Quote Originally Posted by Macroscian View Post
I'm curious to know where that discussion emerged from!
I think I read all of those threads but likely to have missed some.

How was this idea tested?
Make a character without logging it in.
Try to move a character same name into the server and the new character has name priority.
As it should.

It just seems to be a bit of a far stretch of the imagination.
This has been discussed quite a bit but, to the best of my knowledge, has never been addressed by Vyvyanne in any post that I can find. It is not at all a stretch of the imagination - many people reserve names on multiple servers and never log in. You can tell someone has never logged in by trying to add that name to your friends list. You need to check both freep and creep side. But if a name is valid on several servers and can't be added to your friends list, it means it is most often taken by someone who has never logged in. I am in this exact position with my main character and, as several people have brought this up, it appears I am not alone.

What cannot be seen or tested by players is the one year period. That is why my questions were specific about the intended policy, the way it currently works and lastly, if it is not working correctly, when it will be fixed. Since transferring is the only way to claim an obsolete name, a character in this situation is better off waiting to transfer after the fix has been applied. Transferring before then will mean the name is gone forever.