Achievements: Mission Accomplished

When Achievements first came out, I thought they were a waste of time, but I figured, to each his own.

Yesterday, I intentionally wiped on Razorscale in order to complete an achievement. Weeks before, I've intentionally called wipes on kills because we weren't going to get the achievement. I've spent money. I've spent time.

...to get achievements.

What the hell happened to me?

I'm enjoying it too.

Shut up, no. No, you're not.

Where did this all go wrong? At some point in time doing ridiculous things for points became fun.

I have another theory.

I remember back at 60 spending hours learning how to 2 man Scholomance. Carefully calculating our way through each room. Skipping packs we knew were unkillable. I can remember having the guts to take on the silly gargoyle and the disappointment when it all fell apart with only a few percentage points to go before he was dead.

I can remember jumping off the top of Stormspire, using my rocket helm and ultimately, falling to my death when it wore off.

And I laughed and laughed and laughed.

And then I hit 70 and I raided more and I still ventured into Scholomance and I still died on occasion from ridiculousness, but I wasn't really challenging myself anymore.

What does this have to do with Achievements?

Blizzard is teaching us to have fun again. Showing us how to challenge ourselves again. Yes, this entire process has been guild damaging, guild altering and guild ending for many, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been a good thing.

It really hit me when a raider said in my raid the other day, "This guy's a lot more fun when we're doing the Hard Mode." But what I didn't realize until now is not what was said, but instead what the other raiders didn't say. They didn't say it was a waste of time. Even the people that used to say it was a waste of time, don't say it's a waste of time. In fact, now our Sundays are really just about getting achievements and people actually show up.

Farming is boring. Yes, you get loot, but there's no challenge. Blizzard has given us an excuse to challenge ourselves again. Given us a reason to do the ridiculous.

Beyond Fun

Achievements really are the new epeen now and I think we've all finally accepted it. Gone are the days of Naxx where someone could say, "Ya, I could get that achievement too, but I think achievements are lame."

That excuse doesn't fly anymore. If you're in a premium guild and you're not going for achievements then you're not actually in a premium guild at all. We don't even care who gets regular world first kills anymore. We care about Hard Modes, but we also care about weird, challenging achievements with no real reward like Earth, Wind and Fire.

Acceptance

Achievements aren't going anywhere. They give us a reason to have fun. They give us a way to show off. They even give us a way to throw together a competent pug.

You got me, Blizz. You win.

I like Achievements.