of 12 level 1name reservations each, maybe it's time to let some of those go. You evidently haven't played them until now. Why sit on that name unless you're really attached to it?

 

In the second... my dude... You're assuming that a database script is going to try to catch you snoozing in order to cheat you out of 11 months. Either you're really bad at math, have no idea how computers work, or need to talk to someone about these feelings that everyone's out to get you. Possibly all of the above. Start by reading about 'SQL Rollbacks'. Even if the developers make a mistake and expire all the names early, that can be reverted or even restored from backup in the worst case scenario.

 

I've altered some of the details of the statements above, but they are both things I've actually heard. (It was more than 4 pages, I'm afraid.) I'm a bit surprised that there's being so much pushback, alarm and unrealistic anxiety about the name release policy. I figured everyone would be much happier about inactive names being freed up.

[Grouchybeast]

6 hours ago, mechahamham said:

I've altered some of the details of the statements above, but they are both things I've actually heard. (It was more than 4 pages, I'm afraid.) I'm a bit surprised that there's being so much pushback, alarm and unrealistic anxiety about the name release policy. I figured everyone would be much happier about inactive names being freed up.

 

Pushback, alarm and unrealistic anxiety is just business as usual on the internet, unfortunately.

[TTRPGWhiz]

HUGE fan of the name release policy being implemented. I pushed for this for years on Live, so stoked to see it happen.

[ivanhedgehog]

So the great name theft is going to happen. Good luck with that.