Free Up Names (Suggestion)

[Brightamethyst]

I don't mind some kind of name culling, but at what point do you draw the line? Lv 2? Lv 10? Lv 30? Last log-in date?

WoW does this and has a cutoff of 'hasn't played for two expansions.' So someone who hadn't played since HW (or SB, come EW) will have their names freed up. Character names aren't immediately deleted or anything, they just become available to use. If someone else claims them the old players will be forced to remame themselves if and when they ever play again.

[Zomkei]

WoW does this and has a cutoff of 'hasn't played for two expansions.' So someone who hadn't played since HW (or SB, come EW) will have their names freed up. Character names aren't immediately deleted or anything, they just become available to use. If someone else claims them the old players will be forced to remame themselves if and when they ever play again.

i actually do not support this. unplayed level 1, sure, but not any character. people are already stressed enough about not being able to take breaks via housing as it is that we don't need to stress folks who don't own housing. there are people who take extended breaks and want to keep their names, i don't think forcing name changes on them should someone else take their name is fair.

(to clarify, i am not saying this is something you agree with, just i don't agree with blizzard's methods of freeing names.)

[Penthea]

(to clarify, i am not saying this is something you agree with, just i don't agree with blizzard's methods of freeing names.)

The thing is WoW actually needs name culling. You can have only a one word name in that game, which can make finding an available name you like be very troublesome. I have spent several hours trying to find a name in WoW. It was especially difficult if I wanted a lore appropriate name. Sometimes the most obscure names in my tiny country's language, that is only spoken there, were taken. Sometimes even names I made up were taken. Many times I have had to settle for a name I didn't like because trying to find one I do enjoy felt like a lost cause. Furthermore you can now have the 50 character limit all on one server, so you can literally save 50 names in one server. FFXIV does not have this situation at all given we can have a max of only 8 characters per server.

In FFXIV name culling is significantly less needed because the likelihood that someone would have the exact combination of first name and surname you want is very low unless you want to use something from popular media or a common set of names that sound like one from real life. There is so much freedom with creativity by having two part names for characters. I was so incredibly happy when I saw that surnames were in FFXIV. Choosing my name for my first character in FFXIV was the first time in my 16+ years of mmos that my top choice for a name was not taken without going to a dead server.

While I don't think name culling is much needed in FFXIV I'm not against it. However I am against culling the name of any character at lvl 50 or higher. Players do come back after years sometimes, and it would suck if the name of a character you poured so many hours in to is no longer yours. If you are at least max lvl for the base game then the name should be yours forever.

And before anyone says "who cares? It's just a name" well for many of us being called by something we're not fond of does diminish our enjoyment in the game.

[Zomkei]

The thing is WoW actually needs name culling. You can have only a one word name in that game, which can make finding an available name you like be very troublesome. I have spent several hours trying to find a name in WoW. It was especially difficult if I wanted a lore appropriate name. Sometimes the most obscure names in my tiny country's language, that is only spoken there, were taken. Sometimes even names I made up were taken. Many times I have had to settle for a name I didn't like because trying to find one I do enjoy felt like a lost cause. Furthermore you can now have the 50 character limit all on one server, so you can literally save 50 names in one server. FFXIV does not have this situation at all given we can have a max of only 8 characters per server.

i actually didn't know this. i haven't played since pandaria, so hearing that you can now have 50 characters on one server is a shock lol. i suppose that's fair in WoW's case, though like you said, something that isn't needed in XIV.

[Brightamethyst]

i actually do not support this. unplayed level 1, sure, but not any character. people are already stressed enough about not being able to take breaks via housing as it is that we don't need to stress folks who don't own housing. there are people who take extended breaks and want to keep their names, i don't think forcing name changes on them should someone else take their name is fair.

(to clarify, i am not saying this is something you agree with, just i don't agree with blizzard's methods of freeing names.)

I also don't think it's necessary in FFXIV but it's practically required in WoW.

WoW only uses one word names and doesn't have class changing like XIV. If you want to play a difference class you need another character, meaning most players have entire stables of characters. That leads to situations where bigger and older servers are effectively out of regular names. They have to free up names periodically and "account has been inactive for 2+ expansions" feels like a reasonable cutoff.

In FFXIV this is a complete non-issue though because two part names and a much smaller number of characters per server means any given name, or something close to it, will probably be available. Unless you want some specific popular name (I imagine there's probably a Jon Snow on every server) what are the odds someone else wants the exact same name as you? (I've met other Jennas and other Starsongs, but according to the Lodestone I'm the only Jenna Starsong in the whole game.)