I'm still looking for the answers, I'm still searching for the key

[Help] Viridian Storm: I love the crazy names people come up with...
[Help] Havoc Salamander: Like mine? :D
[Help] Viridian Storm: I was referring to the water blast users with red and yellow water earlier... and just saw a girl with the name Spicy Taco.
[Help] Havoc Salamander: Oh jeeze
[Help] Viridian Storm: It never ends

I'm not even going to tell you some of the names I've seen regarding water-blast characters. Let's just say the three most popular colors for folks seem to be yellow, red...and brown.

[Help] Hexman: this is was happens when most names are taken
[Help] Fire-kissed: that's an innuendo on so many fronts I don't even know
[Help] Viridian Storm: I suppose.
[Help] Viridian Storm: I can't really complain... I'm guilty, too.
[Help] Cyrien: I love the unique name system in CoH. ;) Hate it in other games where you can have 15 people with the same name.
[Help] Kaliana: I dunno... I found and claimed Shade Sorceress just yesterday... there are still decent names out there.

There are. You just have to be creative with the naming. And be willing to be mobile on the name you want. Case in point: there's a Lucifer' in the game. Yes, "Lucifer" with an apostrophe on the end. At that point, just give up the name, because with that end apostrophe, it just makes me want to never, ever run on a team with him.

[Help] Viridian Storm: I made Australian Kiss... which is like a French kiss, only down under.

*facepalms*

[Help] Hexman: And each day fewer and fewer :)
[Help] BodyElectric: ya just got to be creative
[Help] Cyrien: Just makes people more creative... either in name choice or spelling.
[Help] Viridian Storm: I hate creative spelling.

Well, it depends. Like, I've met "Shocking Gurl" and "Shocking Grrl", and I'm quite sure there's a "Shocking Girl" out there. In my mind, each spelling of the "girl" portion indicates a different mentality--like "history" and "herstory". (Though I will say feminism, in specific, did the concept a vast disservice by "honoring" all variant spellings of "women", including "wimmin", "wymyn", and "wemoon".)

[Help] Hexman: I dislike that response because it fails to address the fundamental issue of a person wanting to make the Hero (or villain) that they actually want to make.

Okay, fine, but seriously--if the rut you're in requires you to be "Lone Wolf-" because "Lone Wolf" was taken...just switch the name to another one that references lupines in some way and move on.

[Help] Viridian Storm: Drives me nuts.
[Help] Kaliana: That said... I too would prefer a non-unique naming system... mainly because there have been times when the perfect name for my concept was already taken.
[Help] Viridian Storm: I agree, Hexman. There are a couple of names (and variants) that have been denied me... and I abandoned the concepts.
[Help] Bracket Claw: so find a different one.
[Help] Kaliana: You clearly aren't a writer.

Yeah, see...I don't buy that. That reads of "excuse" to me. For example: when I was setting up my team of virus-born villains, I got the first three out (and Influenza Annie is the one that lasted longest, she's at level 49 and counting, on her way to be a viral Incarnate, muahahahaha), and then ran into a snag on the remaining ones. "Smallpox", you see, was taken. And I had a series of concepts in mind. So I made "Smallpoxx". A simple renaming, and not taken, and then came her sisters "Mediumpoxx" and "Largepoxx". (And of the three, Largepoxx is the only one who survives--I let Smallpoxx go a long time back, and Mediumpoxx actually got completely remade due to her love of 1940s murder mysteries and noir--she's now happily romping around the Rogue Isles in a wide-brimmed fedora and a trenchcoat as Samantha Spade.)

[Help] Hexman: And at the end of the day, the rare possibility that one might see a name run by that they dislike doesnt trump that person's desire to have the name they like, since they have to see it 100% of the time they are playing said character. :) [Help] Havoc Salamander: I agree with kaliana

Oh, no, I get why this is a bother, I'm just saying, there are alternatives. And as pointed out, if the biggest fix for your problem is to make "xXSuccubusXx" instead of the main "Succubus" name (because the original's taken)...well, that problem may be with your lack of imagination than the game locking down all variants of your desired name. (This is also why most of my characters have two names instead of just one.)

[Help] Viridian Storm: I am a writer and imaginative... but sometimes the "creative alternatives" are just so far removed from what I wanted that I'm no longer happy with the result.
[Help] Kaliana: When you have a concept its the whole package... change the name you change the whole concept... especially with superheroes where things like aliteration are common.

Yeah. It's called character growth, Kaliana, look into it.

[Help] Havoc Salamander: But how exactly can non-unique systems work
[Help] Hexman: No I'm not a writer, I shouldnt have to be, nor do I want to be, in order to play a video game :)
[Help] Bracket Claw: when a name ruins your character, it becomes a little too serious there

That's my thinking. But here's the thing--you don't have to write for a living or create intricately crafted RPGs to properly name things in City of Heroes. You just need to have a good character concept, and be willing to be flexible on what autre nom you can live with. Yes, with this many people already registered--especially on the heavy Virtue and Freedom servers--it can be tricky. But it's far from impossible.

[Help] Cyrien: Non unique naming system? *looks at CO*

Yes, but that's also why you can stand in a city square in Champions Online and watch thirty-seven guys in black named "Batman" run past. That's not the solution anyone wants for City.

[Help] Viridian Storm: Its not the name that ruins a character... its the lack of the right name.
[Help] Category 5': how can someones name bother u ... unless its someone u know and dislike?

Sure, and I won't lie, I've ditched character concepts because I couldn't fit a name I wanted to the character I was creating. But that happens with everything. It's just a matter of picking something else that's similar enough.

[Help] Kaliana: But for those of us who play a concept... changing the name is the same as changing the entire toon... Shade Sorceress has completely different connotations than say "Ghost Guardian" or "Abyssal Angel" or even just "Ghost Girl"

I shall forego my usual rant on the use of "toons", and simply point out that her use of the word "toon", in this connotation, may well point to the flaw in her arguments--she is having difficulty because her imagination is simply not skilled enough, not flexible enough, and not tolerant enough to broaden her selection pool beyond "X Name and nothing else".

[Help] Havoc Salamander: In the world of writing and poetry there's a saying
[Help] Havoc Salamander: There's a mile difference between the right word and almost the right word

And while that's also true, if she hadn't been able to take Shade Sorceress, and still wanted the alliteration, then what about Sepulchral Siren? It doesn't just have to be "[some variety of dark]" plus "[some variety of female]", does it?

[Help] Viridian Storm: I think any names attached to accounts that haven't logged in so long that they don't even have a Global Chat handle should be released back into the wild. Those players are never coming back.
[Help] Minstral Cycle: I agree Havoc

Actually, I don't think that's an unfair distinction to make.

[Help] Melly: I also get extremely disappointed when I can't find the name I want. I figure using creative spelling is fine, because the "plain spelling" version is probably wasted on someone who doesn't give a shit about their own character.

That's an interesting point, too. I guess it depends on how "creative" people are getting.

[Help] Melly: But sometimes the simplest names (like Melly) aren't taken.
[Help] Havoc Salamander: But nearly always they are
[Help] Viridian Storm: I know a guy who waited for a real long time for the simple name of Joe.
[Help] Thing 0ne: I just used a zero in my name. ;) Find other ways to be creative and quit complaining, so what that someone stole the cookie you wanted oh well pick another. :-p

Sure, though you'd still want to do it with a little panache. "Thing 0ne" might pull that off, but "GodIike" doesn't work at all, because no one's going to look at that and not try to sound out "Gahd-eye-ike" first.

[Help] Kaliana: I had to settle for that because things like Shadow Spectre and even Ebon Eidolon were taken.

I rest my case.