achievement
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Super Hero Squad Online's challenge system offers a new way to earn special characters
If you're playing Super Hero Squad Online, chances are you have the collecting bug already -- you want to collect every cool hero you can find. With a new feature, Gazillion's players can now flesh out their roster for free (as long as they're willing to put in some effort!). Dubbed the Challenge System, this feature opens a series of achievements for players to tackle. Successfully completed challenges earn money and tickets, and span the entire game world. The best rewards, of course, are new heroes that are exclusive to this system, so if you want any of them, you're going to have to step up and knock out these challenges. The new heroes coming as Challenge System rewards include Colossus, Daredevil, Firestar, Future Foundation Spider-Man, and Sentry. [Source: Gazillion press release]
Achievements to be included in Star Wars: The Old Republic at launch
Are you the sort of person who absolutely will not rest until you've achieved every goal a game has set before you? Are you a Star Wars: The Old Republic fan? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then boy are you in luck. Everyone's favorite time-wasters have been confirmed for The Old Republic's launch. That's right, we're talking about achievements. It's important to note, however, that these aren't the esoteric, wacky achievements that reward you for dancing on a mailbox with rubber cow udders strapped to your head. The "level one" achievement system will primarily focus on feats of heroism, such as taking down a big boss and other things of that nature. For the full details, check out the interview excerpt at Ask A Jedi.
Microsoft to offer discounted hardware, software to students from low-income families
You don't need a PhD in economics to realize that times are pretty tough right now -- especially for those at the lower end of the income ladder. Fortunately, though, Microsoft has announced a new initiative aimed at providing one million students from low-income families with discounted hardware, software and broadband service. This three-year digital inclusion program is an extension of Redmond's Shape the Future campaign, which, over the course of five years, has already put computers in the hands of more than 10 million underprivileged children around the globe. Under this public-private partnership, Microsoft will work with a variety of nonprofit, corporate and governmental organizations to provide low-cost PCs, educational software, job skills training and high-speed internet to those who need it most. The ultimate goal, of course, is to bridge the achievement gap dividing students with at-home internet from their less digitally-equipped peers. According to the Federal Reserve, children who don't have online access at home graduate high school at a rate that's six to eight percentage points lower than those who do. Inflating national poverty rates and widening income gaps probably won't do much to remedy that discrepancy, but we're certainly hoping that Microsoft can make a difference. Find out more in the full PR after the break, or at the source link below.
Patch 4.2: New achievements include new daily areas and companion pets
Tons of new achievements have been added to the PTR for the upcoming patch 4.2, including the Molten Front and the Regrowth achievements. Blizzard has stated that a bunch of the encounters in the new daily hubs will be directly linked to "raid-type" damage dodging and healing, so it is nice to see achievements for some of those feats. Some of the achievements hint at some awesome characters showing up in unexpected places, like Have... Have We Met?, potentially getting Mankrik, Thassarian, Linken, and more on the front lines in Hyjal and the Firelands. Also, pet collectors are going to jump for joy, as collecting 100, 125 and 150 pets now rewards players with pet biscuits for 100 and 125, and a new pet, Nuts, at the 150 mark.
Enter at Your Own Rift: Off the beaten path
Conventional MMO wisdom says that one should stick to the roads as much as possible when questing. Roads have become the "safe zone" of online games, a place where mobs are less likely to attack and adventurers are less likely to become lost. RIFT, however, turns this MMO convention on its head and does everything it can to break us of this predictable -- and boring -- habit. For one thing, the roads in RIFT are not safe. At any moment, a rampaging invasion or event boss may be wandering down them, looking for easy prey. I've seen more than one jaded MMO vet express a type of dawning pleasure when this has happened, especially considering the reputation modern games have for coddling their populations. For another thing, there are a lot of incentives to strike off the beaten path and explore the world instead of staring at a packed trail that's been walked a million times before. RIFT encourages players to do so in subtle ways, ways that I deeply appreciate as an explorer type. In today's Enter at Your Own Rift, we're going to look at three reasons that blazing your own way in the wilderness is more fun -- and even beneficial -- than sticking to the highway. Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads.
It came from the Blog: Live stream of the Hop to Hard Boiled
We've been hopping around Razor Hill, but now we're taking our fluffy tails off to Un'Goro crater. Join us in game on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE) or by watching the stream above and participating in the chat after the break. Update: The stream is now over. You can watch our hop (which includes bunny lemmings) by clicking on the image above.
It came from the Blog: Join us for the Hop to Hard Boiled
Join us this Saturday for the Hop to Hard Boiled! As the title implies, we'll be hopping to Un'Goro Crater together for the achievement. When: Saturday, April 30, at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2:30 p.m. PDT, 3:30 server time) for the pre-event mixer and 6 p.m. EDT for the Hop Where: Meet at Razor Hill on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) Who: This is an all-level event, but you'll be hoppier happier if you are higher level. How: Ask any It came from the Blog member for an invite, if you are not already in one of our guilds. We will be meeting in Razor Hill to mingle and fight over eggs, and then setting off cross continent, braving dangers and probably getting pretty soggy. Anyone from the Alliance is welcome to join us on the hop. You can meet us at Honor Stand, where unfortunately, we'll have to kill your soldiers to protect our lowbies -- but hopefully, you'll forgive us. Otherwise, there is no reason why we can't forget our factions for the day and travel together to lay eggs side by side to celebrate this extremely silly holiday. I'll be streaming this as usual, and all instructions will be given in our event chat as well as over the stream. Please join us one way or another. Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild members can invite, so /whisper Roblinator or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.
Enter at Your Own Rift: The little things
For me, it's all about the little things in life: the smell of a good cup of coffee, the enthusiastic hug of my two-year-old, an illicit pack of Lemonheads candy, or throwing punny tags into Massively articles. While big things are essential to have and get right, it's the little things I find that give life its unique flavor. So when I enter MMORPGs, I'm always on the lookout for little things. Oh, sure, PvP and raiding and overarching epic stories are all well and good, but it's from the little things that the soul and flavor of a game emerges. I'm often far more delighted when I stumble upon a funny little Easter egg in a game than if I win that roll for a purple piece of armor. Today I want to look at 10 little things in RIFT that I've come to appreciate and savor over the past month or so. Maybe these elements don't get all of the glory, and maybe they're even seen as superfluous to some, but without them the game would be far less to me. So while we rush between rifts and struggle with expert dungeons, I'd encourage all of us to take some time to reflect on all of the supporting cast of features that are just as important to the overall effort.
Breakfast Topic: We need a title for our titles
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Face it, we all love our titles. Some of us have a specific favorite that we just love to show off, a title that boldly displays our personality and our achievements at a glance. If you have Chef before your name, people will know you're a great cook. If you have Loremaster before your name, people will know you are passionate about lore (or quests). And then there are the few of us who are passionate about titles themselves. Just like avid collectors try and collect as many pets as they can (and get a nice pet once they reach a certain number, a pet that tells everyone that you enjoy collecting pets) and mount collectors acquire as many mounts as they can, there are a few of us who collect titles. For us, displaying one title -- no matter how prestigious it is (Death's Demise, anyone?) -- simply isn't enough. How are we title collectors suppose to display our love of titles? There in fact used to be a mod that would automatically cycle through whatever titles you told it to, but Blizzard killed it for some reason. I was hoping it was because they were adding the title collector titles, but alas ... You can probably tell where I'm going with this: I think Blizzard should put in a title for having X number of titles. Maybe something like "Lord / Lady [Name]." How about adding a new tier to certain titles? The Seeker title requries completion of 3,000 quests -- but with Cataclysm, there are far more quests than that. So maybe add another tier of it, say ... 5,000 quests. Make the title "Knowledge-Seeker [Name]." If you could create a title, what would it be, and how would one go about acquiring it?
Raw Summer Bass now in season for WoW fishing enthusiasts
There are a number of achievements associated with fishing in WoW, and that's a large reason why the profession is so popular (despite its faults). Some of the achievements are predictably harder to get than others. Take, for instance, the new-for-Cataclysm achievement The Oceanographer, which we covered a few weeks ago in our weekly achievement column. It requires two fish that are only available during different times of the year; you can't catch Raw Summer Bass in the fall and winter, and you can't catch Winter Squid in the spring and summer. As such, the achievement was totally off limits. For all you achievement-hungry anglers, there's good news: Today, March 21, is the official start of spring, and Raw Summer Bass are once again available to be caught. That means you can finally complete The Oceanographer achievement, provided you've already fished up a Winter Squid. Raw Summer Bass can be fished up in a number of coastal areas, including Tanaris, Blasted Lands, Swamp of Sorrows, and even off Jaguero Isle in The Cape of Stranglethorn. If you're interested in The Oceanographer and haven't fished up a Winter Squid yet ... well, you might want to sit down, because El's Extreme Angling has got some bad news for you: You won't be able to fish them up again until Sept. 21. Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.
"The Exalted" title requirement change reverted
Tensions on the forums have been pretty high since Blizzard made a change to the achievement that awarded players the title The Exalted without announcing it beforehand. Bashiok hit the forums tonight to address said drama, saying that while the community managers were disappointed that the saga resulted in so many forum code of conduct violations, they did have a long talk with the designers, who agreed to change the achievement back to its original form. In other words, if you qualified for The Exalted before 4.0.6 (40 exalted reputations), you'll soon be awarded your title again. Right now, the devs are unsure as to whether the change can be applied with a hotfix, but they're going to attempt one and see if it sticks. If a patch is necessary, they'll let us know. There's some additional interesting information in the blue post, including the technical reasons why Blizzard couldn't grandfather the title to those who achieved it prior to 4.0.6. Full text is after the cut.
Breakfast Topic: What's your proudest WoW moment?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. World of Wacraft has a lot of major milestones, many of which are punctuated by achievements, cool titles or flashy mounts. When I first started thinking of this subject, I assumed reaching level 80 would be my proudest WoW moment, considering it was the first time I reached max level. I started playing WoW during The Burning Crusade and leveled very slowly, spending way too much time in PvP, which didn't reward experience at the time. I took a couple of breaks and didn't hit max level until the early months of Wrath of the Lich King. But in retrospect, I recalled my thought when I reached 80: "Okay, now the real game begins." My next thought was that the moments that my guild first cleared Naxx-25 or Yogg Saron or the Lich King might be the pinnacle of pride for me in WoW. Then I realized the truth. The moment when I probably felt the best about my WoW self was when I finally matched (and eventually beat) the gear of my best friend who plays and could beat him in duels. I'd watched this rogue friend, from BC to Wrath, stealth around and slay countless foes in battlegrounds, arena, and world PvP. I'd seen him win 2 of 3 duels against the very best-geared rogue on our server, and I could beat him. That was awesome. Plus, a bit of friend vs. friend gloating didn't hurt the ego. Has there been a point where you thought to yourself, "I have arrived ... at awesomeness"? What achievement or event is your proudest WoW moment?
Nissan Leaf rates you against other drivers, creates a high score list for hypermilers
Xbox Live and the Achievement system kind of reinvented the high score list, letting you compete against your friends even when you're roaming solo through a stark, barren wasteland. It looks like Nissan is doing much the same with the Leaf -- but minus the bloatflies and the supermutants. As the cars are now rolling out to eager owners we're learning more about just what its Carwings system can do and another neat trick is the "Regional Rankings" page, where one driver's driving efficiency is rated against others in the area. There are bronze, silver, and gold medals up for grabs but, if you cover the thing with speed tape and only commute downhill, you might just be awarded the platinum award. What does that get you? Why, a little picture of a trophy, of course. What were you expecting?
Breakfast Topic: The reason for the seasonal achievements
Thanksgiving (or the United States version thereof) is quickly approaching, and with it comes the in-game Pilgrim's Bounty event. Now, I didn't actually finishing Pilgrim's Bounty last year. This is mostly because I was visiting my family for the entire week of Thanksgiving, so I was only playing on my laptop, and my laptop is sufficiently low-tech that it does not run WoW all that well. Also, I was totally spending most of my time with my family. This month, though, I'm going to be in town with access to my usual gaming rig, so I'll have more than enough time and ability to finish up the achievements. That said, I'm still deciding whether or not I'll actually take the time to do them. After all, none of the Pilgrim's Bounty achievements are needed for What a Long, Strange Trip. I mean, an extra turkey pet is sort of cool, but otherwise, there's not really much of a profit to them. Also, some of the achievements seem downright annoying. Turkey Lurkey? Do I really need to run around looking for all these dumb rogues? Why so arbitrary? And what about the Turkinator? Do I really need to run around a newbie zone like a chicken with my head cut off trying to target critters more quickly than the other 100 people doing it? What does that accomplish? Then I think about some of the other holidays. It's not like I haven't had to run around Dalaran looking for random class and race combinations before, and it's not like I haven't run around the newbie zones doing silly, inconsequential stuff before either. So why is Pilgrim's Bounty bringing out the achievement cynic in me? I like to think I've been doing achievements because they're interesting and fun, but what if they've been about the carrot and stick all along? Now that there's no reward I'm really interested in, am I finally seeing achievements for what they are, or am I just being a grinch a month early? What do you think? Do you do achievements for fun, or are you pretty sure you'd leave them alone if they weren't rewarding you with shiny stuff?
The Daily Grind: What's your greatest MMO achievement?
Abraham Lincoln, possibly thinking about World of Warcraft, once said, "That some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well." Nido Qubein, who was later pwned by Lincoln in PvP, retorted, "Winners compare their achievements with their goals, while losers compare their achievements with those of other people." Achievements: We live to fulfill them. While many MMOs have tacked on an achievement system to motivate us to accomplish bizarre, tough, or unlikely goals, many gamers come up with their own goals all the time. What is your greatest MMO achievement? What are you most proud of accomplishing in your long (or perhaps short) career as an online gamer? Was it a goal that few if any others ever attained? Did you finally cross a finish line you never thought you'd reach? It's OK to boast in the comments today -- actually, we downright demand that you do. Pat yourself on the back and share with us your greatest personal MMO achievement. If it made you happy and satisfied, we want to hear about it! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's The Daily Grind!
Cataclysm Beta: New guild achievements added in patch 12984
Patch 12984, the latest Cataclysm beta build, just crash landed across the net, and MMO-Champion is mining out the latest changes. Included in the changes are a bunch of new or tweaked guild achievements. Here are some examples: Realm First! Nefarian First guild on the realm to defeat Nefarian in Blackwing Descent on heroic difficulty while in a guild group. United Nations Raise 55 reputations to exalted. Reward: Dark Phoenix Hatchling. You've Been Iced Figure it out. Perhaps the readers can actually help explain to me what "you've been iced" means. I wasn't aware there were bros in Azeroth yet, but I guess after all those popped collars on the priest tier 10, it was bound to happen. Hit the jump for the full list from MMO-Champion.
Video: Halo: Reach Achievements made easy (and cheat-y)
Halo: Reach isn't even out in stores, but IGN has already found a way to exploit part of the game for the sake of easy Achievements. In this video, its outlines a surefire method for farming up a good amount of the game's cheevos by tweaking the customized Firefight system to be really hard and then giving yourself invincibility. Which means "you can basically shoot around in circles, and get massive amounts of points." Seems like fun ... we guess? If nothing else, this shows off just how customizable the multiplayer system in Reach actually is. Bungie has made it so that the priority is coming up with fun gametypes with your friends, not just tweaking for as many points towards Achievement as possible. Not that we don't appreciate sweet, sweet cheevos, but that's not the only reason we're Firefighting against the Covenant, right? Right?
Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content
Just a few weeks ago, I was invited to attend Trion Worlds' Gamer's Day in San Francisco to get some hands-on time with a couple of the company's upcoming titles, including Rift: Planes of Telara. If Rift seems to have come out of nowhere, that might be due both to the acquisition of EverQuest II veteran Scott Hartsman to head the project as executive producer, and to a clever name change meant to reflect the team's shift in development focus. In fact, that shift in development focus is precisely what I was at Trion's studio to test -- I got to check out the Rifts themselves in all their glory, in the context of the greater dynamic content system that the developers are so excited about. Massively's writers have been able to play and report on character creation and the starting areas of Rift several times over the last year or so, including earlier this summer at E3. But until today's embargo lift (coinciding with the reveal at Gamescom), no one had quite seen the fabled planar invasions and takeovers in action. Now we have.
The Daily Grind: Great achievements
Here in the States we're celebrating one of the great achievements in our nation's history -- the adoption of our Declaration of Independence! However, as we're a site that spans more than just the shores of one nation, we thought today we'd take the time instead to talk about achievements in the MMOs we all know and love. From leveling in World of Warcraft, to managing to level without dying in Lord of the Rings Online, to clicking on your own avatar 5,000,000 times in Warhammer Online, people really seem to enjoy chasing those little badges that say "I came, I saw, I did something!" Today, in honor of great achievements everywhere, we thought we'd talk about MMO achievements. Whether it's the more formalized ones that come with banners or Facebook status updates, or just a personal milestone you managed to accomplish after a long period of planning and working at it, there are many things to celebrate. So jump down to the comments below and tell us -- what is your greatest MMO achievement?
Midsummer Fire Festival: Need help juggling?
The Midsummer Fire Festival is pretty decent for a WoW holiday -- good experience and gold from extinguishing and honoring fires, fun cosmetic rewards and occasionally mind-numbing achievements. Wait, what was that last one? Torch Juggler has become notorious this year, as the achievement is not only difficult for people who are unable to click their mouses and buttons fast enough, but it is also part of the meta-achievement for completing the Midsummer Fire Festival and gaining the title "Flame Keeper." So, here's how to get Torch Juggler in three easy steps. Get about 15 Juggling Torches. For five Burning Blossoms, the holiday's currency gained through honoring fires, desecrating fires and dailies, you can purchase five Juggling Torches. Go to Dalaran. A common mistake is that many players attempt this achievement in other capital cities. You need to be in Dalaran! Download and install the mod Juggler. Juggler is a simple addon that you activate with /juggle or /juggler. The addon replaces your mouse wheel with a series of actions that select a torch and then selects where to throw the torch. Download Juggler at [Curse]. Activate Juggler, aim your mouse underneath your character and spin your mouse wheel faster than you've ever spun it before. Is this cheesing the achievement? You bet it is. But frankly, the achievement requires dexterity that might not be possible for many people, and factoring in other variables like lag time in Dalaran makes this addon worthwhile. And there you have it. The worst part of the Midsummer Fire Festival is now put to rest, so you can go on having fun.
