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Remember when the Achievements System was controversial? Remember when players were broken into camps, either for or against, screaming the implications of the incoming system throughout trade chat? It seems that the anti-Achievement voices have died with a whimper as all of the implications of said system have come to pass over the past few years and changed the face of WoW as we knew it.

I’d wager that the biggest change to the game  was a change in player motivations. Let’s use Battlegrounds for an example. Previously, players would run Battlegrounds to earn Honor Points in order to purchase more PVP gear so they could be more competitive in BGs. Player motivations were always clear; kill as many players as possible and master the objectives of the Battleground to win (there is some debate here about whether the second motivation motivated anyone at all…at least Alliance side).

Now, there are innumerable motivations that could be driving the actions of players in BGs. You’ll find players in any Battleground pursuing odd objectives that don’t necessarily benefit the rest of the BG. Hell, you can find players requesting Achievements in 5 man Pugs! Players simply play the game way differently than they played in pre-Expansion.

The real question is whether or not achievements have added anything useful to the game. Think about the last time you saw an achievement in guild chat. What did the achievement tell you about that player? Was there anything specific to the run that the player was in? Was the player responsible for leading a heroic effort on Putricide or pulling the tank out of a perilous situation? I guess what I’m trying to say in a roundabout way, is that achievements actually tell you very little about a player and their specific accomplishments.

A better approach (up for vigorous debate) would be to recognize individual players for their contributions by having a achievements for that players class. For instance, on my Warlock, I’d love to have an achievement that rewarded me for the total amount of times I’ve run with a Destruction spec in raids or an achievement that recognized my proclivities for soul stoning the same person each raid (Fondre and Claw, looking at you two). Wondering if anyone else is disappointed with the current implementation of the Achievement System?