I'd like to chime in to say that I
loathe GoIO's achievement system. It's actually
worse than most achievement systems, which already occasionally cause sub-optimal playing. However, it's generally a rare thing to see in other games. But here, it seems to be every fourth random crew member I get is on what I've affectionately dubbed a "wrench quest."
An engineer with a mallet and pipe wrench. A gunner with an extinguisher. A crew member joining as a Pilot to get multi-classing achievements. These are not only sub-optimal,
they cost games. It's got to be one of the most destructive achievement systems I've ever seen and I truly wish it never saw the light of day.
I'm a strong opponent of any achievement system because the above is almost inevitable. However, a lot of people like the grind and sense of progress. So at the end of the day, it depends on whether or not you want a larger playerbase or more solid gameplay. It's definitely more profitable not to care about the grognardy types such as myself, after all.
I know Muse wants to see its playerbase experiment and have fun with their game, but honestly the lengths to which this is taken are unsettling, and always have been. From the way they withhold balance-relevant data to the achievement system, I think there are things that could be done a lot better.