Achievements - They Are Growing On Me
iTZKooPA on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 24 Comments Tags: Achievements, bastosa, bragging, statistics, the goonies, wrath, wrath features, xbox live rip-off  Lay off my score.. |
I have been meaning to discuss my stance on Achievements for awhile, and Bastosa has driven me to finally act. A few of my other posts have some morsels of thought on World of Warcraft's Achievement system, while I do find myself going for them from time to time, I feel that it isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread. Just a heads up before you read on, I know many of you out there are passionate about Achievements, your score and your rank in your guild or realm, so just remember that this is my opinion. On the flip side, I am happy to hear your thoughts on the topic as well.
My main issue with the system is not that it is a blatant rip-off of Xbox Live, but that it was designed with the sole purpose of keeping us sucked in. For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, making an entire system dedicated to keeping people logged in just irks me. But damn if Blizzard doesn't make it difficult to hate the implementation. As I have progressed through Wrath I have found myself checking on my exploring and questing Achievements here and there, while hating myself for doing so. I tell myself that I am just checking it to gauge how close I am to being done with the zone, but I know that isn't the only reason.
The system is growing on me because of its humor, depth, and the fact that I love statistics. For me, the single greatest accomplishment for the Achievement system is not its extension of the game, but that it hasn't ruined my experience. Yea, a few Battlegrounds have been clogged up because of the Warsong Gulch's Achievement, but it is not nearly as bad as all the stubborn people going for Said the Spider to the Fly in Gears of War 2 or Akimbo Assassin in Left 4 Dead on expert. It can be done on any difficulty people!
While I may hate it less, I do not see myself re-running content just to brag to my friends that I did Deadmines at level 80. Perhaps binding certain Achievements to a level range would make more sense. Then again, I did love The Goonies...
Reader Comments (24)
First, i think the acheivment system is very good and i think its a good thing to do when ur bored
I just wish there were more substantial rewards for the achievements. More tabards or pets or something. I just dont see the purpose in doing them if you dont get anything out of it besides some arbritrary score.
I'm the same way. I think they cool and if they're along the way I will go slightly out of my way to do them, but besides that they aren't a big factor to me. I might go for the explorer acheivement since it has a tangible reward, but that's about it.
i ran deadmines last night with my 75 DK... it took me roughly 15 minutes dragging a level 13 and 16 through it
that wasn't supposed to submit yet..... whoops anyway I think the achievement system is cool. It doesn't make me think any less or any more of the game itself. Just a little added perk to track your progress in my opinion. (at least that's what i use it for)
I find the statistics page sometimes worth a look. The idea that i've spent 100g on flightpaths is kinda scary, and i'm am still 4 goddam areas away from being an explorer.
i enjoy it and while there are some that i will never complete. it is nice to compare to friends and guildies on what has been completed.
I would have to agree that at the moment it isn't very rewarding unless you have been playing since BC launch or sooner.
I am building up these achievement "points", but don't have anything to spend them on or save them up to a particular amount. I thought that was the idea.
Ah, well as you say, they grow on you, because other than completing a quest it is nice to see that pop up after a boss kill or exploring an area.
Here's another $14.99 Bliz. Enjoy!!
I really like the new achievement system, and think its a neat way to give people mounts, etc.
What I'm really hoping for is some kind of "Achievement Vendor", almost like a rep vendor, where you can purchase items if you have a certain amount of achievement points.
The Achievements are growing on me as well, yea its a bit weird to go do RazorFen Crawl at 80 (never hit it the first time). Its also satisfying to get one when you didn't expect it as if by accident, like the "Falling 65 yards w/o dieing" achievement. Or the "City Defender" one during a somewhat recently failed raid on SW.
"HEY YOU GUYS!!!!!" - Sloth
P.S. I love Goonies as well, and watch it whenever I can.
"dying"....
Haha once, on my pally, i jumpepd off the zep to UC and bubbled. Inadvertantly getting the 65 yd achievement
I like the achievements just to track what I've accomplished. I just wish they were there since the beginning so that my complete history was tracked, but it's good going forward.
It's also helpful for when I play an alt and can't remember if I have run them through Deadmines or not yet...and stuff like that.
The one achievement I think is missing is "Charter Member"...anyone whose account was activated in November 2004. I've been playing since then, so I'd like proof that others can see.
From doing those achivments i get achivment points.
WHY THE HELL DO I NEED THEM???
Can i buy staff with them or somthing?
please tell me i NEED to know!
My first enoucnter with an achievement like system was in Guild Wars! And I find it an excellent system to love the little things just a little bit more :P.
Like touring the world can be fun, but why bother if U aint rewarded for it, and now U get a reward! And a brilliant way to get more people into the more old-game content.
i like the system gives you something to do if u'r bored or waiting or a raid run or something like that and for all of u saying theres no rewards you can win a badass photo-drake! u may have to do loads of acheivements to get one but i think it will be worth it :)
When achievements were released just before Wrath, i looked at the points in the same way as with honor points, that u could probably turn in in dalaran, but when u couldn't i have to admit that i was disappointed.. i mean, whats the point in tracking the Achievement points if they dont do anything? why would u need them?
But its just a little more content to the game, cant complain about it, but dont have to love it.
@Hund
Heh, I did something similar, I jumped off the elevator platform in Telredor/Zangamarsh, realized it was pretty far and bubbled, getting the falling achievement by accident.
Its a love-hate for me. its cool to get the achievements and the concept is awesome, just the fact that there is no real reward for spending your time on them. It would be cool if you could get gold for certain achievements, or something like that. after all, I didn't make the game! Xb
the achivement system prevents some high level players from being bored and just starting different characters
I never expected gold or any compensation for the achievements, its nice just to have a record of past things done in the game for me.
i have been /love every critter I see now!
Loremaster of Kalimdor for Alliance is certainly annoying as hell to get. I'm at 709/730 of those quests, and have done the "hard to find" quests and the "quest starts from an item" quests. I'm seriously wishing there was a way I could pull up what I've done already.
While the achievement system certainly isn't the "be-all-end-all", I think it has added a much-needed perk to the game. As I mentioned in Bastosa's blog on this subject, I was already going to map all of Azeroth and Outland. But the "World Explorer" achievement... it definitely helped make all those hours spent exploring worth it.
I love the achievements. They are a nice thing to do when my computer is being a Lagasarus Rex. That is how I explored all of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms.
I don't mind that the points are impractical; I think of them as more of a score anyway. There are already so many ways to spend things in WoW, be it through the reputation system or with marks, why not have just have a system that just is. Also, if you spend achievement points, how do you get more? Yes, some achievements could be repeatable, but what about achievements based on quests or professions? Once those things have been achieved you can't do them again.