The Dark Fantasy MMO The Secret World brings a feature that achievement hunters in many MMOs wish for.
“What are achievement points actually good for?” one wonders in many games. Almost every MMORPG has players chasing this high score. The most adventurous achievements must be earned, players are bombarded with points, pop-ups, and objectives: Yes, cheap motivational tricks, of course, but they work.
In World of Warcraft, the points are already in the five-digit range, but you can do nothing with them. It is a high score list that you chase for your own sake. It only serves to compare with others (“I have this much, do you have more or less?“) – and that’s it. Only individual achievements give direct rewards. Most give nothing.
Funcom’s “The Secret World” now brings what many achievement hunters wish for in their MMOs: A vendor that only offers specific exclusive items to players who have a corresponding amount of achievement points. This is set to go live in The Secret World next week. It will be exciting to see how Funcom implements this. As a bonus feature, the achievement vendor is supposed to allow players to reclaim achievement rewards that they have destroyed.
My MMO thinks: This is surely an idea that other MMORPGs should at least consider, so that the “pure high score” has a bit of meaning. It would certainly be a pat on the back for hardcore achievement hunters, and they surely count among the most loyal fans and the hardest core of any MMORPG. Especially in games that have been around for a few years, achievement hunters have invested a lot.
So please, dear other MMORPGs, would a few costumes, mounts or pets tied to achievement points really kill you?
Or what do you think, dear readers?
