Breakfast Topic: Titles! Titles! Titles!

by Zach Yonzon Sep 1st 2008 at 8:00AM

The latest Beta build had a slew of new titles for players to drool over. Of course, most of them were exactly that... titles to drool over but not obtain since most of them were rewards for being the first to Level 80 or first to skill up to 450. Technically, there can actually be more than one person who is 'first' as there's a one minute window when the Feat of Strength is accomplished. Still not very forgiving, and not exactly very casual and quite contrary to the "we want players to enjoy Northrend and not skip content" mantra Blizzard has been repeating as a justification for not having flying mounts for the first seven levels in the expansion.

What do you guys think of the new titles? Frankly, I think a lot of them are pretty darn cool. But seriously, in all likelihood, these first-to-Level-80 characters will have little to no experience of Northrend. Your realm's first Archmage is likely to have no standing with the Kirin-Tor, for example. The first Paladin to Level 80, your realm's so-called Crusader, will most probably have grinded and not actually done any quests for the Argent Crusade. Perhaps Blizzard will have some retroactive titles, such as Conqueror / Justicar or even Scarab Lord, which wasn't implemented until after most AQ gates had been opened. What're your thoughts on the new titles?

Tags: Achievements, Archmage, Beta, Conqueror, Crusader, Feats-of-Strength, Justicar, Scarab-Lord, Titles, Wrath, Wrath-Beta, Wrath-of-the-Lich-King

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Breakfast topics, Wrath of the Lich King, Achievements

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)

Zamalan Sep 1st 2008 8:07AM

I was reading this on mmo-champion and all i could think of was: "Poop, I won't get one of those :("

Heilig Sep 1st 2008 9:00AM

Funny, my first thought wasn't one of desire at all. More like "Why don't they just make one all inclusive title for all the server first classes and races? It could be something like `Heilig, Able To Stay Awake For 60 Hours'. That way, people won't be confused and think the title stands for an actual accomplishment."

Nick S Sep 1st 2008 11:18AM

I know I could do it... I mean, I've already asked the time off (my boss plays, and understands completely.) I've done powerleveling in Outlands and know the deal, and I have friends who know how to help.

But do I want to? No! Doing that would mean recruiting a legion of helpers and staying up 24 hours a day until the job was done - most likely much longer than 24 total hours.

That's crazy.

AZShizzle Sep 1st 2008 8:07AM

I want the "of the Darkspear" title for RP as my troll has had a "of the Darkspear" suffix ever since I created her, but I don't think I can/want to rush like that.

Sean Riley Sep 2nd 2008 12:33AM

I know how you feel. I'd just about go nutty if I could turn my RP gnome into "Grand Master Engineer" but it's unlikely.

Still, nobody would ever question her designs again!

Foundation Sep 1st 2008 8:13AM

The "first-to-??" titles aren't my thing. I'll be taking things very slowly so as to enjoy the game.

How about titles that you must save up achievement points to get? That way people would be inclined to do all the content to get as many points as possible so that they can receive the titles that cost thousands of points.

lolwut Sep 1st 2008 8:13AM

Well, i'll be taking a week of work, and i'm sure kids will tell their moms they're feeling 'sick' just to try and attempt this feat. If that's what Blizzard wanted, well they've gotten it -_-

Just for the epeen...

bwana Sep 1st 2008 8:13AM

same. i wouldn't be enjoying the game at all rushing about. props to folks that can/will do that though.

thiescea Sep 1st 2008 8:18AM

Pretty much all of the titles are of the "3 guys play one char 24/7" or "I locked myself in my basement for a week after release" variety. Sure, having a Doctor in front of my name would be neat, more so I guess for some playing on an RP Realm, but I'm sure that one will exclusively go to someone from a very big guild who persuaded all his guildies to send all the cloth to him the first day or two. Suppose it's best to just ignore this ill conceived new title system. Sad enough that the PvP title system vanished without a replacement two years ago and they only now get around to attempting to fill that void.

Phohammar Sep 1st 2008 8:29AM

the replacement was gladiator titles.

thiescea Sep 1st 2008 8:56AM

which are neither permanent, nor available to the majority and are part of a game bolted onto WoW.

Heilig Sep 1st 2008 9:05AM

"I'm sure that one will exclusively go to someone from a very big guild who persuaded all his guildies to send all the cloth to him the first day or two"

I think you're overestimating things here. The tradeskill titles will be achieved within hours of the servers coming up. Estimates are that it will take between 4 and 5 hours to hit 450 fishing. Ghostcrawler said earlier that server-first achievements will have a one-hour window after the first guy gets it, kind of like the Scarab Lord thing. I plan on hitting Northrend and just fishing my way through the crazy server lag of the first day and having a nice "Grand Master Angler" title to carry around. That way I can laugh at all the people who power-leveled to 80 and skipped the content and experience of the game just for a title.

kabshiel Sep 1st 2008 12:06PM

It's actually only a one minute window, last I heard.

Amaris Sep 1st 2008 8:19AM

I was very very disappointed when I read about the new titles.

The titles themselves are very class and race defining such as Arch Druid or The Forsaken. So it's a darn pity that they are reserved to people who rush through content as fast as possible. Is Fandral Staghelm just a server first? That's why he's an Arch Druid?

Arch Druid would be a much better title to any lvl 80 druid who is exalted by Cenarion Circle and Cenarion Expedition, for example. Arch Mage could be a lvl 80 mage who's exalted with Kirin Tor...

Or why not make class-specific achievements and give the titles as rewards to players who really know how to play the class. Like druid achievements could be tanking a boss in heroic as a dire bear, obtaining the swift flight form and aquatic form, winning a battleground as a moonkin, etc... Then after doing the class specific achievements you could be really called Arch Druid!

I truly hope Blizzard is going to change the server first titles to be something else. And give more titles in general.

Ed Sep 1st 2008 9:00AM

Seconded! That sounds like a *much* better idea.

Sam444 Sep 3rd 2008 3:28AM

thirded

Gareth Sep 1st 2008 10:08AM

Agreed, sounds like a good idea too.

In some ways having the imba title of being first would be nice, but reality would just be as mentioned that someone had multiple people play the account to get there, pretty sad and makes a mockery of the whole rpg part of the game.

Having a title though that is earn't more like a Decathlon would be cool and force people to experience more variety in the game (I'd have the bar set higher like having to win 5 battlegrounds as one of each form for a druid which any going afk resetting the achievement to start along with all the other tasks to do).

This achievement would have the welcome effect too of the people who have it very likely knowing their class. You could even have one stage where you needed to be the only tank class in a party and complete a dungeon on heroic as a way of proving you tanked - ditto for healing.

I'd definitely have a lot more respect for someone who achieved something like above then someone who just sat in a smelly room for 60 hours flat ;)

Wither Sep 1st 2008 10:22AM

/signed
Great idea and just to elaborate on how I see your school of thought...
Just like the hierarchical PvP achievements (i.e. BGs, Arena all have their own "set" of achievements, achieve all those and you get a title), there should be class achievements. Complete all of these and you should get the title for being master of that class (e.g. Archmage, Prophet, etc).
Some ideas:
Receive X damage from a single enemy without dying. (Tanking skill).
Produce X tables of food / soul wells / light wells and have their contents exhausted by party/raid members.
Buff X players with (class specific buff)
Polymorph / shackle / ice trap X mobs.
Heal X damage on a single player in a single combat.
OMG, I could go on forever.

Melina Sep 1st 2008 11:41PM

/agree

You hit the nail on the head, Amaris. It seems absolutely silly to reward people for skipping content. They're cool titles, but why reward only the people who blow past content as fast as possible?

I'll be taking my time leveling, doing some fishing/gathering as I go, running the new instances, and generally enjoying myself when the expansion comes out. I guess that means I don't get a title.
: /

Rock Sep 1st 2008 5:06PM

Totally agree.

Would be awesome if they used a system similar to that of the Battlefield 2 awards system.

For example,
Of the Elements
Play as an Elemental Combat Shaman for x
Achieve x DPS with x amount of spell power/crit
Get x killing blows in a battleground
Down x boss(es)

Something of that sort maybe.