Why I hate the Survivor title track

Today I was doing Sunjiang with a PUG, playing my warrior. Anyways, the other "warrior" in the group was a useless turd of a player. He had nothing but defensive skills on his skillbar: basically he was a protection monk with 80 AL armor and a some stances. He spent the whole time in the back with Mhenlo and Togo. When we asked what the hell he was doing he said he was defending Mhenlo and Togo.

I watch him carefully, and every time a monster would break through the front line and get near him he would go into a stance and spam RoF on himself. This guy really sucked. Finally, I realized what was happening, and asked him if he was trying for a survivor title. He didn't deny it.

Well, this isn't the first time I've seen something like this. The survivor title track is the only one that actually encourages crappy play.

1) It encourages warriors and for that matter every other profession to build a me-centered defensive build that adds next to nothing to the team dynamic.

2) It encourages players to quit out of the game the moment the going gets a little tough.

I really believe this title should be abolished. My gut feeling is that maybe a small fraction of the people who have reached legendary survivor status have gotten there due to their own skill. The rest basically rely on the skill of others, like this useless warrior did.

I don't think it needs to be abolished, but it's the title I hold in lowest regard now. I even consider lucky/hapless more worth.
Nearly all who've become Survivor got it through passively riding the coattail of some Mo/W power levelling them; a small percentage have got it through being craniorectal inverts like your warrior; and a miniscule proportion have got it the way it was intended: through playing carefully.

I'll happily add assassins and mesmers to my team, but I'd think thrice about letting a person with Survivor title join.

In practice, Survivor = Useless Coward = no respect.

Why didnt you try and get him killed?

theres always going to be useless players in pugs. fact of life.

I'm not sure what Anet was thinking when they made this title. Maybe they thought they were giving something that was rare enough for only some people to have, and others to see. Thing is, I'm sure the only person who enjoys seeing it is the holder of the title. Did they think anyone who does not and cannot have the title is gonna see someone with it and think, 'wow, that's a great title, I feel happy for that person!' ? Yeah right. They're gonna think, 'oh great, show something I can't have' and the thought of throwing away hundreds of hours by starting the character over for the titles will cross their mind. As well as the risk of dying and the frustration that will result.

They had to have known it will make people quit to avoid dying and playing like a coward. And some people who have invested in characters for a long time that have no chance of getting the title may have a feeling of incompleteness. If they simply make it so you get the title for a certain amount of XP you survived through since the last death, which literally is surviving since the last death, then it may decrease the rage quitting. And all characters in GW can have a chance at the title. Someone can die and just think, "that's okay, at a later part of the game when I discover a way to rack up a lot of xp, i'll go for it again."

I totaly understand that, which is why my assassin with almost 300K of XP in it's survival title only henches. My 800K mesmer does kick you in the shins though.

not everyone with the survivor title got power leveled or "leeches" through missions. when i was going for legendary i only played with 2 pugs, because 1) i knew i might get into a situation where i could die and did not want to just quit and 2) i do NOT trust random pugs, at least the ones i do not start and asked everyone on what he's doing. i would never join a random pug if i wanted to go for a legendary survivor, it's plain foolish.

all the way i went with my legendary survivor, which took me from shing jae to unwaking waters, from lions arch to ascalon city, to the henge of denravi through the cristal desert, back to the shiverpeaks on to the ring of fire, i only joined 2 pugs, for vizunah square and thunderhead keep. both groups i started them myself, asked the party members what they were playing, what skills, if they already know the mission etc. i explained what i was doing, people who were not patient enough to get the perfect group were free to leave, the otheres stayed and we all had a very nice gaming experience, pugs at their best! i had to start pugs at that time, because i was not in the friendly guild/ alliance i am in now.

the rest was all henchway. henchmen ai does not always make the right decisions, but you can predict what they will do and act accordingly because they always work in the same pattern. and henchmen healers, if they chose not to tank ( ), are far superior to any human monk, because of their incredibly high reaction time. you can leave henchmen groups without leaving anyone behind. a henchmen group is always safer than the random pug you join, a group you did not start and had some chatter with the people you invited.

so under no circumstances can you say that every legendary survivor is just some power leveled leecher who just abuses "innocent" people trying to get the mission done. it is just not true.

Forget the griefing caused by this title; it bothers me more than it can only be attained by a new toon.

It is absolutely silly that the only way to obtain this title is to never die on the character at all. The real way to have done this would be to make your xp rack up between deaths, i.e. you need to collect the xp for the title without dying, and everytime you die, your counter starts again. I am seriously bothered that this title is unattainable for my main character and that only newly created characters have access to this.

Fixing the Survivor title track so that it racked up xp between deaths rather than only before the first would singlehandedly fix all the problems it causes veteran players who cannot get the title on their man character, as well as stopping most (you would never stop it all) of the ragequitting-title hunters in PUGs.

Could we get some sort of a response from an ANET official on this please? I know of many top end players that this really bothers, and we'd like to see it answered.

Actaully you can get this title with any cahracter, old or new.

They got these things called scrolls ( pretty cool stuff ) Also to collect the xp is just like farming. In other words using scrolls and killing monsters over and over and over again.

Yeah it might take a while, but IMHO its worth it if you do it right.

I plan on going for this title with my Necro once I get him his 15k armor so I can purchuse scrolls.

I myself would never PUG trying for this title. Its risky to trust that a PUG won't get demolished.

Since someone mentioned henchies are predictible, I'd trust them more then random people.

Really? So how do I un-die these, then? :

I was happy to get Survivor (1) on my mesmer... And I didnt run because things got hard... I henched mostly, but when in pug's I was there fighting as the backline mesmer I was. My Survivor streak was ended due to an afflicted patrol, but oh well stuff happens... Just dont judge everyone with a title before you know how they got it.

Yes most people do it in uncool ways, but I'm not most people.

The survivor title will never be removed from the game, not even if you whine 24/7.

You just have to earn that much xp (how ever much the title needs...) since the last time you died. Once you die, the counter resets.

So just about every farmer out there has at least Survivor (1) now? *goes to check his warrior*

EDIT: Just checked my farmer and there is NO sign of a survivor track and She hasnt died in a long time either.

EDIT 2: This is what the wiki says about the Survivor track...

So yeah... Get more info before you talk.

No no no. You people who say you just get the experience once you have died don't know what you are talking about. You have to have gained the level of experience WITHOUT EVER DYING OR EVER HAVING DIED!

Many threads on this, on wiki, on every forum for guildwars. You cannot reset your death counter and your death counter must be and remain at 0 to get the title. Once you have achieved a level you will maintain it if you die, but will stop progressing. Please know what you are talking about before you answer, especially when you give a snide answer.

Alright alright, just settle down and shake those ants out of your pants. So I took a look at Wiki and I guess you can't get it after you die once.
http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Survivor_title_guide
But I suppose that would make sense with it being the survivor title. If someone can get 1,337,500 xp without dieing once, they do deserve recognition for it and they shouldn't make make it easier which would cheapen some peoples past efforts. I don't think they should get rid of or lessen the requirements for the title. But it would suck to get a leecher that sits around ensuring they live but depend on everyone else to drag them through the game. Maybe they should allow you to see how many times other people have died so you can be suspicious of people with 0 when you're trying to form a party.

getting the first survivor as a cathan character is actually failry easy... newbie island and the beginning of cathan mainland are full of easy quest that gives alot of exp without really fighting alot of things.

This is true, so I was a little bummed that I lost the track so easy cuz of a patrol, but I wasnt going to stress it.

What your basically asking for is to let maxed characters farm trolls over and over for the easiest title in the game. every mo/w= survivor.

For the people that are upset that they can't get survivor on there old characters.. before these titles came out, your trying to tell me you didn't die before lvl 20? I mean who here even tried to get that high without dying when there wasn't a reason to?

Someone tell me that their prophecies born character hit lvl 20 without dying before survivor came out and I'll say your right you deserve the title afterall. Odds are not many have. Maybe you would have made it if you had known about the title? Maybe but who really cares, it's just another one of many annoying problems in this game.

If anet ever does fix this so called problem, it will be in the online store as an option to reset your death count for $10. sry I don't know why I'm even being rude (not really trying to) it's just that the longer I play GW the more I hate it.