Should titles be account-wide?

I was thinking about this last night as I started a new character. It seems to me that titles are meant to be a signifier of achievement the player has earned, not the character.

Let's take the map title as an example. The purpose behind it is to show that the player has seen most of what there is to see and has experienced the game in depth. Whether or not it was done with that character shouldn't be prevent the player from being recognized for his achievements.

However, at the same time, it would be important to distinguish between players who have done it once and those who have it completed with every character. Ultimately this would open a whole new dimension to the titles system. New titles for those who have done it with every character, or maybe even differently colored titled names depending on how many characters have this accomplished.

Any thoughts?

the wall hugging title is already lame enough, no need to multiply it. I see what ya mean, but then level one nubs out of pre searing would be grandmaster cartographers and that's plain wrong :P

I wish sunspear titles were account wide. But Cartographer, Protector etc, nothx.

Imo, the only two that aren't that should be are the skill hunter and wisdom ones. The mission ones make sense to be per character (Imagine a level one in ascalon with Protector of Cantha?), same with the Cartographer.

Not the explorer ones, getting explorer is harder on a mesmer ect.

Protector, umm no. It's a title that displays your skill with that char..

Sunspear and Lightbringer.. Yes please.. Don't want to grind twice for these..

Treasure hunt, wisdom & drunkard should be account wide. The first two have ingame benefits and in the current state they favor people with fewer or only one character over people who play many professions. And i see no difference between drunkard and the lucky/unlucky titles.

I agree that with some titles it would be ludicrous to give the exact representation as we have now. Which is why I think a different presentation of the title should exist for titles not on the character but on the account.

For example, if a character has a title on that he did not specifically earn, it should be in green. This way the player gets recognition, but not necessarily the character.

Ultimately, protector title isn't that important as being account-wise but other titles, such as 'Treasure Hunter', which are really hard to get multiple times should be account-wide. This way it would also be possible to increase requirements. 350 chests for the 'Treasure Hunter' title, if all characters help contribute to it.

It would act to increase enthusiasm for titles. Now it feels kind of like; 'OK, I got the title... but, now I'm going to play a different character and all my recognition is lost... dang..."

Skill Hunter, Seeker of Wisdom, and Treasure Hunter all should be account-wide...

It depends on what you want Skill Hunter to show:

a) This account has X number of elite skills unlocked.
b) This character has X number of elite skills.

Option (a) is what an account-wide skill hunter title would show, whereas option (b) is what a per-character skill hunter title shows (which is how it is now. From a PvE perspective I think (b) is more useful, because I don't care how many elite skills Joe Whammo has unlocked for PvP if his current character doesn't have any of them.

oh it is not... I soloed Maguuma/Kryta/Crystal Desert/Ascalon and I'm on 86% tyrian, but now I have to take henchies throught he southern shiverpeaks because its too hard to solo that area. Well, just Lornar's Pass and some of the mission areas.

The account-wide skill hunter would be weird, as the possible number of elite skills cappable is unlimited when you can delete your characters.

How is it limited now? You can keep getting exp and more skill points forever.

I would like to see this implemented, just how is the problem, I really don't want to do everything on all my characters so right now I have to choose a favourite and do it all with them.

An account-wide version would presumably be based on how many elites are unlocked...

I would say that Wisdom, Treature Hunter, and Drunkard should be account-wide. These require a lot of cash to acquire and gives those with higher levels better benefits. Thus, the rich get richer.

Not sure about Sunspear and Lightbringer, as I haven't started Nightfall PvE XD

sunspear/lightbringer- definetely. they are like faction (the way i interpret them). give them to us aaaall.

drunkard, wisdom, treasure hunter (as said by pheonix), skill hunter, wisdom seeker or whatever it is called. All of these would be much more convenient account wide. Screw identifying 100+ gold weapons on each character to get your title. Not gonna happen.

Account-based elites unlocked wouldn't work with the PvP Editions, since they unlock all the elites for you.

Some that are not already. Wisdom/Treasure Hunter, Drunkard and the Lucky/Unlucky ones.

Leave the rest be.

_Zexion

yea wisdom and treasure should be account wide imo... and sunspear... having to get sunspear again just means having to grind for each char:/

The only Titles I would like to see account wide are the Sunspears and Lightbringer titles. I wouldn't really like to have to grind for those titles with my 5 other characters. Maybe treat them like Luxon/Kurzick Faction?

Cartographer, protector, drunkard and skill hunter should stay the way they are, for the character only.

I've always thought wisdom and treasure hunter shouldn't, not because they are something an account accomplishes, but just because if you want to go for the titles you end up trying to transfer all your golds to one character, open all chests with one character etc. And now that they affect salvaging, I definitely think it. Now if I want something salvaged without losing the item, I have to transfer it.

Sunspear I'm not that bothered about. I got enough sunspear points to progress just from doing the quests in the game, and I know that even if it was account wide, I would do those quests again. But it just won't happen with sunspear points, they are intricately tied in to the storyline and progression of your character; getting your 15 attribute points, getting to a new area, use of special sunspear skill etc.

/not signed

I think all PvE titles should be character based. Including Friend of the Luxon/Kurzick, and Lucky/Unlucky.

/not signed

except for sunspear ranks. Honestly how does killing 600 insects make you a general in the first place

/notsigned

except for sunspear titles. honestly how does killing 600 insects make you a general in the first place

wisdom, treasure, and sunspear should be account wide

quoted for truth

Mind explaining why? People might care what you think if you gave them a reason for your arguments.

Freind of the Luxons/Kurzicks sint really only a PvE title.

Titles should be account based and not character based. Makes more sense since it is a progression of the game play for the person, not the character.

/not signed

when I see someone with protector title, I'd think he knows how to play, and is pretty good at it.
Now, I (almost) have that title with my monk, and I'm pretty good at monking blah blah. But I completely suck with a warrior, assasin, whatever. Do those characters deserve that title too? no.

There are various titles which should stay with one character, and others with entire account.
I definetly want my treasure hunter, wisdom and drunkard title to be account wide. I mean we do realize that they are expensive ones, right?

@To Sidra
Its 10,000 identifications to get your title ^_^

Titles were meant for those players that finished the full content of the game before the six month mark for another campaign release. This way it gave those players something to do with their characters other than farming for gold, most are actually gold sinks. Thus Anet introduces something to do to make and spend your gold.

To make some of these titles that are currently character based account based would ruin the method that Anet has instituted to remove gold from the game and make the acquisition of titles too easy or unmanageable.

Example: For Incorrigbile Alehound you are required to be Drunk for 10,000 minutes. If done in one sitting that is 10,003 Hunter's Ale (for arguments sake). 3 for the "buzz" and then the 10,000 for the title. At 200g each that equals 2,000,600g. That is for one character. If you want the title on multiple characters, then you must spend another 2 million gold. If you have 10 characters (one of each profession) that becomes 20 million gold removed from the game for the expendable use of Ale.

There are titles that do not require any investments: Protector, Cartographer, Sunspear, and Lightbringer. I am only dealing with the PvE titles because they are the gold sinks. These other titles are there for the title Kind of a Big Deal and People Know ME. There are 8 titles that are potentially able to be maxed (seems to be a problem with Sunspear and Lightbringer).

Additionally, if someone has the Protector/Grandmaster Cartographer titles it would be implied that they could go to any town and do any mission. If it was account based, this would not be true. A level 10 Protector of Cantha in Zen Daijin may not even be able to help you get Masters because he got it on another character with another Primary Profession.

The PvE titles should be for accomplishment of your character. One character Drunk for 1,000 minutes does not carry over to 10 characters Drunk for 1,000 minutes. And it isn't player accomplishment, because the player was not Drunk for 1,000 minutes while playing.

Keep the PvE titles character based and those that have the titles will proudly show them off, and maybe they will remain a goal you can set for yourself to acquire.

/Not signed.
Besides Alehound and Wisdom.. Everything else is perfect. I worked hard for my protector and carthogropher of Cantha and seeing level 2 characters with the same title would just scare me.

/notsigned, PVP are account wide, which is how it should be.

my opinion is that none of titles should be qccount based...all should be character based

have you never heard of this?
kill one you are an assassin
kill thousands you are a general
kill millions you are a despot
kill them all and you are a GOD!

(Seen on a Gamasutra Dev '99 t-shirt)

All titles that affect gameplay should be account based. That means wisdom and treasure should be account based, and any other titles that end up affecting gameplay should be too.

I would also say sunspear should be account based (seriously, who wants to grind sunspear points with all their chars?), but since certain primary quests require you to be a certain rank, it wouldn't work very well.

/Agreed

Maybe adding quests that are related the story line. a person would get the current points in there title thats highest in there account. So they do have to grind to get there.

Drunkard : run to 100 spots in a town getting more drunk and have a time limit and obbsitacals. must have rank 1
Sunspear. on the continet after becoming a general rank 7
Light bringer: last area in the game just a different challenge.rank 1
Wisdom: pay 30 plat to a guy per charictor rank 2
Treasure hunter give a guy 50 gold items pre charictor rank 2.

Each quest would be doable once per pve charicter.

You guys made some good points about the protector title, so I'm going to bump this once to get a bit more support for the Wisdom, Skill Hunter, Drinking, and the new Nightfall titles.

I like the idea of the drunkard title being account wide. It really is no diffrent then the lucky titles.

The other titles should remain char specific. Esp the Sunspear title. It is used to unlock quests and the 30 extra att points. It would make no sense for a new Dervish recruite to already be a Sunspear General.

/not signed

Very well said Dougal....