Allison's
great post about all of the Feats of Strength still available in the game got me thinking: just what kind of value do players place on
these "kinda" achievements? Personally, I never gave them much weight -- I have a few of them (I picked up the
Vampiric Batling a while ago, and I've got the
Competitor's Tabard, among a few other old-school and commemorative achievements), but the ones I've got I didn't really do anything to earn, and the Feats still available don't really mean that much to me. Unlike "real" achievements, Feats don't even give you meaningless points, and they can't be used to get you into any raids or runs that you couldn't do otherwise. They're boring to me.
I'm not that way about all achievements -- there have been a few that I've worked to get done, and there are even non-achievement items that I've pushed for in the past (I worked like crazy to finally get my
Netherwing drake, and the only achievement I got for that was
the Netherwing reputation). But Feats of Strength in particular seem passive to me, by Blizzard's design: if they happen, great, but there's not enough reward there for me to go out of my way to get them. What do you think?
Tags: achievement-points, achievements, blizard, blizzard, boring, bt, competitors-tabard, design, feats-of-strength, game-discussion, gamer-discussion, meaningless, netherwing-drake, netherwing-reputation, points, vampiric-batling, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-hot-topics, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Quests, Lore, Bosses, Mounts, Achievements
Patch 5.4 patch notes
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Nov 3rd 2009 at 8:00AM 
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
matthewggrammer Nov 3rd 2009 8:27AM
That's exactly what it shows, actually.
osg93 Nov 3rd 2009 9:19AM
You've been playing for less than a year, not really that big a feat :)
John Nov 3rd 2009 8:38AM
It exactly shows how long you've been playing.
rosencratz Nov 3rd 2009 8:44AM
Yeah what an odd thing to say Rugus.
I've got to agree with mattheggrammer and some others posting positively on the subject. Some feats of strength are significantly less difficult to get than others maybe but they are nice. It IS nice to remember things you've done, that you have achieved, before the content got removed. In fact i'd say some of the feats of strength are actually more impressive or more nostalgic than a lot of normal achievements.
It's all a bit of fun and it's nice to have a "badge of honour" as such, for things you've done and taken part in, even if some of those things are really just a timestamp to say "I was here when this happened" you will find way before achievements were added people used to tell everyone else proudly that "I was here during the ahn qiraj gate event" or "i remember the first scourge invasion" etc now we get little nods for it.
It's good, harmless fun!
Hefren Nov 3rd 2009 11:12AM
I do like having certain feats that give titles that are unobtainable. My Blood Guard title isn't overly impressive because of it's PVP rank, but it's fun to bring out now and then to show how old my character is. Champion of the Naaru is along the same lines although BC still seems pretty new.
Andrew R. Nov 3rd 2009 8:29AM
The BC titles may show how long you've been playing but there are people who don't raid who have been playing just as long. It's not an accurate way to show how long someone has played. Those types of FOS show how much time a player has put into their character's gear or how dedicated you are to raiding.
I disagree with achievements being worthless. It's a measure of one's self. I like achievements. I can set myself apart from other players. From time to time I'll see a player with a pvp title and I'll look at their achievements. They are decked out with all the classic dungeons and raids. The player next to them might have the love fool and have only the BC and Wrath dungeon achievements.
I enjoyed going through the old content, not just for the achievements but to see what Blizzard worked so hard on over the years. I have the classic dungeonmaster achievement and I'm proud of that. I've done things with my character that I wouldn't have done if achievements weren't around. It's fun to see what I can accomplish on my own that would otherwise require multiple people.
TL;DR- FOS can show how long a player has been in WoW but also sets them apart from everyone else. They may be worthless to some but to others it's a reward to see the FOS pop up on their screen.
artifex Nov 3rd 2009 9:13AM
Honestly, the REAL achievement that's indicated by getting a lot of these classic content achievements these days, is that you managed to beg or coerce enough friends or puggers to pull off all these raids.
I'm not making light of this: at least on my main server, on alliance side, it's virtually impossible to do this these days. Newbie mains that ding 80 are much more lightly to go in greens to whack at the VOA and TOC loot pinatas, hardly even bothering to run heroics if they can avoid them.
Jim Whatshisname Nov 3rd 2009 8:35AM
I have Insane in the Membrane.
I climbed it because it was there.
John Nov 3rd 2009 9:10AM
I'm jealous.
I feel like the only way I can do that is to drop my 450 LW and pick up engineering for the mailbox & banker with the librams.
It seems like the best way to work on that achievement is to be a human rogue with engineering. (Diplomacy + stealth + access to MOLL-E & Jeeves) If only there was a way to change my orc rogue to a human...
tresser Nov 3rd 2009 10:44AM
"I have Insane in the Membrane.
I climbed it because it was there."
This is exactly my motivation for getting "Hero of Shattrath" achieve. Tho i don't have the will to make a rogue for the insane title.
Jim Whatshisname Nov 3rd 2009 10:51AM
I'm not human either and as far as I remember I only needed an engineer friend to drop one MOLL-E for turning in librams and another 2-3 for the lockboxes, so you really don't need engineering. You do need macros for turning in the boxes fast enough though.
Kaz Nov 3rd 2009 11:37AM
Same here brother. I ground up all those reps because it was something that not many people wanted to do, and I could do it at my own pace (I hate trying to put a group together for anything). It took time, gold, and grinding up a rouge alt, but it feels good to show that title, and have jealous guildies.
Dotixi Nov 3rd 2009 8:37AM
A lot/most of the feats of strength cannot be accomplished anymore, eg. Onyxia lvl 60.
They are a good indicator of how long a player/character has been around, not that it matters.
crschmidt Nov 3rd 2009 8:43AM
Onyxia Level 60 can still be achieved. (Allison's post yesterday addressed this.)
"... the achievement is currently linked to the possession of an item dropped by the level 60 Onyxia, and Nefarian now drops the Tier 2 helms that Ony once did. So, yes, it is entirely possible to get the Feat of Strength for killing a level 60 Onyxia by killing a level 60 Nefarian, as long as you get one of the tier helms he hands out."
peagle Nov 3rd 2009 8:39AM
I remember around the time they were going to implement achievements originally you would see all feats of strength, completed and uncompleted. That would have created a certain completionist frustration and acted as a reminder as to what you can't or are too late to achieve in the game any more.
Fortunately Blizzard smartly opted to only display the ones you have instead, thus softening this psychological facet of them (in concert with the fact they aren't worth any points), and they have become more of a nod of acknowledgment/thanks from Blizzard as to what you've been involved in.
Lethality Nov 3rd 2009 9:40AM
The author is a typical a.d.d. kiddie.
It's not enough "reward" for you to go after?
How about the idea that it's an accomplishment that not only can no one else achieve in many cases, it also acts as a date and timestamp that says "you where there back when...."
Killchrono Nov 3rd 2009 8:46AM
I like the Feats of Strength because they're like veteran's badges. I've seen some players complain about how Blizz doesn't reward veteran players, but I reckon the Feats of Strength are the closest they can get to a 'reward' without putting new players at a disadvantage or preventing other people from ever getting them. It's nothing game breaking, but it's something to be proud of and shows your long-term commitment to the game.
Dotixi Nov 3rd 2009 8:48AM
@crschmidt
That's not exactly the same thing. Sure you might be able to "cheat" and still get the achievement but you can never fight lvl 60 Onyxia for the achievement.
falc Nov 3rd 2009 9:09AM
I generally like FoS, since the name suggests that they are really special things your character has done during it's travels. If it we're so then i would be happy to just see my hand of a'dal and champion of the naruu + maybe the dreasteed questline thing in there.
But quite a large bit of the pride i get from some FoS currently for me is getting sucked out by such FoS like "Owner of the yellow brewfest stein of 2007" and such which are pretty much worthless and show no real accomplisment apart from the fact that your character was around at a specific time during WoW.
I really wish they would separate holiday and logging on FoS from the raiding/pvp ones. Since the latter you actually have to work for not just hang around for.
HappyFunNorm Nov 3rd 2009 9:31AM
There used to be actual changes that took place as you moved up the PvP title/rank ladder, like access to the World Defense channel.