The world is in achievement frenzy. The masses have gone mad and I am among them. Shattrath is empty as previously bored level 70s are racing around the corners of the globe exploring forgotten places, loving frogs and snakes, slaying level 20 dungeon bosses, falling from great heights and otherwise making silly fun where before there was none.I admit to being skeptical about the new achievement system when it was first announced, but now that it is live I have no choice but to love it. My personality type dictates that when I am given a list I must embrace that list and make sure each and every item gets checked off. Everything in its place and everything neat and tidy. No loose ends. I currently have 1860 achievement points -- I have no idea if that is a lot or not very much at all compared to others, but this is not a competition (at least to me). I achieve because I can.
But are these achievements? I feel no sense of accomplishment after demolishing Gnomeregan as a level 70 paladin other than the little afterglow of another check mark on that cursed list. Slaying Nefarian in Blackwing Lair as a level 60 is however something to be proud of and a real accomplishment. I would love to see Blizzard implement some diminishing returns for certain types of achievements. As you gain levels beyond that of the achievement level you will earn fewer and fewer achievement points until, at a certain point, you can no longer earn that achievement. Seeing somebody with the Molten Core achievement would then actually tell you something about that character and their history in the game - not just the level of their obsessive-compulsive disorder.
4 comments:
I think the "Feats of Strength" do that. I mean I know that I'll be happy to have my "Armani War Bear" feat even after I've got cold weather flying in Northrend and no longer want to run around.
Dann loves Cow
Alternatively, a way to lower your level to something content-appropriate. The new legacy items show it's possible to scale all items according to level. How cool would it be to take a group into ZG with level-equivalent gear, skills, and talents instead of the zerg fests that now inhabit that jungle?
I am sure the happiness will pass when hallow's end is over and 80% of the population is still missing squashling / hallowed helm and don't get the hallowed title and can kiss the meta achievment goodbye for an entire year.
Don't get me wrong, I like the achievement system a lot, but it's going to gnaw at me if I miss out on the 'the hallowed' title and have to wait around for an entire year just to complete it.
That in my opinion is a somewhat poor design. I do the daily every day, that's 5 chances at a drop and on top of that I do my trick or treat whenever I can which is another 3-4 chances a day. If after that I still can't complete the hallow's end achievement sinister calling then the achievement system itself is a little too RNG based for my taste.
There's nothing worse than a perfectly good list that contains items that you can't check off unless you want to wait a year.
That'd put a pretty big damper on my desire to do achievements.
The RNG component needs to go, I'll happily spend 30 days working on something if I can get a guaranteed achievement... working 15 days on something for a 'maybe' is something I'll only do once :)
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