People taking character names with no intention of using

[Penthea]

I don't know about now, but certainly before Blizzard allowed players to request names to be released from long-time abandoned low level WoW characters. However in that game you are far more limited with name creation because there is no surname option and you can't use spaces or any form of punctuation. On top of that if you want to try a new class in that game you have to make another character. There is also the fact that there are two factions, and people create alts so they can play on both. It is extremely rare to come across a player who has no alts on the same server as their main. I had great difficulty naming characters in WoW. Often even names I made up were taken.

Having both a first name and surname field in FFXIV and the fact that you do not need to make alts to try other content means that if someone is using the name you want it usually means the name is well known (Cloud Strife for example), because frankly the chances of two people choosing the exact same original names in both fields is super low.

Anyone who has found their desired name taken in FFXIV has either encountered an ultra rare coincidence or they need to try to choose a more original name.

What I'm saying is the option to get a name released in WoW makes more sense there due to the restrictive naming options and the fact that nearly every player has several alts. In FFXIV we have far more freedom due to having two name fields and that there are far less characters per account due to not needing to make alts to try other classes. I don't see SE offering a service that not only would be rarely used, but is far from necessary because of the ease of being able to create an original unused name.

Also I don't like the idea of taking names from players. This isn't housing. The amount of different names available isn't limited. Someone else having a name you want doesn't prevent you from choosing another name for yourself.