[EscapisT]

Good evening sc2sea, I come forth today as a victim of broken promises.

I am sure most of you remember this blue post approximately a year ago,

+ [Did i say "near future"] +

In addition, beyond this initial free name change, we’ll be launching a service similar to the one we offer for World of Warcraft which will allow additional character name changes for a fee. We'll announce more details on how the free name change and additional paid character name changes will be implemented in the near future.

+ [Original link] +

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/572264

I want to bring your attention to the following thread on battle.net

+ [BLIZZARD NOT ADDING NAMECHANGE SUPPORT?] +

Foreword: My name is Jake "Sev" Ganz, the leader and manager of the growing team DeadMachine, working on sending some of my players to events like MLG Orlando, MLG Providence and other future competitive events. I, like many managers, want my players to be able to wear the clan's tag in order to represent the team, but like many other cases, many of my players do not have their free name change.

Being aware of World of Warcraft paid account name changes and the clantag support of, for example, Warcraft 3, one may wonder why Starcraft II does not support either one of these features. There's been a "COMING SOON" line for a second name change for over nine months now. With all of this in mind, I decided to inquire and call Blizzard's customer service myself.

After asking a few questions, I was informed that no support for paid name changes or clantag support is currently in the works. Contrary to the hopeful message in our Battle.net account profiles, it is not coming soon. I was also met with the revelation that this is because there are not enough people expressing a desire to make this happen. Finally, I was told that the World of Warcraft paid name change support came about from the community asking for it and showing a noticeable desire to have it done, and was given the suggestion to make a thread about it specifically in the Multiplayer and ESports forum, and get people to give their opinion on it.

What does this mean? We need to be more vocal about it. If you want Blizzard to add a feature allowing players to change their character name for the same cost as in WoW, post in this thread and tell us what you think! If you really want it, like this post.

Not only would this be far more convenient, but the economical difference it will would have for both the players and Blizzard itself would be a massive improvement over the current drag of having to pay for a new account entirely, which most people are not willing to do.

Voice enough of your opinions on this, and hopefully, we can persuade Blizzard to implement this even as soon as Patch 1.4!

edit: also for the record, the conversation was entirely over the phone. i apologize that i didn't think to record it. sorry!

edit #2: we're #1 on screddit! thanks to everyone who helped make this possible in promoting it, especially Desrow and Thundertoss. http://tinyurl.com/blizznamechange

+ [Original link] +

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/3123318915

TL;DR: Go to http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/3123318915 log in and type +1.(Tell everyone you know as well) and name-change/clan-tag might be implemented with patch1.4

+ [Original link on Team Liquid with polls for data collection] +

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=265029

+ [Official Definition of soon/near future] +

http://www.wowwiki.com/Soon

Just so this thread isn't some copy paste with links from TL i have attached the response i received from a gamemaster after contacting blizzard support

+ [Response from GM Droserraa""] +

This is the latest response from Customer Support:
Greetings!

Thank you for contacting us! I am Game Master Droserraa and I'm here to assist you today. My sincerest apologies for any wait you may have experienced.

Answer:
===============================

While we fully understand and are empathetic towards your situation, unfortunately the one-time vanity name change really means _one time only_

Picking a Starcraft II profile name is a bit like getting a tattoo. You want a name that represents you, and isn't associated with anyone else. You never know when you'll have a falling out with that person and be stuck with something you have to live with forever.

Paid name changes are still being considered, and may become available in the near future. However, for now the name you picked is the name you must keep.

===============================

I hope that this has resolved any issues you have, or has at least pointed you in the right direction. Should you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to let us know!
Regards,
Game Master Droserraa
Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment
www.blizzard.com/support

Therefore, my friends, remember your parents telling you never to get a tattoo? Its the same thing, don't get a name.

Quick Comments

	Maynarde:	Agreed. The name change doesn't seem like hard feature to implement. Neither are clan tags.
	PiG:	Great post, we do need to really kick up the hornets nest or blizz will just sit on their asses.
	aLtShortizz:	Definitely +1
	cure:
	Doctor:
	Snx.FigJig:
	syfPhoenix:	:)
	biogenie:	awesome.... it would seem silly that we cant change our nicks.... at the end of the day the admin process... is ours i don know why the big fuss XD cheers mate..
	Rageboredguy:	Thanks for this, i can't believe they don't think people want it...
	NvPinder:	Anti-aLt Rep train
	nirvAnA:	won't call positives from just 3 aLts of a geniuenly good post a train. O hai guys!
	Xenomorph:
	TidaL:	name change, cmon blizz
	VoiD:	Name and Clan changes are needed, great that people are speaking up!
	Zanderax:	I can understand them limiting their 'vanity' name changes but for clan tags there is not excuse

[Maynarde]

The need for a new clan tag bring up stirred feelings? Grats on aLt by the way

I agree. I'm a Blizzard fanboy, their games are the greatest in the world, but these are features that I believe aren't hard to implement. Chat rooms came pretty quickly, and would have been harder than just allowing people to pay for a name change or add a clan tag to their name. Here's hoping for these features ASAP. Poll is kinda silly though, why would any one NOT want this feature.

[aLtShortizz]

Me and Escapist man...

Btw ive nv used my name change. I created my account as Shortizz and it is STILL shortizz. Yet after countless emails, Blizzard still believe that i have change my name from Shortizz to Shortizz.

[nirvAnA]

lol shortizz thats hilarious.

hmmm yea really silly rule, they should AT LEAST have a clan tag option like they did in warcraft 3.

that was a fantastic feature along with the clan ladder and AMM tournaments which gave u portratis for tourney wins. dunno why they stopped with sc2, would have been great to have. as well as bnet profiles.

Quick Comments

PiG:

The Profile system, online tournaments (hosted by bnet) and the clan system were amazing. Not to mention the Comprehensive stats bnet collected on your gameplay.

[Meatex]

blizzard too busy trying to extort money from players who like to play customs. be prepared to start paying to play raynors party etc TT

[syfPhoenix]

rlly wish they would use the word "soon" properly. more then a year ago they said they would ""soon" be adding a name change system more then a year isn't soon :S sorry blizzard but i want a name change XD

[Frogmite]

Definition of Blizzard's "soon" http://www.wowwiki.com/Soon

[Rageboredguy]

Originally Posted by Frogmite

Definition of Blizzard's "soon" http://www.wowwiki.com/Soon

Hahaha, so true.

[syfPhoenix]

lol wow rlly? XD blizzard really did cover their ass's on this one :P

[Dox]

I really don't feel comfortable with the whole mob mentality... They already said they would implement the feature someday, I don't know why people feel like they're entitled to it here and now. If a company/team is willing to fly their players across the country to compete in events like MLG, they can afford the $40 for a new copy of the game. It takes two minutes via digital transaction. I mean hell, Xeria did it.

As a software developer for a multinational company myself (much bigger than Blizzard), I can almost guarantee you that they said, "It's not a game breaking feature, we'll just include it in the HotS 2.0 build. We've got more important deadlines right now." Assuming that they're obliviously sitting on their asses doing nothing is kinda naive. Whilst the company itself is quite large, they've stated numerous times that the SC2 team is actually quite small. They're required to allocate/borrow resources between departments occasionally and with D3 going into beta and Cataclysm 4.3 hitting PTR, you can bet they've got their hands full.

And before anyone replies with, "But the customer service person said on the phone!" - my own boss has no idea where we're at in development most of the time. He told me last week that he got a phone call asking me to design a "new" feature that I actually implemented back in February this year. Unless you actually speak to the developer behind the assigned task, there's a high chance people aren't gonna know about it.

Sorry to combo break the bashing trend.

[crAzerk]

As a software developer for a multinational company myself (much bigger than Blizzard)

Wow which!

I loved that wiki article about 'soon'! So hilarious haha.

Very Soon
Another common term implemented by Blizzard often misleading players into excitement for future content. "Very Soon" is guaranteed to arrive between now and the end of time with a higher chance of arriving on the "now" half of the time table. Although this means closer to now than "soon" there is no guarantee that you will live long enough to see the content finally release.
Now<--------------Very Soon--------Soon--------------->End of Time

And I loved the whole WC3 tournament / clan system too! I don't see why they can't just add clan tags and have the online tournaments ><
Plus, the WC3 profile page was awesome, you could see your win ratios against all races, your best map, etc.

In fact, I was just looking at my box case of SC2 (Because my PC is down and I am THAT bored and THAT craving to play) and their screenshot of the profile menu actually showed 'Most Successful Map'. It somehow disappeared.

[Dox]

Originally Posted by crAzerk

Wow which!

It's an Engineering firm.

And I loved the whole WC3 tournament / clan system too! I don't see why they can't just add clan tags and have the online tournaments ><

They said clan support is coming with HotS (along with the rest of the Battle.net re-vamp).

In fact, I was just looking at my box case of SC2 (Because my PC is down and I am THAT bored and THAT craving to play) and their screenshot of the profile menu actually showed 'Most Successful Map'. It somehow disappeared.

That's how it looked in beta - I've still got my screenshots. Best feature on profiles was the winning streak.

If anyone remembers back to beta, you'll realise Battle.net 2.0 has come a long way. And it's gonna go a lot further, too. Have faith in the company that's made the games you've loved since you were a kid. They've got a history for that magical genre-topping formula, dunno why people are suddenly dismissing that.

Quick Comments

Maynarde:

Blizzard have done so much good, but people concentrate on the bad.

[Zanderax]

I once sent a email to Blizzard requesting to change the first three letters of my name from ToR to DoX and they replied that they couldn't accommodate vanity name changes. Its functional. Not vanity. Silly Blizzard.

[MooZfY]

Originally Posted by Frogmite

Definition of Blizzard's "soon" http://www.wowwiki.com/Soon

lol haha XD

[Welshy]

not sure why blizzard wont be puttin these features in as said before and as dox said it could be that they have their hands insanely full, but its not a lengthy task they really have to do, just test it out when they do a few tests and wam, they have already done it with the free name change a few lines of code no more than 1 hour tops really, if they want to charge for it then they can but its already there lol its beyond me maybe they be trollin?

[Champi]

Give name changes blizz

[VoiD]

Due to my unfortunate clan tag (which can only be blamed on myself), SMEG is now in my name forever. YAY. I hope the name change is up soon ^-^

[syfMiley]

Originally Posted by VoiD

Due to my unfortunate clan tag (which can only be blamed on myself), SMEG is now in my name forever. YAY. I hope the name change is up soon ^-^

Be proud of it, SMEG is a gift!

[Neoneoz]

Blizzard would want people to spend money for another copy for Starcraft then rather giving us namechange

[Blitz]

I'm almost willing to buy another copy of starcraft just for a name change, but I'd pay for a name change if they implement it