Why is changing an account or forum name so hard?

This is something annoying that I've run into this in a few different games.

First time around it was during my Champions Online experience, where they refused to change my account name so it would be different from my in-game and forum name, when, if I'm remembering correctly, it was their fault that their damned forum software didn't differentiate between login names and displayed nicknames when they first made the discussion forum available.

At least there I could protest by not subscribing to the game.



Now I find I'm having a similar issue with my Lord of the Rings Turbine forum name.

I had created my Turbine account back long ago enough that I wasn't using the forum name "Upsen" at the time. I was still using the name "Nizetti" quite extensively. I decided I wanted to update the forum name to "Upsen" so I could do a bit of posting, reflecting my ingame character's name. Only problem was, there was no option to change it!

So poking around the forum a bit and not finding an answer, I posted asking people how it was done. Basically the replies back said that it isn't done, it's not possible. Apparently it was tried before, and it would break forum access. What the hell?

I eventually found a support FAQ answer for it:

Can I change my account's Username?
No. Once your Username has been created it is not possible to alter it.Neither Turbine Account Management nor Turbine Technical Support can change your Username.

I accidentally misspelled my Username during account registration. Can I fix it?
All the details of your account are tied to the Username that you choose. The Username cannot be changed once it is selected.

Chrissakes, people, this is 2010 now! Why the hell is your software so inflexible?

Upsen.

Lord of the Rings: Mirkwood

The new update is out for LOTRO. Handy that, since I just hit Level 60 with my guardian character. Now I'll be able to slag my way up to Level 65 while I get in good with the Elves of Mirkwood.

One of the new options available is a set of shared bank slots - no more mailing fees between characters. Very convenient.

One interesting change I saw when I logged in was in crafting - my armoursmith character's recipes no longer required animal pelts, instead using another measure of metal ore. What gives with that? Learning to work hides cost me a pretty penny (plus much time gaining reputation points to access superior workbenches) - and now its out of the equation? Why even bother having the Tailor skill alongside the Metalsmithing skill in the Armourer profession any more? We could replace it with something more useful, like Scholar to research armouring techniques (and give us the ability to craft our own bonus-to-crit items, haha)


Another thing changed - all of my -incoming damages skills and items have been converted into +defense, which technically is -damage. I guess they wanted to consolidate the stat instead of having to work with 2 separate systems.

Upsen.

LOTRO Quickslotting

The default keys in LOTRO I found hard to use, so I remapped most of it. Now i can run around and target anything, choosing enemy, players, NPCs, and objects in the games with the touch of one key for each type. Best of it being for the mining - I can ride up to a mining node, press 4 buttons, and queue up getting off the horse, target the node, mine the node, and get back up on the horse. I suppose I could write a game alias/macro in the system they provide, but this is as far as I've gone so far and its not too bad.

I also mapped all the quickslots to easier to reach keys like the function keys and the numpad - I have my guardian reactive parry chains going up the numpad so I can see the branching paths more clearly. I wish I did that earlier for some of my other games, it probably would have saved a lot of carpal tunnel grief. Eg, Num0-1-4-7 is a parry bleed chain, Num0-2-5 is a parry stun chain, and I can easily change my mind about which chain to continue on before I get to the home row of the numpad. (Num0-2-5-7 when I get the skill "To The King". Basically I can put the reactive charts here onto the numpad.)

The 2-key combos are generally things I will just click on instead of trying to find the 2-key combo.

This keymapping is always a work in progress

This is what it used to look like, but too many parry chain 2-key combos

Upsen.

Lord of the Rings Online

Back a couple of years ago, I used to play Lord of the Rings Online. I got fairly far into the game, even picked up on some crafting and stuff. I can't even remember why I stopped playing, though it has to be some sort of disinterest, or something else caught my eye. Anyways, I was L49 of a possible 50 when I stopped playing, and an up and coming armour smith.

I picked it up again in the past week, since I have a lifetime subscription to the game, and found that many things had changed. So changed, in fact, that I had to start a new character from the ground up in order to relearn what all of my character's special buttons were. By about L20 (roughly the course of the week) I had figured out enough to get going again on my main.

On my main guardian character, I was basically levelled to 50 right away on killing a single foe. I guess there were some xp changes, since I remember being a distance away from L50.

Also, I started armoring again with the load of stuff I still had stashed away. The game's made a lot of changes to the armourer profession and it looks like I have a bunch of recipes that are marked as (OLD). Apparently it's a lot easier now, with 'crests' that are basically for levelling up, and don't require any leather like the armors. You can only make a certain number of crests per time period though. Now I have to find out what all the L50-60 stuff is about.

Anyways, more as I figure it out.

Upsen.