Blizzard Reverts 'The Exalted' Title Change, Now Requires 40 Reputations (Again)

posted 2011/02/11 at 11:55 PM by Miyari

the Exaltednow

Recently we changed the Exalted title to require 50 exalted titles up from 40, which meant those that had achieved it were now asked to get 10 more reputations to gain the title back. We felt this kept the title as a difficult reward given the additional reputations introduced with Cataclysm, and also avoided the problem of achievement inflation as the game continues to grow, devaluing the reward.

We didn’t let people know beforehand that we were making this change. A pretty cut and dry error on our part. We take full responsibility for not communicating the change properly, and apologize for the frustration it added to the situation. Unfortunately, that frustration in some people’s cases went to an extreme. Over the past couple days we’ve handed out innumerable suspensions to people who were unable to stay within the forum code of conduct while posting about this change. We of course understand passions can run hot, but some of the violations were extreme enough to remove people’s posting privileges permanently. It’s unfortunate because rational, calm, and constructive posting is the type of feedback that’s taken, discussed, and can help encourage real change. For those that were able to adhere to those posting ideals, we truly thank you for your efforts in keeping your cool.

We took your constructive posts and points, and after discussing the change for quite a while with the designers, the decision has been made to move ‘the Exalted’ title back to require 40 exalted reputations. We’re going to attempt this change with a hotfix, but are unsure at this time if it will be able to be applied through a hotfix. It’s possible that a client patch will be required. (We’ll let you know if it does.)

The 45 and 50 exalted reputation achievements will continue to exist, but for the time being won’t provide anything beyond achievement points. As some have questioned why the title isn’t grandfathered like ‘the Loremaster’ or ‘the Explorer’ titles, these function differently mechanically. While their requirements have changed the actual achievement is the same. There’s no tech currently that allows us to give a title for an achievement and then move that title to a different achievement altogether and have people keep them. We are however working on such a technology that will allow players to keep items or titles associated with achievements even if we decide to change that criteria. So, say if we eventually decide to move ‘the Exalted’ title to an achievement which requires 60 reputations in the next expansion (just as an example), players who already earned the title at 40 reputations will get to keep the title when the criteria changes. This technology would allow us to let players keep titles or items they’ve already earned, while ensuring we don’t get stuck in a position where we have to continually generate new rewards just so those who earned them originally don’t lose them.

Thanks again for your feedback.

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Comment by odrok I really don't understand what is hard about getting 50. I have 55 and haven't even done all my Cata ones yet. If you do all the quests, and take part in all of the Holiday events and wear a tabard for the faction you wish to champion, it is very easy. I had 40 at beginning of WotLK. Comment by blindenvy At least they reverted this ridiculous change and agreed that it was their faulty approach on it.
I had a mindboggling time with the following questions in my head;

"Why not keeping The Exalted title at 40 and give a new title away for 50?"
"Why not moving The Exalted title to 50 and name the 40 title differently?"Comment by Aestu Most companies don't have this "we know better than our customers" attitude that Blizzard doesthat how Comment by HoleofArt If you were able to get 40 without the new Cata reps, is it honestly that hard to get 10 more?
We didn’t let people know beforehand that we were making this change. A pretty cut and dry error on our part. We take full responsibility for not communicating the change properly, and apologize for the frustration it added to the situation. Unfortunately, that frustration in some people’s cases went to an extreme.Comment by Darkslayers
I am not going to start an argument. but... You don't know what comment I even made that got me banned. To break it down for you, my comment had no racism, vulgar, obscene language, and didn't involve any direct insult to any Blizzard staff member. I can't speak for others. I know multiple topics were deleted and if people do that on the same issue that is bannable. I didn't do that.

Now... the amount of trash talkers on this isn't surprising. Just like people say the amount of 'qq is astounding', trolling is no different.

I am sure if this was a mount that some of you earned or a weapon or any example I can make up, you would complain. Maybe you would complain in guild chat rather than a forum, or maybe you would cry to your mother, or just scream out loud.

I'll break it down again though.

The point is that the people 'earned' the achievement. For something you earned to be taken away is stupid. That brings up problems. They said they weren't going to do anything with it originally and nothing was in the patch notes.

40 Exalted achievements isn't any easy feat. It takes a lot of time. Cataclysm did not add 10 new reputations. I really shouldn't have to explain farther than that. A title earned was taken away. That is wrong.

Some of you might disagree or blatantly troll... But a 135 topic with no responses is very poor customer service. I don't know how many of you have jobs. But not notifying customers and flat out ignoring them won't keep your business running long. Not to mention trust issues.

Why even bother with achievements if there is a possibility of them being deleted? Effort to reach tenuous milestones is not worth the time, energy and money involved.

Achievements like The Exalted are important to me because they indicate future directions of the game and its management. I don't see WoW as a short term game (playing since the beginning) so having an eye to how the management works is only sensible.

Achievements mean quite a bit to me now. I have stopped raiding after 6 years of doing it pretty serious. I don't really like PvP and I hate arena. The most fun I have in this game is soloing old content, leveling, and doing achievements / FoS' on all my characters.

If people don't speak up, nothing would ever be looked at, considered, or changed. Blizzard realized they screwed up big time so they reversed this.

I won't stop posting on the WoW forum. But I will definitely hold my tongue or try to if a big issue comes up.. I definitely have some trust issues with Blizzard now because of this situation and I will have to watch what I post.Comment by Hyperspacerebel No company or industry defies consumer criticism on the grounds that their customer base has a less than expert opinion.Comment by Darkslayers Most companies don't have this "we know better than our customers" attitude that Blizzard doesthat how Brool Story Co.Comment by Aestu No company or industry defies consumer criticism on the grounds that their customer base has a less than expert opinion.Comment by Hyperspacerebel Lol, I think you need to know how a free market works before trying to apply it. Comment by Toldu
Of course, I'm also the one who said Blizz should have given everyone an entire level of free xp when LK came out, to destroy the entire bracket of 19 twinks....Comment by Toldu Leggo my ego.Comment by Timanous Lol, I think you need to know how a free market works before trying to apply it.Comment by Interest Leggo my ego.Comment by MischievousLoki hope those people who got banned from blizz forums will get unbanned now then =)Comment by Sinespe My TL;DR response is this one: have you ever been to this website, Aestu?

I did start to write a reply, but there are so many subtle, deep-seated fallacies in your viewpoint that I truly cannot be bothered. It's more effort than you are worth.
All I will say is this: Get some work experience in a customer service role, then tell me that customers shouldn't care what goes on behind the scenes when making criticism. Comment by Spectrezh hope those people who got banned from blizz forums will get unbanned now then =)YouWe of course understand passions can run hot, but some of the violations were extreme enough to remove people’s posting privileges permanently
uhoh i have a feeling someone at Blizzard might be like "I like that idea!" 50 exalted "The Worshiped"! :)Comment by Rainemard No company or industry defies consumer criticism on the grounds that their customer base has a less than expert opinion.seenany"Why not keeping The Exalted title at 40 and give a new title away for 50?"
"Why not moving The Exalted title to 50 and name the 40 title differently?"Blizzard if you are reading, think about creating different levels of the achievement. Perhaps like "The Revered", "The Exalted", "The Worshiped." things like that...

uhoh i have a feeling someone at Blizzard might be like "I like that idea!" 50 exalted "The Worshiped"! :) why not introduce a tabard and pet?GreatpositiveComment by Theodicus Kind of sucks now . . . I got the achievement and title before Cataclysm was released. Then Blizzard took it away after the patch/hotfix. I gained 5 more factions at exalted and now I have the title Again.

Should I prepare to cover my groin in case another swift kick is coming? Comment by OverZealous I really don't understand what is hard about getting 50. I have 55 and haven't even done all my Cata ones yet. If you do all the quests, and take part in all of the Holiday events and wear a tabard for the faction you wish to champion, it is very easy. I had 40 at beginning of WotLK.Comment by Interest Have you seen Trade chat? ...ever? The majority of Blizzard's customer base is about as inexpert in any given field as you can get. WoW isn't a product as much as it is a continued service, much like your newspaper subscription or ISP, both of which have their mistakes... and have you ever tried to deal with the customer service of your ISP? Chances are they weren't even fluent in English.

Blizzard and its employees are far from infallible, but it's obvious they received something more akin to hate mail than constructive criticism if they felt the need to address the nature and extremity of the bans.

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