I see nothing wrong in good players being rewarded.
well, you have the loot before anyone else. grats ! .... and that's it

How would having a unique title or mount or furnishing be "smash[ing] it in the faces of people who have no interest..."?
If you haven't noticed the people changing stances all the time to say "hey watch me I have XXX gerolt's weapon. Oh I even have high allagan look meeeeeeeeeeeh !!", or simplier just jumping all around to show every naab there how awesome they are, then you might be one of them.

Why do you need to be rewarded for anything? Because this is a game which purportedly rewards accomplishment.
It's easy to ignore what I said like just after that. Something like "World first already got their fame moment" and "server first is totally meaningless, only world first has any significance" ?
You are rewarded with iL115 weapons (currently). That should be enough. If you want more, get world first in 2.4 and be done with it