I would like to see some titles that can be earned through crafting. Examples:
Master Angler
Master Blacksmith
Master Jeweler
You get the idea. Maybe even have a "Master Artisan " title for someone that has mastered multiple tradeskills that produce items (i.e. not fishing). Personally, I am very motivated by titles and would therefore be much more willing to devote time to leveling up a tradeskill if I could get a title out of it lol. That said, as with all titles, I believe that they should be meaningful. Definitely not everyone should have one and therefore they must be difficult to achieve. It should take a very long time to reach master status in a craft so that when you see someone that is wearing that title, there is a "wow" factor to it. As such, I don't really see a point in having titles for "Apprentice," "Journeyman," or other steps along the way to Master. Reserve all titles for those that have put in a significant amount of effort.
What do you guys think?
I enjoy the possible titles that come with most crafting skills. That said, we definitely need a robust crafting system that makes the end title worth having and lets someone know you put in a significant amount of work. I loved spending my downtime in EQ crafting and eventually maxxed out every tradeskill along with getting the final versions of the crafting trophies for each TS, which took me an insane amount of time and money gathering all those random materials and getting things to drop from no-name mobs out in the middle of nowhere. I'd love to see something similar to that as well, where we can earn a TS "trophy" or item of sorts that is a prestige item and also may provide the benefit of a crafting enhancement or title upon finishing it. Whether that be directly through increasing your tradeskills or through a quest makes no difference in the matter to me.
coach said:No titles, too much clutter, I turn off everything but first names but how about tiny icons at the end of your name, tiny sword icon, tiny fishing pole, tiny ring, tiny potion...
I don't think that makes things less cluttered haha. For me, little icons floating in the air is actually an immersion-breaker. I would turn those off right away. Icons also only have meaning to those who already know what they mean. For example, a level 1 that just entered the game would have no idea what a little sword next to someone's name meant. But if it said "Master Blacksmith Soandso," they'd definitely think "that guy does a lot of blacksmithing." I can understand where in some cases, if someone has a long prefix, surname, and suffix, it might be kinda hard to tell what their actual name is. I think titles are a great motivator though. To each their own I suppose.
What if your selected title can affect the way NPCs talk or respond to you.
Say there's some dwarf hammering away on an anvil in some deep canyon. He refuses to talk to anyone, won't even look up. But here comes a PC gnome named Zip'Pippy with his master blacksmith title turned on. The dwarf will stop and say "Hail master blacksmith Zip'Pippy, I need your help!" He offers a unique quest.
Now on the other hand Zip'Pippy puts his Dwarf Genocide title on and... well... the dwarf starts hammering him instead.
I can see titles being very useful to create unique experiences.
VicNuggets said:What if your selected title can affect the way NPCs talk or respond to you.
Say there's some dwarf hammering away on an anvil in some deep canyon. He refuses to talk to anyone, won't even look up. But here comes a PC gnome named Zip'Pippy with his master blacksmith title turned on. The dwarf will stop and say "Hail master blacksmith Zip'Pippy, I need your help!" He offers a unique quest.
Now on the other hand Zip'Pippy puts his Dwarf Genocide title on and... well... the dwarf starts hammering him instead.
I can see titles being very useful to create unique experiences.
This is a really cool idea! I think it's always a good think to make you think more about what kind of reputation you want your character to have in the world. As well as having more dynamic interactions with NPCs. Hopefully it wouldn't upset the people that don't like titles at all and make them feel pressured to do something they don't want to do. But at the same time, maybe those people would like titles more if they are more than just fluff. And I suppose they could still just not have a title and ignore both the positive and negative effects that a title might bring. That seems fair. Definitely something to think about.
Soulrend said:Titles are all well and good, but being granted specific (and useful) recipes only when at the highest ranking would be worthwhile.
Soulrend
Haha of course there should be more reason to reach max tradeskill level than just the title. Recipes are definitely more "useful." Titles are just a more public way to display your achievements. :)
I think titles are a good way of letting players know what you are about, however I also get that on-screen titles, floating above people’s heads is at best clutter, at worst distracting and anti-immersive. So, I would go for a compromise.
Give people titles, sure, but make them only visible when people want to check out a player (like a right click menu item or a mouse hover function or a function with the current target, which gives more details about that player). Maybe this could be tied in with perception too, so the more you interact with a player, the more you find out about their game lives, stats and skills. In this way you find out about someone when you want to, and only after you interact with them. This is also much more realistic way of learning about people.
Ideally, I would love a clean (deceptively) simple interface, that doesn’t get in the way, but is responsive and intelligent, working with the player instead of forcing it on the player.
Hey folks. Titles sounds nice, to show how hard you worked for crafting skill. But it should be an option to seletc and show it on your character. And option for other players to not see your title but your name. Otherwise it takes up screen...Master Amoursmith Gnoll Slayer Jackiefrost WintersummerSpringroll.
Have option to turn on or off other players title. Have option to turn on your own title and maybe surname.
I think titles are nice, but I agree that they can get out of control and are also subject to inflation. I think you'd really need to make them rare and difficult to achieve or you end up with that situation where everyone has a title over their head (and 15 others to choose from). Definitely think you should have the ability to show player names without titles if you want. I also love Chenzeme's idea of having things like this be tied to inspect/perception.
Ravenwolf said:Master Amoursmith Gnoll Slayer Jackiefrost WintersummerSpringroll
Don't forget "the Planes Defiler" suffix lol.
I agree titles can sometimes get a little silly and a character's full name can get so long that it has to be in size 6 font to fit on the screen. Some people enjoy that and I can kinda see why, but it's also ridiculous. It certainly makes sense to give a player the option of which title(s) display above their head. And I suppose it makes sense to give people the option to disable titles altogether so they can't see anyone else's titles. However, I think if titles have an actual effect on the way NPCs interact with a character, everyone else should probably have to see the titles that character has displayed. (Although still have an option to disable surnames) Ideally, having any title should be so hard to get that they do not clutter up your screen anyway. So you don't even feel a need to disable them. They should be few and far between so that any time you see someone with a prefix or a suffix, it has a "wow" factor because you know they've accomplished something truly amazing. And in Pantheon, not everyone can be a special star. Really the only time I feel it's better to not have a title is in games where it seems like everyone has a title lol
I certainly hope there are titles in various aspects of the game. However, I would hope they are more difficult or rare to obtain compared to some more recent mmos. As far as cluttering it name plates up, simply add the option for players to turn titles off if they do not want to see them.
I don't think crafting titles should be displayed in someone's name since most pepole are going to have at least one craft. I'm of the opinion that titles should be very difficult to attain. Otherwise, they quickly become meaningless, like you see in so many games today. Everyone has some title or another, and nobody really cares. But when titles are extremely rare, like say, you only get a title if you win a GM event or something...
That being said, I think it might be a good idea to be able to toggle your /who so that if someone is seeking the services of a crafter they can /who blacksmith, and all the blacksmiths looking for work will come up as: [Name] - (Apprentice Blacksmith) Level 1 Cleric, [Name] - (Grandmaster Blacksmith) Level 47 Warrior. Or some such. MAYBE have the title appear underneath the person's name (Like in DAoC where it was under the peron's name but above the guild name.)
Just my 2c.
I tend to find titles in general annoying since it seems like games that do them just hand them out for no effort at all. One of my biggest complaints in FFXIV is that nearly every time a cool title is added to the game, everyone ends up running around with that title on and it feels meaningless.
That said: In FFXIV my character wears his master armorer title with pride. Because it's NOT a title that's easy to get, and the vast majority of crafters will never get it. The requirement? Craft 10,000 high quality armor pieces.
Likewise: In LOTRO my character ran around with "The Defiant" as his title for a long time, because it felt unique. It came from completing a somewhat obscure dungeon that most players bypassed and never even realized was there.
So I guess my point is that I support titles when they're meaningful and special. Not when they're just handed out to everyone for doing something as common as leveling up.
I like the idea of crafting titles but only if they are given for things that are really hard. I don't want people to get a crafting title just for hitting level 10 for instance. They should be reserved for things that take a lot of effort to achieve.
Edit: If they have epic crafting quests that would be a perfect thing to award a title for if you complete them.
Cromulent said:I like the idea of crafting titles but only if they are given for things that are really hard. I don't want people to get a crafting title just for hitting level 10 for instance. They should be reserved for things that take a lot of effort to achieve.
Edit: If they have epic crafting quests that would be a perfect thing to award a title for if you complete them.
This. No reason there shouldn't be titles for crafting but they should actually mean something.
Bazgrim said:
This is a really cool idea! I think it's always a good think to make you think more about what kind of reputation you want your character to have in the world. As well as having more dynamic interactions with NPCs. Hopefully it wouldn't upset the people that don't like titles at all and make them feel pressured to do something they don't want to do. But at the same time, maybe those people would like titles more if they are more than just fluff. And I suppose they could still just not have a title and ignore both the positive and negative effects that a title might bring. That seems fair. Definitely something to think about.Soulrend said:
Titles are all well and good, but being granted specific (and useful) recipes only when at the highest ranking would be worthwhile.
Soulrend
Haha of course there should be more reason to reach max tradeskill level than just the title. Recipes are definitely more "useful." Titles are just a more public way to display your achievements. :)