Servers are coming back up, but it seems there's a bit of oddity about the end of season awards from Season 3. We've received reports that folks who should not have retained previous titles (Challenger, Rival, Gladiator, etc.) still have the honorary available. In theory, these titles were supposed to reset, and if you didn't re-earn the title in Season 3, you'd lose what you had from Season 2. That seems not to have happened.
We don't know if this is a bug or a surprise gift from Blizzard, but it's probably a safe bet that it's a bug they'll be squishing. It seems cruel to the hopefuls who may think they have a title, only to lose it if this gets corrected. But, we'll see what Blizzard does. At least Season 4 has started, and everyone will have the opportunity to try again.
Edit: While we realize that, per posting from Eyonix, new titles wouldn't be granted until next week, it had previously seemed that the title stripping would still happen at the end of Season 3.
Season 4 starts next week. As a result, this coming weekend is going to be a gladiatorial weekend for many folks, fighting to get their Arena rating high enough to score end of season rewards. Blizzard has posted (on both US and EU forums) a reiteration of the criteria to be considered for those rewards -- they look pretty much the same as they have before.
The requirements for a team to be considered for end of season rewards are:
The team must have played at least 20 games during the season.
The team must have at least one player that has played in 20% or more of the total games for that team.
Players on a team that qualifies for consideration, must do the below to be counted:
The player must have played in 20% or more of the total games for that team
The player must have a Personal Rating that is not more than 100 points lower than the Team Rating (your Personal Rating may be higher, however).
So, there it is. If you want to be considered for one of the coveted Arena titles, you must meet the above criteria. Good luck!
The author of "Warcraft and Other Hooha" read on the Lord of the Rings Online's site that there are taxidermists in game who will mount and show off your kills, and wondered why the same thing wasn't going on in Azeroth. It seems silly at first, but there's actually a lot of precedent -- they collected all the current taxidermy in Warcraft, and the case is pretty convincing. Clearly someone is stuffing and mounting animals in Azeroth.
Of course, as in LotRO, this is a feature that would go hand-in-hand with player housing, so we shouldn't expect to see one until we've gotten the other (and odds are that we won't see player housing anytime soon, though guild housing is another story). Not everybody would want dead animals adorning their walls (Druids probably wouldn't appreciate having that bear around), but what better way is there for you to show off what you've taken down out in the wild?
We have a policy of not using much gamer slang here on WoW Insider.I'm feeling a little naughty today, so I'm going to take this opportunity to break the rules. N00b is on the list of words we generally avoid. It refers to players who should have learned the mechanics of the game, but continue to make stupid mistakes. We are surrounded by n00bs from the Hunter who consistently tab targets to the Shaman that utterly refuses to use Totems.
We've all been subjected to the annoying Murloc game where people spam trade chat with movie titles with Murloc replacing one of the words.I find this behavior to be somewhat juvenile and nearly completely asinine. I never participate in the trade chat spam, but like I said, I'm feeling naughty. I propose we go to town with the word n00b.I'll start:
2001: A n00b Odyssey
Charlie and the n00b Factory
Plan n00b from Outer Space
Indiana Jones and the Temple of n00b.
Alright, it's your turn!
/e defiantly accepts her punishment and saunters down to the torture chambers in the basement of the WoW Insider headquarters.
But I like her other question better: what's the dumbest thing you've ever spent a bunch of ingame gold on? My waste of money is probably more of a mistake than an actual embarrassment -- I remember spending a good 100g to outfit my level 40 Mage in the shiniest stuff I could find on the AH, including a couple of world drops and the whole shabang. I had in mind that I was going to take her all the way to 70 -- and then I think I never played her again. What a waste.
I'm sure you all have better stories, though -- ever accidentally dropped a lot of cash on something you couldn't actually use, or splurge on an item that was a little silly, just so you could have it? What's the most money you've ever wasted on anything in the game, and what did you buy?
David Bowers lightly ribbed me earlier about being too lazy to read quest text. Avid role-player that he is, he considered skipping quest text a capital offense. He went on to tell me about some folks that even made sure to read every readable book or object in the game, like A Steamy Romance Novel or those books lying around in Stratholme. Role-players pride themselves in immersing themselves in game lore and the environment. I don't think I could be so involved or keep in character so well for so long. I thought to myself just how hardcore that was. On the other hand, some people would probably consider my dropping 375 Mining to level up Enchanting just for the ring enchants for PvP to be hardcore. I certainly think what Nihilum did by having a majority of their raiding crew take up Leatherworking just for the Drums of Battle was incredibly hardcore.
The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that a lot of people are pretty hardcore in their own way. I mean, my wife continued to raid with us while she was pregnant, healing us through Serpentshrine Cavern while lying down on the bed. She would log on to fill our roster when we were short even though she was bedridden because of doctor's orders. One of her friends in-game who was also pregnant played a Druid and was actually tanking a Heroic 5-man when she felt contractions come on and had to excuse herself midway through the instance. It turned out to be a false alarm, but I think these women are pretty hardcore for playing in their condition.
The idea of being able to customize your character's look and feel beyond choosing one of 4 or 5 basic face and hairstyle choices at character creation or upgrading to a new piece of loot is one that's near and dear to me. I'm an RPer, so I like to think of each of my characters as a unique person with unique quirks, ideas, and fashion sense that I can't always express as I'd like to due to the limitations of WoW's mechanics. I've even had some very good friends quit WoW because their characters weren't customizable enough.
The idea came to the front of my mind a few weeks back when I was visiting my brother. We played EverQuest together, but when it came time to move on from that game, he (and most of our EQ guild) chose Everquest 2, and I chose WoW. So, of course, he ribs me about it quite often, and since I was visiting, he decided to load up EQ2 and show me what I was "missing."
Now to be honest, I'm still a bigger fan of WoW, but that's a subject for a different article. One thing I will say for EQ2 is that I was very impressed with the wider range of options to customize your character and show off your character's accomplishments. There's a few ideas related to character customization from EQ2 and other games that I'd really like Blizzard to continue emulating in future patches and in the WoTLK expansion that I believe would deepen the game experience for me and my friends, and for many other players as well.
We at WoW Insider like our titles. Mike once made a little rant about how he would've liked to see the return of the old PvP ranks. Having no Blood Elf High Warlords or Draenei Grand Marshals make me a little sad on the inside. Although Bornakk has already stated that they would like to keep titles "rare", it seems like we're getting a few more really cool titles with the juiciest patch to date. For example, even though attunement to the Black Temple and Mount Hyjal will be removed in Patch 2.4, players who have completed the quest line will be honored with the title "Hand of A'dal" just as players who completed the Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep attunement are called "Champion of the Naaru".
Some titles are cool, while some are mere remnants of the old world... who among you really wears their "Grunt" or "Private" ranks with pride? Patch 2.4 also promises an awesome title for those who achieve Exalted with the Shattered Sun offensive... and have money to burn. Perhaps the rarest title of all is the "Scarab Lord" which can only be obtained at one point in a server's lifetime, and it's no mean feat. Though there've been humorous suggestions as to what other titles should be made available in the game, what's your favorite title so far? Is it one of your in-game goals? Are you one of the few who managed to reach High Warlord or Grand Marshal? Or are you happy with Champion or Knight-Lieutenant? Personally, I'm trying to grind Conqueror with my Blood Elf although I've got 1,000 gold stashed away because "... of the Shattered Sun" sounds just so gosh-darned cool. What about you?
Once upon a time, titles were markers of PvP status. In the old PvP system (before patch 2.0), people who had attained a particular PvP rank had the option of showing it next to their name; I never got past "Captain," but it was fun all the same. With the new PvP system, though, the ability to gain these titles were removed from the game, though as I recall players retained the highest rank they had ever achieved as an optional title. Shortly following this development, Blizzard announced that they intended to expand the title system, giving them out to players for various achievements PvP and PvE alike.
Tigole has been busy on the forums today, and that always tends to bring out interesting tidbits about the future of our favorite game. While it is certainly not earth-shattering, the most interesting thing that he mentions has to do with the future of the PVPbattlemasters. In patch 2.4 these guys will be put on a pedestal, literally. Much like the auctioneers in many cities, the battlemasters will be placed on a raised platform that is inaccessible to players in order to keep people from blocking them with their character's model. He also hints that Wrath will see even better improvements. This is certainly a welcome change to remove a minor annoyance that is sometimes imposed upon us by our fellow players.
Other posts hint at the future of guild banks, the title system, and a possible reward for Wrath'sLake Wintergrasp. First of all, he mentions that they're "exploring" the option to allow guild masters to set prices for items in the guild bank. I know in my guild this would be great for the guild leader, since it would probably save him a lot of time in the auction house and also provide an easy solution to those situations where he gets a valuable item and is not sure how to distribute it to the rest of the guild. I imagine that this could be exploited, to an extent, by guild leaders who might suddenly slap a price on everything in the bank rather than allowing free withdrawals, but that would probably fix itself over time as people leave the guild and/or stop donating to the bank.
Yesterday a player on the official WoW forums asked if they'd still be able to attain the title "Champion of the Naaru" once patch 2.3 goes live. Eyonixanswered that, yes, the title will be rewarded to any players that complete the necessary quest line, whether or not those quests are finished before or after the patch's release. He did warn that the title will probably not be given to characters that complete the quests after level 70. If you've been waiting for the next expansion to breeze through the requirements and easily pick up your title, you'll likely need to rethink your strategy.
If you're unfamiliar with this epic quest line which was once required to enter the Tempest Keepraid instance, it all begins in Shadowmoon Valley. The very first quest is called "The Hand of Gul'dan" and can be picked up in your faction's main town of the zone (Shadowmoon Village for Horde and Wildhammer Stronghold for Alliance). About 25 steps into the chain (I told you it was epic) you'll unlock new quests from A'dal in the center of Shattrath. For many players this is where the challenge truly begins as you must venture into four of the more difficult heroic instances to complete these quests. The final step involves killing Magtheridon in a 25-player raid, after which you'll finally be deemed a "Champion of the Naaru". Good luck!
With the bonanza of upcoming changes coming out, there are a few categories that don't have enough changes to merit posts of their own. These are their stories.
We're adding new relics to support all talent trees in patch 2.3 for Shaman, Paladins and Druids. In addition, (not that this will sweep you off your feet), most of the arena-system relics have been renamed so there is a more consistent naming convention. (Eyonix)
Those who completed the [Tempest Keep] attunement process will have access to the title "Champion of the Naaru". Also, the plan is to hard-cap it at 70, meaning you can't go back at 80 and "cheese" the title. (Eyonix)
We're looking into potential improvements for earth shield, and even lightning shield (Eyonix)
Fear Ward will be available to all priests at level 20, but there are some changes in addition. Current plans are to reduce duration to 3 minutes, and increase the cooldown to 3 minutes. To give the dwarves and draenei something else to even it out, they'll see a new ability called Chastise (also given at level 20) which will cause holy damage and incapacitate the target for 2 seconds. (Drysc)
Yay! Fear Ward for all! Racials are still a stupid idea, in my opinion, but this takes some of the sting out of them. A new title, and some new relics are both very welcome; the current relics are in many ways a bit silly.
Well, after my little rant on the extreme lack of titles for players the other day, Blizzard has... not changed their mind at all. Zer asks, wisely I thought, for titles for PvE players, but Bornakk shuts him down, and then stomps all over the idea completely. Titles are rare, he says, and that's the way they like it.
That boggles the mind. Titles are a form of achievement, and isn't that what this game is all about? As was mentioned in the comments on the last post, titles could be exactly like Xbox Live Achievements-- relatively meaningless badges of honor (or dishonor) that players would wear with pride. This is a super simple, super easy way to extend the game for players who have been playing for a long time. And Blizzard wants to keep these rare?
It's their game, I guess, and obviously if they feel titles should be rare (though I can't for the life of me see why-- keeping content unattainable hasn't been working real well for them lately), then titles will stay rare. But especially at a time when new content is scarce and players are wondering why they should revisit the old content at all, new titles for achievements of any kind seem like an easy (and easily implemented) draw.
Franco on Aman'thul has a request that I wholeheartedly agree with: Bring back a way to earn the old PvP ranks and titles.
In fact, I think Blizzard has dropped the ball on titles completely. While they promised us lots of new mounts and tabards and have more or less delivered on those, where are the titles? That seems like the easiest thing to implement, and yet the only new titles I can think of are from PvP (doesn't the Skyguard confer a title as well, or am I imaging that?).
So why doesn't Blizzard get creative with titles? Every faction should have a title that goes with it, and conquering raid instances should grant titles as well ("Gruul the Dragonkiller Killer"). I'd even like to see titles for less than heroic events-- falling to your death a certain number of times should grant you a title ("Heir of Icarus"?), or even deserting a battleground a certain number of times. There are tons and tons of fun titles that Blizzard could give out, and it would add a whole new and easily implemented element to the game. There's no reason to force titles on anyone, but the way things are implemented now, people can choose to carry around any title they want (or none at all). Why didn't Blizzard go crazy with putting a ton of creative titles into the game?
As far as I'm concerned, Blizzard just plain dropped the ball here. Sure, maybe they're a little leery about bringing the old PvP ranks back so soon, but they put that title system into the game for a reason, Drysc-- use it!
Player Narci of Nordrassil thinks the game needs a little more flavor. More cool looking tabards with clickable particle effects and titles earned through means other than PvP. CM Vaneras agrees.
Vaneras confirmed that more titles will be introduced into the game, though he didn't say what titles, when or how they will be earned. He also said that older PvP titles will be reintroduced into the game, but couldn't give us a timeline on when that will happen.
As for tabards, he couldn't confirm any plans to add more to game. But he did express the personal opinion that he would like to see more. More designs, more ways to quest, craft and loot them. And, let's face it, more tabards is good thing to cover up our mismatched visible armor.
What do you think of more titles and tabards? What titles would you like to see? What tabard designs would be cool? Should you get a tabard for killing Illidan or some other large accomplishment in game?
We have a policy of not using much gamer slang here on WoW Insider.
Aysel is 
The idea of being able to customize your character's look and feel beyond choosing one of 4 or 5 basic face and hairstyle choices at character creation or upgrading to a new piece of loot is one that's near and dear to me. I'm an 
We at WoW Insider like our titles. 
Yesterday a player on the official WoW forums 
Well, after 
Franco on Aman'thul has a request that I wholeheartedly agree with: Bring back a way to earn .jpg)
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