The OverAchiever: Which feats of strength can you still get?
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the impossible is fun and constructive.
For a set of achievements that tend to be insanely difficult and reward no points, Feats of Strength are still a pretty compelling bunch. In a way, they could be described as a character's history, because they're usually about stuff that you can't do within the game anymore. Owning one of the classic game's original 100% mounts, old PvP mounts like the Vengeful Nether Drake, or 1,000 Stone Keeper's Shards are all signs that your character's been around the block a few times. However, there are still a few -- a very few! -- feats of strength that you can get right now.
I visited this subject in 2009, and a lot's changed since then. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the feats described in that article are no longer attainable (bye-bye, Swift Zulian Tiger!), but a few more have been added.
Fair warning: Most of the Feats of Strength that you can add to a character's collection are either RNG-dependent or grind-intensive to get, and a few featured in our 25 most evil achievements series.
Gone, baby, gone
I was curious to see how many of the feats described in our 2009 article are no longer attainable. Here's a quick list:
Timear Foresees and Proof of Demise We had some advance warning that these would disappear as Wrath of the Lich King ended, and most players were able to get the Northrend daily dungeon achievements done well before that point, even on alts.
Swift Razzashi Raptor and Swift Zulian Tiger With the disappearance of the original 20-man raid version of Zul'Gurub, the classic raptor and tiger mounts went the way of the dodo too. The modern equivalents are the Armored Razzashi Raptor and the Swift Zulian Panther.
Class-specific mounts The Charger, Dreadsteed of Xoroth, and Swift Flight Form feats are no longer obtainable, with the removal of their associated quest lines. Honestly, this is a huge loss for the classes in question. I can't speak to the paladin or warlock equivalents, but the Swift Flight Form quests for druids were amazing.
A Tribute to Immortality While you can make a pretty compelling argument that having a raid full of people with 150K+ health pools makes Anub'arak a lot harder due to the Leeching Swarm mechanic, there's no denying that it's a huge advantage for surviving the rest of the raid.
Onyxia's Lair (Level 60) I have to confess -- I have no idea whether Blizzard ever fixed the bug where you could get this achievement by looting a tier 2 helm off the original version of Nefarian in Blackwing Lair. Anyone out there know? If they haven't fixed this, you can still schlep an alt to BWL and get credit for a level 60 Onyxia kill.
Friends In High Places The Zhevra mount is no longer attainable, and the closest equivalent is the Quel'dorei Steed from the Argent Tournament for Alliance players. These days, you'll be given the X-53 Touring Rocket as part of the Recruit-A-Friend program, which is the subject of its own feat.
Previous anniversary achievements This goes without saying. If you're not around in a given year for an anniversary celebration, your characters won't have the associated feats.
So what's left?
Of the remaining feats, most are divisible into a few distinct categories. The largest of those is easily the mounts.
Mounts that are exceptionally difficult to get tend to feature heavily among feats of strength. A few of them are also rare drops within the Satchel of Exotic Mysteries given to players performing an under-served role in the Dungeon Finder.
A Brew-FAST Mount Of the mounts here, these are probably the easiest to get, although they're only available during Brewfest. The Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest you receive for killing Coren Direbrew once a day has a chance to drop both the Swift Brewfest Ram and the Great Brewfest Kodo.
And I'll Form the Head! The no-Keeper 25-man Yogg (also the subject of the achievement Alone in the Darkness) was once one of the game's most thoroughly murderous encounters. When Ulduar debuted, it took the world's best guilds the better part of four months to get this nightmare of a fight done.
Ashes of Al'ar Kill Kael'thas. Phoenix drops. Roll on it against everyone else there, because that's why they came too. Lose roll. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Go crazy. Actually, this is a little unfair. Because so many classes can either solo, duo, or trio the encounter now, you're statistically more likely to go crazy from never seeing the bird drop in the first place than you are from seeing it constantly and simply losing the roll each time.
Big Love Rocket It's large, pink, and sits between your legs, and inconveniently enough, never seems to drop. The mount's not that bad, either. This has a very small chance to appear within the Heart-Shaped Box you get for killing the Crown Chemical Company apothecaries once a day during Love Is In the Air, but it's so rare that it's actually difficult to estimate just how bad the drop rate really is. Wowhead lists it as 0.03%.
Deathcharger's Reins Upgraded from a 0.01% to a 1% drop rate, much to the ire of the few (very, very few) players who'd gotten it previously.
Fiery Warhorse's Reins The first boss in Kara, Attumen the Huntsman, theoretically drops this bad boy, but you couldn't prove it by me. As an aside, it spawned what I still think is one of the single greatest Wowhead comments ever written concerning a mount (or anything else for that matter).
Grand Black War Mammoth This mount and how frequently it was ninja'd off the Vault of Archavon and Baradin Hold bosses from whom it drops was -- no joke -- the single most common complaint we got through the tip line for pretty much the length of Wrath.
Invincible's Reins Kill 25-man heroic Arthas, pray for drop, take horse. However, this isn't soloable or duoable the way that Kael'thas is right now, so plan on rolling for said horse against everyone else in the raid.
Reins of the Raven Lord Now that the Essence-Infused Moonstone is no longer required to summon Anzu, anyone can stroll into heroic Sethekk Hall and kill him for a shot at the mount. You don't even need reputation with Lower City for a key anymore.
Swift White Hawkstrider This is the mount that the other Kael'thas drops in Magisters' Terrace. As far as I know, it's also the only hawkstrider to which the Alliance has access, although the Strider mounts share their animations (as do the crane mounts in Mists of Pandaria, at least presently).
The Horseman's Reins A potential drop from the Loot-Filled Pumpkin you get for killing the Headless Horseman once a day during Hallow's End. Like the Big Love Rocket and Invincible, this can be either a ground or flying mount, depending on location and training.
Venomhide Ravasaur (Horde) or Winterspring Frostsaber (Alliance) The Frostsaber was once the subject of an absolutely soul-killing grind for the Alliance, while the Horde had no equivalent to it at all. These days, both are obtainable after lengthy, albeit fun, quest chains.
Horrible grinds
As advertised. Actually, two of the feats here could theoretically be nailed in a single flight over Uldum or a single trash pull in the Temple of Anh'Qiraj, but neither is likely to happen.
Avast Ye, Admiral! You can make a case that this is one of the slightly less horrible grinds, but it's still not something you exactly do for fun. The saving grace of the Bloodsail grind is that you can't actually reach exalted with the pirates. Honored's the best you'll do, which is why this is a lot faster to do than, say, Timbermaw or Ravenholdt.
Hero of Shattrath This was a well-deserved entry in our evil achievements series. Imagine, if you will, starting the Bloodsail grind from 36,000/36,000 hated and then having to grind your way to exalted with a series of drops rather than mob kills. Done now? Congratulations! Now turn around and do it for the other faction -- which, incidentally, now hates your guts.
Insane in the Membrane This is a lot easier than it used to be. Between Shen'dralar rep's being taken out of the game and the relative ease of getting Darkmoon Faire reputation these days, "Insane" isn't quite so insane anymore. However, it's still no walk in the park. Remind me to update our guide on how to get this. Oh, dear God, it's three years old.
Scourer of the Eternal Sands I debated about simply slotting this under the Mount category above, but the truth is, this is more accurately described as a grind. Here's how to get the gray camel and the Camel Hoarder title, if you're not familiar with it.
Why? Because It's Red This, too, is a mount that's usually the subject of a horrible grind. The blue, yellow, and green qiraji mounts are as common as dirt in AQ-40, but the red one's extremely rare. I once got two of these to drop for me in a single run and gave them to two guildies who shortly afterwards skipped realms. Do I have one? Nope. Am I still kicking myself over this? Yep.
Legendary weapons
Oh, legendaries. You completely destroy class balance for each tier in which you're relevant -- and yet, oh, how you tug at the heart.
Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest Also known as the bane of melee DPSers everywhere.
Fangs of the Father The most recent legendary and the subject of an ass-kicking quest chain for rogues that I greatly envy.
Shadowmourne Obtainable after a quest chain and lengthy number of mob kills within Icecrown Citadel.
Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros The game's earliest legendary.
Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury A random drop off Kil'jaeden in Sunwell Plateau. Once given to a rogue over two hunters, and BOOM went the forums!
Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker This was almost inarguably the legendary that had the most life in it. Multi-mob aggro for warrior tanks during The Burning Crusade was so weak that a lot of warriors took Thunderfury out of mothballs simply for the jumping nature damage proc. (Not that anyone minded the attack speed debuff, either.) In the video above, you'll see both Kungen -- the main tank of Nihilum, better known these days as Ensidia -- and Zucchero, an off tank, still using a Thunderfury on Magtheridon, the final raid fight of tier 4.
Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings Or, "How to keep tanks alive versus heroic Arthas, or heroic anything else, except Gunship. LOL Gunship."
Warglaives of Azzinoth Both are a random drop off Illidan in Black Temple, and there's nothing to prevent the same side from dropping multiple times, leaving you without a complete set. As an aside, the bonus to damage versus demons was so insane that any guild rocking a set of Warglaives (or, better yet, multiples) had a much easier time getting past Brutallus, the main gear check of Sunwell.
Miscellaneous
These didn't slot anywhere else. For the sake of accuracy, the first one here actually isn't obtainable, but we're not actually sure why it isn't.
Bloom and Doom This one's a special case that I've listed only because it should theoretically be available, but for some reason, still isn't. Brazie used to offer a daily quest on the Cataclysm beta that made it possible to get both this and Don't Want No Zombies On My Lawn, but for some reason it disappeared. While this is just a guess, there may be some bug related to the minigame that Blizzard hasn't successfully squashed yet. I'm still hoping that this will eventually become available again.
Collector's Editions It's still technically possible to gets feats of strength like Collector's Edition: Netherwhelp if you find and purchase older collector's edition of the games. However, you will probably pay dearly for the privilege.
Friends in Even Higher Places The X-53 Touring Rocket is the modern equivalent of the Zhevra mount that the Recruit-A-Friend program used to give you.
It's Over Nine Thousand! An achievement just for getting achievements? How droll.
Enjoy working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on patch 4.3 achievements, our guide to Mountain O' Mounts, and a good, hard look at what's wrong with archaeology and how Blizzard could fix it.
