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Having played EQ2, AoC, and War it is my opinion that EQ2's achievement system is by far the most superior - at least in one major respect. AA xp is a separate tract entirely from regular xp. When I play other MMOs i simply gain points to spend as I gain levels along a predetermined track.
How do these other games miss the boat so entirely on this? Because they are a separate achievement tract AA's in EQ2 provide the player a different reason to log in and play. While giving more reason to play they also produce incentives to play in ways you may not do otherwise - name mob kills, collections, exploration, quest completion etc. I have played many nights of eq2 with AA alone in mind and those play nights usually consist of different activities than normal.
Am I missing something, why would an MMO implement AA's any other way?
Theo
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I think it really just depends on how the original XP (or advancement state) is implemented. For something like SWG (Pre-NE) then it would be hard to implement something like EQ2's AA trees. I agree with you that I think EQ2s AAs offer soooo much customization on your character and that SOE really got it right with them. It also helps that they have been around for a good while so they have grown and been tailored over time. I also like the fact that towards the beginning, you REALLY had to pick and choose with them. You could not have all of them so it forced you into different configurations, then SOE was smart enough to allow you to cusotmize those different configurations based on your playstyle for a given night (party vs raid configs etc).
I will agree with you AA is one thing that SOE really got right in EQ2.
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Cyan, beyond the trees themselves, what do you think about the difference of having the AA gain inextricably linked to normal leveling versus EQ2 where it is gained independently? I much prefer the latter.
Just give many as many reasons as possible to log on and play. Last night I finally finished placing every book I own on bookshelves in my inn room! Just give me a reason to log in :)
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I liked the way EQ did it when they first brought in AA (no idea if they still do the same...) - you had a slider to decide how much of your XP went into regular and how much into AA; so if you wanted to grind AA you could just move the slider up to 100% and go grinding as normal. While I see your point in a way about being pushed into different activities for AA in EQ2, it was nice in EQ to have full control over where you wanted to divert your XP gain without being forced down a specific route.
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Agreed, I would say AA's are one of the best implemented ideas in EQ2, they discourage power levelling right from the start and encourage you to explore and experience every part of the world without "holding a gun to the players head" to do so. One downside I would say is that some classes are weaker with the achievement points then others (either that or I'm not understanding the class well enough), for example my guardian is spoiled for choice while my warden seems to have pretty weak skills to go for. For that reason I'm looking forward to the expansion and their promise to redo all the AA trees, I'm hoping for some good things here.
I guess the achievements added to WoW are kind of a way to encourage the same thing, nowhere near as good since I love the way my Froglok guardian is turned into a veritable whirlwind of destruction by concentrating on experiencing the content (and therefore getting the AA's) early on, that's the sort of reward I like to see rather then grind 1000 bears for linear advancement.
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Lomax wrote:
I guess the achievements added to WoW are kind of a way to encourage the same thing, nowhere near as good since I love the way my Froglok guardian is turned into a veritable whirlwind of destruction by concentrating on experiencing the content (and therefore getting the AA's) early on, that's the sort of reward I like to see rather then grind 1000 bears for linear advancement.
Totally agree with that, it serves a dual purpose it create a fun avenue in th game for experienced players, but also makes it much easier for people with alts and/or new players to experience the game because they can load up on some powerful stuff much earlier in the game and customize their characters throughout their char lifespan.
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