So, How Many Names Did You Lose?

I worked really hard to ensure i had the best possible chance of getting the names i had pre-selected prior to launch (in fact the same names i have always used throughout my long MMO history).
BW stated that the earlier you pre-order the earlier you will gain access and therefore the better the chances of getting the names you want. So i pre-ordered immediately, i booked the time off work for early access and my preparation paid off, i got each of the names i wanted and was overjoyed!

All that has been undone with this server transfer bungle
Hydian Way (one of the first few early access servers created) has been designated an Origin server and the Destination server has none of the names I worked so hard to get.
You can say im sad, you can go on about how it's just a name etc, i dont care, it means something to me, it's a huge part of my toons identity and i refuse to use stupid alt characters or foreign letters to try and give the appearance of the name which has now been lost.

I WILL NOT MOVE!

If forced transfers are the next move I promise you right now that as your customer will take my business elsewhere.

BW you have for the first time truly disappointed me with this lack of forethought!
Why could you have not altered the naming system, to cater of this sort of naming conflict!?
You knew that server merges where on the cards after you created far too many servers post launch !
Again, not that you give a damn, I am really annoyed over this!

I lost my main char name which has about 30 days invested playtime to a lvl14 char. Lost one alt name too.

The real thing about this whole char renaming issue is not the fact that you had to rename some or all of your chars, its another thing which in fact makes me really upset.

This "free char transfer" service is de iure (legally) a voluntary service, but de facto (effectively) a mandatory thing. Mandatory because you couldnt play the game in a proper way even before the transfers (due to messed up management decisions by BW), but after the transfers there definitely is no way to play this MMO as a massively multiplayer game on an abandoned server. So if you think of this whole transfer as a mandatory service where in fact some kind of super servers are created, then this "free char transfer" service is effectively a SERVER MERGE.

Now the problem with letting this be named a char transfer service by the PR department caused a much bigger issue than just trying to deceive the community, it in fact led to it that BW - at least from a legal pov - had not to implement a char renaming policy because "its a player's free decision to transfer and lose his beloved name". Under renaming policy i mean some simple rules which ensure that someone with over 1 month playtime on a char doesnt have to lose his name because of another char with some hours of playtime or even a totally abandoned 5-6th alt char of someone, which is just not fair.

If this had been called a SERVER MERGE service, than there would have been no way to avoid the implementation of a renaming policy.

So for me thats the real issue about this whole renaming debate. I personally am deeply frustrated and disappointed by the way BW handled this whole issue with a simple "first come first serve" rule. This would be fine if this whole transfer thing wouldnt have been mandatory (de facto)... BW could have made this work, but they decided to not care about names, in a game where its all about "personal" story and becoming attached to your char...

I probably cancel my sub and look for another game which hopefully honors day 1 players more than BW does. Cancel not only due to the above issue but because of the way BW and their PR department try to sell us for fools for over 5 months.

I still haven't seen an alternative outlined that wouldn't take a complete rework of the entire naming system?

You mean they would have to rework a poorly thought out in game system? the horror.

This falls under the category of do it right the first time.

Not happy because...

A - I wasn't given a choice.
B - I wanted one of each lightside class on the same server and one of each Darkside class on the same server.
C - I Don't want to share Legacy.
D - Not arsed about transfering Items.
E - If I was arsed about getting a HK, THEN I would consider making a NEW character to enable getting it.

And before you say don't transfer. I'm not going to have much choice when I end up being the only one left on my original server.

So no i'm NOT fecking lucky. And no I'm NOT happy as hell.