I absolutely hate the new name change rules Blizzard have put in. It feels motivated by laziness.

They got tired of people requesting names from inactive accounts so instead they decided that names will almost never be freed up.

The amount of names I want that are held by people on sub level 10s is absurd. People shouldn't be able to hoard names with the hopes of selling it for tons of gold (or $) while other people who would actually use the name can't. That's what this system makes all too easy.

I think a better one would be a scaling system of release.

If the character is below a certain level (say 20 due to starter edition, just something higher than 10) after 2 months their name is made available if someone wants it, even if the character has been logged on during that period. It might hurt bank alts but that's an okay side effect.

After that names would only be freed up after periods of inactivity based on the level (40 = 4 months, 65 = 6.5 months and so on).

This could likely be automated so it fulfils Blizzard's need to not respond to the tickets while also helping us, the consumers get what we want.