What's wrong with you? No one forces you to pay 50BTC and the other free option has been communicated to you. Have you acted accordingly? Rhetorical question, I don't need your answer.

And guess what, there's another solution which is free and immediate: create an alt account with your desired name if that is available and not in use by someone else. You should be able to bring your alt account to same activity and merits, I guess. And maybe take your time to think a second or two about your desired name.

Though, I wonder how you got your merits from the way you act in this topic.