I agree totally with all you say. The only bit I can remember reading about achievements was here http://forum.eternalcrusade.com/threads/mmorpg-com-dev-q-a.1163/ Q) How will exploration work in game? will there be P.O.I - Point of interest , map completion . etc. A) Steven: There will definitely be interesting sights to see and areas to explore, but we're not planning on turning this into a completionist minigame, like Vistas in Guild Wars 2. Brent and Patrick: There will be achievements for exploring, though! Q) Will there be achievements. A) Yes! Q) Can you talk anymore about Strike Force/Community owned spaces on ships? A) David: We mentioned this in a few other places. They'll be a gathering space and a place for you to show off and share your achievements.
I'm not a huge fan of achievement systems if they encourage you to do things that you normally would not care about just to score 10 more nerd points. I think the best "achievement" systems are the ones where you can obtain cool ranks or war gear for success at whatever you're working at in PvP or in PvE. If you win a particularly epic battle or encounter, maybe get an awesome trophy of some sort for the battle barge and some shiny bits for your armor and perhaps a rank or veteran title of some sort as a means to show your participation and successes. If we're expected to run around and kill 10 Warbosses or Chapter Masters or what have you with our pants on our heads or by ricochets or something for an achievement, I think that's dumb because the only reason you'd be doing it is to tick a box. I hope that if a system is implemented that it isn't frivolous or busy work.
I hadn't really thought about in-game titles. But maybe not ranks more like nicknames? Nicknames doesn't really fit what I mean so maybe title might. I would rather see the War Council or some sort of "xp/leveling" allow you to progress in the ranks/veteran system or maybe a mixture of both.
I personally like the achievements from WoW, since quite a lot of them are not "kill x" achievements. Most of them are rewarding for completing "difficult" tasks (dungeons, quest lines, etc.), exploring, and some completely random ones. I will try to come up with some ideas later
