TF2 had some nice achievements back in the day. Some real challenging things that made you feel badass when you did it.
"Fuck yes I just cut down three dudes in a row with my melee weapon while they were shooting at me I am a god and the game recognizes my awesomeness."
"Hell yes I just splattered like a million people on the walls I am MVP forever."
"I... guess I just shot a bunch of bombs?"
And yeah the preference of these over the guaranteed ones mentioned above is obvious, so I'll leave that alone.
Ain't nothing wrong with collection. Pretty much every platformer ever had it and did well with it. Metroid, Jack and Daxter, Zelda, Mario and what have you. But I'll agree that there is a bit of a quirk to those games and their collection. All the items you collect make you stronger in some way, whether small boosts in your holding capacity or health or slightly better equipment, there was a meaning behind the jingle of getting something. That is perhaps the saving grace of achievements, they need to have some meaning behind it.
Although Jack and Daxter was an odd one. You needed to collect orbs that didn't empower you in any way to advance the plot at some parts, which normally is a no-no. But it worked just fine. I had fun looking for them and getting 101% completion in the game. This subject requires further investigation.