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Title Fight

October 28, 2009 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - Other

In the most recent episode of Rawrcast, Stomp and Haf brought up an interesting question;

Should titles come with additional awards?

As many of you know, I just completed the Loremaster achievement on my Warlock.  What if, in addition to the title, my character gained a passive buff that allowed him to gain 10% more gold from quest rewards when I had the Loremaster title equipped?

Most players would probably agree that titles should grant some additional bonus in game.  After all, most titles are extremely difficult to earn (i.e. the Undying and the Immortal) and in every other avenue of the game, players are rewarded for their effort in some tangible way (gear, XP or gold).  Don’t players deserve to get a little extra something for their effort?

The answer to this question is: maybe.  It all depends on the play style that Blizzard wants to encourage players to pursue.  So far, Blizzard has removed many of the time and effort barriers in the game in order to make the content more appealing to casual players (just look at badge loot).  Continuing their policy of casual appeasement, Blizzard could avoid giving players any meaningful buffs and simply award more cosmetic changes to titles (giving players with titles a special glow like shadow priests or allowing players to change the appearance of mounts and gear).

A more interesting and rewarding approach would be to follow the example initially laid out in this post.  Blizzard should reward players who spend the most time in game.  Obviously, game balancing issues would be a major concern (what if players with the Battlemaster title could do 5% more damage in arenas and battlegrounds?) but Blizzard has stepped up to the plate and slayed this beast in the past (cough Death Knights cough).  Why not encourage players to spend more time in your game pursuing titles?  It cuts down on the time they’d spend playing other games and increases the time investment they’ve made in WoW (thus making it harder to leave the game).

WoW thrives because of the healthy mix of casual and hardcore players.  It’s about time for Blizzard to reward them both equally.

Comments (5) :: Add Comment
  • Larísa

    Because Blizzard don’t want the addiction discussion to florish too much. They want to be connected to responsible, sensible gaming, where you can keep up real life balance and still be fairly succesful in the game.

  • cornelious0_0

    Good stuff all around, I like the idea of the gold bonus when having the title equipped and I can honestly say that the game does need something of the sort. The issue lies in having title bonus’ grant buffs or advantages that are to game altering which are not available to Blizzards new favorite player…the casual. I agree something should be done, but it’s a slippery slope.

  • Plectical

    Cornelious, the best road for Blizzard to take would probably be to reward players with basic cosmetic changes that don’t effect core gameplay (imagine how cool it would be for your warrior tank to have a shadow priest glow!). This gives players a way to easily identify hardcore/skilled players without having to check gear scores (although it is not a full proof method, it would serve as a visual badge of excellence that is more impressive than Achievements/Stats).

    Larisa, I agree from a PR standpoint that Blizzard wants to be perceived as endorsing responsible gameplay but from a business perspective, they should be encouraging players to spend as much time as possible in game. On a semi-related note, there is a great documentary that focuses on MMORPG players and their lives called Second Skin. Definitely worth checking out.

  • Hiswing

    i think that some reward (other than the title) would be great. i think the 5% damage increase in arena would be a bad thing. how about “While Battle Master title is equiped player’s size in increased” that would be a neat change that lets them stand out but give them no in-game advantage over others, just a thought. great post

  • Smokimus

    I certainly think that some titles should come with a noticable reward other than the just the title in the name plate. Maybe unlocking an emote or some cosmetic change to the avatar that everyone else can see. Getting the “Insane” title is truly insane and ought to come with more than just a title as reward.

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