Blizzard has said that a few weeks prior to launch they are going to permit people to reserve 3 character names. This sounds good but I have to wonder: since most people are going to participate in early name reservation will that really be all that different? Since it will be just as competitive as it would have been on launch day? Isn't it just moving up name selection by a few weeks?
most people are going to participate in early name reservation
Do we have any proof of this? I hear a lot of people calling it a scam and refusing to waste two weeks of game time just for this service.
Others have very obscure names (like mine) and don't expect much competition.
This thread has been done a couple of times already:
https://barrens.chat/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1592 - 1 month ago
https://barrens.chat/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1712 - 3 days ago
Lendryn No proof, just my own noodling. Could very well not go the way I think it will.
Thanks Selexin I'll check those threads out.
The key here is three names.
Most names reserved on day one of a Fresh server will never see play. Even on Kronos 3 where you could pay $10 per name in advance, I saw dozens of names show up on Day 1 that were never played again: Wolf, Bear, King, Queen, etc. all in a single starting zone and there were likely even more in the other zones I did not observe.
By limiting it to three (instead of however many you want, whether paid or unpaid), it makes the player choose what names they really want instead of "maybe later" (a.k.a. never and the name is left unused). By doing this, players that would otherwise miss out on the mad dash for a name will be more likely to get one they really wanted as well as have more names appear in-game that would otherwise be keeping character slots warm or being a bank alt.
Honestly, the name reservation is just a way to lure people into subscribing earlier.
I think it's mega unnecessary, what the hell - if you take my name, then I'll take another one.
Judging from the stress test, the main thing this will help is character creation congestion. When the first stress test went online, it took me ~2 hours to get past character creation by itself. I'm sure the first day of reservation will still be bananas, but on day one of release you may actually get to play if you can defeat the login server boss.
Judging from the stress test, the main thing this will help is character creation congestion. When the first stress test went online, it took me ~2 hours to get past character creation by itself. I'm sure the first day of reservation will still be bananas, but on day one of release you may actually get to play if you can defeat the login server boss.
You will most likely not have the same problem as in the stress test because you simply have more servers ;)
Linguine Yea but the concern is that *everyone else knows this too*. There doesn't seem to be much difference between doing it on a server launch day vs doing it a few weeks prior, other than a date. The same arguments about unused names is still true regardless of whether it happens launch day, or 2 weeks prior to launch day.
@Linguine Yea but the concern is that *everyone else knows this too*. There doesn't seem to be much difference between doing it on a server launch day vs doing it a few weeks prior, other than a date. The same arguments about unused names is still true regardless of whether it happens launch day, or 2 weeks prior to launch day.
I just specified that they key here was three, not the time of reservation.
Even if most people just use their three names for dumb stuff and they become benchwarmers, there is a higher chance to spread the names out unless people start creating and subscribing alternate accounts, which is unlikely because then they're paying extra money for names they won't use.
Once you spread the names out there's a higher chance of someone being able to get a name they really wanted, or people valuing the names they reserved already more because they received so few.
3 names compared to 9-10 for one server is about a 66% decrease per name reserve fanatic, but you also have to consider that on release day the cap is 50 and although I believe that it locks character creation for a bit after creating too many characters I don't know how many that is, and the name reserve people could potentially reserve names on servers they aren't playing on.
On Nost I have seen a lot of alts recently with really "hard to get" names, and they're likely only being used because the server is going down and people know that they will lose the name anyway. They opportunistically took the name without any character in mind to use it for.
Ex: On release day Player A the UD Rogue main would have reserved:
Death, Decay, Blood, Murder, Stabbiez, Stabby, StabbyJr, Stabz, ect. - All 10 names or until locked.
On the name reserve day he looks at it and decides his name is actually going to be "Stabby", and his alt is "StabbyJr", and he'll take "Blood" because he likes it the best but truthfully he wasn't really planning to use those other names anyway and he would be sadder if he lost Stabby and StabbyJr.
Players B, C, D, and E, etc. get various parts of the other names either on release day or the name reserve day and some of them use the name they received, compared to it never being used.
Judging from the stress test, the main thing this will help is character creation congestion. When the first stress test went online, it took me ~2 hours to get past character creation by itself. I'm sure the first day of reservation will still be bananas, but on day one of release you may actually get to play if you can defeat the login server boss.
Yeah, having a character ready to go will help if the servers keep going down when you try to create it like the beta :lol:
I’m pretty hyped for reserving a name now, got some good ones in mind :mrgreen:
But the ability to reserve names will be available until launch right? I'm planning to sub 1-2 days before release and then create a char just so I don't have to do that on launch. Don't really care about the name..
Isn't the biggest advantage not the name but being able to create your characters appearance without having to either rush or spend time on it during launch`?
Isn't the biggest advantage not the name but being able to create your characters appearance without having to either rush or spend time on it during launch`?
It’s most defiantly grabbing “your” name or short words.
A lot of names are really wanted and some might even pay you for them.
Names have a high value.
Isn't the biggest advantage not the name but being able to create your characters appearance without having to either rush or spend time on it during launch`?
It’s most defiantly grabbing “your” name or short words.
A lot of names are really wanted and some might even pay you for them.
Names have a high value.
Grabbing your own gamer tag shouldn't be a problem. However, if you want names like "Jack", "Bob" or "Legolas" I get your point.
For me, I will pick a unique name that no one will pick. I wil however subscribe just to be able to create my character without having to stress it out when the game is released.