So is every character now in DB/TG due to AwA, IS BLACKWOOD UN(RE)PLAYABLE NOW?

drsalvation · March 2022

Adventurer wrote: »

I read that several people had their non-DB/TB characters be talked to as if they were in the DB/TG by the NPCs in the game, because their main was a DB/TG member and the agme registered it incorrectly. Does that mean that in Blackwood you'll always be a DB member now, so you can't see the vanilla dialogue if you're not a DB member?

Does anyone have a list of which dialogues have been broken by AwA, whether it's in Blackwood or elsewhere?

I don't think this is due to AwA tho, it happened to me since before the update. Maybe it's tied to skill trees?
I looted a thief's trove on my way to do the quest with the TG members in blackwood, and my character said "I'm part of the guild, I've never heard of you before" when I just used one single trove literally before starting the quest.

I DO have an alt character that finished TG a long time ago.

But no, this isn't an AwA issue, it's been an issue since before (I have some posts about it a while back).

Fennwitty · March 2022

Elvenheart wrote: »

I have to believe that quests tied to achievements and then messed up by AwA will be fixed by ZOS. They’re not just going to leave them that way on purpose, they will be somewhere on a list of things that need to get fixed, just like we always see in the patch notes. Of course we don’t know when, and what they consider more important.

Would be super cool if they could, like ... tell us that.

Kesstryl · March 2022

This was posted in the Zone Map and AwA official thread at the top of this forum and would be a good list for players to test through, document anything wrong on alts, and bug report it:

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

wenchmore420b14_ESO wrote: »

I didn't run into any NPC's with the dialog changes though. I forgot where they are.. Lol...

There are loads of them but for a quick litmus test:
Tarnamir in Russafeld, Summerset (notices if you’re in the Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood)

Mel Adrys In Hrota Cave, Gold Coast (notices if you’re a vampire and if you completed certain parts of the AD main quest)

Niralin in Archon’s Grove, Summerset (notices if you’re a werewolf)

Gabrielle Benele in Anvil, Gold Coast and Solitude, Western Skyrim (comments on a lost party member from the vanilla main quest)

Choixth in the wilderness of Murkmire (notices if you’re Dark Brotherhood and if you met her previously in Summerset)

Zhasim in Southern Elsweyr (comments if you met him in Wrothgar)

Valsirenn in the Deadlands (comments if you met her in Summerset)

…most of the reoccurring characters will have some optional dialogue about previous encounters. I don’t think it goes retroactive to previous DLC though, so Raz in Summerset might remember you from the AD vanilla quest if you did that first, but not the other way around.

As far as I'm concerned, these are bugs, they break immersion, and should not be left in an incorrect state. There are NPCs that do fire off quest completion like the ones in Markarth that talk about how the dead came back to life at the end of that story, so all they have to do is decouple anything here not yet decoupled from achievements and move them to the completion of the quest lines that should trigger them.

Jaraal · March 2022

Rigurt, Darien, and Naryu also have dialogues if you've interacted with them before. How do those check out?

KMarble · March 2022

How about Vastarie in N. Elsweyr? She should give you a different dialog if the character met her before in Grahtwood.

Kesstryl · March 2022

If anyone has actually been able to test any of the above mentions NPCs on new alts (in the face of all the other server issues preventing game play), please post your results in this thread. I might try to test these things on PTS since I haven't yet logged in on live since this update went through, and there are probably no server issues there. PTS is EU right now so any EU players with a lot of achievements would be ideal to make a new char (nothing costs any real money so safe to spend their faux crowns) and go through each of these NPCs. I don't have a EU account so I'm building up everything from scratch and it's taking too long and I work full time. I'll do what I can.

Kesstryl · March 2022

Tarnamir in Russafeld, Summerset (notices if you’re in the Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood)

I tested this on PTS today. I created a Dark Brotherhood character and did the main DB quest. Then I logged into a character who has not done the Dark Brotherhood, who just started the Main Quest and the AD story. I ported her to Summerset and went to Tarnamir. He did indeed acknowledge my non-DB alt as a criminal. So the rumors are true that achievements will mess with quest dialogue. It will take time to test all of them. If others can help, it would be great.

This is a screenshot of the dialogue on my non-DB alt who never set foot in the Gold Coast or Hew's Bane:

Bethgael · March 2022

Iselin wrote: »

There seems t be a lot of misinformation, outright lies and possibly also bugs about how the game reacts to your character after AWA,

Most if not all character choice, completion, etc. reactions and instancing are still character specific.

For example: I only have one character that completed the quest in Murkmire about the frog-powered musical instrument where you broker a deal for them to be exported. This one character and only that character out of my 18 sees an Argonian musician at the beach in Vulkhel Guard playing that instrument. That was the case before and still is after AWA.

Stuga the stalker still stalks any character that has not accepted her quest to talk to the ambassador and doesn't bother those that have.

I have yet to see any interaction, anywhere, treat one of my characters as if they have done something that they haven't.

I have a brand new character in Craglorn. Level 3. Never stepped foot in the old quests or even regions.

He's getting all of the ambient Vestige dialogue, and specific "oh, you saved..." blah blah my pre-AWA alts who hadn't done the Vestige quests did NOT get.

He's also getting "completion" on all WBs and delves, etc my Main did as I discover them.

You're misinformed, I'm afraid. These are tied to player achievement flags, not completion ones on individual characters.

Vrienda · March 2022

Is it possible the PTS is behind live still? Might be an idea to test all this on live where possible.

Danel_Vadan · March 2022

I'm on PS5 and just got this line with a character that hasn't done any of the DB quests but has the full skill line unlocked (bought from the crown store).

This line only comes up if you choose the dialogue option "I'm not a saint".

Adventurer · March 2022

Danel_Vadan wrote: »

I'm on PS5 and just got this line with a character that hasn't done any of the DB quests but has the full skill line unlocked (bought from the crown store).

This line only comes up if you choose the dialogue option "I'm not a saint".

It seems as if you were planning to upload a picture with your post to show what you found, was there meant to be one? If yeah, it's missing.

Adventurer · March 2022

Bethgael wrote: »

You're misinformed, I'm afraid. These are tied to player achievement flags, not completion ones on individual characters.

This is from live, right?

Kesstryl · March 2022

Adventurer wrote: »

Danel_Vadan wrote: »

I'm on PS5 and just got this line with a character that hasn't done any of the DB quests but has the full skill line unlocked (bought from the crown store).

This line only comes up if you choose the dialogue option "I'm not a saint".

It seems as if you were planning to upload a picture with your post to show what you found, was there meant to be one? If yeah, it's missing.

Weird, it was there for me. I did an alternate url from imjur, can you guys see it now?

TPishek · March 2022

Works fine on live for me.

Kesstryl · March 2022

Vrienda wrote: »

Is it possible the PTS is behind live still? Might be an idea to test all this on live where possible.

I agree, but since I never logged in and I'm thinking about deleting all my chars to wipe clean my achievements to carefully curate them from the beginning so I don't get immersion problems, I'm not logging in live. I'm hoping ZOS will fix their game with how AwA is causing these immersion issues so I don't have to resort to the nuclear option. Honestly, the thought of that is exhausting and I'm more likely just going to let my account go into cold storage and pass my guild to someone else through a level 3 alt that has no achievements. If saving the most important thing to me in ESO means deleting all my characters and starting over, including ones that will never have the beginnings they once had (old tutorials now forever gone because of Direnni Island), then it's time to just move on to another MMO. I've played many of them, it won't be hard to pick up where I left off and funnel money I once gave to ZOS to someone else that doesn't shred their game for alt characters like this, including ones that do have their own AwA AND individual character achievements and complete quest logs.

Adventurer · March 2022

Kesstryl wrote: »

Weird, it was there for me. I did an alternate url from imjur, can you guys see it now?

It is, I quoted and meant Daniel Vadan's post. Yours has always been showing up, don't worry!

Unless that is an alternate account of yours?

Kesstryl · March 2022

TPishek wrote: »

Works fine on live for me.

Edit - you chose to not click the "I'm no saint" option. That option should not show up on non-DB/TG alts. This situation has been proven a few posts below.

Adventurer · March 2022

Kesstryl wrote: »

Interesting, why on earth didn't they put that into the patch notes if they did fix this? Why not a peep from @ZOS_GinaBruno Gina or @ZOS_Kevin who can confirm this from the devs, or anyone after all the posts about this issue? Please, keep testing the list. I'll hold off on going nuclear on my account until the next PTS cycle where I can test these things and make sure it's safe to actually log in on live and let those achievements glue themselves all over my account.

Btw achievemnts are only uploaded to the server when you login with a character, or at least that's what I read, so if you create a new character, but don't login with the old ones, you shouldn't have any existing achievements popping up, so as long as you play with new chars, your old achievements with older chars shouldn't show up. Just to make sure, ask or search the topic to be doubly sure.

Edit: Btw Bethgael has some issues with the quests, but since they didn't post if they'ree on PTS, I'm guessing it's most likely on live, so there are still some issues popping up.

Mythgard1967 · March 2022

Why would you nuke all characters? I admittedly do not ascribe to your particular playstyle as to ME; it is rather extreme to be that devoted to pureness of immersion even down to lower level quests; so I admit I might be not comprehending.

But, wouldn't you need to delete all but one character? And let that character be your "main" to live out the story and then never play alt's again? Which is admittedly extreme and sounds not to be enjoyable at all.

I do really admire your ability to keep that level of detail straight on multiple characters (even without AWA). I wish I had that kind of connection to my characters and stories as you do; my memory just doesnt work that way. I read the quests and enjoy them, but they blend together on multiple characters...except for the really memorable ones (like that naked nord guy) or the ones I have done multiple times.

I can understand that if you have the ability to immerse that much and keep it all straight that you would want to preserve it and losing achievements to track could break that.

KMarble · March 2022

Kesstryl wrote: »

Vrienda wrote: »

Is it possible the PTS is behind live still? Might be an idea to test all this on live where possible.

I agree, but since I never logged in and I'm thinking about deleting all my chars to wipe clean my achievements to carefully curate them from the beginning so I don't get immersion problems, I'm not logging in live. I'm hoping ZOS will fix their game with how AwA is causing these immersion issues so I don't have to resort to the nuclear option. Honestly, the thought of that is exhausting and I'm more likely just going to let my account go into cold storage and pass my guild to someone else through a level 3 alt that has no achievements. If saving the most important thing to me in ESO means deleting all my characters and starting over, including ones that will never have the beginnings they once had (old tutorials now forever gone because of Direnni Island), then it's time to just move on to another MMO. I've played many of them, it won't be hard to pick up where I left off and funnel money I once gave to ZOS to someone else that doesn't shred their game for alt characters like this, including ones that do have their own AwA AND individual character achievements and complete quest logs.

If I understood things right, deleting your characters will accomplish very little other that erasing the "earned by" part. Achievements are saved to the server, not your computer, and since most achievements are now tied to account instead of character, you'll lose a lot (motifs, furnishing plans and recipe learnt), but not what you want.

The only way you can start with a clean slate is to create another account.

Ilsabet · March 2022

Lolly is on the case again. Live, PC/NA. Screencaps in spoiler tags because long post is long.

Tarnamir in Russafeld, Summerset (notices if you’re in the Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood)
Verdict: Inconclusive given Lolly's skill line unlock, but can be worked around with available dialogue options.

All of my characters have the Thieves Guild skill line unlocked, because I like my thieves troves. However, Lolly has not done any TG or DB quests, and all related achievements have been earned by my main character. (See guild skill line unlocks and DB achievements here.)

Tarnamir's relevant dialogue pages:

If you choose "I'm no saint."

If you choose "You really think I'm the right person for the job?"

Mel Adrys In Hrota Cave, Gold Coast (notices if you’re a vampire and if you completed certain parts of the AD main quest)
Verdict: Properly omits vampire and/or AD quest dialogue if these do not apply to the character.

Lolly is not a vampire and has not done the AD quest involving Mel.

Lolly's vampire achievements, courtesy of alt Runs-In-Stealth:

Mel's post-quest dialogue page in Hrota Cave, which is where the relevant dialogue options would appear:

Niralin in Archon’s Grove, Summerset (notices if you’re a werewolf)
Verdict: Properly does not address the character as a werewolf if they're not a werewolf.

Lolly is not a werewolf.

Lolly's werewolf achievements, courtesy of alt Remi Sharp-Tooth:

Niralin's dialogue page where she would address a werewolf character as a werewolf:

Gabrielle Benele in Anvil, Gold Coast and Solitude, Western Skyrim (comments on a lost party member from the vanilla main quest)
Verdict: Properly does not mention anything related to the base game main quest if the character has not completed it.

Lolly has not completed the base game main quest, and also has not done any DC quests involving Gabrielle.

Gabrielle's dialogue page in Anvil:

Gabrielle's first dialogue page in Solitude:

Zhasim in Southern Elsweyr (comments if you met him in Wrothgar)
Verdict: Properly does not recognize the character if they have not met him in Wrothgar.

Lolly has not done Zhasim's quest in Wrothgar.

Zhasim's first dialogue page in Southern Elsweyr, where he would recognize his friend from Wrothgar:

Valsirenn in the Deadlands (comments if you met her in Summerset)
Verdict: Properly does not recognize the character if they have not met her in Summerset.

Lolly has not done any main quests in Summerset.

Val's first dialogue page in the Deadlands, where she would recognize a fellow Psijic:

I didn't try to track down Choixth, because I don't think she'll even show up after other character(s) have gotten the achievement, and I spent like three hours trying to trigger her to finish her Summerset conversations on my main before the update and I'm not doing that again.

Danel_Vadan · March 2022

So this was a whole lot of nothing. Good to know.

The Russafeld dialogue is triggered by the skill line: I tested it on PS5 with a character that had DB maxed from Crown Store but 0 DB quests done.

Ilsabet · March 2022

Danel_Vadan wrote: »

The Russafeld dialogue is triggered by the skill line: I tested it on PS5 with a character that had DB maxed from Crown Store but 0 DB quests done.

Okay, good to know. If we wanted to be ultra mega conclusive that the achievements and/or skill line knowledge don't carry over between characters, it should be tested with an alt who doesn't have either skill line unlocked, but... oh actually I might be able to do that on EU, but that can wait until I'm less sleepy. Nevermind I feel like being done with this, so further sleuthing incoming.

Ilsabet · March 2022

Okay this is Molly the Bookworm on PC/EU, live. She is level 4 and has no guild skill lines unlocked. DB and TG achievements provided by EU Ilsabet.

Molly's skill line and achievement stuff:

Tarnamir's dialogue:

Verdict: Achievements do not affect Tarnamir's dialogue, and characters who do not have either TG or DB skill line(s) unlocked will not get the "I'm no saint." dialogue option that leads to him acknowledging membership in those groups.

Probably still worth mentioning that characters with those skill line(s) unlocked still have the option to sidestep the TG/DB dialogue by choosing the other option.

Hee, I just realized that Lolly and Molly rhyme. Also I think Tarnamir is checking out her booty in that first shot.

I am very tired.

Edit: The plot thickens, yo.

Molly snagged herself a thieves trove near the Russafeld Heights wayshrine, which conveniently unlocked the TG skill line.

I had previously ditched Tarnamir's quest, so I went back to talk to him and start it again, expecting the "I'm no saint." dialogue option to be there this time. But...

I'ma let somebody else figure that out. I think my work here is done.

Edited to clarify that this is on live.

Kesstryl · March 2022

KMarble wrote: »

Kesstryl wrote: »

Vrienda wrote: »

Is it possible the PTS is behind live still? Might be an idea to test all this on live where possible.

I agree, but since I never logged in and I'm thinking about deleting all my chars to wipe clean my achievements to carefully curate them from the beginning so I don't get immersion problems, I'm not logging in live. I'm hoping ZOS will fix their game with how AwA is causing these immersion issues so I don't have to resort to the nuclear option. Honestly, the thought of that is exhausting and I'm more likely just going to let my account go into cold storage and pass my guild to someone else through a level 3 alt that has no achievements. If saving the most important thing to me in ESO means deleting all my characters and starting over, including ones that will never have the beginnings they once had (old tutorials now forever gone because of Direnni Island), then it's time to just move on to another MMO. I've played many of them, it won't be hard to pick up where I left off and funnel money I once gave to ZOS to someone else that doesn't shred their game for alt characters like this, including ones that do have their own AwA AND individual character achievements and complete quest logs.

If I understood things right, deleting your characters will accomplish very little other that erasing the "earned by" part. Achievements are saved to the server, not your computer, and since most achievements are now tied to account instead of character, you'll lose a lot (motifs, furnishing plans and recipe learnt), but not what you want.

The only way you can start with a clean slate is to create another account.

People please read what I wrote, I said I HAVE NOT logged in on live yet since this update hit. Right now my achievements have not been moved account side yet. I haven't talked about the "earned by" thing, though that bothers me too, but can be fixed with addons, my beef is the way achievements effect NPC dialogue trees and ambient NPC chatter as your character walks by. I don't even know if I can nix any achievement that won't effect NPCs but I already bombed my DB/TG character when this update hit due to reports like this from PTS.

PTS used the NA server for TWO WEEKS when the bugs were at their worst, then moved to EU where it's stayed ever since. I've had to get achievements on a new PTS account because I don't have one on EU live. It has been slow going to even begin to see how the NPC reports play out and if things were fixed during the PTS cycles because they were never acknowledged or were mentioned in the PTS patches. This is beyond frustrating. I've straight out asked @ZOS_GinaBruno and @ZOS_Kevin several times to get information about the state of NPCs, and for whatever reason, ZOS is choosing to not talk about it at all.

Kesstryl · March 2022

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

Why would you nuke all characters? I admittedly do not ascribe to your particular playstyle as to ME; it is rather extreme to be that devoted to pureness of immersion even down to lower level quests; so I admit I might be not comprehending.

But, wouldn't you need to delete all but one character? And let that character be your "main" to live out the story and then never play alt's again? Which is admittedly extreme and sounds not to be enjoyable at all.

I do really admire your ability to keep that level of detail straight on multiple characters (even without AWA). I wish I had that kind of connection to my characters and stories as you do; my memory just doesnt work that way. I read the quests and enjoy them, but they blend together on multiple characters...except for the really memorable ones (like that naked nord guy) or the ones I have done multiple times.

I can understand that if you have the ability to immerse that much and keep it all straight that you would want to preserve it and losing achievements to track could break that.

We all play differently. Not only do my characters have backstories, and their own epilogues on what they do after they save their own lands, but I chose which content to play through from the game to be the story that belongs to them. I had an RP thing going in my head where when I replay a quest, one character is dreaming about what another character is going through due to their connections in Coldharbor. Yes some people actually use game mechanics to role play mentally through stories. A lot of the dumb responses my characters had to suffer through I role played as snide remarks or simply mentally thought out different response. I don't have a main character. They are all my main characters. They are a cast of characters that I play the game with, no one is more important than another. Even ones I originally created to meta end game with ended up with their own stories and connection to the main cast.

I'm a writer, this is how a writer's brain works. ESO was like a writer's theme park for character and immersion with the voice acting and level of detail this game had. I can't get that in other MMORPGs on this level. Granted ESO isn't perfect and needs to really work on its own writing, I can only get better voice acting and immersion in single player games, and only a very small handful of MMORPGs actually has voice acting, and only one pulls it off similarly to ESO. Plus I love ESO lore. The world building is rich when combined with the single player games. ESO had something special that other MMORPGs didn't have, and ZOS totally ruined it with this update. I hope ZOS realizes how special and unique their game was with immersion and fixes this because this is what made their game stand out in the huge list of MMORPGs out there.

I'm getting mixed responses from people on live, some say NPCs are ok now, some say they are still broken, can more people test the list out and help us? Otherwise those of us who want answers won't get them until the next PTS cycle because ZOS will not say a single word about this or even acknowledge it.

Kesstryl · March 2022

Ilsabet wrote: »

Lolly is on the case again. Live, PC/NA. Screencaps in spoiler tags because long post is long.

Tarnamir in Russafeld, Summerset (notices if you’re in the Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood)

Verdict: Inconclusive given Lolly's skill line unlock, but can be worked around with available dialogue options.

All of my characters have the Thieves Guild skill line unlocked, because I like my thieves troves. However, Lolly has not done any TG or DB quests, and all related achievements have been earned by my main character. (See guild skill line unlocks and DB achievements here.)

Tarnamir's relevant dialogue pages:

If you choose "I'm no saint."

If you choose "You really think I'm the right person for the job?"

Mel Adrys In Hrota Cave, Gold Coast (notices if you’re a vampire and if you completed certain parts of the AD main quest)

Verdict: Properly omits vampire and/or AD quest dialogue if these do not apply to the character.

Lolly is not a vampire and has not done the AD quest involving Mel.

Lolly's vampire achievements, courtesy of alt Runs-In-Stealth:

Mel's post-quest dialogue page in Hrota Cave, which is where the relevant dialogue options would appear:

Niralin in Archon’s Grove, Summerset (notices if you’re a werewolf)

Verdict: Properly does not address the character as a werewolf if they're not a werewolf.

Lolly is not a werewolf.

Lolly's werewolf achievements, courtesy of alt Remi Sharp-Tooth:

Niralin's dialogue page where she would address a werewolf character as a werewolf:

Gabrielle Benele in Anvil, Gold Coast and Solitude, Western Skyrim (comments on a lost party member from the vanilla main quest)

Verdict: Properly does not mention anything related to the base game main quest if the character has not completed it.

Lolly has not completed the base game main quest, and also has not done any DC quests involving Gabrielle.

Gabrielle's dialogue page in Anvil:

Gabrielle's first dialogue page in Solitude:

Zhasim in Southern Elsweyr (comments if you met him in Wrothgar)

Verdict: Properly does not recognize the character if they have not met him in Wrothgar.

Lolly has not done Zhasim's quest in Wrothgar.

Zhasim's first dialogue page in Southern Elsweyr, where he would recognize his friend from Wrothgar:

Valsirenn in the Deadlands (comments if you met her in Summerset)

Verdict: Properly does not recognize the character if they have not met her in Summerset.

Lolly has not done any main quests in Summerset.

Val's first dialogue page in the Deadlands, where she would recognize a fellow Psijic:

I didn't try to track down Choixth, because I don't think she'll even show up after other character(s) have gotten the achievement, and I spent like three hours trying to trigger her to finish her Summerset conversations on my main before the update and I'm not doing that again.

Thank you SO very much for looking into this! You cannot even begin to imagine how much I'm thanking you right now!

Kesstryl · March 2022

Ilsabet wrote: »

Okay this is Molly the Bookworm on PC/EU. She is level 4 and has no guild skill lines unlocked. DB and TG achievements provided by EU Ilsabet.

Molly's skill line and achievement stuff:

Tarnamir's dialogue:

Verdict: Achievements do not affect Tarnamir's dialogue, and characters who do not have either TG or DB skill line(s) unlocked will not get the "I'm no saint." dialogue option that leads to him acknowledging membership in those groups.

Probably still worth mentioning that characters with those skill line(s) unlocked still have the option to sidestep the TG/DB dialogue by choosing the other option.

Hee, I just realized that Lolly and Molly rhyme. Also I think Tarnamir is checking out her booty in that first shot.

I am very tired.

Edit: The plot thickens, yo.

Molly snagged herself a thieves trove near the Russafeld Heights wayshrine, which conveniently unlocked the TG skill line.

I had previously ditched Tarnamir's quest, so I went back to talk to him and start it again, expecting the "I'm no saint." dialogue option to be there this time. But...

I'ma let somebody else figure that out. I think my work here is done.

Achievements do affect getting whether the "I'm no saint" option shows up or not, you proved that on your live Lolly, and your PTS Lolly. The option showed up on your live Lolly, but not your PTS Lolly. I don't think opening the skill line achievement effects it, I think it's the achievements associated with joining those guilds that trigger this dialogue option. I only tested the Dark Brotherhood one on PTS, and specifically only did their main quest and none of the dailies. My non-DB alt who never even stepped into the Gold Coast got the "I'm no Saint" option. That needs to be decoupled from achievements and moved to whether the individual character has completed the quests to join those guilds or not.

dzugarueb17_ESO · March 2022

Can't decide if I want to be glad the players are doing it, or to be sad the players and not ZOS are doing it.

Arunei · March 2022

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Kesstryl wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

nickl413 wrote: »

All because some people wanted access to titles and furniture they unlocked on an alt. But ZOS had to go the extra mile and make it a big part of an update. Nobody asked for what we got.

...what has furniture to do with this? Furniture are not achievements.

He's talking about achievement furniture.

VindictiveRidge wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

nickl413 wrote: »

All because some people wanted access to titles and furniture they unlocked on an alt. But ZOS had to go the extra mile and make it a big part of an update. Nobody asked for what we got.

...what has furniture to do with this? Furniture are not achievements.

You may recall that there are "Achievement Funishers" in each zone. You can only purchase their special furniture items if you have earned the associated achievements.

But achievment furniture aren't bound to a character... You buy them and put them in a house then any character can move them. I know no one and have seen no one who does housing say they wanted AwA for furniture reasons.

I didn't see if anyone else mentioned this, but I just wanted to point out achievement furniture can only be purchased on characters that have the associated achievement. It's not about not being able to move it once it's placed, it about buying it in the first place. Furniture that's tied to achievements that are account-wide now can be purchased by any character rather than the specific character(s) who earned them. Furniture from achievements that are still character-bound can still only be purchased by any character(s) who've earned them.