After having a conversation about the recent lack of tanks in the guild and the few people that had tanks that where geared enough I've come to a conclusion about achievement points.
Achievement points mean nothing. They can be used for nothing. Yet somehow they serve as a crutch.
A few members of my guild and myself are all over 9000 achievement points. We can all tank on alts but we want to play our mains. The simple reason is because all our mains have most of our achievements.
Our mains achievement points are what is keeping us tied to those characters. While on their own achievement points can't buy anything and do not mean anything we collect them like we do anything else. Pets, mounts, vanity items, archeology junk, you name it.
We do not want to play other characters because we have invested so much time in our mains and have the achievement points linked to them and do not want to be getting achievements on other characters that we do not have on our mains.
Somewhere along the line achievement points have become a crutch. Some people call religion a crutch because people feel the need to believe in something it to get through the day. Some say that people who are addicted to drugs use them as a crutch, they can't do anything with them. In game, achievement points are our crutch. We can't play another character (or just don't want to) because we need to keep getting the achievement points on our mains.
Just like the people that need their drugs to get through the day we need to be on our mains to get those achievements.
I've known a few people that have switched their mains and they all said the same thing, leaving their achievements behind was the hardest part. If it were not for them they would switch all the time, they just like to play.
Somewhere along the line I have not reached the point they have, the point where I can abandon my crutch. I still want to be on my main, I still want to get the achievements on my main, I can not switch, all because of my achievements.
Of the people in my guild who are in the same situation as me we all stand in the same place. One difference is I have made the sacrifice for the guild. I am off my main tanking or healing as needed instead. My main sits back seeing others get the achievements and it pains me some because of some useless thing such as achievement points.
Can I learn to lose the crutch and embrace another character?
Should I become selfish like so many others in my guild that refuse to do anything to help until their mains get all the achievements?
More importantly, why do so many people (myself included) feel so tied to their characters with achievements?
If it were never for achievements or if achievements where account tied and not character tied, I would never have any issues tanking or healing. If my hunter gets the achievement for firelands in a month or two do you really think I would care if I was on my warrior when I did it? Nope, as long as my hunter gets the achievement I will be happy.
My hunter needs those points, they are his addiction, they are his crutch.
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Good post. I'm up to 11,315 on my main, and there are a ton of achievements and stuff I will never get on an alt, things that were crazy to do ONCE, never mind twice :) And that does stop me re-rolling.
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