48967-name-reservation-roll-out-post-mortem-page-2

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Appreciate the transparency as many others already posted here. Thanks for the explanation, Cougar and all the other devs that worked on the problem!
*shakes fist at the guy on vacation* You'd better have had the vacation of your life time! :P	
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Just now (finished) reading this whole thread word for word so I may be responding to old things:
 
 
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You make a thread you want someone to respond, that's attention seeking.
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Agreed.  TSW had the best naming system I've seen.  You could go by your "nickname" which was one, unique single word or your "real" name using both first and last or one or the other.
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			This complete transparency to the problems is what makes me love you guys. I am extremely anxious for launch. I cannot wait. I know there will be problems out the gate, as there always are, but I have no doubt you guys are ready for them and will continue to be transparent through it all.  This connection really does go a long way with involving the player base.	
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Did she really want FranBunnyFFXII or is that just her forum name?  I assumed she wanted FranBunny.
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While I appreciate the apology, you still haven't "made it right."
 
You have a chance to fix this all and make everyone happy.
 
Launch the server names before headstart (maybe 3 days or so before). Allow everyone who reserved a name to assign it to one (1) server. Then launch the game at headstart with no more reservations. 
 
This satisfies your preorder name reservation marketing while allowing Wildstar to function as it should. It provides the opportunity for people to get a halfway reasonable alt name (or main) while still allowing the "winner" of the name reservation first dibs on the server of their choice. Everyone wins.	
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While I appreciate the apology, you still haven't "made it right."
 
You have a chance to fix this all and make everyone happy.
 
Launch the server names before headstart (maybe 3 days or so before). Allow everyone who reserved a name to assign it to one (1) server. Then launch the game at headstart with no more reservations.
 
This satisfies your preorder name reservation marketing while allowing Wildstar to function as it should. It provides the opportunity for people to get a halfway reasonable alt name (or main) while still allowing the "winner" of the name reservation first dibs on the server of their choice. Everyone wins.
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Cougar, thank you for the transparency, the details are appreciated.
 
I would like to throw my 2 cents out, if you happen to read this, and I'm being honest here.
 
The level of transparency you all are providing isn't sustainable.  While a lot us are going to cry, kick, fart and whine about "what happened to all the things?!"
 
The fact that you all would take the time to post a couple of paragraphs would suffice. I know you and the team would do it in a heart beat.
 
With all the different pieces that need to be in place going forward, I just want you all to know, that I for one do not expect you take this much time and provide this much transparency, at such great length.
 
 
.. as odd as this may sound, I would rather you guys have less tedious things on your mind that don't pertain to launch, balancing, patches, bug fixes and connectivity.
 
I'm sure there is a large majority that would agree.
 
Thank you for all that you're doing Carbine. You're human, we all screw up. At the end of the day, did you do your best? I believe each one of you will try.
 
Thanks for all the Chuas!	
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			Honesty makes me smile regardless of the troubles you and the tech team went thru. Very few MMOs do this, but when they do its good for everyone and can bring loyalty in the right way. Off topic,... Now I have to wait n figure out what server will be good for me since I live on the east coast of the USA.	
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That said (and any attitude problem aside)  Fran has a different problem and support might (and maybe even should) help out (even if it can't happen right away)
 
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No. I meant she/he might prove that it's intentional harassing. Like if the guy that has a forum account associated with posts where he clearly said "I gonna **** over Fran because I don't like her by taking her name" and he has lvl 1 characters on all servers with that very rare (unique almost) name it would probably be enough proof and against rules of conduct and wouldn't really set any horrible precedents (if it's verifiable, which it might not be if he actually decides to lvl up one of them and if the name was anything really simple would never even be possible).
 
Proving possession over a name on the internet would be retarded and pointless just like talking about who has "the right" to it in WildStar (or anywhere else really) and you are right about all that.	
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Thanks for the feedback, pretty awesome of you guys and one of the main reasons i LOVE this game.
 
Having said that.....if you're using AWS can't we have an instance over here in Australia? :D	
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I must say of everyone here this idea has the most merit and would solve so many issues in the long run. I mean yeah a lot of people got burned by the name fiasco, but This to me sounds like one of the best viable solutions. It would solve a lot of the angry members and not burn the members that already reserved their names. 
 
Also I have to say I am very glad for Cougar and his look behind the scenes, it sounds Like you all had an epic storm to deal with, and I think you handled it as well as you could. yes there were a lot of people upset and I agree that I myself was aggravated by all the problems, but you fixed it and got things working. Still a lot of people are upset and I know a do over is not possible not at this time. Still If you do think of doing something to this nature it would fix a lot of issues the global reservation was causing.
 
I think you all have done great and I look forward to the the pre launch. Thank you for your continued transparency and I look forward to seeing everyone in game.  :)
 
Though I will add make sure the servers tell us what they are PVP PVE and what not. though I must say that, locking it to 1 server may not work as some people will want more then 1 server so they can do a PVP and a PVE based on what they are interested in. Still the idea is good and I thank you for sharing it.
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			Do you have any plans giving a a free name change after the 14 day holding period is up? I would rather have that over boom boxes. Or at the very least will Name and Guild changes be available for purchase by then?I've sent in Multiple tickets about my guild name that got griefed. Even though it is an Unique name and no other group uses the same name as us and I've provided the links to the in game guild that had 87 members in it and a link to our website with over 200 registered users and I support told me I was shit out of luck.....Star Citizen had a similar problem with their name reservation. People were Griefing names and once they showed proof that they were actively recruiting under that name they gave the guild name to the rightful owners. Why is this so hard to do over here?So please if you can't give me our rightful guild name back at least give us a free name change after the 14 day reservation hold unlocks.	
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			The global name reservation is certainly odd unless you plan on allowing EU players to transfer their accounts to NA in the future. It should have been region-specific which is enough to solve name clashes when servers inevitably merge after initial launch spike.	
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While I appreciate the apology, you still haven't "made it right."
 
You have a chance to fix this all and make everyone happy.
 
Launch the server names before headstart (maybe 3 days or so before). Allow everyone who reserved a name to assign it to one (1) server. Then launch the game at headstart with no more reservations.
 
This satisfies your preorder name reservation marketing while allowing Wildstar to function as it should. It provides the opportunity for people to get a halfway reasonable alt name (or main) while still allowing the "winner" of the name reservation first dibs on the server of their choice. Everyone wins.
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If the namechanges aren't an option, this absolutely is. Say, two days before launch, you and your friends should already have organized which server you're going to go on, and you still have your name reserved too. If you don't pick a server before that time period is up, one is randomly assigned, and the name is let go on every other server.
 
I don't know exactly how the backend of the system works, maybe this isn't even possible, but it seems almost like a better option than the namechanges would be.
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Only took about 176+77+58+26 pages. :D (not rly that idea has been going around in some form or other, but not we know why anything else wasn't possible) In fact they locked a thread about something similar (can't remember if exactly the same) to get all the feedback in one place.
 
AND
 
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if the player that previously reserved the name doesn't assign it initially, then they have the full 14 days
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To all those who have their name already locked but want another try:
You can simply set your clock to some time before you reserved your name and then hit F5. You are now free to edit your name again.
 
I hope it's not a big deal I post this here. If it were important to Carbine I guess they would have checked on the server-side. Also customer support seems to have trouble unlocking the reservation again for some folks and time is running out.
 
I guess I will post this in the general forum too.	
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You know Cougar, I love your overly-explain mode, it makes me trust you :)
 
This post should win a Guinness prize for the most honest and transparent dev team on Earth.	
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I think Jhark's post was meant to be taken as sarcasm.
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Thank you for the very detailed post of the situation Cougar. It is so pleasing to see this level of transparency and honesty from the staff at Carbine.
 
 
Personally I only had a few minutes of "What the?" moments while trying to reserve my name first from my mobile while on the bus ride home, and then at my PC once I arrived (where it worked a few minutes after trying)
 
Seeing this post of what transpired just makes me more keen to play!
 
Keep up the awesome work!	
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I bought key from Greenmangaming and it doesn't work with name reservation, it says ' purchase pre-order' even i did ( not in wildstar homepage, though)
Greenman said lots of ppl suffer same problem, and he said it's server-side problem. 
When can I reserve my name? (Maybe all good names took already) :/	
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It doesn't really matter if you can hack around it.  I just looked at the page and got 
 
Customer Service has reset the timer on your reservation. Your name is saved, but feel free to change it if needed.	
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It's good to see that you've listed the issues you faced and to be honest they seem like pretty standard issues to me and a lot of them probably could have been avoided.  Although you are working to deadlines and some things slip.  It wasn't a pretty experience but hopefully we wont see them any more and a better schedule can be put in place in terms of testing and maybe load testing (which I'm sure you did but maybe it wasn't sophisticated enough etc.) will be done a bit more.
 
Having worked on websites etc for a fair time now...you can test and test and test and never get a real scenario (especially load testing).  Would everyone have been happy to do a "test run" for them and break their site?  It's not like you get the chance to play the game...you sit there trying to type your in game name into a website.  I highly doubt 70% of people playing would have done that and then it doesn't become a real test.
 
People are basically asking them to rush in some development as a quick fix which will possibly break everything completely and then you'll be the first to start shouting about how it's a failure.
 
I'd suggest we all accept it was a mishap and let Carbine use their brains/initiative and see what they come up with.  They are aware people are unsatisfied and they are aware the name registrations went bang in their faces.  The last thing we need is for them to be driven by us players to attempt to fix it by developing something that goes bang again.  They know their capabilities and timescales, let them decide what is a suitable approaach.	
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I bought key from Greenmangaming and it doesn't work with name reservation, it says ' purchase pre-order' even i did ( not in wildstar homepage, though)
Greenman said lots of ppl suffer same problem, and he said it's server-side problem. 
When can I reserve my name? (Maybe all good names took already) :/
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I bought key from Greenmangaming and it doesn't work with name reservation, it says ' purchase pre-order' even i did ( not in wildstar homepage, though)
Greenman said lots of ppl suffer same problem, and he said it's server-side problem. 
When can I reserve my name? (Maybe all good names took already) :/
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The explanation is welcome but didnt you all bother to read what players were saying? If you have bother to listen to us you would not have to make an apology, LISTEN TO YOUR PLAYERS, no all are well intended but many of us have been around this circus for many years and now what works and what does not. Many of us warned you time after time but you disregarded our opinions a a the opinions of foolish children who dont know any better.
 
Listen to your player base and you will make a successful game, ignore us and your game will end in the bin of trash sooner than later.
 
I know no all the players have the best intentions and come here to just be negative, disregard those and listen to the ones who care about the game, the developers and the company.	
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Actually, in The Secret World, you can see the first, last and nickname on the nameplates. For someone who doesn't want to see people with the same names, you'd think the fact that you can see "Jon 'Snow' Snow," "Jon 'Stark' Snow" and "Jon '*cupcake*' Snow" running around would be a bigger issue than seeing people with the same first name and different last name.
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			Overall horrible crisis management was not addressed.	
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[...]
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It doesn't really matter if you can hack around it.  I just looked at the page and got 
 
Customer Service has reset the timer on your reservation. Your name is saved, but feel free to change it if needed.
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While I appreciate the apology, you still haven't "made it right."
 
You have a chance to fix this all and make everyone happy.
 
Launch the server names before headstart (maybe 3 days or so before). Allow everyone who reserved a name to assign it to one (1) server. Then launch the game at headstart with no more reservations.
 
This satisfies your preorder name reservation marketing while allowing Wildstar to function as it should. It provides the opportunity for people to get a halfway reasonable alt name (or main) while still allowing the "winner" of the name reservation first dibs on the server of their choice. Everyone wins.
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I really hate to add fuel to this fire but...
 
I just went to the name reservation page and I had a message that customer service had reset my timers and I had to re-save my names.  My names were pre-filled so it might not be that big a deal but just wanted to give a heads up.	
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I really hate to add fuel to this fire but...
 
I just went to the name reservation page and I had a message that customer service had reset my timers and I had to re-save my names.  My names were pre-filled so it might not be that big a deal but just wanted to give a heads up.
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			Thanks, I figured my names were safe but just wanted to let people know.	
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			Thank you for taking responsibility and letting us know about some of the problems.  While autoflagellation can be a healthy catharsis, I would also be interested to know if the people that did reserve names just to have something will be allowed free name changes once Early Start goes live.  This is not a personal question as I was one of the fortunate few to get one of the 2 names that I hoped for (at least, if the check function was working, I did).	
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Still one Question unanswered.
 
What will our community managers or the dev whos job it is when it comes back to "stolen" guildnames? Is there some sort of policy covering this or is it bad luck for guilds to get theire name stolen by some troll who has nothing better to do then do stuff like this? After all there is no problem if you dont want to put work into that matter but after all i would fit into the whole reservation chaos and migh be a realistic image of the community work we can expect in the future.
 
Some insight would be nice.	
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			I'm not too happy with it.  I lost my name that I have in every single MMO I play.  I even have it as my forum name here.  Really curious who took it.  Quite annoying.	
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We know that there are people out there frustrated with the poor experience and just randomly typed in letters, that we are incorrectly blocking names with “ss” (and a few other letter combinations), and that there are people who were sharing computers whose session token wasn’t correctly clearing between users, causing names to be saved on the wrong accounts.
 
We will do what we can to help users resolve their problems. Our support team should have all the tools they need to help you change “Asdfssdf” to whatever name that is still available to you.
 
 
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Still one Question unanswered.
 
What will our community managers or the dev whos job it is when it comes back to "stolen" guildnames? Is there some sort of policy covering this or is it bad luck for guilds to get theire name stolen by some troll who has nothing better to do then do stuff like this? After all there is no problem if you dont want to put work into that matter but after all i would fit into the whole reservation chaos and migh be a realistic image of the community work we can expect in the future.
 
Some insight would be nice.
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			The transparancy is nice, however, once we create our characters, will the names be free for other people on other realms? 	
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I really hate to add fuel to this fire but...
 
I just went to the name reservation page and I had a message that customer service had reset my timers and I had to re-save my names.  My names were pre-filled so it might not be that big a deal but just wanted to give a heads up.
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The transparancy is nice, however, once we create our characters, will the names be free for other people on other realms? 
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READ THIS http://www.reddit.com/r/WildStar/comments/260x3r/psa_name_reservation_timers_have_been_reset/
 
 
1) make sure you are loged in with your account (specially if you share a pc with someone else that has one from NCsoft) - to make sure clear cache or open a private browsing tab in Mozilla (Ctrl+Shift+P)
2) use verification link http://rest.wildstar-online.com/api/gnpnr to see what name you have saved atm
3) if it's fine (has your character and guild name, and either null or numbers after)  DO NOTHING ELSE (don't even go on name reservation page) OR
4) if you want to change it (they fixed names with "ss" not going through and the like) or it's not fine then change it from name reservation page again and re-re-re-recheck above link then leave it alone and relax cuz it's saved
**names get saved/edited when you click save and get timer not after it runs out, the previous errors where you got timer and it didn't save should be gone, but that is why you check again with link after editing
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Every one makes mistakes.
 
It's how well you rectify those mistakes is what counts.	
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I feel for you. My guild was worried about the same thing happening to us due to some of our past love-hate relationships with opposing faction guilds. However, I think it would be extremely difficult to prove that someone "stole" a guild name or character name. This person who saved you guild name could argue they have used it since the first EverQuest. How would Carbine be able to judge who "stole" a name just to be a jerk, versus someone who really intends to use the name and reserved it first?
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I appreciate explanations and as a project manager for website, I kinda know what you went through. Although, my customers don't make 150-pages threads with complaints, so it's nowhere near you guys.
 
However, I still think that boomboxes were inadequate compensation. It would be great solution if servers were down for 3h in unscheduled time. Not for this, I'm not saying it was your intention, but it felt like 'shut up and take boomboxes'. If I ever had to think about compensation, I'd go towards, 10-days of game time - but this would be tons of cash for you, so even though it would probably shut up everyone, I understand commercial reasons behind it. So, something that won't cost you thousands of dollars, well, what people mentioned, free name change token. Throw some brilliant title relating to this historic event/failure as well? Or mix it with marketing, reward people with special friend keys that will be longer than ordinary keys (allowing to test game before actually buying it, of course). Or, take all reserved names and EVE-style, create a monument in game with those names on it. That would be epic, but I'm not sure if people who lost their name in the process would be so happy with it. :-)
 
 
Now, devs, u listen? Make Wildstar smoothest launch ever, in the MMO history. I dare you. I know you'll try to achieve it anyway, but try harder. If you ask us to test shit, we'll test it. Because, in the end, a lot us care about this game. We'll ddos you again, for free! ^_^	
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Simple thing for guildnames. There are simple ways to see if ppl only block the names just for theire fun. First of all you could ask the person, secondly you will see it ingame if those ppl form the guild asap ingame. If there are two guilds who wants to call themself "Spacecowboys" and one guild comes first np. If there is a guil that has the same name since years that noone else had we come to a point where one person sabotaged another guild willingly. At best this will only be 3-4 klicks and might take up to hours. I'm only intrested if carbine want to flat out the faults they did or just tell us some blabla and tell us "Shit happens fark off!" because everybody think it's great they tell us what happend and thats it. It's good they tell us what problems occured but if they don't want to level out those faults this is only blabla and hot air without a real impact.
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Judging by Cougar's response, it doesn't seem likely that an expiring name change token is feasible due to budgetary and/or time constraints.  But that doesn't mean it may never happen but by the time a system is setup, it will be too late for most players. I also think they cannot change anything they announced before the reservation system launched (ie 14 day lockout, global reservations) due to legal reasons.  So (assuming all I stated is true) that doesn't leave many options.  Now I am understanding why they gave out boom boxes...
 
If everything I said is fact then I am going to make another suggestion...which sadly also may not be feasible.  It's not great and certainly not ideal but better than the status quo.  I am only suggesting this option if we are stuck with the status quo.  What I am suggesting still requires a name change token and should also include a server transfer as well.  It can happen after the 17th but it has to happen.
 
I am suggesting when the lockout date hits on the 17th, all unused reserved names are freed.  That's obvious but I also want to add that ANY CREATED CHARACTER LESS THAN LEVEL 10 WITH RESERVED NAMES can lose their names within a certain amount of time (say a day or two).  Now some trolls and some people who REALLY want to have their name on every server will roll a character up and level them.  We can't do much about that.  But I venture to guess that most will just level a few here and there and concentrate on leveling their main character on their main server.  This will hopefully allow more names to be freed up so others can grab them.  Then once name change tokens and server transfers are given, they can make the switch if they wish.  This also applies to guild names.
 
It's not the best solution but if we don't have many options, I think this is better than nothing.	
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I am suggesting when the lockout date hits on the 17th, all unused reserved names are freed.  That's obvious but I also want to add that ANY CREATED CHARACTER LESS THAN LEVEL 10 WITH RESERVED NAMES can lose their names within a certain amount of time (say a day or two).  Now some trolls and some people who REALLY want to have their name on every server will roll a character up and level them.  We can't do much about that.  But I venture to guess that most will just level a few here and there and concentrate on leveling their main character on their main server.  This will hopefully allow more names to be freed up so others can grab them.  Then once name change tokens and server transfers are given, they can make the switch if they wish.  This also applies to guild names.
 
It's not the best solution but if we don't have many options, I think this is better than nothing.
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Judging by Cougar's response, it doesn't seem likely that an expiring name change token is feasible due to budgetary and/or time constraints.  But that doesn't mean it may never happen but by the time a system is setup, it will be too late for most players. I also think they cannot change anything they announced before the reservation system launched (ie 14 day lockout, global reservations) due to legal reasons.  So (assuming all I stated is true) that doesn't leave many options.  Now I am understanding why they gave out boom boxes...
 
If everything I said is fact then I am going to make another suggestion...which sadly also may not be feasible.  It's not great and certainly not ideal but better than the status quo.  I am only suggesting this option if we are stuck with the status quo.  What I am suggesting still requires a name change token and should also include a server transfer as well.  It can happen after the 17th but it has to happen.
 
I am suggesting when the lockout date hits on the 17th, all unused reserved names are freed.  That's obvious but I also want to add that ANY CREATED CHARACTER LESS THAN LEVEL 10 WITH RESERVED NAMES can lose their names within a certain amount of time (say a day or two).  Now some trolls and some people who REALLY want to have their name on every server will roll a character up and level them.  We can't do much about that.  But I venture to guess that most will just level a few here and there and concentrate on leveling their main character on their main server.  This will hopefully allow more names to be freed up so others can grab them.  Then once name change tokens and server transfers are given, they can make the switch if they wish.  This also applies to guild names.
 
It's not the best solution but if we don't have many options, I think this is better than nothing.
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@Stumbleina and @MadBlue
 
I appreciate the feedback.  I got my first name choice but I can empathize with others who missed out so I'm just trying to help out.  As I stated, the last suggestion I made is if other better options are off the table (ie name change tokens available right away, server name reservations instead of global...etc).  I still think it's better than not doing anything at all.
 
As for Stumbleina's concerns about players losing names...I don't think it's a big deal as long are people are notified.  If the lockout stands as it is, that means people who pre-ordered the game (and really, this fiasco only affects them), have 20 full days to roll a character and level them to 10.  If they can't do that in 20 days, they are outliers and shouldn't be a main consideration when a change could benefit so many more.  I just don't see a whole slew of people not playing in the first month, especially since the first month doesn't require a sub fee.  In 20 days, if you are a player who plans to sub, you will have most likely found a server you like and have leveled characters you wish to keep.
 
Also, freeing names of characters under level 10 has precedent in other MMOs and they worked well.  City of Heroes comes to mind.  They freed up every name that was being held by characters less than level 10 after 6 months.  People didn't complain, instead they leveled ones they wanted to keep. I think in Wildstar's case, due to extenuating circumstances, some more immediate measures need to take effect.
 
And MadBlue, I got the impression that Carbine does not have time or resources to offer names changes right away or even soon.  That was an ideal fix but what if that's not possible?  I'm just offering an alternative even though it's weak.
 
Again, it's not a great solution.  Heck it may not even be a good solution but I still think it's better than what we have right now.  At any rate, I enjoy the debate and trying to work out a solution.	
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			How long does it take to receive the serial code? I pre-ordered yesterday.	
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As for Stumbleina's concerns about players losing names...I don't think it's a big deal as long are people are notified.  If the lockout stands as it is, that means people who pre-ordered the game (and really, this fiasco only affects them), have 20 full days to roll a character and level them to 10.  If they can't do that in 20 days, they are outliers and shouldn't be a main consideration when a change could benefit so many more. 
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I absolutely, vehemently disagree with this statement.
Just because someone doesn't play X amount of time in X amount of days, by no means should mean they are worth less to Carbine than anyone else.  Your play style is not everyone's play style, and to make arbitrary rules on who is more important than others is, quite frankly, getting in the realm of being offensive.
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I absolutely, vehemently disagree with this statement.
Just because someone doesn't play X amount of time in X amount of days, by no means should that mean they are worth less to Carbine than anyone else.  Your play style is not everyone's play style, and to make arbitrary rules on who is more important than others is, quite frankly, getting in the realm of being offensive.
 
Everyone pays the same amount per account to play this game, and no one should be singled out or given less benefit of that subscription or the purchase of the game based on time played.  That's just absurd.
 
Giving someone 6 months to level whatever characters they want to keep to 10, sure.  But doing it in the first month the game is released?  Absolutely not.
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I absolutely, vehemently disagree with this statement.
Just because someone doesn't play X amount of time in X amount of days, by no means should that mean they are worth less to Carbine than anyone else.  Your play style is not everyone's play style, and to make arbitrary rules on who is more important than others is, quite frankly, getting in the realm of being offensive.
 
Everyone pays the same amount per account to play this game, and no one should be singled out or given less benefit of that subscription or the purchase of the game based on time played.  That's just absurd.
 
Giving someone 6 months to level whatever characters they want to keep to 10, sure.  But doing it in the first month the game is released?  Absolutely not.
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So during the chaos I managed to go through the process and reserve a character name and a guild name.
 
How do I know if I still have the names reserved?	
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What I am stating is, I think 20 days is ample time to make a character and get them to level 10.  I find it a bit ironic that the same people who rushed to get their names reserved would be the type who would wait almost a month to play the game.  
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So during the chaos I managed to go through the process and reserve a character name and a guild name.
 
How do I know if I still have the names reserved?
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So during the chaos I managed to go through the process and reserve a character name and a guild name.
 
How do I know if I still have the names reserved?
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You seem to be missing my very first post in this conversation, explaining just one situation that one person could possibly fall into that meets this exact requirement.  This is just one.  Honestly, it seems really incredibly judgmental of you at this point to make statements like the above.  You're trying to find a reasonable solution "for all" and yet you are blindly ignoring examples (that could very well be widespread) as if they are ridiculous when they aren't.
 
Clearly the best solution is free name changes, this is something that has been accepted all around.  Carbine has indicated that this is not possible for shortly after release, but it doesn't necessarily mean it won't ever be possible.  This is the solution we should be perusing as a community.
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{| class="blockquote"
 If an action negatively impacts a group of players, then surely we should have reset the name reservation system and restarted it. 
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Don't get stuck in the past SpectralHunter.
 
Endlessly saying they should have done A/B/C doesn't fix what happened. (this has already been gone over about a billion times in posts over the last week or so)
 
Come launch everyone can play the name lottery game again. Ill be pleasantly surprised if the servers work fine from day 1, but I wont hold my breath. 
 
Also if people are honest we all know they aren't going to make just 1 character at launch, many are going to create multiple lvl 1 toons just to tie up names they think they might want at some point down the line.	
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{| class="blockquote"
Good lord, do not start this again.
 
 
 
 
Everyone was affected by it.
 
If names were to be reset, it needed to happen the first day, if at all.
Short answer: I am quite against a name reservation reset.  If you need to know why, there are plenty of conversations in this and the Apology thread that explain in great detail why such a change at any point after the first day (and even during, depending on how you look at it) are simply not an option.
 
Listen.
There's no solution that is going to please everyone.
Some people, for whatever their reasons, would still be against free name changes, even if they were left unaffected.  This is just how the world works.  Nothing is going to make 100% of the people happy.  Free name changes are, however, the best solution we have.  Every other idea that I have seen would punish more people than were negatively affected by the name reservation issues.  I believe your suggested 'solution' falls into this category for the exact same reasons I have cited several times before that a name reservation reset would fail catastrophically. 
 
Even if they can never allow free name changes, not having anything other than the 5 boom boxes would be a better 'solution' to what you have suggested because your suggestion would punish more people just to maybe alleviate the name reservation issues for the people that had them.  And this is just a maybe.  You'd be gambling with a sure thing for a possibility that still likely wouldn't end up fixing anything, and anyone can see why - especially for a video gaming company attempting to recover from some negative PR - this would not be a good decision.
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{| class="blockquote"
Don't get stuck in the past SpectralHunter.
 
Endlessly saying they should have done A/B/C doesn't fix what happened. (this has already been gone over about a billion times in posts over the last week or so)
 
Come launch everyone can play the name lottery game again. Ill be pleasantly surprised if the servers work fine from day 1, but I wont hold my breath. 
 
Also if people are honest we all know they aren't going to make just 1 character at launch, many are going to create multiple lvl 1 toons just to tie up names they think they might want at some point down the line.
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On the pluss side its a memorable event. Years from now when Wildstar is well established and they are throwing name changes at new players like flyers, we can sit back on our custom house porch's sipping Wrong Turn Cowboy Beer and reminisce about the reservation day madness. 
 
 :D	
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{| class="blockquote"
On the pluss side its a memorable event. Years from now when Wildstar is well established and they are throwing name changes at new players like flyers, we can sit back on our custom house porch's sipping Wrong Turn Cowboy Beer and reminisce about the reservation day madness. 
 
 :D
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			Yesterday I was able to log on and couldn't decide which NAME to secure, since all 12 names i wanted still came up available.  Also  9 out of the 11 guild names i wanted to reserve were available. A week later and I still had all the names i want available to me. funny thing is i actually had to "try"  the most generic pop names in order to get the message, "not available". Taking a name of an existing character from some existing material, and then being surprised you were not the first one to think of doing that, well no wonder your angry. Did you think you were the only one in the world who could "steal" a name and try to claim it as your own.	
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			And this is one of many reasons why I'm quite sure I will be playing Wildstar for a  long time to come.  Wonderful breakdown Cougar, thank you for the ultimate in transparency.  I have never experienced this level of it in any game, from it's employees, and frankly it makes me very happy.  I will continue to tell everyone that is not playing this game that they are missing out!	
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While I agree it's nice to see that transparency, waiting 14 days to create your main is just absurd. It's not even a common used name in my case. I just got very unlucky someone decided to take it. You can be sure it will be avalaible on my server in 14 days. 
 
Except that's the character I'm supposed to be raiding with. And I'm really attached to this name, as I always used it for this very character roleplay/background. It really sucks hard.	
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{| class="blockquote"
While I agree it's nice to see that transparency, waiting 14 days to create your main is just absurd. It's not even a common used name in my case. I just got very unlucky someone decided to take it. You can be sure it will be avalaible on my server in 14 days. 
 
Except that's the character I'm supposed to be raiding with. And I'm really attached to this name, as I always used it for this very character roleplay/background. It really sucks hard.
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			Well yeah, I suppose I'll do that. And pray for a "name changing" feature to be released at some point. :(	
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I just appreciate being able to get an explanation on anything that's going on.
Normally, most companies just say they are fixing a problem, not what it is, nor why its taking time to do.
 
So, telling us what your doing, and how hard your trying to fix an issue, is a most welcome change.
Keep up the great work guys! =)	
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Having been in similar situations on occasion during my career, I can sympathise that it ends up being a 50/50 judgment call somebody has to make whether to keep a failing service up or bring it down.  On the one hand, as noted in the OP, some registrations were actually getting through, so the temptation to leave it up would have been huge.  On the other hand, it would also have been fair to wipe all names and advertise a new date for the name registration process to be restarted afresh a few days later.  Both have good and bad consequences, so it's just a judgment call.  The hope would be that this experience leads to someone thinking long and hard about how to avoid something similar on game launch day.  I have to say, if Wildstar can launch without the typical MMO launch day shenanigans (the holy grail of MMO ops!), it will do wonders for word of mouth marketing.
 
Re the actual names, if you take the passion and frustration out of the situation, ultimately those people who missed out on names were just as likely to have missed out on them even if the service was running perfectly the entire time.  Obviously the fact their name is now "taken" means they would have been competing against at least one other person for the name, and in such a race somebody is going to lose.  That will always happen with "often used" names.  If you missed out on your preferred name this might be a good chance to reboot your MMO life with a new and unique name you can use in all other games without worrying about someone taking it.  Remember, once upon a time nobody knew the name "Google", now it's probably the most recognised name on the planet :)  You can forge your own name the same way.	
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{| class="blockquote"
Having been in similar situations on occasion during my career, I can sympathise that it ends up being a 50/50 judgment call somebody has to make whether to keep a failing service up or bring it down.  On the one hand, as noted in the OP, some registrations were actually getting through, so the temptation to leave it up would have been huge.  On the other hand, it would also have been fair to wipe all names and advertise a new date for the name registration process to be restarted afresh a few days later.  Both have good and bad consequences, so it's just a judgment call.  The hope would be that this experience leads to someone thinking long and hard about how to avoid something similar on game launch day.  I have to say, if Wildstar can launch without the typical MMO launch day shenanigans (the holy grail of MMO ops!), it will do wonders for word of mouth marketing.
 
Re the actual names, if you take the passion and frustration out of the situation, ultimately those people who missed out on names were just as likely to have missed out on them even if the service was running perfectly the entire time.  Obviously the fact their name is now "taken" means they would have been competing against at least one other person for the name, and in such a race somebody is going to lose.  That will always happen with "often used" names.  If you missed out on your preferred name this might be a good chance to reboot your MMO life with a new and unique name you can use in all other games without worrying about someone taking it.  Remember, once upon a time nobody knew the name "Google", now it's probably the most recognised name on the planet :)  You can forge your own name the same way.
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So Cougar mentioned a way to change your saved name from random letters to an actual name. I looked on the support page but could not find a link or number to call. Can one of you fine forum attendees help a brother out? 
 
I would like to change the following - {"character":"djkchdyu","guild":"Wildstar currently blows","tte":{"character":null,"guild":null}}
 
The guild name was created out of frustration. Just an FYI.
 
Thanks for the help.	
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			Awesome read...thanks Cougar/Carbine...looking forward to this game sooooooooooo much!!!	
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{| class="blockquote"
So Cougar mentioned a way to change your saved name from random letters to an actual name. I looked on the support page but could not find a link or number to call. Can one of you fine forum attendees help a brother out? 
 
I would like to change the following - {"character":"djkchdyu","guild":"Wildstar currently blows","tte":{"character":null,"guild":null}}
 
The guild name was created out of frustration. Just an FYI.
 
Thanks for the help.
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Thank you Aieny! 
 
The null thing made perfect sense. I didnt even notice it.	
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			I told you guys not to use the obamacare website! but did you listen?!	
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I'm sorry I only made it through the first few pages but I have a question I did not find--
 
With all the name reservations mine were understandably all taken I came days late to the party and yes I agree a server basis would have been better. Just two cents, already said, moving on--
 
My question being when someone who reserved a name that I would like creates a toon... do they still have that 14 days of free reign over the name on every server out there or does it sort of... burn the reserve once they've got the one on their server of choice? 	
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{| class="blockquote"
I told you guys not to use the obamacare website! but did you listen?!
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{| class="blockquote"
I'm sorry I only made it through the first few pages but I have a question I did not find--
 
With all the name reservations mine were understandably all taken I came days late to the party and yes I agree a server basis would have been better. Just two cents, already said, moving on--
 
My question being when someone who reserved a name that I would like creates a toon... do they still have that 14 days of free reign over the name on every server out there or does it sort of... burn the reserve once they've got the one on their server of choice? 
----
			I see, that's a bummer. But thank you for the clarification!	
----
			Thank you for the clarification. I appreciate the way you guys are being open and honest, it's great to know the why behind the situation.	
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I think at this point in time we can all blame Pya :P. 
 
Once again though, thank you for the transparency, sure the community wanted this feedback as it was happening, but the reality is you can't be explaining the problem to teams, finding a solution (or the cause) and explaining that problem to your customers all at the same time.  As bas as Tuesday was, I believe it would of been worse if we'd had a constant tweets of 'rebooting - f*ck it didn't work' 'trying option B - f*ck it didn't work' as it just looks too unprofessional.  
 
At least you guys don't need to worry about popularity anymore right? 	
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Would it be possible to release non-region names before head start? So any reserved names tied to an NA account would be available at head start for EU players and vice versa?
 
That would open up a lot of names without adding any additional restrictions to the person who reserved the name.	
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{| class="blockquote"
 
Would it be possible to release non-region names before head start? So any reserved names tied to an NA account would be available at head start for EU players and vice versa?
----
			I missed the post on the 19th but reading it now. Thanks for the post Cougar.	
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{| class="blockquote"
I see, that's a bummer. But thank you for the clarification!
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So no feedback on my question so far, great job. At least i know what the future holds ;) . On the other hand a bit of feedback from my side:
 
You still count "Name reservation" as a preorder  bonus. Name reservation was done on the 23rd so you might better get rid of this because it's a creepy joke you still state this after you shut it down. Hopefully noone runs to the office of consumer protection or tell this to mmo or review pages because this might result in some laughs. Guys fix this pls ;).	
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We already know you got our money already, but doesn't mean we don't understand. as always you keep us in track like this, we will be holding you, don't worry.
 
Really thanks for the hard work and the exhaustive explanation. 	
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			Hmmm I cant get to the name reservation page..... And I currently have the wrong name saved.  They said they would reset it so I could go again but cant get to the page so that is awkward...	
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{| class="blockquote"
Hmmm I cant get to the name reservation page..... And I currently have the wrong name saved.  They said they would reset it so I could go again but cant get to the page so that is awkward...
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			So now that the reservation website is down is there a way of rechecking which character name/ guid name has been saved on our accounts?	
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			I, as a player, GREATLY appreciate the honesty and the transparency! It's a breathe of fresh air when compared to how other game companies act. It is a big deal to do what you have done here in this thread, and it has earned Carbine as a whole a lot of respect and loyalty from me. Good job. 	
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I appreciate the very detailed post. It felt like I was reading a Clancy novel! The gesture is very much appreciated. I wrote an extensive post on this topic that seemed to resonate with some in the community (found at the bottom of this post). I think that many of the things that I brought up were addressed. However, in your (OP) very candid post, you admit to throwing things together adhoc. I mean, it sounds like the team's heart was in the right place, but as someone who deals with complex logistics issues everyday, it seemed like a lot of this could have been prevented. Im not meaning to put salt in the wound, I think you all are doing a great job, for the most part. I just hope lessons were also learned along the lines of proactive prevention vs management by reaction. The last one is a massive pain and that fellow Murphy tends to appear a lot. I also hope creating and sticking to a central point of information disbursement happens, as that could have calmed a lot of nerves. But likeI said, I appreciate the very detailed post. Best of luck for a great launch!
 
 
https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/45536-if-the-devs-are-listening-is-true-then-listen-now/  	
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			I never got any indication or news or an email or anything about name reservation. I checked on here just now to see when it was.. so am i basically out of luck and just have to wait till release and hope for the best?	
----
			Yes, and the "best" is looking pretty grim (depending on how common the name is) since it's global reservation with over 500k preorders. Waiting until June 17th and spam log-in button (in game) after the maintenance is over (not sure if they have fixed hours when they finish and turn it back on) is gonna be the best chance to get the name if it's taken atm (but still won't be great since there are only 3 English speaking realms if you don't count RP servers).	
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			now i reserved my name and guild name but how do i check up to make sure i gotta em now the reserve page is closed. do i just log in tonight and they will let me start my char with the name?	
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{| class="blockquote"
Yes, and the "best" is looking pretty grim (depending on how common the name is) since it's global reservation with over 500k preorders. Waiting until June 17th and spam log-in button (in game) after the maintenance is over (not sure if they have fixed hours when they finish and turn it back on) is gonna be the best chance to get the name if it's taken atm (but still won't be great since there are only 3 English speaking realms if you don't count RP servers).
----
			So it seems my name reservation didn't work, even though I got the timer when I reserved it :(	
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{| class="blockquote"
So it seems my name reservation didn't work, even though I got the timer when I reserved it :(
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			I DO NOT ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY !  I waited to register my name, waited again, waited again when it was pushed back,, FINALLY,, got it registered "Astara" and screen shot the damn thing, only to finally,, and I mean finally log in to create my character and , get this "THAT NAME IS UNAVAILABLE".. I want the pre order money and the month you charged on both accounts back. This is BS. YOU have to know from research, and I am sure you did your research, of all the pitfalls,, such as happened with Everquest, and World of Warcraft. There IS NO excuse. I want every damn penny back. IN FACT LOOK AT MY PROFILE PIC ! and as soon as I post this I am going to go to photo bucket and get you a url for the screenshot of my name	
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let me guess another "oops" ,,,	
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{| class="blockquote"
So it seems my name reservation didn't work, even though I got the timer when I reserved it :(
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 <_<
not impressed,	
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Holy shit, this level of transparency is unheard of in the gaming industry. The industry as a whole could take a page from the play book of carbine.
 
I bought the deluxe based on this thread alone, I mean don't get me wrong, the game has had my interest for a long time, but I was literally shocked by the transparency.
 
Looking forward to what lies ahead =D. See everyone in game!	
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{| class="blockquote"
 
I WANT MY  MONEY BACK ! ALL OF IT ! WHEN YOUR DEV's AND ADMINS GROW UP " literally meaning to on par with FF ARR, WOW and EQ" maybe I MIGHT play again, but I doubt it., HERE IS THE SCREENSHOT OF MY NAME REGISTRATION ! I WAITED ALL DAY,  ALL THE PUSH BACK TIMES,, TO REGISTER IT<< now I get "oops that name is unavailable"  EFF OFF !,, TWO ACCOUNTS,,, TWO PRE ORDERS from BEFORE BETA PLAY !  AND THE MONEY YOU CHARGED MY BANK FOR  THIS MONTH,, I try to play for fun and you, are making it not worth the hassle !.. I intend to paste this pic everywhere,, and blog it... everywhere..
 
 
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			 <_<	
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{| class="blockquote"
 
I WANT MY  MONEY BACK ! ALL OF IT ! WHEN YOUR DEV's AND ADMINS GROW UP " literally meaning to on par with FF ARR, WOW and EQ" maybe I MIGHT play again, but I doubt it., HERE IS THE SCREENSHOT OF MY NAME REGISTRATION ! I WAITED ALL DAY,  ALL THE PUSH BACK TIMES,, TO REGISTER IT<< now I get "oops that name is unavailable"  EFF OFF !,, TWO ACCOUNTS,,, TWO PRE ORDERS from BEFORE BETA PLAY !  AND THE MONEY YOU CHARGED MY BANK FOR  THIS MONTH,, I try to play for fun and you, are making it not worth the hassle !.. I intend to paste this pic everywhere,, and blog it... everywhere..
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{| class="blockquote"
That "Editable for: ??" under your name means the name hasn't been successfully saved.
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Alright folks, feedback and discussion is great, but as soon as it turns personal, not so much. Please keep in mind that this does go against our code of conduct.
 
- Team WildStar	
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I like to Thank You for the time you guys have taken to keep us all informed of what happened and how you combated the issues to get us all in game :)
 
Even if your game wasn't as awesome as it is, you guys as a team would sell it to me LOL I have never experianced such communication from another MMO ....so big UPS to you all :)
 
 
See everyone in game! once I'm thru the queue! :)	
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{| class="blockquote"
actually it was,, that "" ??" means you can change it for sixty minutes after registering..Again, if they had not offered the name registration, this wouldn't be an issue. What is an issue is the number of fumbles from the get go., Maybe a few bugs in beta, but their servers crashing again and again, the log in queue times, thats bs. I just want the near two hundred bucks I paid for the full ride. They got into this business. and after a few snafu's should have expected it, especially with the launch. They either didn't expect it or didn't care, so long as your paying they don't care. I have had enough, you play a game for fun and to get out of real life,, not put up with people who aren't up to the task of putting together a reliable mmo. If you can't deliver, don't promise it. They have yet to deliver, anything. I would rather take the money spent on this fiasco and put it towards other games that DO deliver.
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			Here's some more information about the Name Reservation issue on reddit. This was a really big thing when it happened. It was all over the forums, as there was a lot of confusion over what the ?? meant.	
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{| class="blockquote"
Unfortunately, that "Editable for: ??" under your name means the name hasn't been successfully saved. :(
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{| class="blockquote"
Same thing happened to my bf. The hotfix says it was caused by changing your email address but he never did that. 
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{| class="blockquote"
The problem I'm seeing with this is that people reserved the name they had on their beta account and for some reason the names of the characters in the beta are not cleared. The characters are there but the names are still there so when you try to redeem your name you cannot due to the fact you can't have two of the same name.
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{| class="blockquote"
Happening to me as well.
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			Dont worry when they fix the issue carbine will sell you a name change for $20	
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Cougar,
 
Bringing an RFO for a Carine production service directly to your customers, with a graceful tone for the gaming audience and the technical grit for your fellow operations and systems engineers, is very much cause for adding the additional catch phrase: "The engineers are listening". The only thing that excites me more than gaming is listening to a fellow Operations Director explain his production environment with such detail that I feel as if I'm right there assisting your team with the incident. I loved following along guessing at fixes to the problems you stated and then checked to see how you and your team handled it.
 
I was in game last night noticing some lag and You jumped into world chat acknowledging the service degradation and what the fix is for your customers sake. This light me up with joy as it is a rare occurrence for the Operations Director to not only be so forthcoming about his environment internally, but to his customer as well. 
 
I have a major man crush right now, let me finish.
 
You inspire me in my day to day job to be like you and your team. Your CIO must feel very secure with you in command. Please continue to publish these for your fellow ops guys out listening out here.
 
-Admirably,
Fellow Operations Guys
 
P.S: How much C.R.E.D.D would it cost me to have you show me your production environment? :) I imagine I'd learn quite a bit. Who knows, perhaps I can suggest some optimization opportunities!	
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{| class="blockquote"
Dont worry when they fix the issue carbine will sell you a name change for $20
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{| class="blockquote"
And this is indeed what has happened :(  $19.99 name change in the store, and no free name changes for all those people affected by their name screwups on launch day.
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{| class="blockquote"
bleevo posted that after the name change service went live (it wasn't a prediction). I agree that people who pre-ordered should get a free name change token, but I have to wonder just how many people weren't actually able to get any names they wanted. I had expected the forums to explode with complaints about every name people wanted being taken during Head Start and Launch, and that just didn't happen. Going by that, it seems the frustration that Name Reservation caused once the game actually launched was a lot lower than expected. The same with the cost of name change. The forums haven't exactly been lighting up with complaints about that either - at least not to the extent that it would if tens of thousands of people were dissatisfied with the availability of their names and were planning on changing them on the 17th.
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