We've all been there. You know -- starting up in a new online game and making up some fake, "profound" anime-inspired name for your avatar that you only realize the dorkiness of it two years later when you grow out of your teens. In most cases, you're stuck with it. In the case of StarCraft 2? Well, Blizzard are finally offering a name change to its players, but there are a few things to be wary of.
Over on the StarCraft 2 blog, the team details the rocky road they're weathered while sorting out name change options. Basically, despite player demand, it got deprioritized for awhile in favor of more pressing issues like, oh I don't know, creating entire new expansion packs.
"We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that the lack of name change options has caused anyone," says the blog post. "We've definitely heard your passion for this subject, and we should have more information about a Paid Character Name Change feature shortly after the release of Heart of the Swarm. In the meantime, we've added a new free name change to all player accounts."
To get rid of the embarrassing name you've been saddled with the past couple of years of your gaming life, you'll need to log into Battle.net and find the "Character Name Change" option under your StarCraft 2 account. Once that's done, you'll be heading back in-game to enter a new, hopefully less silly moniker for yourself.
This free name change is a one-time thing, and it's reverting to a paid feature once the expansion, Heart of the Swarm, is out. No word on how much it'll cost, but if it's similar to Blizzard's other darling, WoW, we can estimate a cost of $10. A second free name change will be made available when the Clans feature goes live in the next couple of months, but after that, it's safe to assume all name changes will revert to the paid model -- so if you've been wanting to rename yourself, now's probably the time to do it.
