Vana'Bout Round 8 - did not receive title 'Venerated Adventurer'

[Anomie]

Platform: Windows 11 Home
ISP: Fidium
Type of Internet Connection: Optic Fiber
Internet Connection Speed: 300 Mbit/s
Date & Time: Mar. 31, 2026 06:51 PDT
Frequency: Once
Character Name: Antisense
Race: TarutaruF
World: Ragnarok
Main Job: Geomancer, Lv.99 (M.Level 35)
Support Job: White Mage Lv. 56
Area and Coordinates: Mhaura, G-8
Party or Solo: Solo
NPC Name: Coordinator Moogle
Monster Name: N/A
Steps:

1. Registered for plaudit rankings at 06:51 PDT with the Coordinator Moogle while Vana'Bout Round 8 was still active. At the time of registration I had 1400 plaudits and the rankings list already had 100 characters with rank 1, all of them with 1400 plaudits.
2. After registration, received message that 'Your registration has been accepted, kupo! It may taake a while for this to be reflect in the official records.'
3. After 5 minutes, selected option 'View plaudit rankings' while interacting with the Coordinator Moogle. My character name did not appear in the list.
4. At 8:30 PDT, after the end of Vana'Bout Round 8, selected option 'View plaudit rankings' while interacting with the Coordinator Moogle. My character name did not appear in the list.
5. Upon ending interaction with the Coordinator Moogle, did not receive the message "You have been awarded a special title, as you placed rank 10 or higher!"

[Alhanelem]

It sounds to me like you didn't make the rankings. That's not a bug.

As you noted, the rank list was already filled up. That means you were late to the party.

Now don't get me wrong, it sucks that they set it up this way and I feel for you, but it is clearly by design and not a bug. I'ts not simply "get maximum points, get the title." They're only giving out a certain number regardless.

[Anomie]

I'm not surprised that someone (you) would chime in with something completely useless. (Edit: I also am not surprised that a report for this same issue in the Japanese forums was marked as 'working as intended' so I doubt they will address this.)

For further context: I already got the title in the past. Not everyone is going to be able to register soon after JP midnight with ~24 hours to go. There will continue to be the same losers who continue to register for the rankings with their alts even after getting max points the other 7 rounds.

I was 50/50 on actually doing this because I saw 2 other characters toward the top of the list (#5 and #10) with registration date March 31, 2026, and the next highest character with registration date March 31, 2026 was at #80. (Why is that?)

The rankings turned out like this mainly because they made it easier to max out points than in previous rounds, so they should consider increasing the number of displayed characters or condition title receipt on having nominally registered + your actual plaudit total. The timing of registration shouldn't matter especially when there were multiple characters with March 31 registration toward the top of the list ahead of many others who registered on March 30.

[Alhanelem]

I'm not surprised that someone (you) would chime in with something completely useless. (Edit: I also am not surprised that a report for this same issue in the Japanese forums was marked as 'working as intended' so I doubt they will address this.)

I'm not surprised that someone (you) would chime in with something even more useless- a personal attack on someone with an entirely reasonable comment based in fact.

This isn't about whether or not it's a good thing what happened (spoiler alert: It's not a good thing). It's about whether or not it's an error, a malfunction. I don't see anything here that isn't working as intended.

This is not an attempt, intentional or otherwise, to minimize your issue, call you "wrong," or anything else of the sort.

The rankings turned out like this mainly because they made it easier to max out points than in previous rounds, so they should consider increasing the number of displayed characters or condition title receipt on having nominally registered + your actual plaudit total.

I completely agree with this- but this is a suggestion on how something should be changed. But this isn't a suggestion forum- it's the bug report forum, and the fact remains that this isn't a bug. You should be posting about this in the feedback channels, that if they're going to make it easier to max out the points then they should grant the titles to more people- and I would be 100% on board with that suggestion.

I made this post because SE has always approached this forum section with the same seriousness- Merely not following the post format gets a report disregarded. If you want to push for change, this isn't the place to do it. Post it in the feedback thread or otherwise in the main forum, and I'll be right there backing you up with how the current system isn't fair, because it's not.

I have worked in game dev QA. And If I was working in that role for SE, I'd see this thread, and I'd agree with its premise, but I would still close the thread / direct them to an appropriate posting category because it's not an error/malfunction, while thanking them for their interest and feedback- because if I find that something is working the way it was designed, even if the result is undesirable by the user, it distracts from my ultimate goal of investigating bug reports and forwarding them to appropriate parties on the team.

[Anomie]

i'm sure whoever actually screens these posts is perfectly capable of putting this report in the circular file like they did with the Japanese player's post. It doesn't need an unpaid forum poster to arbitrate on its behalf.

The purpose of this forum section "is to collect reports on issues that users have experienced in the game."

The criterion for title obtainment is that "Characters that have earned a top ten ranking will receive a title once they view the ranking board following the end of the Vana'Bout event period." No mention of order of registration, timing of registration, or even ties. No mention that you actually need to be on the ranking board when viewing the ranking board.

[Alhanelem]

The purpose of this forum section "is to collect reports on issues that users have experienced in the game."

Since you want to be technical- The title of the forum category is "In-game Bugs." This is not an in-game bug, it is a bad design decision.

The criterion for title obtainment is that "Characters that have earned a top ten ranking will receive a title once they view the ranking board following the end of the Vana'Bout event period." No mention of order of registration, timing of registration, or even ties. No mention that you actually need to be on the ranking board when viewing the ranking board.

You clearly didn't attain a top 10 ranking because of all the other people who got perfect scores before you.

It is bad design, and no doubt negatively impacted the experience for several players, not just you. but it is clearly not a malfunction. The issue here is that the top 10 is (very obviously) no longer sufficient to cover all the players able to attain the maximum score. It clearly should be changed so that everyone who achieves the maximum earns the title.
But again, functionally, did the game behave the way it was designed to? Yes, it did. It is also, however, entirely reasonable that players would be upset after putting in the time only to be denied because they were the 11th or later person to submit their results.

My reccomendation would be to additionally post about it here:

Feedback related to Vana'Bout

We have effected other changes to the game based on feedback posted to this designated thread specifically about this very subject matter, and that is where you will have the most impact.

[Dragoy]

Since you want to be technical- The title of the forum category is "In-game Bugs." This is not an in-game bug, it is a bad design decision.

Bug reports these days do seem to be the best bet we have in pointing those designs out though, although I am still unsure it works, it is worth a short, I believe.

You clearly didn't attain a top 10 ranking because of all the other people who got perfect scores before you.

As long as you get the maximum points, you will be tied to the 1st place, but the issue here is that it seems that only 99, or is it 100 people can be listed, so anyone outside that is... well, outside of that.

To me it seems it's random how people are sorted, but there seems to be a possibility of it being handled so that, if you register for the first time during the event as the first one to register, you will be first always when tieded.

Untestested, but that's the only thing aside from random that makes sense to me right now.

I do think they will adjust this now that so many servers are hitting that limit.

Even Fenrir was over 70 1sts this time somehow...

And yes, I concur with posting on the feedback topics as well, even if I have little hope for those these days.

[Alhanelem]

As long as you get the maximum points, you will be tied to the 1st place, but the issue here is that it seems that only 99, or is it 100 people can be listed, so anyone outside that is... well, outside of that.

It would probably be a good idea, if possible, to confirm with anybody outside the first 10 people on the list to see if they recieved the title. In most games i've played, including FFXIV (example: The competitive PvP ranking), all the players who tie for the lowest eligible rank still get rewarded even if it's more than the normal number (i.e. if 2 people tie for 30th place, all 31 people in the top 30 do get the reward).

As I said, the system they used probably wasn't designed with the idea they'd need to accomodate more than 100 people. But I'm very interested to know if only ten titles were given per server or if everyone who tied received the title.

Bug reports these days do seem to be the best bet we have in pointing those designs out though, although I am still unsure it works, it is worth a short, I believe.

The dev in me really doesn't like seeing stuff being used for things outside of its intended purpose. I get that in some cases it may seem like the only way to get somebody's attention (and recently, when it comes to localization issues, they actually told us to post it here instead of in the localization feedback, which I guess is meant to be more general). I know it's not going to make me a popular person but technical correctness is just... important to me from a mental standpoint. Accurate information is essential in my opinion, and that includes categorizing things correctly.

[Dragoy]

It would probably be a good idea, if possible, to confirm with anybody outside the first 10 people on the list to see if they recieved the title. In most games i've played, including FFXIV (example: The competitive PvP ranking), all the players who tie for the lowest eligible rank still get rewarded even if it's more than the normal number (i.e. if 2 people tie for 30th place, all 31 people in the top 30 do get the reward).

Yeah I originally thought only the actual 10 first get it, back some bouts ago when on Fenrir at least we actually could still have just ~10 with top score (I missed something and got dropped to 11th once...).

I later realised that it's basically a "must get 100% completion for it" since everyone tied to 1st will still get it (I think I confirmed that myself even but not 100% sure now, but 99% sure that's how it works).

Well... apparently everyone tied on 1st that get to the list. >.>

As I said, the system they used probably wasn't designed with the idea they'd need to accomodate more than 100 people. But I'm very interested to know if only ten titles were given per server or if everyone who tied received the title.
The dev in me really doesn't like seeing stuff being used for things outside of its intended purpose. I get that in some cases it may seem like the only way to get somebody's attention (and recently, when it comes to localization issues, they actually told us to post it here instead of in the localization feedback, which I guess is meant to be more general). I know it's not going to make me a popular person but technical correctness is just... important to me from a mental standpoint. Accurate information is essential in my opinion, and that includes categorizing things correctly.

Yes, I am the same on that regard.

I wrangle bugs in open source projects myself, and it makes me quite annoyed how they handle bugs in general here (zarrro feedback to the reporters aside from moving them to different forums... grrr!), and I wouldn't do things like they do at all, but "when in Rome" and all that. :]

[Tokimemofan]

It sounds to me like you didn't make the rankings. That's not a bug.

As you noted, the rank list was already filled up. That means you were late to the party.

Now don't get me wrong, it sucks that they set it up this way and I feel for you, but it is clearly by design and not a bug. I'ts not simply "get maximum points, get the title." They're only giving out a certain number regardless.

In some ways bug vs design is really semantics here. That’s been one of the major criticisms going back to the first Vana’bout. Nearly every time SE has changed the rules mid round or misrepresented the rules. This wouldnt have been hard to avoid either, adding a secondary check for capped plaudits to trigger the title. Or disclose the limitation that was already a potential concern knowing how high the number was in round 7