Achievement Whoredomination

[Spiner909]

It's just that achievement are fun to get. Not sure about that casual gamer accusation.

 

[F. Josep]

That guy -the one who got all the achievements- is just fuc*ed up.

I was a very casual WoW player for about 4 months. I never really looked at the achivements when I was leveling up.

As I was reaching the lasts levels (70-79) I started going to raids and stuff, but, again, never looked at the achievements.

Does someone really compares them and says "AH!, I have more achievements than you", that's just sad

My main entertainment on WoW was reaching new levels, exploring new lands and getting new stuff.

 

[Dastardos]

The Red Proto Drake was from doing some crazy stuff in Naxx wasn't it?

The Black and Plauged Proto-Drakes were the ones from Glory of the Raider (which was the meta achievement for Naxx, Eye of Eternity, and Obsidian Sanctum) and when patch 3.1 launched they took out the ability to earn these mounts anymore.

I'm currently getting very close to my Glory of the Ulduar Raider Proto-Drake, and will hopefully have it in a week or two.

Yet, tomorrow 3.3 launches and there's another bad ass mount to farm for by achievements.

And then, there's Invincible [http://www.wow.com/2009/11/04/patch-3-3-ptr-invincible/]

 

[Dastardos]

The Red-Protodrake is for sale for 1800 gold with top faction from the Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight if I recall, nothing special about that. If you mean the VIOLET Protodrake, that one comes from getting every world event achievement for an entire year (ie being present for every holiday and completing all activities in the event). That's a bit tricky since it takes persistant, and some of the things like the Noble Garden egg-camping bit take a lot of time and dedication.

You're thinking of the this achievement [http://www.wowhead.com/?item=43955].

I don't think that everyone should get the most uber loot by any stretch of the matter. But when they're putting HUGE amounts of their resources into developing content for 10% of the playerbase, that's incredibly idiotic. If I've been a Warcraft fan since WC3, I sure as bloody hell want to fight Arthas. And if I don't get to experience the end of the story without throwing my life away to a game, I'm going to be pissed.

I did the whole hardcore raider thing Pre-BC. I almost lost my life to this game.

The current way is hundreds of times better than Classic ever was.

The idea of 30 people running around at once all carrying Frostmourne (or pieces of it, or whatever) is exactly the kind of thing I do NOT want to see in the game.

I agree with this 100%, and don't think every casual player who plays for a few hours a week should be able to defeat Arthas, the man who has completely turned the world around and wrecked havoc on everything. This man murdered his father, and destroyed all of Lordaeron, killing thousands of people.

He defeated Ilidan, and has bounded his soul with Ner'Zul's and taken control of the Scourge. This man is one of the most bad ass motherfuckers there is, and it will be laughable when truly casual players will be killing him.

And please don't give me this bullshit about "Well the hard modes are there for the hardecore players so its harder for them and gives them a challenge, yet everyone else can kill him!" because it doesn't make it right that one of the toughest, scariest, and evilest bastards in the game will be so easy to defeat.

Also, Blizzard has already said Frostmourne will not drop.

 

[Zenode]

I already stated this in another thread and i got destroyed.....it was about the downfall of hardcore gaming, and it becoming mainstream

Gaming has been "mainstream" for a while now

a game can be for "enthusiasts" as much as you can make it, thats why they have Xbox achievements and Playstation trophy's so this hardcore audience can try and get these achievements by getting as good as they possibly can at the game.

Sure there are more casual games but certain elements within them also make for the enthusiasts as well.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I have never heard anyone say that... ever. The only gamers that care enough about a game to peak over every hill and find every scattered gold coin of obscureness are the hard core ones. Casual gamers have other things to do. They are the kind of people who spend an hour or so playing a fun diversion and then leave to go do something important. To the joy that comes with causing a game to turn a one to a zero and change a small jpg image to a color version in accomplishment is an alien concept. Who cares about meaningless little achievements when your world is bigger and gaming is just a quick diversion? Only a hardcore player cares. I suspect the hate and fear of "hardcore" gamers for casual gamers has something to do with this whole line of thought. (curse you you nerdy social recluses!)

 

[coldfrog]

I stand corrected on the Drakes.

When it comes to Arthas, well I think that sort of defines the problem right there. Arthas is one of the world wide big-bads, indeed the entire current world balance more or less revolves around him. He's epically powerful and BA. He is not the kind of opponent just anyone in the game should be able to walk in and fight, that would make the whole idea into a bloody joke if you had casual players running in and farming THE LICH KING!

[...]

No "Final Boss" is satisfying if he just keels over and dies from trivial effort.

THough I believe we're about to find out tomorrow, I'll say my piece.

First, the Icecrown Citadel raid looks to be on par with Ulduar with respect to size and difficulty. With the extension on raid lockouts, what you'll likely see is a lot of raiding guilds doing a couple bosses a week and extending the raid lockout. This is a method that will be open to a vast majority of people but will still give it an epic feel. This will certainly prevent it from being "farmed".

Furthermore, it will have hard modes. You think you're in a serious raiding guild? Beat those. I know I'm not in one, and as much as I'd love to have those nice proto-drakes, I will probably never get them. That's no concern though, because I still will have a chance to "finish" the current storyline as it were. And honestly, everyone SHOULD have that chance. It's a game, not life.

 

[NickIsCool]

Do people still play this? It looks like shit.

you know whats great about it looking like shit?

everyone and their grandma can play it

also, with most games, it should be gameplay first, graphics second

based on your statement, im assuming your disappointed if everything doesnt look like crysis

good day to you sir

 

[Killerbunny001]

I really hate achievements in general, they have this self proclaimed value about them but the fact is they don`t value anything in the end. You cannot say it is fun getting them and if you wanna stack them just to show others you`re lifeless gamer expertise well, that`s just sad.

 

[vinceoutlaw]

I play warcraft and I raid ten man content and have a good laugh. Im pretty casual but I never liked the idea of introducing the system, because of this added fact, maybe its my server but I always see this on /trade:

Raid [insert random] link acheivement.

Now, hows a casual gamer going to enjoy the game with THAT as a blockade for alot of people?

Agreeing with alot here, its madness.

 

[Jared]

It is madness. Why would someone want to dedicate so much of there time to completing the game?

I have to agree, the person who did it has no life, and certainly is in serious need of finding one...

 

[rossatdi]

How can anybody in their right mind think World of Warcraft?s Achievements are for ?casual gamers? anymore?

Good article, I had no idea the WoW community thought of them that way (some of the community at least). Personally I normally consider only the top tier achievements as actually worth going for, so that you could show them off.

I'm not actually good enough to get most of them but The Real Deal (one campaign beaten on Realism Expert mode) in Left 4 Dead 2 is catching my eye as a good boosting achievement.

 

[Explosm]

Wow is srs bsns you should know that by now.

OH AND HES ASIAN. >_>

 

[TimeLord]

I don't think achievements are not for casual gamers, anybody who tries to complete Cod:WaW on veteran and succeeds is not a casual gammer!

 

[tehroc]

Wow is srs bsns you should know that by now.

OH AND HES ASIAN. >_>

Chances are most likely he didn't finish it himself. Multiple people are known to play the same character in shifts in Asia.

 

[aarontg]

I can understand it, some require an arm, a leg, an eye, five teeth, fifty bucks, twelve hours, and a chunk of your sanity.

 

[John Funk]

The Red-Protodrake is for sale for 1800 gold with top faction from the Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight if I recall, nothing special about that. If you mean the VIOLET Protodrake, that one comes from getting every world event achievement for an entire year (ie being present for every holiday and completing all activities in the event). That's a bit tricky since it takes persistant, and some of the things like the Noble Garden egg-camping bit take a lot of time and dedication.

You're thinking of the this achievement [http://www.wowhead.com/?item=43955].

I don't think that everyone should get the most uber loot by any stretch of the matter. But when they're putting HUGE amounts of their resources into developing content for 10% of the playerbase, that's incredibly idiotic. If I've been a Warcraft fan since WC3, I sure as bloody hell want to fight Arthas. And if I don't get to experience the end of the story without throwing my life away to a game, I'm going to be pissed.

I did the whole hardcore raider thing Pre-BC. I almost lost my life to this game.

The current way is hundreds of times better than Classic ever was.

The idea of 30 people running around at once all carrying Frostmourne (or pieces of it, or whatever) is exactly the kind of thing I do NOT want to see in the game.

I agree with this 100%, and don't think every casual player who plays for a few hours a week should be able to defeat Arthas, the man who has completely turned the world around and wrecked havoc on everything. This man murdered his father, and destroyed all of Lordaeron, killing thousands of people.

He defeated Ilidan, and has bounded his soul with Ner'Zul's and taken control of the Scourge. This man is one of the most bad ass motherfuckers there is, and it will be laughable when truly casual players will be killing him.

And please don't give me this bullshit about "Well the hard modes are there for the hardecore players so its harder for them and gives them a challenge, yet everyone else can kill him!" because it doesn't make it right that one of the toughest, scariest, and evilest bastards in the game will be so easy to defeat.

Also, Blizzard has already said Frostmourne will not drop.

Sorry, but I think you're dead wrong.

I think everybody should be able to experience the game's content as written, with a decent amount of effort - not devoting their lives to the game. I know some people have been wanting to kick Arthas' ass since TFT, and if they can't do it just because they don't have twenty hours a week to waste on the game, they have every right to be goddamn pissed.

It makes no sense to develop content that the majority of the playerbase will never see. It creates unnecessary elitism, it's an idiotic waste of resources, and it gates people from seeing the best part of WoW.

The hard modes ARE there for the hardcore players, to give them their e-peen and bragging rights. That is the exact thing that they should be there for, and just wanting to keep the status quo the status quo so you (metaphorical you, not actual you) can feel better about consigning your life away to a videogame is horribly shortsighted.

 

[Cherry Cola]

The Red-Protodrake is for sale for 1800 gold with top faction from the Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight if I recall, nothing special about that. If you mean the VIOLET Protodrake, that one comes from getting every world event achievement for an entire year (ie being present for every holiday and completing all activities in the event). That's a bit tricky since it takes persistant, and some of the things like the Noble Garden egg-camping bit take a lot of time and dedication.

You're thinking of the this achievement [http://www.wowhead.com/?item=43955].

I don't think that everyone should get the most uber loot by any stretch of the matter. But when they're putting HUGE amounts of their resources into developing content for 10% of the playerbase, that's incredibly idiotic. If I've been a Warcraft fan since WC3, I sure as bloody hell want to fight Arthas. And if I don't get to experience the end of the story without throwing my life away to a game, I'm going to be pissed.

I did the whole hardcore raider thing Pre-BC. I almost lost my life to this game.

The current way is hundreds of times better than Classic ever was.

The idea of 30 people running around at once all carrying Frostmourne (or pieces of it, or whatever) is exactly the kind of thing I do NOT want to see in the game.

I agree with this 100%, and don't think every casual player who plays for a few hours a week should be able to defeat Arthas, the man who has completely turned the world around and wrecked havoc on everything. This man murdered his father, and destroyed all of Lordaeron, killing thousands of people.

He defeated Ilidan, and has bounded his soul with Ner'Zul's and taken control of the Scourge. This man is one of the most bad ass motherfuckers there is, and it will be laughable when truly casual players will be killing him.

And please don't give me this bullshit about "Well the hard modes are there for the hardecore players so its harder for them and gives them a challenge, yet everyone else can kill him!" because it doesn't make it right that one of the toughest, scariest, and evilest bastards in the game will be so easy to defeat.

Also, Blizzard has already said Frostmourne will not drop.

Sorry, but I think you're dead wrong.

I think everybody should be able to experience the game's content as written, with a decent amount of effort - not devoting their lives to the game. I know some people have been wanting to kick Arthas' ass since TFT, and if they can't do it just because they don't have twenty hours a week to waste on the game, they have every right to be goddamn pissed.

It makes no sense to develop content that the majority of the playerbase will never see. It creates unnecessary elitism, it's an idiotic waste of resources, and it gates people from seeing the best part of WoW.

The hard modes ARE there for the hardcore players, to give them their e-peen and bragging rights. That is the exact thing that they should be there for, and just wanting to keep the status quo the status quo so you (metaphorical you, not actual you) can feel better about consigning your life away to a videogame is horribly shortsighted.

What do you think about Arthas being a 5-man instance boss? I for one love the idea, since I don't really like to raid that much and prefer instances.

 

[DObs]

Question: If you could get every single bit of kit and achievement on your own and without grouping how many ppl do you think would group on WoW?

Answer: The (estimate)%10 of hardcore(real) gamers who have been doing it since launch, why? because another (10%) of the population are part time(fun)players and the other (80%)are social outcasts who hate each other(bad) players both of which only group to get said loot and achievements for braggin rights

Conclusion: %90 of WoW players are... well you do the math

 

[Swaki]

incidentally "Achieving Azeroth" was the very first article i read on the escapist, and 4 months and 1 day later i still enjoy your articles.

i even forgive you for making me try Aion.