I actually think they make more sense being per account. The idea of achievements is a meta-gaming thing. Your character in-game (from a role-playing standpoint) is unaware of achievement points as we understand them.

In any case, I was not really asking for a critique on my choice to play several characters. Remember, the game was quite a different animal in the old days and many people had multiple characters just for inventory purposes alone. I chose to divide my characters mainly because of the levequest system, which isn't as big an issue today as it was in the past.

All that being set aside, SE provides the option to play multiple characters on a single account. Since they provide option for this, from a service standpoint they should accommodate those players who choose to follow this option.

Without turning blindly argumentative, do you think there really is a good reason not to combine achievements across all characters? You don't even have to count the same achievement twice if you have multiple characters with that achievement unlocked, nor must you give special items to every character. Just let the player choose which character for which that piece gets unlocked.

I believe that allowing achievements to be unlocked across your account is more in line with the spirit of the achievement system.

Anyone else want to weigh in?