Let us check name availability before character creation

TaSheen · January 2023

Zuboko wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

All my names are just first names and I'd like to keep it that way.

Some of mine are just first names, some are first and last names, it kind of depends on their background. For example, as far as my wood elf Warden is concerned, she never had a last name because her family sold her into slavery at a young age, and she was later freed thanks to a raid on Morrowind, connected with the war. While on the other hand, my templar grew up a farmer and was saved by a wandering healer, and decided that he wanted to leave the farming life to become adventurer. He still values his family name, because he wants to remember them, and their sacrifices.

That's AWESOME! I love to hear the RP background for others' characters. Good on you!

Zorrin · January 2023

It's kind of annoying to have to do, but sometimes I'll just use whatever default character comes up to check name availability and then delete that character to make the real one if I'm able to get the name. Something that just lets us check without having to do that work-around would be great though!

Lumenn · January 2023

It's a good suggestion. I can't tell you how many times I've run into this. I will try to get around it by using other languages/culture (like Conroicht for my bosmer warden werewolf) or my Argonians have descriptive names (pokes at stuff for my templar, black of soul for my nightblade plays with corruption/Necro) but if the concept name doesn't look right in another language (or is taken) it's kind of a bummer after spending forever shaping the character.

OtarTheMad · January 2023

I usually don't have many issues with names. I usually use:

https://fantasynamegenerators.com/

Syldras · January 2023

With my main, it's easy, as I've been playing him for quite a long time already. I once wondered though, what I would have done if his name would already have been taken when I created him in ESO. Probably added a short middle name or an agnomen, or cognomen, or given him a courtesy name.

When it comes to new characters, I make a list of different names beforehand (first and last names, if that is common within the character's culture), starting with the ones I prefer most. And then I just try my luck. If the first choice is already taken, the 2nd or at worst the 3rd have always been fine so far.

SilverBride · January 2023

OtarTheMad wrote: »

I usually don't have many issues with names. I usually use:

https://fantasynamegenerators.com/

I have used those a lot throughout the years and one of them helped me find a name this time, although I did have to alter the spelling some.

It's just hard for those of us who want single names that aren't real long and are easy to pronounce because the longer a game is around the less names there are that aren't already taken. That's why it would be great to know what's available before going through the entire creation process first.

mocap · January 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

I finished every quest on my last character and am ready to roll a new alt. The problem is that I spend a lot of time in character creation only to give up because I can't find a name that isn't already taken.

So you did 2300+ quests (almost like replaying Skyrim seven times, completing all quests lol), ready to do it again, yet gave up on the character naming screen? Realy?

Olauron · January 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

I finished every quest on my last character and am ready to roll a new alt. The problem is that I spend a lot of time in character creation only to give up because I can't find a name that isn't already taken. I did this 3 times yesterday only to give up each time.

It would help a lot of we could choose and set the name first then create the character. The older the game gets the harder it becomes to find a name, so please consider this.

You may also use PTS (if it has the right server) without changing anything but name from default during character creation. It is fast and almost accurate.

SilverBride · January 2023

mocap wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I finished every quest on my last character and am ready to roll a new alt. The problem is that I spend a lot of time in character creation only to give up because I can't find a name that isn't already taken.

So you did 2300+ quests (almost like replaying Skyrim seven times, completing all quests lol), ready to do it again, yet gave up on the character naming screen? Realy?

Yes, really. I even use an add-on that shows all the quests so I don't miss any, because not all of them are tracked on the zone map.

I gave up after trying 3 different times in one day and not coming up with a name that was available. But I tried again the next day and finally found one after a couple of more attempts. But I wasted a lot of time creating the character multiple times because I had to do that first before I could try out a name.

SilverBride · January 2023

Olauron wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I finished every quest on my last character and am ready to roll a new alt. The problem is that I spend a lot of time in character creation only to give up because I can't find a name that isn't already taken. I did this 3 times yesterday only to give up each time.

It would help a lot of we could choose and set the name first then create the character. The older the game gets the harder it becomes to find a name, so please consider this.

You may also use PTS (if it has the right server) without changing anything but name from default during character creation. It is fast and almost accurate.

How would the PTS server tell me if a name is available on my server or not? Wouldn't it only know whether or not it was available just on the PTS?

TaSheen · January 2023

What's on PTS is a full copy of what's on live IIRC, so with an occasional exception if someone takes the name you want before you can get back to live, you would have a pretty good chance to get the name that was available on PTS.

Another thing you could do (assuming you don't have an objection to starting each character from a "template") is what I've done myself: use either the PTS or live to make characters of each race, screenshot the sliders once you get them to your liking, but don't save them. As long as you have sliders screenied and save to file, making the character takes much less time using a "template" already done.

Mesite · January 2023

If it isn't letting you choose a name, isn't that when it is checking name availability?

I always have several names ready as I know some will already be taken. But I probably won't be creating any more unless a new class comes out.

SilverBride · January 2023

I've never used the PTS so didn't know how it worked. But why should we have to install another client to check names when they could just let us check before creation instead of after?

TaSheen · January 2023

Well, at the risk of getting edited for bashing (which I'm really not), I will just say that PTS is already coded and working properly; I'd worry about them adding anything new to the code at all - and at this point that includes new race, new class, new weapon skills. Now that said, I personally didn't have any issues with the last several patches - but many others (including two of my RL friends) had just awful problems starting with chapter release last year, as has been evident on the forum.

Danikat · January 2023

For now, until ZOS can come up with something better I agree that the best way to do it is to create a random character to find an available name, then delete them and spend time designing one once you know the name will be available.

It's very unlikely at this point that the name will be taken in the time it takes you to decide how you want the character to look, even if that's an hour or so.

SilverBride · January 2023

TaSheen wrote: »

Well, at the risk of getting edited for bashing (which I'm really not), I will just say that PTS is already coded and working properly; I'd worry about them adding anything new to the code at all - and at this point that includes new race, new class, new weapon skills. Now that said, I personally didn't have any issues with the last several patches - but many others (including two of my RL friends) had just awful problems starting with chapter release last year, as has been evident on the forum.

If a player already has the PTS installed then this would be a good solution for them, and I appreciate the tip.

But for myself, installing another client on my computer that I will never use for anything other than to find an available name is an extreme solution.

wolfie1.0. · January 2023

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

Also, in character creation, can we get some sort of measurement system that indicates exactly how tall our characters will be in feet/meters?

@ZOS_Kevin

Be nice to know in general how meters are scaled ingame... since tool tips use that for distance...

Olauron · January 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

Olauron wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I finished every quest on my last character and am ready to roll a new alt. The problem is that I spend a lot of time in character creation only to give up because I can't find a name that isn't already taken. I did this 3 times yesterday only to give up each time.

It would help a lot of we could choose and set the name first then create the character. The older the game gets the harder it becomes to find a name, so please consider this.

You may also use PTS (if it has the right server) without changing anything but name from default during character creation. It is fast and almost accurate.

How would the PTS server tell me if a name is available on my server or not? Wouldn't it only know whether or not it was available just on the PTS?

PTS is a full copy of NA or EU server, including character names. It should be remembered, though, that it has the character base from the time of copy, so both live and PTS bases are slightly changed by the time of the checking.

AcadianPaladin · January 2023

I get requiring unique user names but can't think of a reason to require unique character names. Character names are like 'first names' - if my neighbor has the same first name as I, who cares? What helps is having a different last name - which is how I view my username. Who cares if you name your character Bob and there are 6 (or 600) other Bob's in the game - each with a unique username?

Lacking such an enlightened change, however, I fully endorse the OPs suggestion to at least let us check name availability at the beginning of character creation.

Syldras · January 2023

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

I get requiring unique user names but can't think of a reason to require unique character names. Character names are like 'first names' - if my neighbor has the same first name as I, who cares? What helps is having a different last name - which is how I view my username. Who cares if you name your character Bob and there are 6 (or 600) other Bob's in the game - each with a unique username?

Isn't there an option to turn off usernames everywhere? I know that in chat I only see character names.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · January 2023

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

Also, in character creation, can we get some sort of measurement system that indicates exactly how tall our characters will be in feet/meters?

Or at least some 1-20 or something scale.

If they added actual measurements then we would for the first time get canon heights for the races and I'm not trusting of ZOS these days to do them well.

Zuboko wrote: »

Some of mine are just first names, some are first and last names, it kind of depends on their background. For example, as far as my wood elf Warden is concerned, she never had a last name because her family sold her into slavery at a young age, and she was later freed thanks to a raid on Morrowind, connected with the war. While on the other hand, my templar grew up a farmer and was saved by a wandering healer, and decided that he wanted to leave the farming life to become adventurer. He still values his family name, because he wants to remember them, and their sacrifices.

@Zuboko Fun fact. Bosmer/Wood elves don't have last names normally. Some do, but it's on the rarer side for them to have it.

Syldras wrote: »

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

I get requiring unique user names but can't think of a reason to require unique character names. Character names are like 'first names' - if my neighbor has the same first name as I, who cares? What helps is having a different last name - which is how I view my username. Who cares if you name your character Bob and there are 6 (or 600) other Bob's in the game - each with a unique username?

Isn't there an option to turn off usernames everywhere? I know that in chat I only see character names.

Sadly not. You can only decide to pick what you prefer to see in chats. Either character or user names. You will then mostly see that choice in chat and other interfaces, but there are some odd random cases where it doesn't follow that choice.
When you look at another player you will also see both.

Syldras · January 2023

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Bosmer/Wood elves don't have last names normally. Some do, but it's on the rarer side for them to have it.

I agree. Although the traditional Bosmer clans do have clan names that could, if necessary, be used as something like a last name, I guess. Also I think I've seen one mentioning his father's name when introducing himself, which could be seen as a patronym. But I'm not completely sure where that was. It was only part of the dialogue when he introduced himself, not part of the npc name.

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Sadly not. You can only decide to pick what you prefer to see in chats. Either character or user names. You will then mostly see that choice in chat and other interfaces, but there are some odd random cases where it doesn't follow that choice. When you look at another player you will also see both.

That's a pity. Most of the time I don't really care for usernames, to be honest. I mean, of course it can be insightful sometimes (big-breasted female character wearing all armor pieces except for chest, male username... and no, there were no skin adornments to show), but normally I want to see characters as the persona they are in that world, with no hints who's behind them (let alone usernames not exactly helping with immersion most of the time - although there are enough character names where that applies too, of course). It did even bug me with my own username when I still played ToT. I can understand that the username shows in PvP matches and in the ranking list, but why do I have to see it when I play against npcs, even as part of a story quest like on Galen? Many people might not care, but I did find that really immersion-breaking in that moment.

Sarannah · January 2023

Maybe a better fix would be to allow players to save a nameless character creation locally. So that if a name is taken, we can click "save the creation" and "load" this creation the next time we have thought of a name. That way we can skip the entire creation process for characters we were not yet able to create. And for the ones we were able to create, as we could use the creations for new characters as well. We could also use the saved creations if the character creation process was interrupted for any reason.

This would also help players who spend ages creating a character, as they could save their creation and finish working on it another time.

Example: Almost done with character creation, have to go. Click "Save creation", and a file with the name creation01 will be stored locally. When returning, we go to character creation and choose to "Load creation" allowing us to load any creationXX file, so we can continue working on the character. This way we can save as many character creations as we want, and at any point in the character creation process.
(Note: These creationXX files would have to be in a separate folder, so we can easily manually delete them.)

TaSheen · January 2023

Sarannah wrote: »

Maybe a better fix would be to allow players to save a nameless character creation locally. So that if a name is taken, we can click "save the creation" and "load" this creation the next time we have thought of a name. That way we can skip the entire creation process for characters we were not yet able to create. And for the ones we were able to create, as we could use the creations for new characters as well. We could also use the saved creations if the character creation process was interrupted for any reason.

This would also help players who spend ages creating a character, as they could save their creation and finish working on it another time.

Example: Almost done with character creation, have to go. Click "Save creation", and a file with the name creation01 will be stored locally. When returning, we go to character creation and choose to "Load creation" allowing us to load any creationXX file, so we can continue wortking on the character. This way we can save as many character creations as we want, and at any point in the character creation process.
(Note: These creationXX files would have to be in a separate folder, so we can easily manually delete them.)

That's a really good idea! Then I wouldn't have bunches of screens saved to file with four slider shots each....

Tandor · January 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Well, at the risk of getting edited for bashing (which I'm really not), I will just say that PTS is already coded and working properly; I'd worry about them adding anything new to the code at all - and at this point that includes new race, new class, new weapon skills. Now that said, I personally didn't have any issues with the last several patches - but many others (including two of my RL friends) had just awful problems starting with chapter release last year, as has been evident on the forum.

If a player already has the PTS installed then this would be a good solution for them, and I appreciate the tip.

But for myself, installing another client on my computer that I will never use for anything other than to find an available name is an extreme solution.

I totally agree, which is why the interim solution for you might be to follow the suggestion already given and click on "create" then apply your preferred name to the default character that appears and abandon that character once you have a name you like and create the full character knowing that name is available. Long term, your request for an earlier indication of the name's availability is a good one, but it won't happen overnight.

Mortuus126 · October 2023

I guess the team decided that this wasn't worth implementing. It's so simple, and it's how quite literally every other major MMO operates. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the character deletion limit or if we could save the progress of our character customization so that we could come back later. It sucks spending hours creating a character and then not being able to come up with a name that isn't taken, or god forbid getting timed out while alt tabbed and losing all your progress. If we could just freely check names, then the headache goes away.

ikzaa · October 2023

I understand you, I'm a bit maniac when it comes to choosing names.

The first four are men, then 6 women, in alphabetical order, all names are 5 letters long, and all of them end with an A.