BioWare are in the process of letting players know about a “Character Name Renewal” that’s going to be happening on November 12th. At first glance it sounds kind of cool; you get to rename your character! A great opportunity if you named your character ‘UberL33tStarKiller42’ and have been regretting it ever since. The real story is not as it first seems though. The full story is that unless you are a subscriber to The Old Republic, your character could be about to lose their identity, which is a bit of a bummer if you managed to bag yourself a cool Star Wars expanded universe name before anyone else took it.
So what players will have their names seized from them come November 12th 2013? Well if you’re a free-to-play user, if your character is below level 10 and you’ve not played for 60 days, then you could be in trouble. If you’re below level 30, it’s the same story if you’ve not played for 120 days. Level 30 and above players are safe.
If you are are Preferred Status player, under level 10s that have not logged in for 90 days or more will be affected, as will those under level 30 that have not played for 180 days. As with free-to-play players, over level 30s are unaffected.
So what happens if you are in the ‘unsafe’ category? Well your character will be flagged for renaming. The outcome of this would appear to be that if a new player wants to use a name that your character already has, unless you’re considered ‘safe’ they can take your name no questions asked. When you next log in your identity will have been legally wiped, and you’ll have to adopt a new name for your character. There is a way to prevent newbies from nicking your title though. Simply log in to each one of your dormant characters by November 11th at 11:59pm PST/7:59am GMT and your names will be safe.
Subscribers to The Old Republic are unaffected. Presumably the monthly money makes them more in-tune with the Force, and unaffected by such taxes.