7/17/08

So...what have you done?

This just in from Blizzard -

World of Warcraft’s achievements system will launch with more than 500 individual achievements covering every aspect of gameplay, including world exploration, PvE, PvP, professions, and character development; from the purely whimsical to the truly epic, there will be something for everyone. Some achievements come with in-game rewards such as tabards, vanity pets, and titles. All of these rewards are purely cosmetic and just for fun, but you’ll certainly stand out when you proudly display them.

And don’t fret about running out of achievements anytime soon. The list is easily expandable, so you can expect additional achievements with each new World of Warcraft content update.

Some of the different types of achievements available are:
  • Player-vs.-Player: This includes arena, battlegrounds, and world player-vs.-player objectives. A few examples:
    • Hot Streak: Win 10 ranked arena matches in a row.
    • Alterac Valley All-Star: Capture graveyards, towers, and kill the enemy leader all in one game.
    • City Defender: Kill 50 enemy players in your faction’s capital cities.
  • Dungeons and Raids: Every end boss of every raid and dungeon in the game grants its own achievement. Future achievements in this category may include ones for completing a run without any player deaths, with fewer than the maximum number of players, or within a certain time limit.
  • Professions: Advancing to each tier of mastery in a profession earns you an achievement, and there are specific achievements for secondary skills (with major professions to follow).
  • Quests: Quest-based achievements include completing a certain number of quests and completing specific quest lines. This category contains zone-specific subcategories.
  • Events: Seasonal events such as the Midsummer Festival, the Lunar Festival, and Hallows’ End have specific achievements of their own.
  • World Exploration: You’ll earn achievements by exploring each zone in the game -- and get meta-achievements when you fully explore a continent.
  • Reputations: This set of achievements includes attaining exalted reputation with each faction in the game.
  • General: These achievements tend toward the whimsical, including getting a shave and haircut (a new feature of Wrath of the Lich King), obtaining a certain number of tabards and vanity pets, falling from a great height, and more.
This looks like it could be a lot of fun and give players something else to shoot for. It is something that can keep casuals playing and developing their own from of progression. I like the idea of tracking bosses that you have personally downed. A lot of players say things like - "I'm in the top guild on the server" or "We downed Illidan" but you can never really prove it. Now your participation in the raid or boss kill will actually be able to be tracked.

I expect these achievements to be questioned and requested when applying to a progression focused guild. No matter what, this adds an interesting mini-game aspect to our endless grinding and questing as we level up to 80.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, you know, you bring up a point that completely passed by me, application to progression-based guilds. That is REALLY interesting and now I'm sitting here, smacking my head going d'oh, why didn't I think of that?