The Old Republic Gets Launch Day Achievements

[Logan Westbrook]

The Old Republic Gets Launch Day Achievements

Unlocked, the achievement has.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Star Wars: The Old Republic will ship with a fully operational achievements system. TOR's lead writer Daniel Erickson confirmed that achievements had made it to launch at the recent Eurogamer Expo.

Erickson said TOR's achievements wouldn't be frivolous, like having to "drink six beers and fart in a cantina," at least, not at first. He said that the achievements that had made the cut would reward the player for doing heroic and notable actions, like visiting each planet and defeating the world boss. The slightly more silly achievements would appear in the game, but BioWare would add them later.

While they're not going to be to everyone's tastes, achievements are a rather neat way of expanding a gameplay experience without making it all about fighting bigger and badder bosses. Travelling to Tatooine so you can dance on a table and get your "Watch Out for the Rancor" achievement, or flying really slowly during one of the space battles to get the "Fly Casual" achievement might not be quite the same as defeating a maniacal Sith Lord, but it's still fun to do - if you're into that kind of thing, of course.

Star Wars: The Old Republic comes out for PC on December 20th.

Source: Darth Hater [http://darthhater.com/2011/09/26/eurogamer-expo-2011-meet-and-greet-qa-highlights/] via Massively [http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/09/27/achievements-to-be-included-in-star-wars-the-old-republic-at-la/]


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[The_root_of_all_evil]

... like having to "drink six beers and fart in a cantina," at least, not at first.

So they'll come later...?

Do we get one for typing out "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"?

defeating the world boss.

*cries for what's left of the Star Wars franchise*

 

[therandombear]

... like having to "drink six beers and fart in a cantina," at least, not at first.

So they'll come later...?

Do we get one for typing out "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"?

You get one if you type in chat during launch week "I really like what George Lucas is doing to the old star wars movies and the prequels were greatly superiour to the old star wars movies"

OT: eh...sure achievements in WoW made it easier to "prove" you had done raids and such...but then you wouldn't get invite unless you actually have them or have gear score achievement. So not a big fan of MMO achievements.

 

[LittleMikey]

ARGH, just wrote a nice long post about achivements and accidentally deleted it by hitting the back key. Stupid me.

But I don't mind MMO achivement systems. They help motivate players to do things they normally wouldn't do. What I do mind is players using achivements as a measure of skill.

 

[KarlMonster]

Yeah, I can't wait for the Hideo Kajima-esque "Stare longingly at the screen while your character gets the ability to use the Force in a cutscene" achievement.

Don't mind me, I'm just irritated because I disapprove of Star Wars in JRPG form.

Well, except that sometimes the Izloms sound like they are saying "StahWahs". Oh, right, that's a totally different game.

 

[Coreless]

OT: eh...sure achievements in WoW made it easier to "prove" you had done raids and such...but then you wouldn't get invite unless you actually have them or have gear score achievement. So not a big fan of MMO achievements.

^ this, this is exactly what is going to happen, the whole achievement system while great at first is the first thing to be adopted and abused by stat counters and elitists. They will use it as a gateway for everything from whom they invite to groups to whom they befriend and invite to a guild. The difference between how World of Warcraft was in vanilla and how it quickly deteriorated by the introduction of the achievement system in Burning Crusade along side addons like gear score was astronomical. This game is already well on its way to suffering the same fate as WoW, where the beginning is great and fun and then slowly but surely escalates into everything and everyone being merely a number to be calculated and judged pass or go. All we need now is an announcement that addons will be supported and the cycle will be complete.

 

[Saltyk]

OT: eh...sure achievements in WoW made it easier to "prove" you had done raids and such...but then you wouldn't get invite unless you actually have them or have gear score achievement. So not a big fan of MMO achievements.

^ this, this is exactly what is going to happen, the whole achievement system while great at first is the first thing to be adopted and abused by stat counters and elitists. They will use it as a gateway for everything from whom they invite to groups to whom they befriend and invite to a guild. The difference between how World of Warcraft was in vanilla and how it quickly deteriorated by the introduction of the achievement system in Burning Crusade along side addons like gear score was astronomical. This game is already well on its way to suffering the same fate as WoW, where the beginning is great and fun and then slowly but surely escalates into everything and everyone being merely a number to be calculated and judged pass or go. All we need now is an announcement that addons will be supported and the cycle will be complete.

I think that's part of the reason they don't plan to use a system that randomly groups people into parties for flashpoints. If you want to do a flashpoint, you need to find people on your server. From what I understand, you'll only need one to do a four man flashpoint. One of the benefits of the companion system is that you can use them in flashpoints (need a healer? Bring your own personal healer!).

Though, I would like a few add-ons. Namely a recount system. Two reasons.
1) I used that to figure out how good I was doing. Do I need to use different abilities? Should I change my strategy? Am I doing good at all?
2) It makes it much easier to tell if someone is pulling their weight. Now, I don't mind if you suck and are only doing 10% of the damage as a dps. I might try to help you out with advice, but it's forgivable. I do mind if you just stand there and don't fight. Or if you don't heal. Seriously, I had a healer once that was third in healing for a group. I was second (and fighting for top dps). That is bad. It's hard to tell that kind of stuff without some easy resource to look at. So, yeah, I like recount systems. Plus, it's nice to be the top dps.

 

[FredTheUndead]

So we get a report on this, but not the leaked stuff about how they've fucked up Revan and the Exile? Expecting a big fat EA check are we Escapist?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Oh come now, surely such a concept doesn't go THAT much against canon.
<spoiler= I mean, the original trilogy had at least one>http://www.thecaptainsmemos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jabba.jpg

And who defeats Jabba?

All the other guys fail.

Don't think Hoth, Dagobah, Alderaan, Dantooine, Bespin or other places had a big boss monster though.

And the entire idea of a 10 o'clock monster [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MonsterOfTheWeek] died out before Everquest.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Why must everything have achievements? I hate achievements. In wow it was just an excuse mostly for people to act like dicks.

 

[manythings]

Yeah, I can't wait for the Hideo Kajima-esque "Stare longingly at the screen while your character gets the ability to use the Force in a cutscene" achievement.

Don't mind me, I'm just irritated because I disapprove of Star Wars in JRPG form.

Well, except that sometimes the Izloms sound like they are saying "StahWahs". Oh, right, that's a totally different game.

... wha?

And who defeats Jabba?

All the other guys fail.

Don't think Hoth, Dagobah, Alderaan, Dantooine, Bespin or other places had a big boss monster though.

And the entire idea of a 10 o'clock monster [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MonsterOfTheWeek] died out before Everquest.

She defeats fat, old, stoned Jabba right after abandoning the rebellion she's meant to be leading to go on a quest to save her boyfriend. Think about that.

Hoth? AT-AT's. Dagobah? Luke fights the demons that haunt his own mind. Alderaan? Destroyed three thousand years after TOR. Dantooine? When do we see it at all before now? Bespin? Darth VADER.

So we get a report on this, but not the leaked stuff about how they've fucked up Revan and the Exile? Expecting a big fat EA check are we Escapist?

How so? By there being an actual Revan? And the Exile was pretty fucked up before hand since BioWare had to salvage the bullshit that was KotOR 2's story.

 

[XT inc]

Sick there are hockey stick shaped lightsabers now. Gotta make The old republic a day one launch now.

 

[Drizzitdude]

OT: eh...sure achievements in WoW made it easier to "prove" you had done raids and such...but then you wouldn't get invite unless you actually have them or have gear score achievement. So not a big fan of MMO achievements.

^ this, this is exactly what is going to happen, the whole achievement system while great at first is the first thing to be adopted and abused by stat counters and elitists. They will use it as a gateway for everything from whom they invite to groups to whom they befriend and invite to a guild. The difference between how World of Warcraft was in vanilla and how it quickly deteriorated by the introduction of the achievement system in Burning Crusade along side addons like gear score was astronomical. This game is already well on its way to suffering the same fate as WoW, where the beginning is great and fun and then slowly but surely escalates into everything and everyone being merely a number to be calculated and judged pass or go. All we need now is an announcement that addons will be supported and the cycle will be complete.

Sorry but I have more fun when my raid doesnt wipe. Using Gearscore or achievements is just added insurance to make sure a player knows what they are doing. While of course it may be harder to get into a legit raid it makes it more efficient. Besides you cans till grab a bunch of your buddies and do a raid, most people might not realize this but it IS possible for you to start one too! You don't have to sit around staring at the chat screen all day waiting for a chance to jump in to someone elses. If you can't get into X raid because you dont have Y achievement or Z gearscore just make your own where there is no requirement.

 

[Coreless]

OT: eh...sure achievements in WoW made it easier to "prove" you had done raids and such...but then you wouldn't get invite unless you actually have them or have gear score achievement. So not a big fan of MMO achievements.

^ this, this is exactly what is going to happen, the whole achievement system while great at first is the first thing to be adopted and abused by stat counters and elitists. They will use it as a gateway for everything from whom they invite to groups to whom they befriend and invite to a guild. The difference between how World of Warcraft was in vanilla and how it quickly deteriorated by the introduction of the achievement system in Burning Crusade along side addons like gear score was astronomical. This game is already well on its way to suffering the same fate as WoW, where the beginning is great and fun and then slowly but surely escalates into everything and everyone being merely a number to be calculated and judged pass or go. All we need now is an announcement that addons will be supported and the cycle will be complete.

Sorry but I have more fun when my raid doesnt wipe. Using Gearscore or achievements is just added insurance to make sure a player knows what they are doing. While of course it may be harder to get into a legit raid it makes it more efficient. Besides you cans till grab a bunch of your buddies and do a raid, most people might not realize this but it IS possible for you to start one too! You don't have to sit around staring at the chat screen all day waiting for a chance to jump in to someone elses. If you can't get into X raid because you don't have Y achievement or Z gearscore just make your own where there is no requirement.

Sorry, still doesn't change the fact that those things made the game into nothing more then a numbers game, where a persons worth is about as equal to their "gearscore". It doesn't even end with raids, it creeps down into everything corrupting the leveling, dungeon running, people are so focused on numbers that they don't even speak to each other because they feel its pointless and slows down their race to number 85. Its no shocker why Blizzard says many newer players never get past level 20 because the mindset of the community has become extremely acidic and now so reliant on these things that people can't even see other players as potential friends but more as tools and obstacles in the path to getting their "epics". I started playing toward the tail end of vanilla and the mindset was one of community and working together for the welfare of the group and guild but once the achievements got introduced and the stat addons became more important then the people it pretty much sealed its fate. The sad thing about it all....is people don't even realize what was lost or even care.

 

[Gidgetimer]

The difference between how World of Warcraft was in vanilla and how it quickly deteriorated by the introduction of the achievement system in Burning Crusade along side addons like gear score was astronomical.

Sorry to be a bit OCD and I'm sure I'm going to get flamed for being a "Blizzard Fanboi". But Achievements weren't introduced until "Wrath of the Lich King" and Gearscore was usually used to determine if someone were missing gems or enchants or wearing a piece that was useless for their spec. I do however agree with the sentiment that achievements should not be used to determine if you bring someone with you to a raid parsers and gear analysis addons will be abused by those that want carried and used to spot and help correct problems by actual good players.

 

[ccggenius12]

Sick there are hockey stick shaped lightsabers now. Gotta make The old republic a day one launch now.

check the picture again, that's just a light column in the background. Would have been awesome though.

 

[Woodsey]

Oh come now, surely such a concept doesn't go THAT much against canon.
<spoiler= I mean, the original trilogy had at least one>http://www.thecaptainsmemos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jabba.jpg

And who defeats Jabba?

All the other guys fail.

Don't think Hoth, Dagobah, Alderaan, Dantooine, Bespin or other places had a big boss monster though.

And the entire idea of a 10 o'clock monster [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MonsterOfTheWeek] died out before Everquest.

They're bosses at the end of a chain of narrative quests. They're not just monsters that they've thrown in for the hell of it. The only one I've seen demoed has been (something along the lines of) a general who defected from the Republic to become a dictator.