Hi,
I can read everyone on these forums, that Simin’s update killed the prestige of “Dungeon Master” title. I have seen people complaining about this ever since Robert Hrouda stated that he was going to change her.
The main idea is that it’s a very bad change.
Let me get this straight : I don’t agree. Here are the reasons.
Lost prestige
Yes, having completed this title properly is nice. You are proud of it and display the title knowing that it is a real achievement.
But what is the most important part ? Showing that you are a great player, or being proud of what you have done ?
In any case, even if a title becomes free (just like this shark fight that was needed for a skill point and was replaced by a 1-clic action), you still know what you have done. You have had fun doing all those dungeons (which is the point of any game), you are proud of having completed them before any nerf. Not any update can change this.
Let’s compare with GW1 : GWAMM was hard to reach. You had to finish at least 2 account based titles, and most often 2 very expansive consumable ones. Doing it in 2008 was a challenge, anyone who has completed is can be proud. And then came the third consumable title. And a lot of things were made much easier, some professions were empowered (ritualist, mesmer, dervish) which, with hero mecanic (they were better than a lot of players who thought they mastered the game), made each 26 PvE titles easy. And then came an update to Survivor, letting players do GWAMM with 0 account title. And 2010 Wintersday when you only had to play around 10 hours in 2 weeks, to get your 3 consumable titles for “free”.
But what ? Yes, everyone was a GWAMM in late GW1 (2011-12). But it was nice for all of those players who were dreaming of it. Does it change our prestige, of having done it when it was still a challenge ? No. It only removes the ability to display your prestige under your name, but you still know what you have done, you are still proud if it, and you are still happy with what you have done (which is the most important in a game). (fyi I have done 2 “hard” gwamms and 8 “easy” ones)
Same goes for our Dungeon Master titles : we are proud and happy, and it’s all that matters. If tomorrow every players in Lion’s Arch displays this title, it can’t remove this.
Not so prestigious before the update
Anyway, even before the update the title was not as prestigious as you’d think. People were selling dungeon runs (“runs” being exaggerated … unlike in gw1, they could do the whole dungeon with 5 people and replace them with paying customers before last boss). You could get the reward and achievement for Arah p4 by “just” paying 15-25 gold. Anet stated that it’s not an issue, in the thread that I created to complain about that.
Also, a lot of dungeons could be done using some exploits to make them faster/easier. There are probably a lot of Dungeon Master, who have used them in several paths, which makes the title less prestigious even if those paths are not Arah4. (yes, you, the guy who thinks that “this is just using the mechanics and being clever, this is not an exploit” : I’m also talking about you).