To add another example, Everquest has the Alternate Advancement system.

Thing is - at some point it becomes *necessary* and not optional to have gotten such advancement done. Even if it is 100,000,000 exp for a bonus point of Direct Hit, Critical Hit, or Determination (you pick!) eventually you will find that you need to have gotten so many additional points or be rejected, possibly even ostracized, for certain duties.

It works in some games, particularly ones that do not offer level increases each expansion. They are basically just another form of character power increase, but with the ilevel increases with patches, and the character level increases every expansion, this game does not need them.