In the past, Guilds could share the same name as long as the case of the name was different. An example of such is: This Guild and ThIs GuILD.

However, there is a new policy in place. Two weeks ago, I put a post about this as well as a list of guilds that, at the time, were duplicates. Those two weeks are up and the new policy and filters are in place. Guilds no longer can create duplicate names and do it by 'letter case'. It is now by spelling. Guild Names also are not allowed to have alt codes in their names.

All Guilds that originally held their particular name were not changed. All guilds made after the originals however, that were found to be duplicates, were renamed at the staff's discretion. This includes all guilds made after my initial post that fell against the duplicate naming rule. They are still held accountable by the new rules in place.

As the two week grace period has now ended, we are no longer accepting guild rename requests via Support Tickets.

we weren't on the list of names to be changed, yet we get a name change as largest guild on the server, in favor of some guild with 3 members, no guild master and they haven't been online for over 8 months?

Awesome policy, I must say

A quick search told me that there were indeed 2 (or more) guilds with the same name, which implied that the name was on the list automatically. And according to their policy, it states the original clan maintains the name. And since they made their clan about a month earlier, they have the right to keep their name which results in yours being changed.

I'm just confused on why this policy is issued now in the first place. So what if a there are a few guilds with the same name with minor differences :S Blizzard doesn't seem to have any problems with it.

@ Skeez

well lets say u got a awesome guild that everyone knows. u are happy about it and u are having a party bcuz of it. and then at the middle of the party 10 guys show up telling each of them has a different guild which has the same name. maybe it doesnt bug u. however as soon as those other guild get the fame of yours bcuz they have the same name then u will get irritated. or atleast a lot of people get irritated then. so this policy is probally for the best.

unfortunatly we were on the list (legion) but the name we then pick we were told has been used already yet when u look on armoury although used it list no guild leader how ca n this be

How could you change our name in favor of a guild WITHOUT a guild master ? ?? ???

thats what im wondering also

Shorel'aran, as in Thalassian

Our name Death To All was removed, even though the post says "All Guilds that originally held their particular name were not changed". Only other Death To All guild was created 2 weeks ago, we been around for over a year. Please give us our name back lol

I applaud this policy. Keep up the good work.

If there is a serious issue, not that you don't like the name that was chosen when you failed to make a request in time, then fill out a support ticket.

This ticket should only be made by the guildmaster and please be patient.

Acceptable reasons for the tickets will be:

If you were the original (first) owner of a guild name and your guild name was changed

Remember that the guild that took the name first, whether they are active, have a guild master or only 1 person, they took the name. It is theirs and the policy is that you can not copy a guild name that already exists.

We weren't on the original list of guilds having to be renamed. Hence we didn't even think about having another name or whatever.

So you are saying that; if i make hundreds of accounts and register all possible guild names I can think of, no serious guild can ever use that name again? Even tho some twat (me in this case :p) doesn't even use the guild, nor does he even come online anymore?

That's some pretty ****** up policy; On top of that branding and name recognition is everything, we lose potential candidates because of your twisted policy.

@people complaining above me

Welcome to the real world, this is not a policy that only exists here on NE. It works the same way in the real world.

E.g. Music band wants name A, they play a while under it, another band with name A that had it before them asks if the new band wants to change name else they will sue them due to copyright. Band changes name to B even though they were more famous, had more fans, sold more records then the original band named A.
It doesn't matter if they have 1 fan or 1 million fans, they were the first and so they have the right to keep it.

The only way for you to be able to get that name would be if you would have a written contract which shows that both parties agree on the fact that the newer version can keep the name (In real-life it's buying the rights for the name).

I will remind you that the guilds on the list (the ones that were linked) were the original guild with the name. They were the ones to claim the name first. All the rest who made a guild were copying the name.

Now as was said your guild may have been bigger and more well known but at the end of the day you were not the first to have the name. The name is taken but due to the system not being set up at the time to restrict the use of different case or characters it was allowing the 'reuse' of an already taken name. We have just corrected this issue.

So no more This Guild, this guild, Th1s Gu1ld, etc.

Now as much as there were issues with the big active guild being the second to use the name and wanting to keep it, there were issues with the big active guild being the first to use a name and others making new guilds copying them. Either way there is the chance for confusion and the ruining of a guilds reputation when guilds share a name, even if the case/characters are slightly different.

This is an awesome idea. Keep it up.

@ Hyllas

This isnt the real world. This is a game. And as i said in my first post, i dont see how there is a problem, blizzard seems fine with these things and they dont have problems with it. You wouldnt even be able to count how many different "Hordecore Pwnography" and "Godlike" guilds there are per each realm on retail.

I love NE to death, but it annoys me when they always claim to be blizzlike when every new policy or update thing makes them get less blizzlike each time. :(

One.
http://tinyurl.com/3mkvs5g / http://tinyurl.com/3cxqk7p
http://tinyurl.com/3lpykwn / http://tinyurl.com/3ojq6ql

Blizzard's Guild Name Policy is the same as ours is now. Perhaps you should do a little research before complaining.

Alt codes are allowed on retail for guilds. I know because I've seen it on my own retail realm. Same realm, same name just one has an alt code. Anyone who has heard of Swifty or Merc should know this. They are Dara Mactíre.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/guild/darkspear/Dara%20Mactire/
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/guild/darkspear/Dara%20Mact%C3%ADre/

I hope this helps for the people who are saying it should be allowed.

Ash is correct. Retails guild name policy has been like that, its the same for character names on there. So perhaps your the one who needs to do a little research before claiming that blizzards guild name policy is the same as NE's, when its not. :l

I was referring to your claim that "You wouldnt even be able to count how many different "Hordecore Pwnography" and "Godlike" guilds there are per each realm on retail", and the claim that by implementing the policy referred to in this article that the realm has become "less blizzlike".

This policy change was to disallow exact duplicate names (with different case) which is in-line with Blizzard's guild name policy. The issue of whether or not accented characters are permitted in Guild and Character names is unrelated to this article, and this discussion.

Yes, we restrict the character sets permitted for use in names (and our allowed character set is slightly more restrictive than Blizzard's), but this has been as-is on NE for a long time, and it doesn't alter the fact that accented characters are completely unrelated to this policy, and this discussion.