Please rethink this. Many people have put countless hours into challenge modes trying to achieve a realm best time ( And anyone who has obtained one on a healthy realm will tell you that are not happy about it), and if you remove them you basically kill off any challenge mode competition for the rest of the expansion, and destroy its replay gameplay. Ever since cata when I stoped enjoying PvP I have been looking for a way to fill the time when not raiding, and challenge modes has done that. Going into the dungeon with 4 friends with healthy realm competition for the best times is great and it provides content to play. I've met some amazing friends through challenge modes who I never would of met, and we've even met people to recruit for our guild through it. If you remove the titles, why continue to run them after you get gold? No one wants a garbage feat of strength.Realm Best Titles: There are extremely limited titles that are held by the players who hold the best clear time for a given dungeon on a given server. Since those Challenge dungeons will no longer be available in Warlords of Draenor, their respective titles are also being permanently removed. There will be new Challenge dungeons in the upcoming Warlords season, and new titles for which to contend, however.
Why? The titles are realm bound, they can't leave if they obtain them. Even so, the same thing happens in PvP. People who want easy titles/achievements will go to the weaker battlegroups, and go back to their home server after they achieve them. People who want things easy will continue to do so, whereas people who want the challenge will go to harder and stronger venues.We also do not want to encourage groups to seek out less competitive servers just to grab best times and thus permanent titles.
Which is why another solution needs to be met. Outright removing them is lazy by design, when many many people have offered better soultions.By default, if we kept the titles as-is, the final players who held them on the day the servers went down for patch 6.0 maintenance would have kept them. Unless they ever transferred servers. Or unless their realm got connected with another realm with faster record times. This is because by definition, the titles are tied to a specific realm, and were always meant to be. Keeping the titles around with that level of inconsistency and uncertainty was not an acceptable outcome in our eyes.
No one (unless maybe you are a monk) wants to trade their titles for Mistwalker. Darkmaster, Scarlett Commander, Jade protectors are some of the best titles around. The feats of strength are garbage, however this is a possible path on how to handle the titles.We are going to add a new title, Mistwalker, which will be awarded in patch 6.0 to any character who earned one of the “Challenge Master” Feats of Strength during the Mists of Pandaria Challenge Mode season (this title will not be account-wide).
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS HOW TO HANDLE THE END OF MOP
1: Have everyone who is currently holding the realm best time of a specific dungeon on a given server keep their time. This is not ideal, due to inconsistencies already mentioned on future realm merges, or servers where the top holders have long transferred off, and no one has the title, or really dead servers where the time bar is very time.
2: Have everyone with the feat of strength for a given dungeon be awarded ( if not already awarded ) with the titles for respective dungeons. While this is very feasible in my opinion, the only problem I see it is it still kinda kills off the remaining mist of pandaria competition to those who already have all 9 feats.
3: Create a cut off time ( Essentially a "platinum" time.) For example, Gate of the setting sun gold is 12:00. Make it so that anyone under lets say 8:00 will be rewarded with the respective dungeon title. The only problem I see with this one is it does not foster realm competition for the rest of mist, but it does offer some reply value who those who have not obtained a time under that yet.
4:A bit of combination 1 and 3. Let the system remain as it, however at the end of the expansion, only players with the cut off time AND the realm's best time be achieved with the titles. While it narrows down the people who get it, It offers some replay gameplay for those on dead servers to strive amongst themselves for a better time, if they wish to keep the titles after mop is over. And for those on healthy servers, it still offers challenge mode competition until the end of the expansion. ( This is the one I perfer
POSSIBLY SOLUTIONS TO HANDLE WOD
*Applying to all these, disable challenge mode realm best/region best rewards until after a certain time has passed*
1: The same after number 4 mentioned above. Because competition is good, and being rewarded for the gameplay you do is also good ( Arena titles/mounts are a great example)
2: Similar to number 3, give the titles to all who platinum, and add a new reward for those who have the realm best possibly.
Already my challenge mode group is no longer motivated to keep going into challenge modes now that you have announced the titles are being removed for MoP. Please reconsider this change.