Name Reservation

Arato · March 2014

Does anyone know if there's a system in game like Guild Wars where once you create a character with a name it's yours for a period of time after deleting the character? This allows you to quickly grab a name, delete the character, and then take your time making your character the way you want while still being able to get your name.

Otherwise I'm not going to be able to play my main characters that I just quickly snagged names on (Such as my forum name.. someone snagged it in the second round of betas I got into, after I got it in the November betas...) for quite some time before people trying to jump on names dies out..

Foul_Corsair · March 2014

If you have a throwaway with the name then best wait for the initial rush to die down as I've not found anything about keeping the name for a period after deletion.

Hawke · March 2014

No.

And I am in the exact same boat

Same thing happened for me in beta as well.
You gotta risk it all to get what you want.

Ariane · March 2014

I recommend you to find a friend to help you with this, so s/he creates a character with the name you want when you release it and deletes it after you re-created the character the way you want, because names get released exactly after the character is deleted.

Foul_Corsair · March 2014

Ariane wrote: »

I recommend you to find a friend to help you with this, so s/he creates a character with the name you want when you release it and deletes it after you re-created the character the way you want, because names get released exactly after the character is deleted.

Nice idea.

Arato · March 2014

Ariane wrote: »

I recommend you to find a friend to help you with this, so s/he creates a character with the name you want when you release it and deletes it after you re-created the character the way you want, because names get released exactly after the character is deleted.

Has anyone tried this to make sure it works?

GW2 had a reservation system for 24 hours.. so I tried to reserve a name for a friend.. and then released it and... he couldn't make it.. and then I learned about the reservation system.. and said "well you gotta be here to take it in exactly 24 hours" ... and he missed the window and it was snagged lol.

Scaraben · March 2014

Not sure what time the servers opened this morning, but I got in 10 minutes early ... and the name I wanted was already gone. Second name was available for the first character I created. But my first AND second choices were gone for the second character I created. That's three somewhat obscure names in 10 minutes, before the game even opened offcially!

kijima · March 2014

I've not seen anything anywhere to say there is name reservation in play, the old forum that is now closed has a discussion on it, but it was purely speculation at best.

Goodluck with your name hunting.

Ranadicus · March 2014

Scaraben wrote: »

Not sure what time the servers opened this morning, but I got in 10 minutes early ... and the name I wanted was already gone. Second name was available for the first character I created. But my first AND second choices were gone for the second character I created. That's three somewhat obscure names in 10 minutes, before the game even opened offcially!

You didn't get in 10 minutes early. The game actually went live a full hour before it was supposed to, at 6 AM Eastern time. I missed out on my favorite character names too because somebody needs to buy a freaking watch.

LOVE · March 2014

Scaraben wrote: »

Not sure what time the servers opened this morning, but I got in 10 minutes early ... and the name I wanted was already gone. Second name was available for the first character I created. But my first AND second choices were gone for the second character I created. That's three somewhat obscure names in 10 minutes, before the game even opened offcially!

Opened 6AM EST (7AM EDT mislead a lot of people).
Even so at 6AM EST, names were snagged and the players who took them are offline, afk, mean/bullies (yes, I whispered a few), or wanted the name themselves (which is fine by me as long as they are active).

In an ideal world, picking a name you want shouldn't be a problem. But in a virtual and MMO world, it apparently is. You aren't allowed to have two people named "Tickley Pickley"! It's just absurd!

I know the feel of having your name taken. Sort of makes you not want to play (especially after getting lost making your character pleasingly "pretty" as you do in many TES games)... plus knowing your friend's names got taken by rivals... ;c

In the end, naming isn't an issue in MMO developer's eyes as it is to role-players. Just have to deal with "Ticklei Picklei".

kijima · March 2014

1 hour early... ALWAYS happens.

Louis · March 2014

I honestly did not expect so many names to be unavailable when i created my Character. though i did get lucky to get a Good name, though wasnt my first choice

Ariane · March 2014

Arato wrote: »

Has anyone tried this to make sure it works?

Yes, my guildmates. They did this the whole morning and they also reserved me my character name so I can have it on Tuesday

Osi · March 2014

I woke up 30 minutes past release and only managed to snag 2/4 of the names I wanted. Sad day...

As others have said, there is no name reservation time. Would make sense in the future when they add name changing, or release accounts that were abandoned in Cold Harbor or at the starting zone a year or so after release, but not now.

AKJ · March 2014

I was able to snag all 3 of mine luckily.

Katrianah · March 2014

I have the two I was bothered about, and my husband got REALLY lucky with one of his. If I end up re-making one I'll risk losing it but tbh it'd work with a surname so I'm not that bothered.

Scaraben · March 2014

EDT? Seriously? Whatever ...

I'm going to have to go back and remake the Dragonknight whose name I did get this morning. I was half asleep and accidentally picked the race I meant for the Nightblade that I was creating next.

Eris · March 2014

You can always pick a name you like and add a second name to it. Like John Smith or Jane Smith. Thus you can likely get any name you want.

GreySix · March 2014

If you pick a name like Zarbanzaswitch Selvesterplot ur Hwenieklzigith

... you should be okay.

But yeah, your name is safe only so long as your character with said name exists.

Osi · March 2014

Scaraben wrote: »

EDT? Seriously? Whatever ...

I'm going to have to go back and remake the Dragonknight whose name I did get this morning. I was half asleep and accidentally picked the race I meant for the Nightblade that I was creating next.

Haha, happened to me too! Had to remake my Dragonknight because I put it in the wrong faction.

Arato · March 2014

Eris wrote: »

You can always pick a name you like and add a second name to it. Like John Smith or Jane Smith. Thus you can likely get any name you want.

That does not work for all races.

Altmer, Bosmer, and Redguards do not have surnames, technically neither do Khajiit (they have titles instead like Dro', Dar', Jo', etc)

So no, losing my name and then using a surname on an Altmer would be wholly unacceptable.

GreySix · March 2014

In that case, try a name like John'Smith.

Arato · March 2014

LOVE wrote: »

Scaraben wrote: »

Not sure what time the servers opened this morning, but I got in 10 minutes early ... and the name I wanted was already gone. Second name was available for the first character I created. But my first AND second choices were gone for the second character I created. That's three somewhat obscure names in 10 minutes, before the game even opened offcially!

Opened 6AM EST (7AM EDT mislead a lot of people).
Even so at 6AM EST, names were snagged and the players who took them are offline, afk, mean/bullies (yes, I whispered a few), or wanted the name themselves (which is fine by me as long as they are active).

In an ideal world, picking a name you want shouldn't be a problem. But in a virtual and MMO world, it apparently is. You aren't allowed to have two people named "Tickley Pickley"! It's just absurd!

I know the feel of having your name taken. Sort of makes you not want to play (especially after getting lost making your character pleasingly "pretty" as you do in many TES games)... plus knowing your friend's names got taken by rivals... ;c

In the end, naming isn't an issue in MMO developer's eyes as it is to role-players. Just have to deal with "Ticklei Picklei".

You know all those offline, and afk? A lot of them did as I did... figured that because the servers came up at times HOURS earlier than advertised for beta, that they would likely come up an hour or two early for early access. I don't have work today so.. I (and likely all those offline people) stayed up all night just to make sure that when the servers did come up early, they could snag their names. I got all the names I wanted, and now I'll take a nap before actually playing again, likely they did the same thing. They aren't being jerks or trolls.. they just did what they had to do to make sure they could get their names.

Arato · March 2014

GreySix wrote: »

In that case, try a name like John'Smith.

That would also be an unacceptable Altmer name if you're going for lore appropriate names.

Arato · March 2014

While name reservation is not in here's a trick. If you still have a character slot open and you have the name you want on a throwaway character to hold it.. what you do is create a character, get all your sliders all set up exactly how you want them... then hit back. You can then delete the throwaway character that is holding the name, and very quickly go back to create a new character, enter the name, and create. Yes, your slider settings that you had previously set up had been saved!

tallenn · March 2014

I'm surprised at all the reports of names being gone. Is everyone trying to make one-word names?

I didn't have any difficulties with names, and I only have 2 that are one word. Plus, I didn't make any alts until maybe noon yesterday.

RustyBlades · March 2014

I got all 8 names I wanted - cept 1 but I was reminded the intent was to embellish the name anyways. I've gotten 5 words in one name..

Arato · March 2014

tallenn wrote: »

I'm surprised at all the reports of names being gone. Is everyone trying to make one-word names?

I didn't have any difficulties with names, and I only have 2 that are one word. Plus, I didn't make any alts until maybe noon yesterday.

Most are one word names.. in some cases, one word names are more lore appropriate than binomial names.

Binomial Names: Imperial, Dunmer (Dark Elf), Breton, Orsimer (Orc)
Monomial Names: Altmer (High Elf), Bosmer (Wood Elf), Redguard
Monomial with titles: Khajiit (the Dro' or Jo' or Dar' prefixes are titles, ending in title like Razam-dar is considered bragging and dually appointing your title, Razam-dar's name means he is EXTRA clever in otherwords), Nord (Nord use clan names or titles, but are otherwise commonly Monomial)
Phrases: Argonian. While you'd think this would be easy to snag a name.. the name has to be a phrase connected by hyphens and is treated as a monomial name. Using Cyrodiilic language is how you get Argonian names like Lifts-Her-Tail, and Walks-In-Ashes. I was able to secure Soars-Like-Cliff-Racer for my "Dragon" Knight. I wa worried about losing that one because people complemented it in beta.

The other way to do Argonian names is to use their own language, their "Black Marsh name"

That'd be like Weebam-Na, or Talen-Jei

Some Argonians are also completely Monomial.. I wonder if they consider those "Elf" names.