There is no happy medium (it’s impossible to keep everyone happy) but there is a compromise solution that involves some sacrifices. Simply, CZ chose the wrong solution in the first place, and to implement/impose a better solution, some players are going to lose the exclusivity of some of their rewards. Forumwarz is the only game I know where achievements are awarded this way.

In some variation of what’s proposed, the existing leaderboard holders would keep their rewards, and their #1 spot, and some other players who have been going for those rewards for a long time would recieve them. They deserve them for sticking with this game.

This game needs achievable rewards (not just solo rewards but klan rewards) for the majority of players to stick around, so it’s in the interests of CZ to introduce those rewards. If they don’t, they fail as game designers (another word for a game without rewards is ‘screensaver’ )

So far the only reason for keeping the status quo is to allow leaderboard griefing, which is not a good enough reason for CZ to lose customers at the rate they have been doing all the time I’ve been here.