Bornakk clarifies Achievements and Feats of Strength
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 28th 2008 at 6:20PM
Bornakk drops some serious knowledge about the difference between Achievements and Feats of Strength (both of which, apparently, are showing up as of patch 3.0). Achievements grant points, and are apparently things that you can accomplish in the game while they're given out -- if there is an achievement on the list, you can earn it. But Feats of Strength are different; not only do they not give points, but "some of them may no longer be possible to do." So Feats of Strength may include things like opening the AQ gates, and so on. The good news is that if there's an Achievement for something in the game, Blizzard will make sure that it's possible to jump through the hoops you need to do it.But the bad news is that there's really no way to know whether you'll get credit for either Achievements or Feats of Strength until the system shows up on the live realms. As we've heard, Blizzard is going to try to be as retroactive as possible -- they'll be looking at quests and maybe even equipment to determine who's killed which boss in the past. But nothing, as Bornakk says, is guaranteed -- you may get one achievement for an old boss, but you may need to redo another old boss again.
There's one more great thing coming out of all of this as well -- hopefully, Achievements and Feats of Strength both will drive traffic back to the old content, and people who've never run Naxx or AQ, for example, will be able to find regular groups for "Achievement runs." Even people who've already downed the content will want to do back if their Feats of Strength don't register, so lots of people who didn't should have new chances to see it.
Filed under: Patches, Blizzard, Expansions, Raiding, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
John Aug 28th 2008 6:31PM
Am I the only one that doesn't care about achievements or feats of strength?
I think it is just a dumb gimic.
- JTD
Jewbanks Aug 28th 2008 6:33PM
your not alone
Adamanthis Aug 28th 2008 6:37PM
It's as pointless to work towards as anything else in a virtual world. Do you what you enjoy doing, avoid the rest.
Malkeior Aug 28th 2008 6:41PM
Some people just find it impossible to enjoy the simpler things in life.
Metal_Gear Aug 28th 2008 7:24PM
Yeah, having some text telling people what you have done is stupid, I'd rather I have a digital pair of gloves to tell people what I have done... even though you still get the gloves, the text is just an additional extra...
There are some myths about achievements/trophies whatever your calling them, they aren't something that is supposed to be just farmed, they are something that is designed to be... just there, and as you play, ignoring them, you just achieve certain things naturally but as we can see what they are before we have attained them, it allows us to try out other parts of the game we wouldn't have naturally.
Granted some people love them too much and think they are awesome as they have bought and whored themself into every game just because of them, but the majority just play games and get a 'natural' collection.
Adamanthis Aug 28th 2008 6:36PM
I wouldn't think there will be any Achievement runs in old Naxx, because it should be gone with 3.0, right?
Drakkenfyre Aug 28th 2008 6:45PM
Why would they remove it in the patch? In the expansion, yes. In the patch, no.
Jp Aug 28th 2008 7:03PM
This is the patch to prepare everything for the expansion. Much in the same way 2.0 came out a month before BC was released, and included all the changes to old-world Azeroth that didn't include the draenei/belf starting areas(new boats, some new quests, etc.)
So, yeah, Naxx will almost certainly be gone as of 3.0
BillDoor Aug 28th 2008 7:06PM
I suspect we'll see something about Naxx moving as part of the 3.0 patch.
Drakkenfyre Aug 28th 2008 9:46PM
Adding boats is one thing. Removing entire instances is another, lol.
I would bet they will put in mention of activity at Naxxaramas, but not actually move it. People are already upset enuf as it is that they are removing it as it currently is. I doubt they would remove it before the actual expansion is released. Especially if their is an Achievement for running it with fewer than a full raid.
bdew Aug 29th 2008 2:12AM
Actually 2.0 patch DID include BE/Dranei starting zones, and the whole outland. Trying to zone into them told you that your accound doesn't have the expansion activated.
Dave Aug 28th 2008 6:39PM
Aren't feats of strength intended to be one-shot short-term availability type things?
All mine on beta are involving seasonal things I have in my inventory like the Yellow Beerfest stein and pets. I imagine the AQ gates event has one and perhaps some of the other yearly event bosses, but I'm not %100 sure since I didn't transfer all my characters.
Not that they can't change, but that was my impression of them from the ones that I have on the beta so far.
Backbail - Backthief Aug 28th 2008 6:45PM
What do we use achieve points for?
shiju Aug 28th 2008 6:53PM
Points that go towards what? Again unless achievements allow me to work towards loot i really really could care less. There is WAY too much hype about this meaningless addition.
Jewbanks Aug 28th 2008 6:55PM
the points go to some vanity stuff nothing meant to change gameplay
Wither Aug 28th 2008 6:57PM
The boss achievements should need to be level capped, or at least there should be several flavours of boss achievements:
1) Achieved when everyone in the party /raid is below a certain level (the target level of the instance)
2) Solo boss kill (not level capped)
3) 2 player boss kill (not level capped)
3) Boss kill (as it stands at the moment). Personally I would remove this one altogether.
It's hardly an achievement for players to rush their 70s back to Azeroth and clear instances so easily, indeed the current bosses in Outlands will seem pretty trivial when we are all at 80.
Alaw Aug 29th 2008 8:37AM
Why?
Neodarkmatter Aug 28th 2008 7:03PM
It depends on if there is anything to spend the points on like armor or pets or something. People will do them if there is a goal to it, but if it is just for points then why bother?
Suzaku Aug 29th 2008 7:37AM
A good chunk of the achievements will be completed without any additional effort whatsoever. They're things like, "complete this instance," "do all the quests here," "explore this portion of a map," "get exalted with this faction," and so on. You'll be doing them anyway.
The other ones are there to possibly prod you into playing in a way you wouldn't normally. To go on a trip to explore a continent or raid a capital city instead of doing your same old routine.
Some of the achievements allow you to obtain titles and vanity items.
Metal_Gear Aug 28th 2008 7:27PM
Thats why lower level instances wont be worth as much points as the higher level stuff, at least they shouldn't be...