Curse

eudas · Oct 26, 2007, 05:15 AM // 05:15

i care more about builds. i'm not interested in taking johnny junior wammo with heal sig, orison, hbreeze, and resurrect on his skill bar.

so i look first at skill bars, then maybe at armor/weapons; a lot of time, people just want to show off, and that's fine, but again, if they're in platemail, that usually means a lack of skill/knowledge. some people actually like the way it looks, but most of the time if they're in stupid armor there's a reason, and not a good reason either.

finally, there's titles. these days, "Real" titles get obscured by stuff like LB title, which everyone uses after a certain point to get advantage in a zone. rarely you'll see people who again just want to show off their "i have 25 max titles" title, but sometimes you'll see people with a title you respect (personally i like the Skill Hunter titles) that might help you figure out if they're skillful or if they're just a grinder.

then you blend it all together and figure out your final opinion of the person.

eudas

Magnus_1 · Oct 26, 2007, 05:16 AM // 05:16

FoW armor is, in most cases, ugly anyways. It's always been nothing more than a status symbol (and a tacky one at that).

wu is me · Oct 26, 2007, 06:54 AM // 06:54

I have a bad habit of not checking titles when im in HA... I really should =P.
But, the only time I've ever pugged was as a newb. These days i dun play PvE unless im going for survivor, in which case Pugz are out of the question.

PvE pugs from what ive seen are an excuse for some people to do stupid things... Ive seen a warrior with Bip sac himself before the mission even started =.=

Amadei · Oct 26, 2007, 07:11 AM // 07:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molock

Ya.. im sure a person with no title AT ALL has been playing long enough to buy FoW armor.

I don't have FoW, but I do have multiple sets of Vabbian and more sets of 15k than I can shake a stick at and I don't display titles, ever. Hell, I don't even have that many because I really don't care about them and I think getting them is mostly a giant waste of time, effort and sometimes money.

That said, I don't pug, but if I did, I'd be interested in builds, not titles. I don't even check people's titles because one's ability to make blue bars go up doesn't correspond to actually knowing what you're doing.

Edit: and considering that in many show-off threads, I see people with a bazillion titles and awful builds...

arcady · Oct 26, 2007, 07:26 AM // 07:26

I don't pay attention to titles at all. I'm not even really sure how far I am towards any of them on any of my toons, nor how many titles I might have.

Don't check builds either when I PUG, I just jump in for the ride.

strcpy · Oct 26, 2007, 07:40 AM // 07:40

I find it interesting what titles people choose to display. If sitting around in town I often click around looking at titles

They pretty much never change my mind on PUGing or not - but then if I'm PUGing I'm doing so to goof off and do not really care about much anyway (I still play the best as I can - it is disrespectful to do otherwise, I just do not care about any technical part as it is more being social).

The other thing I have always found amusing is the frequency of getting blind invites based on armor and titles - especially on less wanted classes. It is amusing that when my Dervish wears her red dyed sunspear armor and displays rank one of the Luxon Title and gets almost no invites, then displaying black dyed vabbian/primeval with high ranked wisdom title gets quite a few. Also amusing is that I got bored with LB title grinding shortly after HM came out, at the time my rank was considered high and I was absolutely flooded with invites - little change other than time and me not farming points to get to max level and I couldn't join a group to save my life

And, lastly, I find too much of the following to be the case:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molock

I also check people with FoW.. 50% of the time they have a title worthy of they armor, 25% they have a good title, and 25% they dont even have a title (or are stuck at tier one). Ya.. im sure a person with no title AT ALL has been playing long enough to buy FoW armor.

All sorts of reasons for that. It's is like the occasional person who makes fun of someone with an armor set dyed black they feel is "wasted" or (one my necro gets fairly often) a high ranked/hard title displayed when I have all 1k armor dyed blue - who cares? Maybe it is an alt and I have more gold than I know what to do with, maybe I like the armor better than any of the ascendant armor sets, maybe they are sitting on the other side of a rank 5 or 6 KOABD title and displaying the one or two they haven't bothered with to laugh at people making fun of them?

I've been accused of being a bot and was, according to them, reported (since I ignored someone Whispering me and being an idiot when I was farming in Bergin Hot Springs back when the bots were heavy there) and purchasing gold (see the above paragraphs for the two instances) and have never done either. In fact I feel either case in an online game should result in perma-bans, it is just that the vast majority of online detectives aren't very good at their jobs - thus I mostly leave off trying to do so.

Of course, other than a few titles that is why looking at titles is irrelevant. I agree that displaying a rank 1 LB title on someone who is taking both LB gaze and signet is pretty much a waste in the late game areas - but that is more to do with their skill bar than their title. I would also ask someone to display their "correct" title in any GWEN area - a rank 1 Norn title is more useful than a max rank Asura title when in Norn areas. But, again, that is more an issue of actual in game mechanical difference than trying to judge how good they will do (and it is very easy to forget to change which title you are displaying if you move around a lot).

upier · Oct 26, 2007, 09:03 AM // 09:03

I never pug in the places where titles can be an issue.
Not because of other people - but because I REFUSE to bloody turn on any bloody titles that have an effect on gameplay.

Other then that - titles have become insanely boring. They went from that extra touch that could be used to further personalize one's character to something that became as mandatory as max armour. Sure you don't need it, but it's REALLY REALLY REALLY good to have it.

All of my characters have just one title always displayed - Golden. (Although I'd switch it out for the max Sweet Tooth title anytime (if I had it!)! It's just so sweet!

)

Lagg · Oct 26, 2007, 09:07 AM // 09:07

I care A LOT about titles.

If I'm pugging in RoT, they all better be wearing their Lightbringer title, even if it's only Rank 1.

Same thing for Dwarven, Norn, Asura and Charr territories.

Prestige titles? No, that's a personal thing.

It's the whole HoM paradox. Sure you have a nice HoM with plenty of things to show off.

Nobody. Gives. A. Go Red Engine Go.

Etta · Oct 26, 2007, 09:09 AM // 09:09

I don't PUG, so I don't care.

tipiak · Oct 26, 2007, 09:49 AM // 09:49

When I PUG in NM, i don't care about titles and most of the time the builds. Just want to play with people. When PUGing in HM or elite zones, it's a different matter. Titles that increase the power of the player can be important and builds are meant to be descent (not necessarily wiki copy/paste). Almost everything can be done with Heroes and Mercs. It's just funnier to play with people.

Medic · Oct 26, 2007, 10:59 AM // 10:59

I care more about whats on their skill bar then the title they choose to display.

SotiCoto · Oct 26, 2007, 11:17 AM // 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by unienaule

I care about builds. When you can assign a title to 1-8, let me know.

So nobody told you about the PvE exclusive skills?
Last I checked, their respective title ranks directly influence the effectiveness of those skills.

Personally... I'm not fussed about titles most of the time when PuG'ing.... but as a rule of thumb, I NEVER party with Rank 1 or 2 Survivors.... as I don't trust them not to just leech. I don't like Rank 3 Survivors either as generally I suspect them of having leeched in the past, and thus of a potentially detrimental mind-set.

Oh... and I don't invite people with Luxon titles on display either. I'm a roleplayer AND a Kurzick... and I'm not in the habit of teaming with the enemy.

aapo · Oct 26, 2007, 11:25 AM // 11:25

Sure, titles are great way to distinguish good players from bad ones, but they're not the only factor I would consider while PUGging.

Really only two things are important:
1. Communication, starting from the first greeting when coming to party will make or break the impression of players quality. I have zero tolerance for jackasses who come to party and never communicate or when communicating always complain about something.

2. Build / certain titles. I really could care less if someone is showing his Sunspear Castellan title or 70% cartographer, but generally those titles that require dedication (high HA rank, KoaBD, vanquisher) will positively influence my decision. I'll take Assassin with vanquisher title to my party any day. Build is another thing. Generally if the build looks reasonable, I'll give a few tips, but if I find Mending and Healing Breeze on Monk's bar, it's goodbye.

pumpkin pie · Oct 26, 2007, 11:27 AM // 11:27

regardless of the player's title, i think the more important thing is if the people you are playing with is polite/courteous. no use having lots of titles and when you play with them they are a pain in the you know where and talk like they are some kind of big shots.

Xeeron · Oct 26, 2007, 11:47 AM // 11:47

Skill bar > title.

Says it all really.

- Xeeron

~ Dan ~ · Oct 26, 2007, 12:28 PM // 12:28

I don't PUG, but if i did i would be looking at both the bar and title. Sure they may have a great bar... copied in 30 secs from PvX Wiki. I'd be looking for titles such as guardian / vanquisher or maybe even decent PvP titles. Titles can generally show they not only have a good bar, but play it well.

william1975 · Oct 26, 2007, 12:31 PM // 12:31

If i was forming a PUG then the only reason i woudl look at a title is if it had a correlation to the area i am in, for example, in DOA i would look to the lightbringer title and try to get higher end ones as they would have better chances of surviving and damaging. otherwise i liek to see how someone is doing and congratulate them on how they are doing if particularly well.

most titles just show the achivemment a person has made, but does not reflect on thier skill in playing. Mind you i suppose guardians and vanquishers must have some skill

creelie · Oct 26, 2007, 02:52 PM // 14:52

I think it's encouraging if a character has a Protector or Guardian title; it suggests they do indeed know their butt from a hole in the ground.

The grind- and money-based titles don't tell me anything about their playing skill, though. Same with expensive armor and weapon skins.

Corpselooter · Oct 26, 2007, 02:52 PM // 14:52

Skill > Time spent, as always.

Muspellsheimr · Oct 26, 2007, 03:31 PM // 15:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lagg

I care A LOT about titles.

If I'm pugging in RoT, they all better be wearing their Lightbringer title, even if it's only Rank 1.

Same thing for Dwarven, Norn, Asura and Charr territories.
[/B]

Then you will never be playing with me, as I absolutely refuse to display titles that give a statistical bonus, as well as use PvE only skills. I believe those are the two worst additions this game has ever had.