Accounts and Character Names...a few questions - Guild Wars Forums

free4all · Jul 31, 2005, 03:57 AM // 03:57

Hey guys,
Here's a scenario in which I'm trying to understand why this is happening. All of this is real, but I'm switching the character names, for obvious reasons. I've bolded one name and italicised the other to help you understand which is which.

A friend of mine just bought guild wars, and for this example, lets assume that the first character he ever made on the account was named "Test Character". I add "Test Character" to my buddy list. Soon after, my friend deletes "Test Character", so now he has no characters on his account. He then creates another character named "Another Test".
Going from this info:

Quote:

Originally Posted by support.guildwars.com

Deleted character names go into a 60-minute holding period to allow the reserved name to be maintained on the same account. If you delete a character on one account, the name will become available to anyone after 60 minutes...

That means that after 60 minutes, his name in my buddylist should not be valid. Well, I quit playing GW and come back in 5 hours (300 minutes). "Test Character" is still in my buddy list. I then type in "Another Test" and try to add him, since that's my friend's new character name, but I get the error "Another Test is already on your buddy list as 'Test Character'"

Now a few questions arise from this
1) Why hasn't the name Test Character expired and 'detatched' itself from his account?
2) Since it seems to be still associated with his account, is it permanently associated with his account because it was the first character he made?

He is not in a guild, seeing as he just joined the game, so I don't think it has anything to do with the thing that happens when you are invited into a guild where that character is associated with the name everyone in the guild sees. How would he fix this? He doesn't want to be known as Test Character, since he doesn't like that name (the name he really chose), but according to me adding him to my buddy account under Test Character, it's still associated with his account. But that character no longer exists on his account. THe only character he has now is Another Test.

Hopefully that made sense. Has anyone else had similar experiences? Would there be a fix to this? Or should I ask this question to support.guildwars.com?

Thanks in advance.

knives · Jul 31, 2005, 04:17 AM // 04:17

Whatever your first character is called that is what your name will be shown as whether you still have that character or not. I've got mine stuck as a nice name, but most of my guildies know me on another character (as its my main), but I am listed as another name once I logoff.

Sorry in advance if your friend actually chose Test Character as his name. =/

Kiiron · Jul 31, 2005, 06:40 AM // 06:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by free4all

He is not in a guild, seeing as he just joined the game, so I don't think it has anything to do with the thing that happens when you are invited into a guild where that character is associated with the name everyone in the guild sees. How would he fix this? He doesn't want to be known as Test Character, since he doesn't like that name (the name he really chose), but according to me adding him to my buddy account under Test Character, it's still associated with his account. But that character no longer exists on his account. THe only character he has now is Another Test.

Since he's not in a guild, there's nothing to worry about. The name that shows up on your guild list is the name of the character who was invited into the guild, not your first character ever created.

As for your friends list, there is an easy way around the bug you're experiencing: simply remove him from your friends list, then add him back in with his new character name. The name "Test Character" has been detached from his account, but his account is still linked to that name on your friends list.

free4all · Jul 31, 2005, 02:31 PM // 14:31

Ohhh I see. So it's purely localized, so to speak, that his character name is associated to his account only on my friends list.
I'm just wondering, what would happen if someone created a character named "Test Character" (again, not the real name), and I still had it on my friends list. How would that work?
So this really won't effect anyone unless they are in a guild? Interesting.

Thanks guys for helping me understand this.

Jul 31, 2005, 04:17 AM // 04:17	#2
knives Jungle Guide Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: USA Guild: Grenths Rejects [GR] Profession: Me/	Whatever your first character is called that is what your name will be shown as whether you still have that character or not. I've got mine stuck as a nice name, but most of my guildies know me on another character (as its my main), but I am listed as another name once I logoff. Sorry in advance if your friend actually chose Test Character as his name. =/

Jul 31, 2005, 02:31 PM // 14:31	#4
free4all Krytan Explorer Join Date: May 2005	Ohhh I see. So it's purely localized, so to speak, that his character name is associated to his account only on my friends list. I'm just wondering, what would happen if someone created a character named "Test Character" (again, not the real name), and I still had it on my friends list. How would that work? So this really won't effect anyone unless they are in a guild? Interesting. Thanks guys for helping me understand this.