I think we could do with more achievements sought actively, which are not long term instead they should be reasonable, and which have useful rewards that in themselves would make you seek after these achievements. This could include:

1. Defeat one of every monster type in the world (and at the same time compile your own bestiary/widget) (or even increase this to defeat 100/500/1000 of each monster type in the world) (with useful rewards such as increased attack or defence against that monster type toggable by equipping an achievement title)

2. Defeat NM and if it drops its item then you get the achievement (this could tie into player housing later on, letting people have a stuffed head/carcas of an NM for their home lol)

3. Synthesize one of every item/recipe from 1-50 for your craft (and at the same time compile your own recipe book/widget)

4. Discover all items obtainable by gathering per area (and at the same time you would fill in a gathering index/widget) (quite easy, so lets bump that up to gather 100/200/etc of each item) (it would be similar to the current gathering achievements, but when broken down into these smaller chunks it doesnt have that "oh god..." feeling)