I lost my legacy name that I had since 1.0 beta/2.0 because I did a name change. I am a legacy player, with a legacy name on a legacy server.
I wanted to do a name change because of privacy reasons, but also did not want to lose my legacy name and was planning to make an alt immediately after to ‘save’ my legacy name. Seconds after I committed the name change, I attempted to make an alt with my legacy name. The game says “That character name cannot be used. Please input another. 3035.” My legacy name was lost. The name couldn’t have been taken by another player, because I attempted to make the alt seconds after the name change was committed, and again and again for several more hours. 24-hours later I paid for another name change to try and revert my name back to the legacy name and received the same failure message.
So I contacted the in-game GMs to get help. They are very limited in what they can do.
Normally when a person does a name change, the old name is freed up for re-use immediately. But per the GM I spoke to, because of server merges from 1.0 to 2.0, that process is fraught with issues and glitches. They believe that my legacy name is now glitched and permanently removed from use due to the issues caused from the server merges.
The GMs have escalated my case and now I wait to see if anything can be done. Had I known the name change would act in this manner, I never would have committed to it. I would have kept my legacy name and been happy with it.
This whole experience has been incredibly emotionally difficult for me. My name is my identity. I have had it since 1.0 and before in FFXI for 20+ years now. And now its gone.
So what is to be done?
• GMs should have the ability to remedy this situation on the spot. To change names and revert name changes and unflag names that are removed from service.• SE should offer assurances that a name change can be reverted for XX hours (24 to 72 hours perhaps) after a name change is completed at no additional charge, such as they have done with fantasias giving 60 minutes to change appearances.• They should only permit the person doing the name change to have access to the previous name for 30 days, before putting it back into general use for others.• They should tell the user if a name will be available or removed from service after a name change is committed, before even paying for it.• Fixing the spaghetti coding might be a tall ask, but these systems should work as expected, each and every time, and when they don’t, SE should be able to offer a correction to a faulty system.Be careful with name changes. I dearly hope I can get my legacy name back now.
If anyone from SE can help me with this further, please reach out to me. Thank you.
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03-20-2025, 08:06 AMKamineko-XIVBeware of name changes, especially legacy players and on legacy servers
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03-20-2025, 09:29 AMAneshdaQuote:
Originally Posted by Kamineko-XIV
That doesn't really make sense, does it? -
03-20-2025, 01:41 PMKamineko-XIV
"I wanted to do a name change because of privacy reasons." This is true.
"My name is my identity." This is also true.
When doing a player-initiated name change, the normal behavior is that the old name is made available again immediately for use by an alt or another player. If it does not become available, the system is not working properly. Based on this very normal expectation, I wanted to save my old name and not permanently lose access to it. I wanted to leave the option open to rollback to my old name, if and when I felt the time was right and to not permanently lose access to it immediately due to faulty legacy coding.
I am only posting here because it was the advice of the GM to do so, to hopefully bolster my case and to warn others of the problem. I just want my old name back. Currently there is no system to revert name changes. I am at the mercy of SE to do something about it and I don't want others to experience the same heartache that I have. -
03-20-2025, 05:39 PMAjisaii
What do you mean for privacy reasons? your lodestone ID never changes if someone was stalking you all they'd have to do is google your old name and your lodestone pops up or check their search history for your lodestone if they had checked it and it will bring them to your character anyway.
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03-20-2025, 05:58 PMDiaDeem
My Name is Optimus Prime
https://imgur.com/dtEt9aK.png -
03-20-2025, 06:00 PMCVXIV
I like that you responded with presumably your main then swapped to a forum alt
very mysterious, good job -
03-20-2025, 06:29 PMDreadCrow
...maybe if you tried to make a new character, right after a name change, you couldn't do it because the Lodestone didn't update yet and thought your legacy name was still there?
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03-20-2025, 06:38 PMKamineko-XIV
I did a name change for personal reasons. But, the reason why I did a name change is beside the point.
The important part is that when a name change is completed, it is expected to work in a certain manner. Legacy players or legacy server players, that do a name change for any reason at all, will run the same risk of encountering this fatal error that I did.
I do not wish for this to happen to anyone. It is not a good feeling. -
03-20-2025, 06:46 PMweebtext
All this talk of privacy/personal reasons makes me think your legacy name was your irl name lol
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03-20-2025, 11:35 PMKamineko-XIVYou can make a character, wait for it to populate a lodestone profile, delete that character and make another one immediately with the same name.Quote:
Originally Posted by DreadCrow
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03-20-2025, 11:35 PMKamineko-XIVIt wasn't. But still the central point is that any legacy player or legacy server player, for any reason at all, can encounter the same problem. It is not a matter of why the person did a name change.Quote:
Originally Posted by weebtext
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03-21-2025, 01:06 AMryouma17
its just a name, as a fellow 1.0 user i can assure you no one cares how long we've been playing.
you say you did it for privacy reasons if so then why make an alt with the name you are trying to disassociate yourself with -
03-21-2025, 02:02 AMKamineko-XIVIt's not an issue of people caring about how long we have been playing. This issue has the potential to effect all legacy players and legacy server players.Quote:
Originally Posted by ryouma17
The reason why a person does a name change also does not matter. Any legacy player or legacy server player, for any reason at all, can encounter this same problem. -
03-21-2025, 07:03 AMBrynne
My condolences to the OP, because that does sound like a bad situation. Names can be important, especially when you've spent many years building a character.
Did the GM indicate if it was an issue that only impacts legacy players? I do know of a long-time player who changed her name and then some months later changed it back, but she started in ARR, not 1.0. Or is it just a random thing that only happens sometimes? -
03-21-2025, 08:23 AMKamineko-XIVThe GM told me the problem is likely caused by an error with my server's "legacy history with server merges." All 1.0 characters were merged forward into 2.0 and placed in one of a few legacy servers. My best guess is when the server merge occurred, the process was glitchy and caused a lot of errors, to which people are still experiencing today. This could mean legacy players or any player on legacy servers can potentially be negatively impacted by this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brynne
My ticket has been escalated and I wait for a response. Fingers crossed that I can get my name back.
Additionally, I think the name change service can be improved quite a bit, not only to help people in my situation, but all players that use the paid name change service. I stated a few of those ideas in my original post.
The more people that can positively respond to this thread and help get the attention of the dev team, the more likely I am to get my legacy name back and we are to get improvements made to the paid name change service.