Thread: A couple of things for the character creation screen

Hi, maybe those two suggestions have been asked many times, maybe someone will say that they are too complicated to develop and Turbine will never invest in something that doesn't bring income directly, but I will write them anyway.

I just created a new character and it took me half an hour after having chosen name and background. I was lucky the name wasn't taken, because sometimes after you choose the looks you are told that name can't be used and have to chose a random one or come back later when you have come up with another good name. And there aren't that many good names, ever tried to name a female hobbit? You have to try countless obscure flower names until you find one that no one else has tried before, and then you end up with something that just doesn't sound right, like Osmunda.
So the suggestion would be just to add a button on the character creation screen to check name availability. And don't tell me that can be made with mailboxes, that's a very long and awkward process.

The other suggestion is to make it possible to move the camera as you wish, not only sideways. It's quite annoying to wait until your character decides to look straight ahead to see how that new eye colour really looks like. Or at least have the characters stay frozen instead of going through a "stand still" animation loop that would drive any hairdresser mad.

Just two ideas to make character creation easier, I've read some players end up deleting high level characters just because the way they look. So why not to make it easier to see how it really looks in the creation screen?

I like both these ideas. Having the full range of camera controls available at character creation would be wonderful, with the existing UI buttons serving to "reset" the view to that state.

Being able to check the availability of a character name before committing to a choice would be nice, too. For now, as a workaround, I use the Community Site search feature to check. I just chose "Character" from the drop-down box at the top of these pages. While this isn't always 100% accurate, it helps me narrow down some options before I create a new character.

yes please more help with already taken names - its such a pain when all the cool names are taken
and then when you finally come up another great new name and that's taken too

could always try it on another server I guess...

Originally Posted by dek153

yes please more help with already taken names - its such a pain when all the cool names are taken
and then when you finally come up another great new name and that's taken too

Well, that's what happens when you come into a game that's been running for five years. Sorry.

Originally Posted by djheydt

Well, that's what happens when you come into a game that's been running for five years. Sorry.

Yes, it's to be expected, but some help ahead of time to determine what might be available would be nice.

I know that City of Heroes has a function like what the OP suggested. A Name Check option that is present at the very beginning, and maybe even the in the character select screen (not sure on that last). That way you can try out several names to see if they are available before having to commit to any one of them that is available.

I wouldn't mind the name check thing although I rarely have trouble coming up with a name that I feel is appropriate for a particular character.

Where I really do agree is with having more control over your character's actions while you're creating it. I want to see what the character is going to look like! I don't want to have to sit there while it goes through a loop of daft looking expresion changes and looking up and down. Normal people do not randomly change their expressions every few seconds unless they're involved in a conversation. Having the characters do so makes them look like crazy people talking to themselves!