Addon Spotlight: Achievements
by Sean Forsgren 
Dec 14th 2008 at 7:00PM
I have to say; at first I was not a fan of the new Achievement system. Feathers in my cap didn't intersest me on Xbox Live, and even Warhammer Online's achievement system didn't do much for me during my short stint as a Marauder. I don't think I could attribute my newfound obsession to any genius on the part of Blizzard, but I do have to admit that I've fallen for achievements in World of Warcraft. Perhaps it has something to do with the massive amount of time played, or a sense of having been there and done that. Naturally this led me to start mixing my passion for achievements with my passion for addons. This week, we're going to take a look at a few addons specifically built to enhance or simply the new system.Let's start with one bearing a name alluding to one of my favorite movies. Urban Achiever replaces the default Achievement UI. It adds a search feature, making it easy to find an achievement amongst the many available. It also replaces the tracking feature, while even automatically tracking time achievements when they begin. Players can track up to five achievements at a time. In the end, this one is really a matter of preference.
Next up is OverAchiever, which adds an impressive array of features to the Achievements system. Given the amount, let's look at a just a few:
- Search Achievements by name via a slash command
- Ctrl+Click on an achievement link to open the Achievement, again to track it
- Tracking frame is moveable
- Adds a tooltip with your progress on the tracking frame
- Certain creatures / items have additional tooltip information if they pertain to an achievement
Improved Achievements takes what Damn Achievements does and adds a search feature and some enhanced tooltips.
HideAchievements hides the popup frame when you complete an Achievement, sending it to the chat frame instead. However, if you're using SCT, the message will appear as scrolling combat text.
AchievementSnap will take a screenshot each time you complete an Achievement. I've never personally been one to record moments in my World of Warcraft career with screenshots, but if you're into the scrap-booking thing; knock yourself out with this one! Achievement SS does the same thing, but merits a shout based on the fact that the author seems to enjoy cookies. (Read the description over at WoWInterface.com)
AchievementFilter, our last addon for today, simply hides achievement notification in the chat and guild channels. This one is for all of you who could care less about other players' achievements. If you are, good for you, the world needs more brooding gamers.
That's it folks, a quick look at some Achievement-related addons. Now, go forth and achieve stuff, you've got some time before the new Arena season to rack up some Achievement points. Dismissed!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight, Guides, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Laguapa Dec 14th 2008 7:36PM
The Dude!!
Kakistocracy Dec 14th 2008 8:18PM
At least that's something, right?
RogueJedi86 Dec 14th 2008 8:20PM
Is there no single one of these you'd pick if you had to pick one? You just kinda listed 5 or 6 and their basic features, no opinions on them.
Lilene Dec 14th 2008 8:40PM
I think it depends on what you're looking for in an achievement mod, honstly. I use Overachiever because the tooltip additions make it invaluable, but other people might not care so much about that and prefer the ability to track progress on multiple achievements at one time (which Overachiever sadly lacks).
Lambda2808 Dec 14th 2008 8:43PM
Two weeks seem like a long time for this...
niko Dec 15th 2008 12:39AM
It appears the columnist that had taken the reins of this column decided to move on for whatever reason. A few of these features just eat up columnists for some strange reason. There has always been quite a bit of turnover on this blog... don't count on each and every column to stay fresh every week (except the excellent Mr. Rossi's Warrior column).
Sean Forsgren Dec 14th 2008 8:31PM
@ RogueJedi86: Using OverAchiever, uninstalled the rest honestly.
@ Lambda2808: It's finals right now, get off my arse, eh?
RogueJedi86 Dec 14th 2008 9:00PM
I wish there was a QuestHelper for addons. I've noticed that I'll start going around Kalimdor sometimes getting achievements(exploration and animal /love usually), with QuestHelper bugging me with quest waypoints. It'd be nice if someone could use QuestHelper's coding to set up an achievement database and use waypoints as such. Could be especially useful for some of the harder to find animals for the Love achievement.
lonadar Dec 14th 2008 11:50PM
The current maintainer of QuestHelper has started putting code in to allow it to track Achievements as well. It won't be in anytime real soon, but he's started work on it.
Doma Dec 14th 2008 9:35PM
"What'd he say, where's the handoff?"
"There is no fuckin' handoff, man. We get to the bridge; we throw the money out the car."
(Bornnnn on the baayyoouu)
"Huh?"
"We throw the money out the moving car."
"... No we can't do that, Dude... That fucks up our plan."
Badger Dec 15th 2008 6:38PM
"Let's TAKE THAT HILL!"
*tuck and roll*
zed Dec 14th 2008 11:29PM
Are you a Little Lebowski Urban Achiever?
Hokuto Dec 14th 2008 11:46PM
UA isn't replacing my achievement window, I wonder what's wrong.
szb Dec 15th 2008 3:05AM
@Hokuto: You need to bind it to a key to make it appear, it doesn't do that itself. You can replace the default binding.
Space Dec 15th 2008 1:13AM
Untill these achievements are actually awarded correctly, I think they should be stripped from the game, I have achievements I have never completed, way more gold on record than I have ever made, raids I have never run, I should know I only ran one and didn't complete. Needs alot more work, IMHO
Lemons Dec 15th 2008 4:37AM
Raids you have never run? And you're complaining? I'd take those achievement points if I were you.
As far as the gold thing...everyone who had a lvl 70 for more than a month in BC has probably looted at least 1,000g for the "Got My Mind On My Money" achievement but it's only been tracking ur gold intake since patch 3.0.1 when achievements were implemented. So...yeah.
vexis58 Dec 15th 2008 7:13AM
I don't like the way it doesn't give retroactive achievement credit for a lot of things it really should have.
Like fishing Old Ironjaw? It's BoP and you can only get it through fishing, but even if you still have it sitting in your bags, you don't have credit and have to catch another one. Also, fishing skill is directly determined by the number of casts, and yet at 375 fishing I had apparently caught zero fish.
Also, you only get achievements from gear you already have if it's from a raid boss, they didn't think to add it for dungeon bosses. My shaman was wearing no less than four items that dropped off of Kael'thas in heroic MgT, but did not have the achievement for killing him.
Oh well, too late to change it now.
Spazmoosifer Dec 15th 2008 10:12AM
"I don't like the way it doesn't give retroactive achievement credit for a lot of things it really should have."
I would have to agree here, there are just some achievements that seemed to have been overlooked, as I recall (for instance, I recall that I completed a quest for an instance, which required you to complete the instance, but did not receive credit for running that instance).
"Like fishing Old Ironjaw? It's BoP and you can only get it through fishing, but even if you still have it sitting in your bags, you don't have credit and have to catch another one. "
I'd have to agree here too...they probably should have checked all BoP items when doing this, though I could see things like a fish being overlooked accidentally.
"Also, fishing skill is directly determined by the number of casts, and yet at 375 fishing I had apparently caught zero fish."
This is true to an extent. However, the number of casts is not a static number from 0-375. The number of casts required is directly affected by your fishing pole (if it gives a fishing skill bonus), and your intellect (intellect directly affects the rate at which you "learn" things in the game).
"Also, you only get achievements from gear you already have if it's from a raid boss, they didn't think to add it for dungeon bosses."
In my experience, it is not necessarily from gear that is dropped, but usually from other static items or quests where you got this achievement. For instance, if you completed the "Champion of the Naaru" questline, you automatically received credit for completing Gruul's & Mag's, because those are 100% required for that title.
I hope that clarifies a few things. Anywho, the only achievement that bothers me is the "Keymaster" achievement. Seriously, they didn't bother including the "Master Key" for Karazhan in the achievement, one of the more difficult keys to attain in BC? That one just seemed like it fit...Keymaster --> Key Master --> Master Key
donnie Dec 15th 2008 4:27AM
what the fuck are you talking about ?
Lemons Dec 15th 2008 4:44AM
I think the default achievement UI is a thing of beauty, and finding achievements is so easy with the layout I've never needed/wanted a search feature. Also, it apparently took nine months to make so you just gotta give it some respect...
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/10/10/blizzcon-2008-ui-panel-liveblog/