achievements-guide
Latest
The OverAchiever: Got 100,000+ gold handy?
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, if you're not the 99% already, you will be soon. Perhaps today's title is a bit misleading, so allow me to get to the point: These are all really frakking expensive achievements. We talked about this two years ago in OverAchiever: Straight to the poorhouse, and everything on that list is still valid with the exception of Dual Talent Specialization (once 1,000 gold and now 10). Back then, my criterion for what constituted an expensive achievement was anything that cost 1,000 gold or more. These days, there are even more ways to empty your wallet in pursuit of points, but I have to wonder: Is 1,000 gold a lot these days? It's still a lot of gold, but is it a lot of gold? That's up to you. I think it's just enough for most players to consider something a serious, if not necessarily crippling, purchase. But don't worry: If you're looking for crippling purchases, I've got those here too. This list won't necessarily cover every expensive pursuit in the game for the simple reason that not all of them are achievements, but if you've been sitting on a pile of gold wondering what to do with it, why not go get yourself some extra points? Who doesn't love suddenly finding themselves bereft of funds?
WoW's 18 easiest achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the phrase "low-hanging fruit" comes to mind. While I collect suggestions for our next article on evil achievements, I thought it might be amusing to turn toward achievements that are considerably easier to get. The 17 achievements (and one Feat of Strength) in today's column are all things that you can do without any real preparation. I'm going to ignore the super-obvious picks (Shave and a Haircut, anyone? You don't need me to tell you about that) and head straight for the more esoteric stuff. I'm also going to bypass extremely expensive achievements that, while quick, will bankrupt the average player, so nothing like Grand Ice Mammoth. (Looks like I need to update OverAchiever: Straight to the poorhouse, come to think of it.) I briefly considered including achievements that you can only get at the end of a long quest chain or reputation grind but canned that idea too. For example, Skyshattered is relatively easy these days with a 410% mount and a little practice, but you'll only be able to access it after a quest grind, so nuts to that. I also eliminated You'll Feel Right As Rain, Critter Gitter, and Fungal Frenzy for that reason. They're all easy, but you can't just toddle off to get them unless you've already put some work in. These are all achievements that the average player -- assuming a friend or two, a tiny bit of luck, and a little time -- can just run out and get whenever he or she wants.
The OverAchiever: Help update our list of evil achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the abyss stares back. Almost two years ago, I wrote a series of articles for OverAchiever that turned out to be one of the most popular themes the column's ever visited: evil achievements. It turns out that a lot of folks care deeply about achievements that have been -- allow me to quote myself -- "milked from the angry teat of Satan himself." Now, it has to be said that all achievements are technically optional. No one is forcing you to do anything, why do you play this game anyway if you aren't having fun, yadda yadda ... all true. But I assume you're reading The OverAchiever because you really like achievements and you think they add something to the game. (Either that, or you're just reading because you're bored, but that's fine too.) Personally, I don't think players really mind difficult achievements or even achievements that they have to peck away at over an extended period of time. But there's a line between an achievement that is genuinely difficult on its own merits and one that makes you privately think the developers want you dead. So with that in mind, how would we reconstruct a list of evil achievements in 2012 during the Cataclysm era? You can find the original series here if you're interested in a trip down Memory Lane, although I'll give you a quick rundown on them past the cut: Evil Achievements: Spotlight on Justicar/Conqueror, The Immortal, and Accomplished Angler Evil Achievements: The 25 most evil achievements, #25-16 Evil Achievements: The 25 most evil achievements, #15-6 Evil Achievements: The 25 most evil achievements, #5-1
The OverAchiever: Guide to Love is in the Air 2012
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we discover that love is not free. Hot on the heels of the Lunar Festival comes another WoW holiday! Love is in the Air returns this year from Sunday, Feb. 5 through Sunday, Feb. 19. Personally, I can't see too many players logging into the game on Super Bowl Sunday for the purpose of celebrating love and all its many-splendored things, but to each his own. After many tweaks to the holiday, it's definitely one of the less annoying and RNG-riddled outings from the What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been meta. Before you ask -- yep, it's required if you're still on the warpath for your Violet Proto-Drake. The finished holiday meta will also reward the title the Love Fool. If you're completely new to Love Is In the Air, you'll probably want to read our FAQ on the holiday. Otherwise, we'll be dealing with the holiday achievements here. There are only two optional ones if you're going for the meta, so I've listed all the ones you'll need first.
The OverAchiever: The worst (maybe) holiday achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, some holidays are easier to survive than others. I've been getting a lot of comments and feedback from players recently over troublesome elder placement during the Lunar Festival (the one next to the Razor Hill flightmaster seems to be a particular issue -- more on this in a future article), and it spurred me to start thinking about problematic holiday achievements as a whole. Thing is, Blizzard's really put a lot of effort into its holidays over the past few years, and most of them are much less time-consuming and frustrating then they used to be. So how many really troublesome holiday achievements are there these days, anyhow? Most of them didn't figure prominently in our evil achievements series (with one sterling exception), but I'll grant that not all of them are sunshine and roses. But then of course, there's that one. Yes, that one -- the achievement shat into existence by Satan himself onto a bed of Ed Hardy clothing with bad Japanese pop music playing in the background. You know the one I'm talking about.
The man who gave away 1,000,000 gold
Since the launch of patch 4.3, transmogrification has been big business for players on the Auction House. But it's a hard market to get a logical handle on, like building an empire on selling classic oil paintings or finely aged wines. How do you know what a piece of gear is worth based on looks alone? How can you make money by dealing, essentially, in random world drops? Instead of muddling through the topic myself, I decided it would be smarter to go straight to the expert. No one knows more about making money in the transmogrification market than Keelhaul of Proudmoore (US) -- or as he's affectionately known around the internet, the Mogfather. His goal was simple: Prove that the transmogrification gear market was profitable. Forty-five days and 1 million gold later, it's safe to say his point has been successfully proven. But if you think banking a million gold in 45 days is remarkable, wait until you hear what he did next: He gave it all away.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2012 achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we burn through a lot of shoe leather. The Lunar Festival is one of WoW's more fun and forgiving holidays, and this year it runs from Sunday, Jan. 22 until Sunday, Feb. 12. That's right, folks; you've got three weeks to get everything done, which is definitely a good thing if you're new to the holiday and unfamiliar with the amount of travel time it requires. The basics of the holiday involve talking to a number of elders to honor them, receiving Coins of Ancestry in return, and then using the coins to purchase holiday items. The To Honor One's Elders meta-achievement is also a requirement for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so if you're still after a Violet Proto-Drake, make sure you get this done. The Lunar Festival is definitely not one of Azeroth's more difficult holidays, but it's time-consuming if you're starting from scratch due to the number of NPCs you'll need to hunt down. However, it's also a good time to do World Explorer and Surveying the Damage for just that reason.
The 7 best suggestions for improving archaeology
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we are still searching for the Crawling Claw. Wow. OK, a lot of people care about archaeology, or at least about improving archaeology. Last week's OverAchiever, How archaeology could get a lot worse (and why we hope it won't), spurred a ton of discussion and was kindly linked on the forums as well. Players wrote in with a lot of their own suggestions, criticisms, and comments, and a lot of them were so good that I honestly felt that WoW's most widely despised profession probably merited another look with those in mind.
The OverAchiever: How archaeology could get a lot worse (and why we hope it won't)
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we are really, really pissed off that we can't get the Crawling Claw. There are two kinds of people in WoW: people who hate archaeology, and people who really hate archaeology. While it seemed like it was one of the more promising additions to Cataclysm, archaeology just hasn't worked out as well as everyone had hoped. Even the most dedicated lore nerds are guaranteed to wilt in the face of the game's most relentless RNG. Whatever, right? Some experiments work, some don't, and it's ultimately more important that Blizzard's willing to take these risks in the first place. But ever since Mists of Pandaria was announced, I've been worrying more about archaeology's future. As Ghostcrawler once observed, archaeology was designed to be easy to add to, and it's reasonable to expect new races and new items to appear in the future. However, unless something fundamental about its design changes between now and Mists, it's the only profession guaranteed to become an absolute hell as it expands. Why? Because archaeology suffers from two problems: It's too random, and it's not random enough.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Winter Veil 2011
Winter Veil 2011 runs from Thursday, Dec. 15 through Monday, Jan. 2 this year. As with most of the WoW holidays, the Merrymaker meta is required for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. Those of you who are still on the lookout for your Violet Proto-Drakes (and free 310% flying) will want to keep an eye out for any achievements you still need. Even if you don't want or don't need any achievements this year, Winter Veil will also give you the opportunity to turn your mount into a reindeer, become a snowman with a unique dance animation, and get noncombat pets and unique holiday items. Interestingly, it looks like the Winter Veil pets no longer require snowballs to summon, which is cool, although they're not going to stick around if the holiday's not on. Seriously, go try pulling out your Father Winter's Helper and see what it does. I'll wait. There's also a new pet as of 2011 and a sorta-new (well, not really) holiday boss. As always, I'll be up as the holiday goes live to make necessary additions or corrections to the guide.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Pilgrim's Bounty 2011
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we're too full to move. For all you dedicated achievement hunters out there, Pilgrim's Bounty is not part of the year-long meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, but that's not to say that the holiday's without its share of charms. While the Pilgrim meta will grant both the Pilgrim title and the plump turkey pet, the holiday has an absolutely unbeatable side benefit -- it's the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to level cooking to 350. Pilgrim's Bounty is tailor-made for players who want to level cooking on a bunch of alts or anyone who never got around to doing it on his or her main. We haven't seen any new information emerge on Pilgrim's Bounty over the past year, so the holiday probably hasn't changed much from its 2009 and 2010 incarnations. As always, I'll be around as the holiday goes live to update or clarify any portion of this guide. This year, Pilgrim's Bounty runs from Sunday, Nov. 20 through Saturday, Nov. 26.
The OverAchiever: Continuing Littlest Pet Shop
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, nothing will drop for us. This week we return with the second installment of our guide to Littlest Pet Shop. I apologize, folks -- turns out this'll require one more after this. We're going to use today to tackle all of the game's dropped, Argent Tournament, and profession-related pets, so I can give you a choice between grinding your guts off or spending yourself into the poorhouse. Fun! As always, WarcraftPets.com is your best friend here.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Hallow's End 2011
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, that sweet, sweet sugar rush. Hallow's End 2011 begins on Tuesday, Oct. 18 and runs through Monday, Oct. 31 this year. For all those of you still working toward the yearlong meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been that grants the Violet Proto-Drake, Hallow's End is one of the required holidays. Completing the required Hallow's End achievements will also award the title the Hallowed. Over the past year, we've seen some new things pop up for the holiday's 2011 incarnation on both the patch 4.1 and 4.2 PTRs. While we're not 100% sure of how the former will show up within the game or what's going on with the possible new holiday currency, we've got a few guesses. I'll be around as the holiday goes live to clarify and update today's guide, but I expect the new stuff will be pretty straightforward. As with our guide to Brewfest, I've arranged the holiday's achievement in the rough order they should be completed, noting which achievements are required for the meta and which aren't. Update on Tuesday, Oct. 18: The holiday has gone live on all realms now, and I've started to update how the new changes affect achievements. Please bear with us!
The OverAchiever: Littlest Pet Shop
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the bear wants her balloon. The Littlest Pet Shop option was the clear favorite among the choices given in a recent OverAchiever. While we've previously run a guide to Lil' Game Hunter (the 75-pet achievement), we haven't otherwise revisited the topic of noncombat pets in ... wow, more than two years. Suffice it to say that a lot's changed since then. For one, we get balloons now, which is Blizzard's most inspired addition to the stable of in-game pets and something that nearly caused me to wet myself when I first zoned into a heroic with an undead warrior tank running around with a balloon. The sheer incongruity of the game's skulls-a-plenty armor sets combined with a happy little balloon is still something that alternately horrifies and amuses me. When you stop to think about it, there's something a little twisted in going about the daily WoW routine of mass slaughter and mayhem with a balloon bobbing alongside you, but what the hell. Show me another MMORPG where you can have a balloon and annihilate existential threats to the universe. You can't accuse Blizzard of not covering the bases. If you're a hardcore pet collector, I could probably condense this entire guide down to "bookmark WarcraftPets.com and just keep consulting it," but I suspect we can make this column a wee bit more helpful than that. Even if you're not a pet collector, there's one quested pet in here that I highly advise you not to miss.
The OverAchiever: Examining patch 4.3's new achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, all hell breaks loose. Hey folks. The Littlest Pet Shop option was the most popular choice in last week's The OverAchiever: Wrapping up Mountain O' Mounts, but that was before all manner of patch 4.3 goodness was datamined on Tuesday night. I spent the subsequent 24 hours in a caffeine-fueled haze running three characters around the PTR investigating the new achievements for you. I bring tidings of great, albeit currently bugged, joy to you all.
The OverAchiever: Wrapping up Mountain O' Mounts
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we find ourselves gleefully counting the inhabitants of our private stables. Greetings, folks. After last week's tour through the 2011 Brewfest, we're going to wrap up our Mountain O' Mounts series today with a few ill-tempered complaints from WoW Insider's resident cheapskate, and then turn to ... well, that part's up to you. I have a lot of different OverAchievers I would like to do, but no particular preference as to which we'll do next. There are several popular series and guides from Wrath of the Lich King that I would like to update -- among others, I'm interested in revisiting evil achievements, entertaining achievements, tabards, and feats of strength -- but we still haven't done Molten Front achievements, and I've been getting a lot of requests to do a Littlest Pet Shop guide since that was added to the game. In the grand tradition of lazy writers everywhere, I'm going to let you pick! %Poll-69243%
Breakfast Topic: What are your plans for Brewfest?
Brewfest 2011 is finally here! It's a magical in-game holiday dedicated to the fine art of getting drunk. There are achievements to be had, special holiday mounts, and Coren Direbrew, a holiday boss with a new-for-2011 loot table filled with i365 trinkets. Better yet, it's an excuse to drink pint after pint after pint! So what if it's not noon yet? It's a holiday -- get off my back. Brewfest 2011 runs from today until Oct. 5, so you have a lot of time to enjoy all the holiday has to offer. (For more on Brewfest, check out Alison's Guide to Brewfest 2011.) What are you planning on getting done in the next two weeks? Are you heading in to Blackrock Depths to take on Direbrew? Or is this just another boring, skippable in-game holiday? Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.
Breakfast Topic: Do you participate in Pirates' Day?
Today marks the start (and end!) of one of World of Warcraft's most fleeting in-game holidays, Pirates' Day. It's Blizzard's way of honoring International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a "holiday" celebrated almost exclusively by people who like pictures of cats with misspelled words on them. Are you going to Booty Bay today, even though participating in the holiday isn't required for the What A Long Strange Trip It's Been meta-achievement? (Achievement point junkies can still score 10 points by traveling to Booty Bay and talking to Dread Captain DeMeza.) And do you actually like the holiday, or do you wish it would make like a tree and get outta here? Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Brewfest 2011 achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we get a little drunk, or maybe a lot. It's that time of year again, folks: time to get smashed with no lasting social repercussions! This year, Brewfest runs from Tuesday, Sept. 20 to Wednesday, Oct. 5 (check your in-game calendar for your server's exact start and end times), and drunken frivolity is the name of the game. The Brewfest meta Brewmaster is required for the year-long What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so you'll want to get this done if you're working toward a Violet Proto-Drake (and thus free 310% flight). As with the 2010 version of this guide, I've organized the holiday's achievements in the rough order I feel they should be completed, as one is dependent on having some help from other folks around your server. As with most holidays, there's high participation at the start, which dwindles as folks get their drops and complete achievements, so I prioritize getting Down With The Dark Iron done as quickly as possible. Once that's out of the way, Brewfest achievements aren't generally difficult, though they'll require a little elbow grease if you're starting from scratch. I've included all of the achievements attached to the holiday, but you'll only need six for the meta, and they've been marked as such. As always, I'll be around when the holiday goes live to see if there are any unannounced changes. We don't anticipate any major differences to Brewfest this year, but the holiday boss, Coren Direbrew, does have an updated loot table with ilevel 365 drops.
The OverAchiever: Reconsidering achievements and raids
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we engage in a miniature retrospective. Two weeks ago, we published The OverAchiever: Why Icecrown was less fun than Sunwell. It's definitely become one of the more controversial OA topics I've written about and attracted a lot of discussion, neither of which I had really anticipated. Some people agreed with me, some didn't -- but either way, the comment thread is a very interesting read. While I hadn't been intending to revisit the topic so soon, I lost internet access after Hurricane Irene strolled through my area and had an extra week to mull over the points people had raised. The conclusion (perhaps erroneous) I've reached is that, if anything, the issue is more complicated than we all guessed, as the normal/achievement/heroic split may also point to a deeper systemic problem with the 10-man and 25-man model, too.
