Q: How much is an achievment worth?
A: However much the seeker is willing to pay, in time and/or gold.
Q: What influences how much an achievement is worth?
A1: How cool it is
A2: For completionists, how hard it is
Q: What says how cool an achievment is?
A1: An obvious marker, like a pet, mount or title
A2: What peers and role models say is cool.
Q: How hard is an achievement?
A1: The amount of grind involved
A2: The hardest task(s) eg school of hard knocks for What a long strange trip its been
A3: Whether it must be done at a certain time.
As readers of this blog know, Blizzard have removed the requirement for Insane to be done by the Shattering, and will remove the requirement for Shan'drelar reputation. Blizzard will also add a seperate feat of strength for Shan'drelar reputation. If you want the Shan'drelar feat of strength, you must achieve it by the Shattering.
Some people who would have liked insane were discouraged and stopped because it was (for them) unobtainable due to a lack of time. For others, this unobtainability was it's attraction.
Insane is still going to be a popular time distraction between now and Cataclysm. It is a large solo time and gold sink, firmly in many peoples mind. But as a whole for the completionists, Insane is now less urgent than Shan'drelar rep. This rep grind will provide a solid base price for librams and diamonds between now and a few days before Cata.
I have no doubt that without the title Shan'drelar reputation is less cool than it was last week, due to it not being required for a title. However it still has inherent coolness due to being it's own achievement. The remainder of it's coolness is in part due to how the bloggosphere markets it. Do a google search on marketing campaign brown diamond for a real world example.
For the record, the Undermine Journal for Alliance Caelestraz, has a current market price of about 497g. I predict a price crash just before Cata hits as players either have their rep or give up. Between now and then there will be a large amout of price volitility as people panic sell & panic buy.
Imagine the price effect on Librams and Diamonds after the following two headlines on a well read website.
- Only 3 weeks left to get your Shan'drelar feat of strength, or
- Insanity after Cata, Shan'drelar rep removed so dump those diamonds
Posts
Hey just a thought that runs parallel to your reasoning here:
ReplyDeleteSomewhat hidden beneath the Insane in the Membrane announcement was also the clarification that the ZG rep *will still exist and will still count toward achievements*, but there will be no way to raise it after 12/7. Maybe this was a "duh" thing for everyone else, but it does change my plans.
I don't care about feats, I do care about achieves. I also care about pretty full green bars on my rep tab. I was ignoring the Zandalar one, expecting it to go away anyway, but now it is top priority or I will be doomed to having it half full forever. What does that mean? I'm buying craptons of bijous and coins.
So... assuming I'm not the only one, that means that for the next month, the value of bijous and coins is going up...