Planeswalker Point System Adds Achievements
Some time ago, Wizards of the Coast abandoned their old Player Rewards Program, eventually replacing it with Planeswalker Points, a system by which you “level up” when you compete in tournaments and win matches, and which is utterly meaningless unless you’re one of the 0.5 percent of all Magic players saving up seasonal points for a Pro Tour invite. Now WotC has tried to fancy it up a little bit for more casual players, adding new unlockable achievements.
Planeswalker Points was a smashing success because watching an imaginary number go up is far better than getting actual cards in the mail.
Ok, that’s not really true. I’ll stop being so sarcastic now. This update to the PP system lets you add unlockable badges for achieving certain milestones. You can then post your badge to a forum or website, like this:
Those little spaces under the word “Invoker” are where your achievement badges would go. I don’t have any right now because the achievements do not apply retroactively to past events. Everyone starts on even footing today, accruing stats toward achievements from zero.
Some of the achievements are pretty easy, like going to FNM a certain number of times in a month. Some are not so easy, like playing Magic on five different continents. There are hidden achievements too, so people will be discovering those as they’re unlocked.
There’s still nothing tangible associated with unlocking achievements, but I’ll admit it’s a pretty cool idea. I love unlockables in games in general, and these can be a lot of fun. They also have big plans to integrate these macro achievements with the smaller achievements you can get at pre-release events, like “Attack with a 20/20 creature.” New sets will also add new achievements to the system.
If achievements granted you promo cards like the Player’s Reward Program did, I’d be head over heels. As is, this falls strictly under, “Ok, that’s pretty neat,” territory. You can read more details at the official announcement. Feel free to post your scorecard in the comments below (html should work).
And finally, obligatory Treasure of the Sierra Madre reference:
August 2nd, 2012 4:47 PM
What is this? I don’t even. . . .