12:04 pm, February 13, 2018
486
TrionBrasse: UPDATED: NAME RECLAIM/RELEASE w/Feb 14 Patch. YER BURNIN' QUESTIONS ANSW
Quote:
THE ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT POST:It's a new year, and it's time to clear the dusty shelves of names long unused. These names will be freed up for use by new and active players.We will release the names of characters that have not logged in for over one year as of January 31, 2018. If you're not sure you've played a character in the last year, don't take the chance - please log into each character whose name you wish to retain at least once before midnight, Pacific Time (UTC -8) on January 31, 2018. This will automatically record your character as being active and will keep your existing names in place.Be assured that we're not deleting CHARACTERS - they'll remain intact, in case their owners wish to play again in the future. If you take no action and come back after the reset, you’ll be prompted to choose new names for your characters when you log in. There is no charge for the automatic rename process.The name reclaim and release will apply to ArcheAge, RIFT and Trove PC. We are sending emails to all affected accounts, and will also get the word out through this blog, our livestreams and social media. If you have friends who may be affected, please pass it on!If you have any questions, please post them on this forum thread and we’d be happy to respond.ANSWERS (UPDATED) FROM THE OLD THREAD:Hullo folks!The cutoff date is almost upon us. Let me address some of the questions that have come up.NOTIFICATIONS:
- Email notifications were sent out to every single person who has a RIFT character, via CS notification - this means that you do not even have to be opted in to get the email.
- If you did not get an email in early January, it may have gone to your spam folder, or your ISP may have us blacklisted. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about those circumstances.
- We also posted a blog about it, which was picked up by MMORPG and MassivelyOP
- We have reminded folks on our weekly livestreams that the Name Reclaim was coming
- We posted on Twitter and Facebook, both when we announced the Name Reclaim, and a final reminder today.
- We've asked folks to reach out to their friends who may be interested in keeping names of old characters too - I know I appreciated that when my old EQII buddies told me they were having a similar name purge.
- This is a tough one indeed. We all have people that we have lost over the years, and we want to honor their memories. Gaming is an ephemeral environ for memories, unfortunately, and we cannot undertake the enormous process of collecting and excluding names. One suggestion I've made is to wait until the name reclaim process actually occurs, and then log in early to make memorial characters on your own accounts to preserve those names. Obviously this requires a free character slot, but it is the only solution currently available.
- Our data group has pulled the list as of 12:01 AM Pacific on February 1, 2018.
- The name release did not take place immediately, as it needed to be QA'd and run as a process with folks in the office - It is currently slated to run with the regular hotfix on Wednesday, Feb 14th.
- How will the released names appear on the Guild rosters and friend's lists? Will they still be there until claimed, or become blank, or... other? If a name is reclaimed by the program, the old name will display until the player selects a new one upon login, and then the new name will be updated on guild rosters and friends lists.
- If someone scoops a released name, is there a risk they will automatically replace the old player on the guild member/friends list? No. Players who take on a newly cleared name will not take the place of the previous player in guild or friend rosters - those lists are built using unique player IDs, not the actual names. For the same reason, if someone changes their name any time, using the name change token, they are still in their regular Guild roster and friends lists.
- What happens to the Dimensions of the inactive players that have names released? Will they be nameless? Dimensions belonging to inactive players will display the old name until a new name is selected upon login, then they will automatically update.
- Can we see the list of reclaimed names so that we can see if the one we want is available? Unfortunately, no. It is a HUGE list and we do not have a database search tool set up for those queries. There are literally millions.
- What if something goes horribly wrong and unexpected things happen? Although we have tested all permutations that we could anticipate, IF something goes awry, our CS team will be here to help. support.trionworlds.com