World of Warcraft: Forever Makes Surnames Mandatory

World of Warcraft: Forever is just over a week from launch, and Blizzard has opened early character-name reservations as a pre-order bonus. Players can reserve up to three names per account through the early name reservation system.

A new problem for WoW name hunters

Character names have always carried unusual weight in World of Warcraft. In the original game, each character is identified by a single name rather than an account identity, and that name must be unique on its server.

That makes launch-day naming a genuine race. Players compete for memorable, amusing or intimidating names, while older servers often leave newcomers with strings of random letters or elaborate accented spellings. In a long-running MMO, claiming a great name can feel like a small but meaningful achievement.

Forever changes the equation by removing servers altogether. Characters can play together with anyone in the same region and ruleset, whether that is Normal, PvP or Roleplay. The shared player pool should be good for the game, but it also makes a popular name much harder to secure.

Every character now needs two names

Blizzard’s answer is a major change to the naming system: characters use two words, with a forename and a surname. The approach creates more room for combinations and should be especially welcome for roleplayers.

It also creates twice the naming homework. Finding one suitable character name can be difficult enough; finding two that sound natural together is another challenge entirely.

One naming trick has been to borrow the surname of the author of whatever book is currently being read. That method has produced names such as Steinbeck, Latronico and Vonnegut. The trouble is that simply turning one of those into a full name can feel awkward, while combining two author surnames produces pairings such as Burgess Ishiguro that do not quite work.

Twenty years of character history

The change feels particularly significant for players who have carried the same character names through different eras of the game. Some names have survived more than 20 years and appeared across multiple servers, factions and rulesets, including Horde, Alliance, Classic, Hardcore and Remix.

Those names may look like minor details, but they can become personal traditions. Characters change over time, yet a familiar name can connect each version of the game. In Forever, those long-standing names will need a new forename or surname that does not clash with the memories attached to them.

That makes the search feel less like filling in a form and more like solving a writing problem. A previously dependable character-name system may no longer fit, and hours of testing combinations may still fail to produce something that sounds right.

The character creator is open too

There is another benefit to the early reservation period. Blizzard has made the full character creator available alongside name reservations, so players can also finalise the appearance of their first three characters before launch.

Perhaps a questionable surname will matter less if the character looks fantastic. For players preparing a collection of new heroes, the extra time can be used to settle both identity and appearance before the wider player base arrives.

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