World of Warcraft Achievement System Rumored

Kotaku has the merest hint of a rumor about a possible achievement system coming with Blizzard's Wrath of the Lich King expansion. "You know what World of Warcraft players really need? Another reason not to get up out of their chair, and Blizzard might be giving that to them in the form of in-game achievements in the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. According to DeathKnight.info, players in the Wrath of the Lich King alpha can type /achievement to bring up a screen like the one above, which shows various achievements that can be performed for points, which will more than likely then go towards buying gear and such."

Comments

I'm so over Wow.

[TheGeneration]

I played for a couple of years... but man... what's the point?

It's just a giant life force sucking treadmill.

Re:I'm so over Wow.

[Sklyan]

I played for a couple of years... but man... what's the point? The sense of fulfillment you get from any hobby -- be it building model planes, or collecting bottle caps. Call me an existentialist, but you can step back from any aspect of life and ask "what's the point?" and you will generally find that there isn't one.

Re:I'm so over Wow.

[silentbozo]

If I build a model plane, I can put it up on my mantle, gift it to someone, and take the skills I developed building that and put it towards other items requiring fine motor skills and and a sense of art and history.

I think someone mentioned in a post regarding WOW on a different Slashdot thread that raiding as part of an established group taught them how to manage time, coordinate with other people, and build leadership skills.

Pretty much, you get out of a hobby what you put into it. If it's just a way of killing time, then all you're going to get out of it is a lot of dead time. If your reason to play is the social dynamics (I knew people who played because their friends had moved away, and it was the regular "meetup"), then I think the test would be if these social networks survive beyond the game.

With that said, I detest games that require you to stay on the treadmill to "keep up". At least when I do work I hate during normal working hours, I get paid...

The sequel looks better

[Mr. Sketch]

I heard that in the upcoming sequel to WoW you will get to control a character who plays WoW, it's called World of World of Warcraft. Here's the announcement:
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/warcraft_sequel_lets_gamers_play

Congratulations!

[BZWingZero]

Achievement unlocked: No life. Achievement value: 1000

Re:Congratulations!

[jonaskoelker]

But how do you kill that which has no life?

Re:Why not Slashdot?

[Nefarious Wheel]

Everyone will want the coveted +5, Troll award.

I play an Orc, you insensitive clod!

Some Possible Achievements

[Bwana Geek]

- Bathed
- Went outside
- Eyes adjusted to natural light
- Talked about something not WoW-related

These achievements are also rumoured to be coming to the D&D 4th Edition.

Re:not quite

[BigDork1001]

Lets flip that around a bit. My WoW hobby doesn't leave crap scattered all over the house and piling up in a closet somewhere.

So don't

[Moraelin]

With that said, I detest games that require you to stay on the treadmill to "keep up". At least when I do work I hate during normal working hours, I get paid...

The bleeding obvious answer is: so don't stay on the treadmill. Go do whatever keeps you entertained, when it keeps you entertained.

I'm somewhat surprised how many people seem to, well, think they have some kind of _duty_ to achieve some level, get some item, etc. Or in some pathological cases think they somehow prove their penis size by how many level 70's they have and with what gear. So they grind and work and miss the whole point of having fun and/or making friends.

The game between levels 1 and 69 is _the_ meat of the game. That's the zones you're supposed to explore, enemies you're supposed to test yourself against, the quests and bits of story you're supposed to discover, etc. That's the actual game. It's some hundreds of hours worth of content.

And it sorta amuses me to see some people try to skip the actual game, or even use some bot to skip it for them, just so they too can then willy-wave about having a level 70. And then get stuck in an endgame grind which is no more than a repetitive chore for people who've finished the actual game and don't know when to quit.

It's akin to trying to skip most of the LOTR trilogy, just to end up watching the last 5 minutes in a loop, for months.

So basically, then just don't stay on a treadmill. Realize that levels and gear are there just

A) to give you some sense of making progress,

B) so you can practice your new abilities and tactics one at a time, instead of dumping 60 icons upon you from the start, and putting you in front of Kil'jaeden before you even know what they all do, and

C) to gently guide you about in which order you're supposed to go through the story and quests. Among other thing _because_ that's the actual game, some hundreds of hours and thousands of quests, which you're supposed to play and experience. Not just click an "I win!!!" button and be over with it.

But there is no obligation to keep up with anyone or anything. There is no par time that you have to beat. And it's not some shameful failure to take things at your own pace, do the things you feel like doing, and generally just enjoy the game.

In other words, the game is about and consists of the road, not just the destination.

And if you think that that road, in fact the game itself, is just a treadmill, well, you can just quit it now. Because it doesn't get any better. Once you're done with that "treadmill", there is no grand reward waiting for you, and no "meat of the game" that begins at level 70. What happens when that "treadmill" finally ends, is that it spits you right into the tarpit of a repetitive and pointless grind that's there just do give you something to do while you wait for the next segment (i.e., expansion pack) of the actual game.