LOTRO will now offer name changes and server transfers…

It was announced today that Turbine will be allowing the transfering of characters from one server to another for a small fee.  It is also been announced that if you don’t like your character’s name or your guild’s name that it can also be renamed for an extremely small fee.  As always I look at things like this and question why.  The server transfers I can totally understand and hey, I support this 100%.  The changing of names, while right now being labeled as a way to “change your name if you don’t like it”, is vulnerable to some serious abuse.

I would be interested in knowing what measures are being put into place to stop people from changing their names after gaining a horrid repution.  Let’s say you just stole the loot from your BG group’s chest (obtaining perhaps the best Halberd in the game “captains arm”) and need a place to hide.  Well now you can for the every day low price of $9.95!  Heck, if I were the type that would do anything to get ahead I would pay $10 for the best Halberd in the entire game.

If Turbine puts a system in place to run a check on why people want their names changed then this won’t be an issue.  All it takes are a few petitions once someone steals loot and the common sense for the GM’s to keep a record and they will have the reasoning needed for a name change refusal.  Let’s hope they think ahead.

Read more for the full announcement.

  * World Character Transfer: Started on Elendilmir but all your friends are on Nimrodel? Turbine can now move your character from one LOTRO world to another! Your character stays intact, retaining all of its stats, items, levels, titles, and other information. The fee to transfer your character from one server to another is $24.95 per move.

For more information, please visit the Offiicial LOTRO Knowledge Base. Thanks for playing!