A controversial take on achievements

Taaku

In game achievement systems mean nothing and is a waste of resources. Let me explain. Sure they might point you toward doing something but let me ask you something. Would you rather:
A. Pull up achievement ui, scan ui for something to do. Find achievement "kill bandit leader X in such and such forest". Go kill bandit leader. or
B. Find an actual quest in the game that tells you to "kill bandit leader X in such and such forest". Go kill bandit leader.
(Difficulty doesn't matter for this example it could be solo quest or group quest)
Also literally NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR OR MINE ACHIEVEMENT SCORE. It's just a number that goes up slowly so whenever it goes up a tiny amount we all go "yay" and that's it. No one cares about any one else scores, what else they have achieved, and whenever someone has said "yeah i've done this achievement" everyone else around just says 1 of 2 things:
1. "So have I" or
2. "I haven't done that yet"
So can we please just be done with achievements and just ask for actual in game quests? You know.... like actual experiences and content.

Noaani

Taaku wrote: »

In game achievement systems mean nothing and is a waste of resources.

I agree.

However, other people really like them.

Since MMORPG's are supposed to appeal to a wide range of players, and since the development time for achievements is fairly low, even though I really don't care about them, they should still exist due to those people that really like them.

Caww

In a game with so much do, having an Activity Log is a helpful ingame addition, even if it is called an "achievement".

Wololo

Same, I try to ignore achievements. Unless its needed to use them as checklist on what to do. But i guess some ppl like to know for sure they are not missing anything

RazThemun

In the guilds I have ran in the past there have always been achievement pursuers. It is why they log and what they look forward to. They enjoy the challenge of collecting all achievements similar to others who may want to clear every raid, get a specific armor set, etc. While achievements may not appeal to all of the masses.... there certainly is that player base who enjoys the pursuit of getting all the achievements, all the pets, all the mounts... so on and so forth.

Asgerr

I think you can make them work for things as simple as titles. Oh that guy completed X or Y achievement? Now he has: "Sword of Vandagar" as a title under his name etc.

It works in Final Fantasy XIV. So rather than have it be just a number have it come along with a cosmetic title or some other small reward that does nothing but give cool points.

Ludullu

Literally


You have those cool quests and then you give the achievement for doing it. There shouldn't be a full list of achievements in the game, they should all be hidden. Obviously people will make compiled lists later on, but that's a 3rd party tool that achievement hunters can use at whatever time they want.

No one's making you look at those achievements and only follow their directions, but the people who do like to do that - can.

Also, I'd imagine the game will already have quest/activity markers on players for various reasons, so adding a fucking line of code along the lines of "if this marker TRUE = this achievement GIVE" doesn't seem like that much of work. It sure as hell way easier that literally every other damn mechanic in this game.

As for caring - achievements are the same as cool gear/cosmetics. You can show off your coolest/rarest/most difficult achievement and people will know that you've done something great in the game, just as they would if you were wearing gear from a difficult raid (or bought it with shitton of money).

And from my pov I am the one who cares about my own achievements. They are a visual representation of me existing in the game. I don't really care about showing them off, but I do care about having them for myself.

pyreal

I have neither love nor hate for achievements.