Greetings and Salutations!
Lord British has a request to make of you, his Royal Subjects. We are in the process of defining the new titles for new tiers and would like your input! Our current thoughts are to add the prefix Royal to many of the Kickstarter only titles, making the basic title available to any new pre-launch pledges. We would like to know what you think of that!
And then, there are a few titles that just didn’t seem to work with the Royal Prefix, like Lord (and have been left blank in the chart below). So we would like some feedback as to what titles should be given to new backers for those tiers.
We are also open to considering new names for the existing tiers. For example, during the Kickstarter campaign, some players suggested that “Lord of the Manor” be changed to “Archduke”. So if you have any suggestions for alternate titles, now is the time to share your feedback!
Please leave your feedback in the comments, or preferably on the forums in the following thread: Community Feedback Request for New Tier Titles
| KS Campaign | New Backer | |
| TIER | Title | Title |
| Adventurer | Pioneer | Benefactor |
| Immortal Adventurer | Immortal Adventurer | |
| Founder | Founder | |
| Royal Artisan | Royal Artisan | Artisan |
| Virtual Collector | Royal Archivist | Archivist |
| Digital Explorer | Royal Explorer | Explorer |
| Explorer | Royal Explorer | Explorer |
| Collector | Royal Curator | Curator |
| Patron | Royal Patron | Patron |
| Ancestor | Royal Ancestor | Ancestor |
| Navigator | Royal Navigator | Navigator |
| Developer | Royal Tinkerer | Tinkerer |
| Citizen | Royal Citizen | Citizen |
| Edelmann | Royal Edelmann/Edelfrau | Edelmann/Edelfrau |
| Knight | Knight/Dame | |
| Lord | Lord/Lady | |
| Baron | Baron/Baroness | |
| Duke | Duke/Duchess | |
| Lord of the Manor | Lord of the Manor/Lady |
*Note* ~ Kickstarter backers will be able to chose between the base title or the new “Royal” prefixed title.
Founder Old: Founder New: Settler
I like “First” as a prefix for the higher tiers, for the KS titles.
I second this. I rather like the sound of “First Citizen” and the like.
“High” as a Prefix, or allowing part as a Suffix.
Sir Aartmis, High Knight or in vjek’s example, Sir Aartemis, First Knight
This is a great idea !
Some actual titles for knights are Knight Grand Cross and Knight Commander. Either of those would work for Kickstarter title, and just plain Knight for new backers.
Mmmmm i have the first baron of 3000 usd … u lost it in the list???
Baron 1 & 2 both receive the same title; Baron. I’ve removed the #2 to avoid confusion.
Since Baron 2 receives a crown as part of their “High Baron” status, why not give Baron 2’s the option of a “High Baron” title?
I had naively assumed Baron2s had the title “High Baron”, perhaps I misread it since it only say “High Baron Crown”. I’d prefer an extra title, although I’m not fond of the prefix “High”.
now it’ s correct
Could also use the prefix “arch” for KS titles. But probably not that appetizing of a title prefix to most folks
“I’m an Arch Curator.”
“A whu?”
“…”
Here are some ideas for the old and new tiers: kickstarter then post kickstarter
Lord of the Manor: King/Queen of the Realm – Prince/Princess of the Realm
Duke: Duke/Duchess – Marquess/Marchioness
Baron 2: Earl/Countess – Baron/Baroness
Knight (Sir/Dame): Templar Knight or Crusader Knight or Mythic Knight – Knight
Immortal Adventurer: Immortal Adventurer – Mortal Adventurer
Pioneer: Ancient Pioneer – Modern Pioneer
I like the idea to honour the ks pledgers with a special prefix to their title. Royal, High or First are all good suggestions. Personally I would prefere First or High because this sounds more neutral and gives more scope for rping.
As well would I suggest to rename the Edelmann/Edelfrau title to a corresponding english version e.g. nobleman/noblewoman. Imho a german title (Btw I am german :)) sounds and looks somewhat odd compared to the other titles.
Greetings Duffrey
Knights can use Sir as prefix right? or just Knight?
@Gunga Din… I hope you can use Sir as me and about every other knight out there is using it… Traditionally the title of Knight comes with the prefix Sir. I would imagine if it was an issue, FireLotus or LB would have highlighted it before now. I hope this helps
Actually, tradition is Sir is used only by british military orders of knights. A holy knight like the teutonic knights, or the knights of malta, or knights from other kingdoms did not use Sir. For instance French knights used the title chevalier d’Empire (meaning knight of the empire).
The royal british order, the venerable order of the hospitalers of saint john, are only allowed to use the title of Sir durring knight order ceramonies and events.
Royal Edelmann/Edelfrau doesn’t really work in german. Superior would be Freiherr/Freifrau.
Yes, adding the english “Royal” to the german “Edelmann” or “Edelfrau” sounds extremly weird…
Yea, i thought so too…but if can you use either? and First/High Sir Doesn’t sound right.
Maybe use suffix options instead.
Or some type of symbol or colored text.
Possibly:
Crown symbol before the Lord of Manor Title
Sword and Shield Symbol before Knight title.
Paintbrush before Artisan Title.
Etc. Just a small symbol to correspond with the title.
I like the “royal” addition. I also think that Archduke is better than Lord of the Manor. For the other titles, I was thinking of “Founder” as a suffix, “Knight Founder”, “Lord Founder”, etc. However, I also like the previous suggestions of the prefixes “High” or “First”.
I was thinking on the same lines. Maybe “Founding Knight” or “Founding Lord”, etc.
This is tough.
In some cases I like the sound of Royal, but you are right that it wont work for everything. I also like @vjeck’s suggestion of First, but again it wont work for everything and has that connotation of people posting with “first” on comments.
That said I do like the sound of First Citizen. Although Royal Subject might also work for Citizen.
I think this may not be as simple as a blanket prefix. I would suggest that a poll go up in the forum for this and ask people to only vote on their current and/or planned future tier after some of the ideas from this comment section are reviewed by the SOTA team. This should encourage more people to provide feedback due to the reduced effort involved.
Grand Duke / Archduke ($10k)
Duke / Marquis ($5k)
Earl / —- ($3.5k, a KS only level imo, and notice it puts Count / Viscount in _logical_ order too)
Count / Viscount ($3k)
High Baron / Baron ($1.5k)
High Lord / Lord($750)
Knight / — ($550 — previously Edelman, not really a KS level? – otherwise use Knight Commander / Knight)
Noble Citizen / Citizen ($500)
You can see my logic in the following post:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=community-feedback-request-for-new-tier-titles&paged=2#post-23213
I second this (addition of Marquis/Earl/Count/Viscount), though I also like the idea of adding flanking symbols to what might otherwise be a normal title.
During one of the dev chats about the overarching story, Tracy and Richard spoke about how players in the game are essentially “not of the world”, and how many NPCs are cognizant of this, and in some cases down-right suspicious.
I think there needs to be a bridge between the practicality of recognizing generous donors and supporting a rich story. In other words, if “tier titles” are to be used in-game, I think that there should also be a backstory that supports them: Why are some of “visitors” regarded with such prestige that they have a royal title bestowed upon them? Did they partake in a siege and were knighted for bravery? Are they decedents of royalty? Did they somehow make a significant contribution to society?
I completely agree with this. The title should fold into the story line to further the suspension of disbelief. New players should not just join and think ‘oh these players paid some money and got a title’. They should think more on the lines of what Lord Zac stated: “Oh look at these citizens, some of them must have been and the battle of such and such when Lord British overtook the North”.
And personally, I think even though many of us paid to support this, I still think some of the ranks should be attainable through in game accomplishments: i.e. Lord British bestowing the honorary title upon a winner of some tournament or a healer of great renown etc… This way, new players know that it is within the realm of possibility that they can achieve any level of prestige through hard work, luck, diligence, and leadership without paying anything. I am just throwing my 1 cent out there.
I also like the “First” idea although I think “Noble” would be better than Royal, it means the same but flows better. Noble Lord Darthan Haj.
I prefer “Lord Protector” to “Lord of the Manor.” Any and all title changes should be optional. KS pledgers should be able to toggle whichever title they desire (original tier title, updated, or lower tier titles).
I would suggest no new titles at all. Titles were for the original KS backers that were limited in quantity with an expiration date of April 7th.
knight and higher make it simple add Blessed if you want to add a prefix
instead of blessed you could use virtuous
What if I want to be of evil or neutral alignment. I wouldn’t want to be blessed or virtuous, but Dark or something else.
I agree with Zandotus I like the title “First…” and Jatvardur “Noble..”
I also agree with Lord Zac. I would like to see some story element into why the founders or elders are regarded as we are.
Obviously we do not know too much about the story as of yet but I can imagine an NPC having a special love/hate reaction to the first ones.
@Zandotus, yes its a bit tough to create such a system. Although you can create a link table of course. If you select a base title like ‘Explorer’ you can place a filter for possible prefixes. That way you could filter the prefix for ‘Edelmann’. Only ‘Hoher’ would be linked to that title for example.
Does this count for just the KS folks or does it include the people who signed up during the “grace period” the week after KS ended?
Can the Title changes idea and just keep them as is with KS people having their titles (or full name with it) in gold lettering. Case closed, easy fix, move on to next issue.
If we must have options on the titles, use them but KS backers will have their title in a special color / hue.
I like that idea. Maybe a fancy font and customized coloring for your title. Problem solved.
I support this suggestion wholeheartedly.
this tier comes with the seed of immortality so maybe something like immortal adventurer and immortal wanderer.
then after that why not stick more along the lines, seeing as you have most things for people who joined on kickstarter starting with royal, eg Royal Artisan and Royal Archivist. why not royal founder and founder non kickstarter, then maybe arch knight and knight, arch lord and lord, arch baron and baron, arch duke and duke. and for the last tier can suggests together with the devs for a suitable name.
Every land needs a King!! will we see lord British with his own title? maybe Royal Highness Lord British lol
All hail King British!
I had another thought. Perhaps a prefix of “Founding.”
The downside here is I am not sure if it fits with the theme…
Just ready your comment – made the same comment just now. I like “Founding” as well.
*read
I like the ‘Elder’ prefix.
I’m with Gunga or TEK or anyone that suggested a symbol. Keep it simple. Why do we need titles at all for new tiers? I’d go with no titles, a crown or star icon for LS backers, or simply a different color title for KS backers if you must use titles and be done with it… much more important things to be discussing/worrying about right now than if the intricate title structure is good enough to satisfy everyone’s personal desires.
Uh, KS backers. Not LS backers. >_>
I like titles actually but maybe they could change it in a way that you can choose if you want to use an icon or the title itself. Then people can make their own choice.
And it isn’t that hard to implement.
I meant adding an icon next to the titles to denote the KS backers instead of worrying about changing the KS titles and also creating a whole new second set of titles. There are going to wind up being so many titles that no one is going to know what they all mean unless someone refers to a chart! Im in favor of one simple difference between the two – either only KS backers even have titles, or KS backer titles are a different hue, or KS backers have an icon next to the title. Easy peasy :3
Exactly Lori, we are gonna need a spreadsheet to figure out what each title means lol.
yep i agree keep it as short an sweet as possible, Ks backers are royal and non ks backers are standard. simples
I agree. Just keep the titles as is.. and KS backers get a special font and color to denote their status. Now RG and co. can get back to making the game.
I am partial to the “High” prefix, however, Lori does bring up a good point about the titles in general.
I posted this in the forums, but didn’t realize I could post directly to the article as well.
I’m 100% against the use of colored names as a means to denote KS backer status. It removes an otherwise extremely useful means of denoting certain status indicators that are more meaningful to gamplay purposes. (suggestions) Red -> PvP; Blue -> Non-PvP; Green -> RP; Silver -> Game Master; Purple-> Counselor, etc. Having a ‘gold’ backer name would prevent other status from being shown, and splitting it so that the title is gold and the name is status will look terrible. Lord (gold) Vandigeth (blue) sounds really bad.
I’m ok with a symbol, suffix, prefix, and even a font (presuming the font doesn’t obscure text or something). I personally think the prefix (esteemed, exalted, I don’t really care) is the easiest method in my opinion. I’m ok with doing nothing at all and just leaving everything as is and letting pre and post KS people have the same exact titles. However, using color for something as non-value added as displaying KS backer status is a flawed idea considering the other possible uses of name color as a valid, meaningful game mechanic.
It’s easy to say that names might all be white at the beginning so why not, but using that mechanic now on KS backer status closes that door since it has become a KS promise. It will be hard to backpedal on it later in favor of more useful mechanics regarding name colors and player status or other meaningful game content.
There is absolutely no need to hamstring the game over something as useless as KS backer status. I’m a KS Lord backer, full disclosure, and I’m advocating heavily against the squandering of a useful game mechanic for something such as this. Please, don’t do anything at all if it means hamstringing otherwise useful game mechanics over it.
That’s my 2 cents on the matter for whatever it’s worth. It isn’t my intention to sound hostile or aggressive. I’m only trying to present my case in its starkest terms. Thanks.
Vandigeth, your point is valid.. but only if they use colored names to signify status (pvp, non pvp, etc). This is supposed to be a new kind of game that is unlike the typical mmorpg.. so I don’t know if they plan on using that kind of system. If they do, however, I agree with you.. the different colored titles will get confusing.
Having said that, I’m ok with whatever the majority wants. I don’t think this is a teriibly important issue. As long as KS backers get differentiated from the rest.. I’ll be perfectly happy. I still think they/we should keep it simple though. Whether that be different color, font or icon.
That is true. It isn’t supposed to be like every other MMO. However, certain mechanics exist in so many games for a reason usually: it works. Now, I’m not saying this game must use it but I feel that we should leave the option open rather than using it on something as non-value added as KS backer status.
I’ll abide by whatever Portalarium decides to do rather than the majority. They know what will work best for their game in the long haul. All I can do is present my argument to them. I won’t fight it like a crusade if Portalarium decides to use colors; it really isn’t that important in the end as you said. I just think that it lacks foresight to use an extremely useful game mechanic on something like KS backer status, and that is where I stand.
I Agree with everything you have said, leaving the option open allows flexibility in the future, tying name colour to a non functional title is a waste in a minimalist GUI where everything that is displayed needs to be functional or adding something to the experience.
Immortal adventurer becomes Immortal Seeker
Founder becomes colonist
Edelmann/Edelfrau becomes Ritter
the Honourable Lord becomes lord
the Honourable Baron/Baroness becomes Baron/Baroness
The Honourable Duke/Duchess becomes Duke/Duchess
The Honourable Lord/Lady of the Manor becomes Lord/Lady of the Manor
I paid directly on your site so you would get more of the money directly and my payment didn’t process until the 8th, this makes me sad.
Please let me keep the name Immortal, please don’t lower me down to just a mere mortal adventurer.
@zenerbufen ~ The delay in processing is unfortunately a reality of online transactions, as the electronic information takes time to process. Not to worry though, you will still receive all of the benefits of being an early backer, as we included a “grace period for just such incidents.