Paid Name and Race Change.

[MakkotoParinne]

Hello. :)

A paid name/race change is a topic that has been brought up many times, and all of the threads have been lost to the deep recesses of the forums. Most of these topics have received no response or a vague one at best.

I read that on 6-5-2014, FFXIV has allowed players to purchase phials of Fantasia to change their character's appearance via the Mog Station for $10 each. Is it possible for a system like this to carry on to FFXI as well?

I'm certain there are still many players that would like to change their name or race, and are willing to pay for it.

Please give this post a like and comment to show your support. Thank you for reading. :)

[solodragon1984]

maybe also change gender options when you change race like from Mithra to say Hume but you want a Male Hume instead of Female but yeah it does sound like a good system to add cause a lot of people want to change race/gender/name.

[Malithar]

Not a fan of name changes, MMOs tend to make you garner a reputation based on your actions. If you could toss aside that reputation for a few bucks whenever you wanted, it'd be abused by some IMO. Race/gender changes for sure though. I'll never understand why they haven't done it in the past, one of the most simple quick cash grabs in any MMO.

[Mitruya]

I would not be opposed to being able to change my hair or just little aesthetic things like that.

[Calintzpso]

I've often wondered what it would be like to be a woman...
But I like peeing while standing...

Quite the dilemma...

http://37.media.tumblr.com/dcb908712ab9f8d2312e78016d496336/tumblr_mr3eydxxep1qj6xu1o1_500.gif

Make it happen SE, Inquiring minds want to know!

[Ramzi]

Hello. :)

A paid name/race change is a topic that has been brought up many times, and all of the threads have been lost to the deep recesses of the forums. Most of these topics have received no response or a vague one at best.

I read that on 6-5-2014, FFXIV has allowed players to purchase phials of Fantasia to change their character's appearance via the Mog Station for $10 each. Is it possible for a system like this to carry on to FFXI as well?

I'm certain there are still many players that would like to change their name or race, and are willing to pay for it.

Please give this post a like and comment to show your support. Thank you for reading. :)

The vial of Phantasia was actually given away for free as a veteran award for subscribing for (I think) the initial 3 months? Eventually they made additional vials purchasable at the mog station for $10 but this was due to overwhelming demand by the community.

Another thing they've implemented in FFXIV is a hair stylist that you can use to change your character's hair style and some other cosmetic features whenever you want free of charge (only costs a small amount of gil in game), not to mention the armor dying system, and the vanity system. Other than name change, which as someone mentioned, you should NOT be able to change in an MMO, everything else is adjustable and customizable.

I understand limitations due to PS2/360 hardware, and outdated engine etc, but at the very least, allowing us to change hairstyles would be a huge plus. I picked one I'm not really happy with, and I've regretted it for years, but I'd never start over because of it.

[Feary]

Not a fan of name changes, MMOs tend to make you garner a reputation based on your actions. If you could toss aside that reputation for a few bucks whenever you wanted, it'd be abused by some IMO. Race/gender changes for sure though. I'll never understand why they haven't done it in the past, one of the most simple quick cash grabs in any MMO.

technically with 4 day server transfers anyone could do this. just would cost more.

[MakkotoParinne]

I do believe a name change can be abused, though the option for people who have fallen out of love with their name would be nice. In retrospect, it would probably be a better idea to not have a name change option. :/ Perhaps a limit to the amount of changes could be implemented, but that might not be worth the trouble.

[MakkotoParinne]

Bumping the thread to keep it visible. :)

[Raiyara]

To be honest there IS a way of changing ones name indirectly in this game, you simply just have to transfer your character to another server where your name is taken to force a namechange then switch back to your old server after the cooldowns expired.

As for race and name change its a suprise that this hasnt been done already as many including myself would love to officially change their race (in my case from hume to elvaan) and I would happily pay a few quid to do so as the amount of time I've invested in my own character is such that I couldnt be able to replay all the old content again. That being said one of the few things that would be nice to see would be new character customisation for the game as while theres no OFFICIAL way to change ones characters race/gender there is some unofficial ways to change ones character which are client side only (ie cosmetic) and some of them are extremely good.

Wether this would be technically possible I dont know but this game is far from dead and customisations like this would definately be welcome and help to prolong the game unless SE are secretly planning to give FFXI a ARR style renewal down the road.

[Limelol]

I really don't see why there isn't a Race Change service yet. There's really isn't a reason not to have one.

Players get what they want and Square Enix gets money... Seems like a win-win to me.

[MakkotoParinne]

Thanks, everyone, for all the posts so far. :)

I'm going to bump this thread periodically so it doesn't become lost like the others. ^^;

[Mizuno]

I'll chip in and help as well!

[MakkotoParinne]

Bumping the thread again. :)

[Teraniku]

Translation: I'm tired of my current character but want to keep everything I've done in the game, but I'm too lazy or have too few friends to redo all the content I've done / finished on a new character, So can I get basically a new character, yet keep all my stuff?

[solodragon1984]

just realized something if they add a gender/race change option what about your current RSE and GSE(thats Gender Special Equip), cause if for example your a Mithra and you have full RSE set(lvl 29-33 one Chest quest plans) and you decide to change to say Galka then your RSE is no longer wearable and you would have to either sell/drop/send/give it away.
So in retrospec(however spelt) it would be a good option to add but be little confusing to get started . On the name change option, i agree that would be little tougher cause if you are very well known in game by a name ,then you change it then you would lose that rep. and people won't know who you are except LS,Friends so yeah Name Change be tougher to do ,BUT race/gender not much tougher ,and can be done easily except i have a feeling SE won't even tho it'll please A LOT of people.

PS Sorry for long winded Post lol i tend to run on and it something drive people nuts. (Specially me *Laughs crazily!*)

[FrankReynolds]

Translation: I'm tired of my current character but want to keep everything I've done in the game, but I'm too lazy or have too few friends to redo all the content I've done / finished on a new character, So can I get basically a new character, yet keep all my stuff?

Yes. I am too lazy to rebuild relics, redo all missions and content just to change my race. Only a masochist would do all that just for a change of aesthetic.

[Camiie]

Translation: I'm tired of my current character but want to keep everything I've done in the game, but I'm too lazy or have too few friends to redo all the content I've done / finished on a new character, So can I get basically a new character, yet keep all my stuff?

http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp214/KeiFreeman/FFXI/troll.jpg

Good, Troll. Now get back to your mountain.

[Mizuno]

Keeping this bumped, SE needs to respond one way or another when Monday rolls around

[MakkotoParinne]

Bumping again. :)

Hopefully we've garnered enough support for someone to notice.

[Numquam]

I want to wear female DNC AF Toeshoes on my male DNC.

[Pyitoechito]

I'd love to have this service available, too. The only issues I really see with this is race/gender-specific exclusive gear and marriage. The race/gender-specific exclusive gear (I.E. swimwear) may not be a problem if it just changes along with your gender. As for marriage, who cares? Is it really that big of a deal post-marriage that the bride is now a Galka? The only evidence is a ring, anyway.

Name changes should also be a part of the service (though sold separately), in my opinion. Some players (like me) used the auto-name generator for our character's name. This means our name is culturally race/gender specific. There definitely should be a limit on both services, with name-changing having a much, much longer restriction.

[MakkotoParinne]

I'd love to have this service available, too. The only issues I really see with this is race/gender-specific exclusive gear and marriage. The race/gender-specific exclusive gear (I.E. swimwear) may not be a problem if it just changes along with your gender. As for marriage, who cares? Is it really that big of a deal post-marriage that the bride is now a Galka? The only evidence is a ring, anyway.

Name changes should also be a part of the service (though sold separately), in my opinion. Some players (like me) used the auto-name generator for our character's name. This means our name is culturally race/gender specific. There definitely should be a limit on both services, with name-changing having a much, much longer restriction.

Hmm, that is a fair point! Playing as a Mithra for instance with a Tarutaru male name would look rather awkward and unflattering. With that said, I support a name change again, if only there is a strong moderation of use so it cannot be abused.

As far as RSE goes, players may have to quest said gear again unless an exchange NPC is added. Though, obtaining swimsuits or RSE is much easier to deal with than missions and whatnot, and I would much rather have the system and redo those quests/events than not have it at all.

Marriage is indeed a concern, unfortunately, due to the gender specific nature of the rings, but that only prevents you from actually wearing them. I'm sure you can still keep the ring in your inventory, so that would be a choice for the player; be able to wear something of such high sentimental value, or change your character's sex to something more aesthetically pleasing to you.

[Mizuno]

Bumpidy bump~!

[MakkotoParinne]

Keeping the thread bumped. :)

[Ryanx]

I would love to see a race change I want to change from hume to elvaan so bad

[Luluna]

Would also like a race change, i am suprised it hasn't been done after so long as i am sure there are lots who would like to!

[Mizuno]

Devs? Are you gonna ignore this or what?

[Mizuno]

Bumping. Devs you are not ignoring this anymore.

[Calibra]

Would love to see this happen, would be more than happy to pay for it, come on Devs lets hear something positive regarding this for once.

[Mizuno]

Let's hear SOMETHING about this for once.

[MakkotoParinne]

Thanks for keeping the thread continually bumped. :)

While we wait for a response, I figure we could all elaborate on what race we would like to change to and why, but first, I'd like to preface with a little more insight about how I feel about character customization.

Currently I play an Elvaan female with blonde pigtails, Parinne. She was inspired by an original character I had come up with years ago, while writing a story with a friend. I do love her dearly, however, I have become bored of her appearance, and no longer identify with her as a character, much like I stopped identifying with Makkoto years ago.

What we identify with over the years will change. People want their avatar to represent a part of who they are, and who they have become. Many who play FFXI are adventuring as characters they have created while they were teenagers, even young children. A lot can change in the span of 12 years, even a single year, and our avatars should have the capacity to reflect that, much like FFXIV.

The character I would like to change to is a female Hume named Amaris, with short, blonde hair with the flip in the front. Some time ago, I had sent her onto the test server (RIP Undine). I enjoyed her fierce, yet pretty, look, and her expressions. On the test server, I could easily acquire gear for her, and used her as a conduit to practice jobs that I did not have the time or money to play on the public server. (I was NOT polished with my technique or familiar with the game mechanics back then)

Over the course of months, I used this new character, Amaris, to build my skill and meet a good friend in the process. Amaris was the character I used for the Heroine's Holdfast test server event, and there were even screenshots taken of me playing as her, fighting Lion! :D

This new character clicked with me, but I couldn't level her up on the public server, as that would take many months of hard work to even catch up to the same level as Parinne. This would set my family and friends back who were ready to progress further. This is even more impossible nowadays, as in these last few years, I have made even more progress on Parinne. Missions, quests, gear, the prerequisites would take weeks to reaccomplish for a new character, forcing others to assist in Abyssea leveling for hours and babysit me through limit break quests. All of the skill levels, purchased/farmed spells, and nontransferable gear would be lost.

As stated in my original post, as of June 5th, FFXIV players can now purchase race changes in bulk, to use whenever they feel like it. Many players are in the same boat as me, their avatar does not represent who they are, or hold as much significance as it did when they created it.

I implore the community representatives and development team; please give us a response! We who want a name/race change are willing to pay for it, to give your company more money so that we may enjoy playing FFXI more than we already do. For the time being, all we can do is speak out about how we feel on this matter and continually bump the thread.

I sincerely hope something can be done. Thank you for reading. :)

[FrankReynolds]

Thanks for keeping the thread continually bumped. :)

While we wait for a response, I figure we could all elaborate on what race we would like to change to and why, but first, I'd like to preface with a little more insight about how I feel about character customization.

Currently I play an Elvaan female with blonde pigtails, Parinne. She was inspired by an original character I had come up with years ago, while writing a story with a friend. I do love her dearly, however, I have become bored of her appearance, and no longer identify with her as a character, much like I stopped identifying with Makkoto years ago.

What we identify with over the years will change. People want their avatar to represent a part of who they are, and who they have become. Many who play FFXI are adventuring as characters they have created while they were teenagers, even young children. A lot can change in the span of 12 years, even a single year, and our avatars should have the capacity to reflect that, much like FFXIV.

The character I would like to change to is a female Hume named Amaris, with short, blonde hair with the flip in the front. Some time ago, I had sent her onto the test server (RIP Undine). I enjoyed her fierce, yet pretty, look, and her expressions. On the test server, I could easily acquire gear for her, and used her as a conduit to practice jobs that I did not have the time or money to play on the public server. (I was NOT polished with my technique or familiar with the game mechanics back then)

Over the course of months, I used this new character, Amaris, to build my skill and meet a good friend in the process. Amaris was the character I used for the Heroine's Holdfast test server event, and there were even screenshots taken of me playing as her, fighting Lion! :D

This new character clicked with me, but I couldn't level her up on the public server, as that would take many months of hard work to even catch up to the same level as Parinne. This would set my family and friends back who were ready to progress further. This is even more impossible nowadays, as in these last few years, I have made even more progress on Parinne. Missions, quests, gear, the prerequisites would take weeks to reaccomplish for a new character, forcing others to assist in Abyssea leveling for hours and babysit me through limit break quests. All of the skill levels, purchased/farmed spells, and nontransferable gear would be lost.

As stated in my original post, as of June 5th, FFXIV players can now purchase race changes in bulk, to use whenever they feel like it. Many players are in the same boat as me, their avatar does not represent who they are, or hold as much significance as it did when they created it.

I implore the community representatives and development team; please give us a response! We who want a name/race change are willing to pay for it, to give your company more money so that we may enjoy playing FFXI more than we already do. For the time being, all we can do is speak out about how we feel on this matter and continually bump the thread.

I sincerely hope something can be done. Thank you for reading. :)

I'd like to switch to elvaan because they just have cooler animations when fighting. I'd pay a few bucks for it. I could do it for free if I so chose. I don't see the problem with a ps2 tax. They've been taxing everyone else for years.

[pretre]

I would stay hume but change my appearance as I made a random character when I first started the game just to test it out, after a week I realised this game is awesome but thought a week is to much time to start over ( lol ) 6 years in I wish I had picked diff

[Pixela]

I tried coming back a while ago on a new char, the truth is that is a horrible task these days. Getting a new char to a decent level in terms of unlocks and gear is a sickening task, especially when it's just as annoying to get old outdated stuff done.

I'd appreciate being able to race change so I can have a new perspective on the game after so many years.

[Mizuno]

Sheesh, can the devs at least acknowledge this with a reply? Seriously wtf...

[Draylo]

Didn't think there were this many people who wanted this. Why the DEVs don't want free money? lol

[Demonjustin]

I~ want to change my face, nothing more personally, but I do support this!

[Rubicant82]

There is bound to be something "wrong" with with it, like programing or the way data was originally created. That is the excuse they use for a lot of the older systems they don't want to bother with changing. That being said, I would love to see the ability to change race/name/appearance. I mean I love my Tarutaru, but my hairstyle is so 2002! Please SE introduce a way for us to customize ourselves in this game! :D
And some NEW options might be nice too... like a Mohawk haircut for each of the races! ... (maybe fix the appearance bugs that are around too while you're at it, too much? okay screw the bugs).

[Camiie]

Didn't think there were this many people who wanted this. Why the DEVs don't want free money? lol

Likely because the customers who are asking for it are in the wrong regions.

[MakkotoParinne]

Bumping the thread again.

[Pixela]

The problem they may have with this is that it requires a pretty major amount of web based programming, that would interact with the game.

Might be good to mention how other games do this or how Square could offer it in XI with the least amount of work.

Probably the easiest method I can think of is to offer a post on the forum with pictures of faces and races and players can be charged via crysta to their account for the amount (or just add it to their next sub payment). They can do this race/face swap service on a set number of days a month and a person they employ or pay extra for those few days can manually change them.

[Mizuno]

The problem they may have with this is that it requires a pretty major amount of web based programming, that would interact with the game.

Might be good to mention how other games do this or how Square could offer it in XI with the least amount of work.

Probably the easiest method I can think of is to offer a post on the forum with pictures of faces and races and players can be charged via crysta to their account for the amount (or just add it to their next sub payment). They can do this race/face swap service on a set number of days a month and a person they employ or pay extra for those few days can manually change them.


Not really if a third party software can instantly swap the dats on your characters to look how you want. All you have to do is pay to get a non-client side dat swap. It's not THAT hard and the people in the you know what demonstrated this. However, I want to actually look different and people see it, hence a face change is something I want because my main has that dime a dozen brown hume hair, and I want to change her to have the short black hair (Najelith hairstyle)

But nope, SE is going to not even give us a damn answer, hell I'd actually like them to say no, at least they responded to us! At least they aren't ignoring us!

[Mizuno]

Giving it a bump

[Kona4me]

I want it as well... sadly no response :\

[Mizuno]

Getting outright annoying tbh.

[Mizuno]

SE please....I'm willing to fork over money just to change my main's hairstyle, 10 dollars I would do it, just to have my character's hairstyle changed. Please, the community is wanting it, why is it being ignored so much? You'll be making money off of this!

[Ataraxia]

Name change and Race change is a great idea. There are good and bad when it comes to this.

The good part is that this help to avoid cyber bully. People that can't leave you alone in game and always telling other player false rumor about you as a person. People that will stalk you in game and attack your facebook or myspace. They can do this by starting up a new character and you won't know it's them but they know it's you. Ex boyfriend whom you don't wanna deal with anymore and doesn't understand no means no. Recently, there have been LS leader that make LS bank. Once that leader have made millions of gil in the LS bank that person take all the money and run away / jump server or once they fund their relic, mythic using other people hard work. However, there are good LS leader whom have real life issue and they need to disband LS because of it. In addition, they split the amount of gil that was farm by LS member "LS Banking" but there are more bad leader than there is good so LS bank in some cases are no no. There are people whom you lend gil to and they said they were going to pay you back but instead they do not want to pay you back and that same goes for item like Kraken club which use to worth more than 60 to 100 million.

If you are reading this SE please help us have race change and name change. The Bad Part I know by doing this we can't no longer detect that bad person whom we got on blacklist but I believe it's worth it. People are smarter now and they are aware of bad people in game. You can judge a leader by their action so finding a LS where you can fit in easily. If you do not want to lose your friends that's fine too and you can always send them a tell and let them know that you change your character name.

This will make SE lots of profits and imagine a Server full of Tarutaru lol how funny is that. There is nothing more funny and cool in FFXI than a Tarutaru =).

[Mizuno]

Time for a bump!

[Mizuno]

Bumping again~!

[Mizuno]

Bumping, gonna get an answer sometime this decade.

[Pixela]

If you want them to answer the thread it's better to post things to get others replying too, bumping solo will probably just get it locked.

[Kona4me]

Still waiting for it myself...

[Janethetaru]

I would pay to change race. They'd have to put a waiting period tho like you can only do it once a year or something.

[Belmonts]

Cheer necro bump ('ω')ノ

[Apie]

Or (and this would be awesome) add a hairstylist which lets us change hairstyles and color, but here's the best part, add MORE and I mean MANY MORE colors to choose from and add some more hairstyles. Remove this option from the PS2 version (have them see the default colors/hairs only) cause I know that the PS2 is gonna be the reason why this can't be implemented. :)

[Camiie]

Or (and this would be awesome) add a hairstylist which lets us change hairstyles and color, but here's the best part, add MORE and I mean MANY MORE colors to choose from and add some more hairstyles.

I agree with them adding something like this, but not in place of a character recustomization service. It should be both.

[Ris]

Or (and this would be awesome) add a hairstylist which lets us change hairstyles and color, but here's the best part, add MORE and I mean MANY MORE colors to choose from and add some more hairstyles. Remove this option from the PS2 version (have them see the default colors/hairs only) cause I know that the PS2 is gonna be the reason why this can't be implemented. :)

The problem is also that everything is sort of tied together. eye color can't be separate from hair color, or any facial features, it basically all comes as one package deal.

It would be really cool if they redid chargen and updated characters models... but I bet that's also a lot of work and their quirky game engine can lag even on the newest computers. In the case of XIV's fantasias, they had that ready to go at ARR's launch so that legacy characters weren't stuck with only the old options (and it still took them a pretty long time to actually sell the things). XI... I don't think is setup with a change system at all.

But! That SE hasn't responded probably means they're considering it. Posts that get a "does not current have plans to" answer seem to get them pretty fast.

[Shioban]

(and it still took them a pretty long time to actually sell the things).


The Mogstation (Account Management for XIV) wasn't designed to handle re-occurring payments for items like Phials of Fantasia, therefore the system took longer to set up (I'm sure along with the legal proceedings, and payment partnerships).


A temporary system was introduced in 2.3, but 2.4 will debut (I think this is correct going by the last Live Letter) a full re-occuring payment system.


I understand limitations due to PS2/360 hardware, and outdated engine etc, but at the very least, allowing us to change hairstyles would be a huge plus. I picked one I'm not really happy with, and I've regretted it for years, but I'd never start over because of it.

PS2/360 limitations wouldn't be a problem here, seeing as the "Character Creator" and "Hair Stylist" are/would be separate instances (much like the mog-house).

In ARR, the aesthetician (Hair Stylist) simply put you into a restricted Character Creation Screen allowing you to only adjust certain options, where-as a Fantasia flags your character on the log-in screen for an optional "re-do".

[Bluestar2kx]

I wanted to voice my support for a paid race change token of some sort.

I've always bounced around in FFXI on race since 2003 when I started. I've played a total of about 8.5 years, and in that time I've leveled 3 tarus, 4 humes, 3 mithra. I don't do it to dodge people, I do it just because, well I like bouncing around based off my mood, but generally I've used one for an extended period (at least 5-6 months, 1 taru and this hume are several years old, the former being the oldest and used since february of 2004.)

In addition I realize doing so could be annoying or even problematic for the current system if done too often, so feel free to add a restriction, like 1 token per character/per playonline account may be used once every 6 months.

Atm I want to be a mithra, which might finally be settled as I feel quite strongly for my new mithra in FFXIV, but I can't just switch from my hume without losing oodles of time, gil, R/E equipment, and my only relic weapon (I'm a SAHM, i don't have the time to make the same one over and over again, there's several I need for other jobs.)

So i give my support in favor of adding a race change token (i'm not against a name change one either^^) and hope the Dev's have noticed the desire of the fan base.

[Apie]

I agree with them adding something like this, but not in place of a character recustomization service. It should be both.

You're right, why did I say "or" <---"and" is a better fit

[Safiyyah]

I would like to see at least a character re-customization added, if not an outright race change. When I made this character, I made it to focus on mage jobs. Now, years later, I find myself using my samurai, predominantly. So I would prefer to re-roll Galka, since Galka samurai looks so much more impressive in the Eastern armor sets (IMO).

I do have a Galka alt, which used to be my main before CoP came out. It would take me at the very least six months of straight work to get him to the same point that my Hume is. I would much rather have that six months for other projects in-game. Please give us the ability to pay you for a race/face/name change!

[Darwena]

I would like a new haircut. After 9 years, would be nice to change style for fun.