RNG Achievements. A rant

Achievements for me are a love hate thing. I love them because it's a fun way to know how much of a game I've finished. I hate them because it's a terrible way to remind me how much of a game I haven't finished. Thanks Xbox for eternally changing (ruining?) the way people play games.

Why do I bring this up? And what's the significance of RNGs here? Well it's taken me quite some time to get around to it, but I've finally queued up Borderlands in my wait for my next Guild Wars 2 hit (tip of the hat to Ravious over at Killtenrats for helping me realize I'm a GW2 drug addict), and generally Borderlands is 100% superfun. I grew up on Diablo so dungeon grinding and loot whoring is familiar territory for me. Also I sure do love me some good ol fashioned FPS frag fests. Borderlands delivers on that end, completely. So combined all that together and you've got yourself a recipe for one awesome game, and it is awesome. The killing, murdering, exploding, hilarious vulgar humor, and spectacularly great gun design.

But then they just had to go in and add totally retarded achievements. I've probably killed the entire Claptrap population twenty times over and I have yet to get all my goldfish, or panties, or pizza, or oil cans, or .... whatever. Heck I'm certain I've made the Hyperion corporation mine out an entire sector of space to build, and rebuild, all the Claptraps I've blown to bits over my search for stupid robot fish. The worst part is that even after you've collected all your pointless 3D glasses they continue to drop. It's like the Claptraps, even in their death, continue to taunt me, "Look, here's some more 3D glasses! Too bad what you really need is our panties!" The worst part is, naturally, that there's no Achievement tracker. I don't even know, for certain, if I've already collected all the panties I need and since they keep dropping I keep picking them up because maybe with the next one I'll finally ding the achievement over and be done with this torment in RNG robot hell.

Oh yeah, on a final note, I hate you stupid robots in Portal 2. Why can't you be better at rock-paper-scissors. I swear from now on I'm sticking to fantasy titles. It's obvious robots aren't good for my health.

GW2 The value of 100%

I'm hooked! It's like drug. I just have to do it. After I finished Queensdale there was no turning back. I've become a completionist.

I'm a perfectionist, maybe it's my biggest flaw, so when I get a reminder every time I zone of how much of an area I have left to complete I always have the nagging urge to get that one last heart, or find that final way point. It's a nice reminder though, Guild Wars 2 doesn't force you to do anything if you don't want to and there's no rush either. Completing a zone in 15minutes won't get you any extra rewards and the journey to 100% is where all the fun is anyway. 

For example, I was on my way to get the last heart in Diessa Plateau and ran across this guy laying waste to the Town of Nageling. There was a number of Charr, Norn, and Humans all working together to fend off the giant and many of them were already dead on the ground by the time I showed up. A dynamic event like this, with it's promises of loot, experience, karma, and gold is just too hard to pass up. How could I not help out? After all, I am the awesome level 33 Mesmer who vanquished the Centaur Horde from Kessex Hills. Lending a hand is my duty.

For my troubles was rewarded with a badass sword. It had +condition damage, great DPS and since I was in dire need of replacing the crap sword I had been running around with for what seemed like an eternity, well I couldn't have been happier.

Did I mention the sword was badass? Just look at the spikes.

The crazy part is that to get 100% in Diessa Plateau the Champion Giant is totally optional, and yet completely necessary. Having a "questing structure" (I don't know if I should even call it that, you never actually accept a quest apart from your personal story) that creates habitual exploration like Guild Wars 2 has done means that by venturing out to complete a zone you feel obliged to help every little villager who's running into an issue. You're a spectacular hero saving the lands from subjugation and ruin, and by doing so getting handsomely rewarded in the process.

Oh and if that wasn't reason enough, once you finally do get that coveted 100% the Tyrian Explorer's Society mails you gold, and loot, and praise. It's all win and I'm loving every obsessive moment of it.