Why Do We Need Achievements?

I really enjoy SWTOR and I feel a lot of people are in the same dilemma I am: I need a reason to log on. The reason for the dilemma are varied and diverse ranging from “I’ve cleared all of the PvE content” to “There’s no reason for me to grind PvP anymore” to “My guildies aren’t always online and it’s hard to find something to do on my own.”

So how do we solve this dilemma? I believe that a well-implemented Achievements system will solve this problem for everybody regardless of their individual reason for having the dilemma. What achievements do is offer the much-needed carrot to approach and complete content that otherwise has no incentive.

Why Doesn’t the Codex Do This?

A quick answer to this proposal might be, “We already have the Codex, isn’t that enough?” Quite simply, it’s not. The biggest reason for this is the lack of reward. Secondly, the codex isn’t robust enough to provide challenges for a broad audience. As implemented, it gives die-hard explorers something to do, but no challenges for people who want to participate in activities other than questing and mob-killing.

What Exactly Should the Achievements System Include?

Things to Do

The idea is to encourage players to go out into the world and do things that are already in the game. It may mean doing things in a higher volume or in a different manner than originally intended. Here are some achievement categories and examples.

A. Flashpoints & Operations

• Standard completion of various flashpoints and operations on various modes
  
• Defeat flashpoint and operation objectives ideally (e.g. with nobody dying, with nobody taking dmg from X, within a certain time limit, etc.)
  
• Defeat flashpoint and operation objectives non-ideally (e.g. without cleansing a debuff, without killing Mob Y, Killing Mob X before Mob Y, Killing Mob X and Y within a certain time period of each other, etc.)
  

B. Special Events

• Participation in Events
  
• Special feats completed during the event (e.g. infect 100 players with the plague, obtain the entire haz-mat suit set, participate in a Warzone while carrying the plague but without spreading the plague, etc.)
  

C. Crew Skills

• Leveling Various Crew Skills (e.g. level # of Crew Skills to 400, level all mission skills to 400, level all crafting skills to 400, level all gathering skills to 400)
  
• Pattern Acquisition (e.g. Obtain 10 orange armor patterns, obtain # of patterns, obtain # of dropped patterns, research # of patterns from reverse-engineering, etc.)
  
• Crafting Goods (e.g. Craft # of critted items, create # of orange items, create # of items total, create # of item types, etc.)
  
• Gathering & Mission completion (e.g. run # of missions, run # of missions with X result, gather # of materials, gather # of rare materials, etc.)
  

D. Pets & Mounts

• Obtain Pets and/or Mounts by number or type (e.g. obtain # of animal pets, obtain # of mounts total, obtain # of total pets, obtain all mounts acquired in a particular method, etc.)
  

E. PvP

• Open World PvP (e.g. # of kills in Outlaw’s Den, # of kills in Ilum, etc.)
  
• Warzone participation and performance (e.g. # of warzones won, # of warzones completed, obtain a certain amount of damage healing or objective points in a specific warzone, successfully defend and attack points in a single Alderaan match, # of objectives defended, etc.)
  
• Ranked PvP participation and performance (e.g. # of ranked matches completed, ranking achieved, etc.)
  
• Duels (e.g. win a duel, win a duel while naked, win # of duels, win a duel in each of several planets, etc.)
  

F. Questing & Exploring

• Quests completed (e.g. complete # of quests total, complete # of quests on a planet, complete # of Heroic quests, complete # of companion quest lines, etc.) (think Loremaster and Seeker here)
  
• Daily quests completed by number & planet
  
• Explore zones and planets completely (i.e. Explorer)
  

G. Codex

• Collect all datacrons
  
• Defeat epic enemies by name and #
  

H. Legacy

• Overall legacy level
  
• Legacy unlocks achieved
  
• Races and classes represented
  

What You Get

As you complete achievements as listed above, you should earn points and rewards. Rewards can be for individual achievements themselves (i.e. you earn a title for completing a specific achievement), or for a group of achievements (i.e. you earn something for doing all of the planet questing achievements), or even by number of achievement points. The benefit to doing it by # of achievement points earned is that it allows you to obtain any reward you want through whichever method you enjoy most. The rewards are meant to be purely cosmetic and optional. Here are some suggested reward types and examples:

• Unique Titles -- ex: Galactic Explorer (exploration), Cosmic Archaeologist (quest related), the Barbaric (PvP related), Player Created (total achievement points collected, this would be a major reward that would allow a player to create a title of their own choice, perhaps through a generator with multiple dropdown options to prevent abuse)
  
  
   
  
  
• Social Gear – ex: gain access to iconic armor set through achievements
  
  
   
  
  
• Mounts – ex: obtain retired models or unique models of vehicles through completed feats
  
  
   
  
  
• Pets – ex: obtain special skins of pets
  
  
   
  
  
• Vanity Items – ex: earn things like Sparkle Powder and other “toys." Ideas include ship modifications, cosmetic unlocks, and assorted random goodness like "a statue of chewbacca" (a guildie wants that one)
  
  
   
  
  
• Legacy Perks – ex: some legacy perks should be unlockable by achievement rather than legacy level or credits, Gain 10% crew skill mission completion by completing Crew Skill achievements, Gain XP bonus gains for completing questing related achievements, etc.
  
  

How Can this be Achieved?

A. Integration into Legacy System

B. Codex

Short- and Long-term Goals & Obstacles

Obviously it takes some effort to implement a system like this. The benefit here is that a lot of the framework is already in place and the rewards can range from simple and easy things to more complex. The goal is to spark interest in enjoying the content that already exists in game and reward people in the process.

Problems to tackle for initial implementation include restructuring the Codex to make it easier to navigate. As it stands, if I want to figure out what beasts I need to kill in Tython, I know what NUMBER from the Codex, but I have to go to an external website to find out exactly WHICH beasts they are. In addition, generating rewards will probably be the largest amount of work here. A quick start can be simple recoloring or reintroducing items that already exist in the game.

In the short-term, an effective and easy implementation could be to use the already-existing Codex and create rewards for completing entire categories. This is not a clean, pretty implementation, but it WOULD be just enough of a carrot-on-a-stick to give people something to do.

In the future, the Achievements System should be more robust with a lot more of the features and achievements described above. When done properly, it will allow for expansion in both breadth and depth to ensure an epic game experience.

Conclusion

Overall , I understand that this system would take a lot of effort to implement perfectly. However, the net result should be an increase in activity across multiple facets of the game. This means more of the game that Bioware has worked so hard to create will actually be enjoyed by a larger audience. I fully believe that this would be a worthy investment of time and resources for SWTOR.

Agree that the current codex does not qualify as an achievement system. I really like WoW's achievement UI, and I'm just talking about the one in game for yourself, not any web interface or what have you that might be out there. In order to be an achievement system, there has to be some way of knowing how close you are to achieving. SWG had collections and while you didn't know about collections before unlocking them, once you did, you had an easy to tell way to see how far you were and what you needed to do. The codex functions great as a lore repository, but the Bioware person who thought it qualified as an achievement system was being overly generous (IMO).

Personally, I would vote for keeping codex as is, and implementing a new tab or UI element for achievement tracking. Implementing a new one (whether tab or new ui window) would lower the chance of a bug causing issues with the existing codex/mission log/lock out/etc ui elements.

As an fyi to anyone who isn't sure that achievements would generate much interest, I encourage you to check out wow insider's achiever column. That may not be the exact title, but it's a good example of how a simple feature can spur enthusiasm and interest.

Personally, I would vote for keeping codex as is, and implementing a new tab or UI element for achievement tracking. Implementing a new one (whether tab or new ui window) would lower the chance of a bug causing issues with the existing codex/mission log/lock out/etc ui elements.

I agree that IDEALLY the Achievements System should incorporate the codex but not be composed of the codex, if that makes sense. There should be achievements FROM the Codex, but the codex itself is not the interface. However, if it makes it easier for Bioware by just adding to the codex, I could be happy with that as well. As long as it fulfills the basic premise of "reward us for playing aspects of the game that we otherwise have no real reason to."

i agreed with you OP!

BW hire this guy if your devs cant pull the idea, the community have so much good ideas, wonder if BW will listen some... sigh

Sounds good, I don't know if you included stuff about alignment/faction specific objectives. One of the many things that was cool in SWG (I know, I know), was the fact that for certain main story points you could get one of several achievements based upon your choice.

For example, (spoilers incoming), in the Jedi Knight story line, on Taris you have the option for capturing the head spy master for the empire (lightside), letting him go (lightside), killing him (darkside). If the achievement system could track those type of choices and give titles/fluff for doing certain actions etc.. I think that would enhance the system greatly in addition to the great stuff listed above.

I find it hard to support anything that will end up like the WOW system.. I refuse to show a 'cheevo' as a license to raid something.. I hate people that think they are better than you are because they have some 'Cheevo' you don't have because you have a life..

I think any achievement system is a very bad idea and not good for the community as a whole.. Anytime you are giving the people that have no life something to do and something to hang over the head of those that have a life is not a good thing.. Nobody should celebrate living every waking moment playing an MMO..

If you are married and both your wife and you play.. Then you should get a cheevo.. 'God among men' the best player in the game period.. Make one for women too that have husbands that play.. That should be the only cheevo in the game.. It is the only one that matters..

I find it hard to support anything that will end up like the WOW system.. I refuse to show a 'cheevo' as a license to raid something.. I hate people that think they are better than you are because they have some 'Cheevo' you don't have because you have a life..

 

I think any achievement system is a very bad idea and not good for the community as a whole.. Anytime you are giving the people that have no life something to do and something to hang over the head of those that have a life is not a good thing.. Nobody should celebrate living every waking moment playing an MMO..

 

If you are married and both your wife and you play.. Then you should get a cheevo.. 'God among men' the best player in the game period.. Make one for women too that have husbands that play.. That should be the only cheevo in the game.. It is the only one that matters..

Stop using ellipses. You abuse ellipses.

I find it hard to support anything that will end up like the WOW system.. I refuse to show a 'cheevo' as a license to raid something.. I hate people that think they are better than you are because they have some 'Cheevo' you don't have because you have a life..

If this is a concern, I think there is an option to not include an operations section. I could still be happy with having an incentive to do random things in my downtime. The idea here isn't to give us something we NEED to do, rather something to do say, on Wednesday night when I have 3 hours to play and there's no raid to do and nothing really to get out of the game.

I think any achievement system is a very bad idea and not good for the community as a whole.. Anytime you are giving the people that have no life something to do and something to hang over the head of those that have a life is not a good thing.. Nobody should celebrate living every waking moment playing an MMO..

Are valor ranks, gear, and mounts earned by clearing content not ways to flaunt what you've achieved? The very premise of an MMO is to improve your character and "get things." People with more time to play will, in general, get more "things." I don't think achievements in themselves alienate somebody with less play time. On the contrary, it offers an alternate route to character advancement to do in as much or little time as you want to invest. By definition, achievements should give you no playing advantage.

Do you have a specific reason other than the aforementioned raiding scenario that you are opposed to achievements in general?

If you are married and both your wife and you play.. Then you should get a cheevo.. 'God among men' the best player in the game period.. Make one for women too that have husbands that play.. That should be the only cheevo in the game.. It is the only one that matters..

I am personally coming from the place of being the girlfriend of a military member who has been deployed since the week before Early Access. He has not had a chance to play the game he angsted over and looked forward to for 2+ years yet. Every couple days he asks how the game is going... and I have to answer non-committally because honestly I have nothing to do. That's where I'm coming from with this Achievements System proposal. I want to be excited about enjoying the game we both really love. However, I don't want him to come home and me be "meh" about it because I've run out of things to do.

I find it hard to support anything that will end up like the WOW system.. I refuse to show a 'cheevo' as a license to raid something.. I hate people that think they are better than you are because they have some 'Cheevo' you don't have because you have a life..

 

I think any achievement system is a very bad idea and not good for the community as a whole.. Anytime you are giving the people that have no life something to do and something to hang over the head of those that have a life is not a good thing.. Nobody should celebrate living every waking moment playing an MMO..

 

If you are married and both your wife and you play.. Then you should get a cheevo.. 'God among men' the best player in the game period.. Make one for women too that have husbands that play.. That should be the only cheevo in the game.. It is the only one that matters..

You're being terribly overdramatic.

Just make it so that the system doesn't allow for linking achievements in chat or whatever. That's the only reason why WoW achievements became some sort of exploitable requirement. Problem solved. Besides, with your reasoning, perhaps they should also disable inspect functions, remove gear, levels, or whatever ladder or rewards people get for completion and just have us all run around naked as Level 1.

I think this is a great suggestion and gives the community more things to do to, whether as a group or as a single player. It also enhances the game's playability and replay value. MMOs are about carrots. This is definitely one I'd like in my salad, and sadly, should have been in at launch.

A. Integration into Legacy System

Some very good rewards are already in place as Legacy Perks. These could easily be rewards for achievements instead. This would be a quick easy source of rewards already implemented in game, the method of acquisition would just change. This would also allow the Legacy System to be more active than passive. As it stands, you gain Legacy XP which is really pretty meaningless (there’s no advantage to being Legacy 50 for example) and you just click a button to get what you want.

Golden. 'Nuff said.

Some cool suggestions, +1

But the usual pet, item and title rewards are lame.

Why? The pets are boring. They do absolutely nothing, they are not Interactive, they don't battle, they don't buff, they don't need any care, they are USELESS.

Items.. well social gear gets boring too. Already got my outfits and as long as mod extraction costs a fortunen for no reason I don't need it.

Titles... boring. Got my title and that one will stay.

Any better idea for rewards? I'd like items which are minigames.. like a remote control droid with a camera attached which can lay booby traps and assassinate mobs or support in PvP.

I find it hard to support anything that will end up like the WOW system.. I refuse to show a 'cheevo' as a license to raid something.. I hate people that think they are better than you are because they have some 'Cheevo' you don't have because you have a life..

 

I think any achievement system is a very bad idea and not good for the community as a whole.. Anytime you are giving the people that have no life something to do and something to hang over the head of those that have a life is not a good thing.. Nobody should celebrate living every waking moment playing an MMO..

 

If you are married and both your wife and you play.. Then you should get a cheevo.. 'God among men' the best player in the game period.. Make one for women too that have husbands that play.. That should be the only cheevo in the game.. It is the only one that matters..

You can have an achievement system that has an in game UI as nice as wow's without it being a raid gate. Let's be honest, your hp and/or gear is already a raid gate. No link to cheevos needed. If you're a tank and have 13k health, no one wants you until you put in the effort to get some better gear. You can get intro op/hm fp gear without doing ops and hm fp's. For that matter, no one in this thread (I don't think) has requested a web interface to the achievement system. Considering they haven't even mentioned having a wow armory type of system in the works, no one needs to freak out and start saying "no 'cause wow has it."

Furthermore, besides the achievement of having run a raid, what achievements can be lorded over someone and used to prevent them from raiding? No one is going to disallow someone into group content because they haven't caught 200 pets (or whatever). Relax. Go to it. Most achievements are not about raid content. Considering the percentage of content that end game pve is in the context of the entire game, it would be pretty hard to make ONLY end game pve related achievements.

But the usual pet, item and title rewards are lame.

 

Any better idea for rewards? I'd like items which are minigames.. like a remote control droid with a camera attached which can lay booby traps and assassinate mobs or support in PvP.

To be honest, the reason I stuck with the "usual song and dance" ideas is because I wanted to use things that are already in the game simply from an "ease of integration" standpoint. Asking Bioware to make the system AND make brand new rewards might be asking too much at once, you know? That being said, I think unique & exciting rewards could be great.

The problem I see with your remote control droid is that you describe scenarios where it affects gameplay. I really want to stay away from Achievements being "mandatory." That being said, having droids that can battle it out in the fleet could be a lot of fun--maybe there could even be a "pit" or something.

Some of the best ideas, I think, are using the Legacy unlocks as rewards. You have 2 level 50s? Fantastic! Automagical unlock of level 10 Speeder training. Maybe, though, you could still have it purchasable with credits. Maybe the Rocket Boots legacy unlock is a reward for "Explorer" because you've obviously done your share of running around at that point!

On a similar note, you could unlock special emotes with achievements.

The possibilities are endless even only sticking to what already exists in game or is slated to come in future patches already. I just hope that Bioware will implement it in a more enticing way.

Hi OP:

OK, sure, any content added to the game is desperately needed, I'll give you that.

But to be honest achievements in the game which rhymes with shmorecraft are pretty stupid.

Achievements are generally things they throw in there when there is, in fact, nothing in the game to do.

Hi OP:

 

OK, sure, any content added to the game is desperately needed, I'll give you that.

 

But to be honest achievements in the game which rhymes with shmorecraft are pretty stupid.

 

Achievements are generally things they throw in there when there is, in fact, nothing in the game to do.

I understand where you're coming from here. The reason I think it would be beneficial, though, is the same reason I enjoyed the Achievements System in WoW--it gave me SOMETHING to do in between content releases. We eat up the SWTOR content MUCH faster than it can be produced and in the interim we have nothing to do. Hence, achievements should be there when there's nothing to do .

More content would be great, but it's just not reasonable to expect Bioware to release content at a rate that would make everybody happy. Some guilds will take 1-2 weeks to clear all of the content. Some guilds will take significantly longer. If Bioware released content at a rate that made ME always have something new & exciting to do, I'm sure a significant portion of the population would miss out on it.

Some of the best ideas, I think, are using the Legacy unlocks as rewards. You have 2 level 50s? Fantastic! Automagical unlock of level 10 Speeder training. Maybe, though, you could still have it purchasable with credits. Maybe the Rocket Boots legacy unlock is a reward for "Explorer" because you've obviously done your share of running around at that point!

That would be frickin epic! Best idea I've heard in a long time. Awesome!

That would be frickin epic! Best idea I've heard in a long time. Awesome!

I think speeders should just be unlocked at 10 (15 at the latest for everyone) - travel times are terribly long in this game even with a speeder - no reason to wait 25 out of 50 levels for a motorbike.

You're saving the galaxy - you shouldn't be forced to walk everywhere like a two-bit hustler

I think speeders should just be unlocked at 10 (15 at the latest for everyone) - travel times are terribly long in this game even with a speeder - no reason to wait 25 out of 50 levels for a motorbike.

 

You're saving the galaxy - you shouldn't be forced to walk everywhere like a two-bit hustler

One of the funniest things I heard someone mention was; why do we get an interstellar spaceship at level 16 and yet we have to wait until level 25 to get a moped? .....lol.

That's no answer to a lack of content. Achievements are just another lame attempt at getting us to play the same content we've been playing under the guise that it's new.

I can see it now...

"Unlock each species."

"Play each class to Chapter 3."

"Unlock each vehicle type."

That's no answer to a lack of content. Achievements are just another lame attempt at getting us to play the same content we've been playing under the guise that it's new.

 

I can see it now...

 

"Unlock each species."

 

"Play each class to Chapter 3."

 

"Unlock each vehicle type."

And what's wrong with that?

And what's wrong with that?

In a word, it's boring.