2. While I generally like the idea, I think adding something like the old Player Rewards System for those achievements would be a great idea. For me, just bragging about it doesn't cut it - my friends know how good or bad a player I am anyways, and with strangers it just seems ridiculous (or at least it would to me if some random guy tried to impress me with his "Death Dealer"-Achievement).
I agree about this. Does anyone actually brag about their achievements in this sort of thing? How tacky, if so.
In short: Adding actual rewards in cards and what have you would be awesome and a much greater motivation (at least for me) to play in more events.
If there's a reward, then it's worthwhile to put effort into achieving it. That, in turn, makes the accomplishment more meaningful - and more worth bragging about!
Bragging about having earned valuable things makes way more sense than bragging about having achieved something that no one else values.
The thing is, some people do value achievements very highly. Several folks in the XBox community are really hardcore achievement collectors, even though they come with no other reward. They will go so far as to buy or rent a game simply to get the achievements, even if it is not one they would otherwise play. As a marketting tool, achievements have been very successful for Microsoft, and other game companies have been following suit. They are one of those things that you can safely ignore if you don't care for them. But for the people who do care, they can be a huge deal.
The thing is, some people do value achievements very highly. Several folks in the XBox community are really hardcore achievement collectors, even though they come with no other reward. They will go so far as to buy or rent a game simply to get the achievements, even if it is not one they would otherwise play. As a marketting tool, achievements have been very successful for Microsoft, and other game companies have been following suit. They are one of those things that you can safely ignore if you don't care for them. But for the people who do care, they can be a huge deal.
I would argue though that achievements on Xbox live have a higher visibility than PWP. In order to see someone's PWP you have to search for them, which can be rather tedious and difficult (at least that's my experience). On XBox live you can easily pull up someone's profile and see their points, and then compare their achievements with yours.
^^ This would be an excellent change. While people might scoff ("Oh, s/he only has more PWP because s/he went to three more PTQs than I did last season..."), one of the major ways that people enjoy achievements is by sharing, comparing and competing.
Please stop wasting your time and money on trying to make PWP appealing to anyone other than competitive players.
If you're not going to associate promo cards with achievements or points, then no one* will care.
It's really quite embarrassing explaining to new players why they need a DCI card, having to tell them that they'll earn points that are of literally no consequence is just not a fun thing to do...sadly they always ask what the points are for.
Please reconsider replacing the Player Rewards with something that still rewards cards, even if it's only very occasionally. Perhaps you could just send us a card or two at Christmas, with the card we receive being related to our level/points earned this year/achievements earned.
*Okay obviously not quite no one, but so close as to not mattter.
The Player Rewards cards were obviously very popular; however, given various changes that reek of budget cuts (*cough* Worlds *cough*), I find it unlikely to return. It would be nice if it did, though.
Also, this is part of why Ratings should have been kept, even if they didn't "mean" anything. People understand the idea of having a rating, no matter how new to the game they are. They like seeing that that number goes up when they play better, like comparing things with friends. Sure, they can do the same with PWP, but that's just as often "who played more" instead of "who played better".
Part of me doesn't know why I care about this, but I noted that a number of achievements reflect my actual history, while others which I actually care about, do not. Specifically the achievement around playing a number of GPs in a year, or Continents played on.
At present, these achievements really have no reason to be chased, but at the same time, I want them to reflect what I've actually managed to do (and realize that I may not be able to do again).
Maybe, as someone above noted, there should be Seasonal and Lifetime Achievements? Seems like a good way to solve for a problem without real definition...?
It is possible that I misunderstood something, but there appears to be an achievement for being in the winning guild. This creates a perverse incentive*, by encouraging people to switch to the winning guild at the end. I love my boros, but for an extra badge, I'll switch to Izzet. Was this a worry? Since it's in BETA, are you open to changing it? I feel like at the year, all the people who care will be in Izzet and I'm cheating myself out of bonus points my being loyal to the Boros.
You should never explain layers to people unless one of the following is true: they're studying for a judge exam, you're both in a Ben Affleck movie and it's the only way to save the world, or you hate them.
I just joined a Guild on the PWP website, but I do not appear to have received the "Enter the Guild" Achievement, nor the 5 points for doing so.
The points are recalculated once per day.
The designers of the PP site should consider putting some information about the feature on the main page, at least. Preferrably right below the totals on the main page.
This information could save some time to the WotC customer care agents (I myself didn't know about the feature until I contacted the service).
Several people in my playgroup have not received the Enter the Guild achievement or the 5 points that come with it. I beat someone from Simic and got the points under the beating other Guilds achievement but didn't get the Death to the Simic Combine achievement.
Kicker Aggro (Invasion Block)
