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The OverAchiever: In which Alliance has it much worse than Horde
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we are grateful to play Horde. This past week, I was tabbed out of the game writing an OverAchiever on Bloody Rare as a follow-up to our guide on Northern Exposure when something interesting started happening in the background. In the sliver of laptop screen dedicated to WoW, the chat channels exploded with warnings that the Alliance was attacking Orgrimmar. Given that the Midsummer Fire Festival is still going on with lots of players busy stealing enemy fires, this isn't particularly unusual. I shrugged and went back to work. And yet, the warnings just kept coming. Curious, I tabbed back into the game to discover that a full 40-man Alliance raid was fighting its way to Garrosh Hellscream. Other players said that none of the other Horde leaders had been attacked, so I can only assume the raid was starting For the Alliance! with the toughest foe among them. Now, Garrosh is by no stretch of the imagination anywhere near as popular as Thrall was, but lots of Horde players are still willing to defend him from attack because, well, he's got his moments. Orgrimmar's central district quickly became a lagfest of epic proportions as dozens of players who'd been gossiping in trade or loitering around the Auction House rushed to defend Garrosh. The Alliance raid was ultimately defeated, but they rallied and tried again -- unsuccessfully -- an hour later. This was the first of three days that I saw the same Alliance raid desperately trying to kill Garrosh, and something started to niggle at me by day two. Namely, For the Alliance! and For the Horde! are among the very few achievements that are significantly tougher if you play one faction over the other.
Breakfast Topic: Is "For the Horde" obsolete?
Dave Kosak sent out a tweet recently asking for appropriate rallying cries for the Alliance. Of course, the predictable responses ensued (the last time I looked, "Not in the face!" was the clear leader), but the discussion led me down a different line of reasoning altogether. Besides the orcs, who's really "For the Horde!" anymore? The Forsaken are busy doing their own thing, as they always have. Vol'jin and the trolls were last seen sending emissaries to the Alliance to help contain the Zandalari. The tauren are still mourning Cairne and have little love for Garrosh. The blood elves lost their reason to stay in the Horde at the end of The Burning Crusade and seem to be sustained solely by inertia at this point. The only loyal Hordies left are the orcs themselves and the goblins, a race long known for their steadfast loyalties. Of course, the Alliance isn't all too chummy, either. What do you think? Do the races need new battle cries, or will Mists of Pandaria spur a new wave of unity?
The OverAchiever: Mountain O' Mounts from achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, 10 little points are all that stand between us and a new ... something. Many of the mounts this week be familiar to you if you've read The OverAchiever: Pimp Thy Ride, which I wrote before the Cataclysm content patch with an eye toward the number of people who wanted to slap a 310% mount on their toons before it had to be trained. Sadly, none of the mounts described in that article, barring one, will grant Master Riding for free now. Also read: Combining The Ambassador and Mountain O' Mounts Mountain O' Mounts in Outland Mountain O' Mounts in Northrend Mountain O' Mounts in 5-man dungeons Mountain O' Mounts in raids
The OverAchiever: The 25 most entertaining achievements, part 4
Every so often, I get tired of the self-seriousness that infests some of (OK, most of) the other work I do here and get the urge to write something purely for fun. After our series on evil achievements and the relentless misery of School of Hard Knocks, I'd like to spend some time on achievements that are nothing but an absolute joy from beginning to end. We continue our series on World of Warcraft's most entertaining achievements this week, and this is the full series if you're just joining us: OverAchiever: Pure Win The 25 most entertaining achievements, #25-21 The 25 most entertaining achievements, #20-16 The 25 most entertaining achievements, #15-11 The 25 most entertaining achievements, #10-6 (today's post)
Paragon's world first heroic Fall of the Lich King video
<Paragon> of EU Lightning's Blade has released the video of their world-first kill of the Lich King on 25-man heroic mode. The video itself is in three parts and includes the viewpoints of a combat rogue, restoration shaman and holy priest over the course of the fight. Only one other guild to date has made the 25-man heroic kill; the guild <For The Horde> of EU Nazjatar claimed the world-second kill earlier today. Congratulations to <For The Horde> on the kill, and congratulations to <Paragon> on not only the world first but the absolutely gorgeous video they've put together. Check out part two and part three of the kill video after the break.
"For the Horde" gets world-first A Tribute to Insanity-10
With the heroic versions of Trial of the Crusader going live yesterday, raiding guilds are already venturing into the more challenging versions of Tier 9. As of evening Tuesday EST, the European guild For the Horde has claimed a world-first A Tribute to Insanity-10 (a no-wipe full clear of the instance) on 10-man heroic Trial. Unfortunately, I don't speak German so I might be missing some of the finer points related on their website (anyone who can shed more light on this, please drop a comment!) but it looks like they weren't deliberately aiming for the achievement until they reached Anub'arak with all 50 attempts remaining, and then decided to go for it. Next in achievement progression? A Tribute to Dedicated Insanity -- repeating it without any gear from 25-man ToC, which is broadly equivalent to the Herald of the Titans achievement. Ouch.Boubouille at MMO Champion has since confirmed that the Swift Horde Wolf and its Alliance counterpart the Swift Alliance Steed are drops from the tribute chest upon completion of the no-wipe clear, and it's quite possible that the mounts also drop from the 25-man version as well. However, I doubt we'll be seeing A Tribute to Insanity-25 this week, as none of the guilds doing the heroic-25 mode have reported a wipe-free experience thus far.We'll keep an eye on guild progression for you, and congratulations to For the Horde!
Achievement junkie
Achievements are like crack. I didn't expect to go for any of them, really. When Achievements were first announced and we got a sneak peek at what kind of Achievements were in the game, all I was really interested in was racking up PvP Achievements and ignore the rest. But when I completed For The Horde! sometime ago, and Thrall sent me a nice little letter and a bear, learning the Black War Bear inadvertently resulted in unlocking Stable Keeper. When that happened, something inside me clicked and the next thing I knew, I was doing quests in Sen'jin and Bloodhoof Villages to get those last few reputation points to get to Exalted with the respective factions. My initial idea was simply to allow myself to purchase all the racial mounts, but when I finally hit Exalted with all the Horde factions, I unlocked Ambassador of the Horde. Oh, and while we were raiding the Alliance cities, I took time off to explore the Alliance starting zones, too, and turned into a Dora. It's kind of an unstoppable snowball of Achievements that get you hooked even when you're not pursuing them.I ventured into Dire Maul North to raise my weapon skills, ending up getting Did Somebody Order a Kunckle Sandwich? and Master of Arms. Since I had, in my epic fail of an attempt to get Merrymaker, gone into Dire Maul East to get the recipe for Run Tumm Tuber Surprise, I also cleared Dire Maul East. This meant I just had to go into Dire Maul West to get King of Dire Maul. So much for ignoring Achievements. Even if you don't look for them, they kind of have a way of finding you. I mean, most people get Going Down? entirely by accident, don't they? Like it or not (and I, for one, actually like it more than I thought I would), Achievements look like a success to me. We like it so much, in fact, that Dan's kicked off a weekly Achievements column called The Overachiever. How're you doing with your Achievements lately? Have you gotten hooked?
Tattooed for the Horde
I can't say that I'm the biggest fan of tattoos out there, but that is a nice tattoo -- xstitchfla's son Christopher got it on his arm just recently, and clearly he's flying the Horde flag proudly. It took about five hours to put on there, which seems like it would hurt a lot, but then again, Hordies can take it, right?Christopher is also headed off to Iraq next year, too, so we wish him the best of luck and hope that he stays safe.And while we're at it, just what is it with the Horde and WoW tattoos? Seems like every picture we see is of the Orc/Tauren/Troll/Blood Elf/Forsaken variety. Aren't there any Humans, Gnomes or Dwarves out there getting inked up?
Television writer is for the Horde!
John Rogers résumé is long and varied. Physics graduate, television writer and avid online gamer. He's credited with writing an early draft of the "Transformers" movie and creating "The Jackie Chan Adventures" animated series. His latest endeavor is the new action series "Leverage," premiering tonight on TNT at 10/9c. Every week on the new show a group of professional cons takes down corrupt authority figures using their unique skills. And they're not above using World of Warcraft to get the job done.Wait...what?You see while reading John's blog, I saw a single line about an upcoming episode of "Leverage" having a WoW reference in it, joining the ranks of "How I Met Your Mother," "Big Bang Theory" and "Stargate Atlantis." I contacted him to find out more about his new show, his love of the game and further confirmation that WoW is the new golf.
Ask a Beta Tester: Dalaran coins, environment effects, and AoE tanking
I ran into two common questions last night on the Dalaran coin post, so I thought I'd start off by answering those here. I apologize if we haven't yet gotten to everyone's questions; most of them, like Gurluas' question concerning The Missing Diplomat and the high elves in Northrend, we're just not 100% sure of the answer to yet, but I'll keep trying. Keyra asks...Just curious...the gold coins all have "Use: Throw this coin back into the Dalaran fountain", yet I've seen people commenting (as well as the author) that they'll carry the coin in their packs. What happens when/if you throw the coin back in?When you toss a gold coin back into the fountain, you gain the "Lucky" buff for 2 minutes, increasing your chance to fish up any and all coins from the fountain (rather than fishing hooks or goldfish). You don't have to toss them back in if you don't want to, in which case they'll just occupy a bag slot like anything else, or you can sell them to a vendor (not for much). But most people throw the coin/s back in because fishing the coin up is enough to give you the Achievement for getting it. Particular coins would be carried solely for personal or sentimental reasons, i.e. I can definitely appreciate the irony and RP value of grimly hunting Arthas down like a dog while carrying a symbol of Sylvanas' wasted hopes.Rexigar asks...Question though, do we have to keep the coins for the achievement or does it count when we throw it back in?It counts as of the moment you've fished it up. No matter what you do with it afterwards, the Achievement's yours. The same mechanic is true of everything else; once the game "knows" you've done something and an Achievement's gained, nothing can take it away.
New achievements and mount rewards in beta build 8962
Like most Wrath beta patches, build 8962 comes packing new achievements. This patch doesn't have a massive list like some previous builds, but what it does have is pretty cool: Leading the Cavalry - Obtain 75 mounts, be rewarded with an Albino Drake. For the Alliance! - Slay the leaders of the Horde, be rewarded with a Black War Bear. For the Horde! - Slay the leaders of the Alliance, be rewarded with a Black War Bear. Glory of the Hero - Complete all of the Heroic Dungeon achievements, be rewarded with a Red Proto-Drake. Glory of the Raider - Complete the Normal Difficulty raid achievements, be rewarded with a Plagued Proto-Drake. Heroic: Glory of the Raider - Complete the Heroic Difficulty raid achievements, be rewarded wtih a Black Proto-Drake. What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been - Complete the World Event achievements, be rewarded with a Violet Proto-Drake. (Note: World events means holidays here, like Brewfest, not things like the Ahn'qiraj gate event.) The rewards are definitely the most noteworthy part of this. Wrath of the Lich King is introducing a ton of new mounts, so it won't surprise me to see massive diversity in what people are using after the expansion has been out for awhile. There are plenty that come from things other than Achievements as well, but we'll get to those later.[ via MMO-Champion ]
New PvP title and mount
Tigole announced a slight change to PvP Achievements and excited more than a few people -- myself included -- by noting that players who complete the Achievements For The Horde! and For The Alliance! will be rewarded a Black War Bear. Players who manage to reach the respectable 100,000 Honorable Kill plateau will unlock the 'of the Horde' and 'of the Alliance' titles. Currently in Beta, slaying four enemy faction leaders award the title while getting 100k HK gave no rewards.While the Amani War Bear will be unattainable when Patch 3.0 hits, but it seems like there might just be a replacement -- will guilds be organizing these new 'bear runs'? I certainly hope so. I was never a fan of the Amani War Bear, or bears as mounts in general, but a PvP mount that rewards killing all four of the opposing faction's leaders? Oh man. Where do I sign up? I certainly hope that the mount will sport a different, non-troll armor model as well as faction insignias and the requisite reds or blues. These new bear mounts might just be incentive enough to get players to raid enemy cities and, hopefully, get to 100k HK along the way.
The Art of War(craft): World PvP Achievements
Ah, world PvP. In many ways, world PvP can be considered the purest form of PvP because when it happens -- if it's not done in association with a quest or other form of reward -- it is PvP for the sake of PvP. Some of the best times I've ever had doing PvP was in Hillsbrad Foothills, defending Tarren Mill and attacking Southshore. I miss the times when the World Defense channel would be flooded by calls to defend the Crossroads. There's also something very pure about coming to the aid of a faction leader under assault. And when Wrath of the Lich King finally arrives, I have a good feeling it's going to happen a lot more often.I wrote about the many Achievements related to PvP, such as the retroactive Achievements that you can work on before Patch 3.0 hits, as well as the numerous Battlegrounds Achievements. Although PvP for the sake of PvP is extremely fun, Achievements will actually reward something that previously never got anything more than bragging rights and a silly grin. Today we'll look at the numerous Achievements that work to encourage world PvP.
About the Bloggers: Amanda Dean
Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers. Hi there. It's nice to finally make an introduction. The name's Amanda, but you can call me mandy. With a whole generation of Amandas out there it helps to differentiate us. What do you do for WoW Insider? I'm technically just your average, run-of-the-mill blogger. Since coming on staff in February, I've picked up the WoW Rookie column and Blood Sport. David Bowers and I write He Said She Said together, but we're taking a little break due to educational commitments. I have the most fun writing Well Fed Buff. I really enjoy writing about intersections between the real and virtual worlds, and I love any topic that gets people talking.
Wherefore art thou faction PvP gear?
Okay, so back when the old Grand Marshal and Warlord PvP sets were scrapped in favor of Gladiator gear for honor, I was actually pretty dismayed, but not for the same reason as most others. I wasn't really concerned about "Welfare Epics" or "AFKavers" simply standing at the entrance of AV and getting good gear because of it. I was sad because the look of the sets was going away! Yeah, that my sound a bit crazy, but bear with me for a bit, let me explain myself.
World of WarCrafts: What would Thrall sleep in?
Even a Warchief has to sleep sometimes but his bedding has to be totally awesome for him to do so. I think that these sheets and blankets would certainly fit that bill and make even the mighty Thrall sleep well at night. Made by a girlfriend of a WoWer these sheets are any Hordey's dream. (Get it...dream, sheets?) To make your own Horde sheet all you need are some acrylic or fabric paints, plain sheets a stencil you can make yourself and a sponge or sponge brush. Assuming you can find or create a picture of the Horde logo (is it called a logo?) you can pretty easily print out a template. There are some tips on making your own stencil later on in the comments.
WoW TCG World Championships wrapup
Upper Deck's first WoW TCG World Championships are over, and the $100,000 winner is Guillame Matignon, who crushed his opponents (including the US Champ Brad Watson) with-- what else-- a Blood Elf Paladin. Unfortunately, it looks like UD's Ben Drago was far too busy to blog, but UD's official site has lots of great information and recaps. This really was a World Champs-- players hailed from countries all over the globe. Here's a great walkthrough of the artists' table, including a few good insights from the artists about where the card art comes from. Unfortunately, Upper Deck didn't let us into that dinner with the developers that they held, but here's the two guys who got to go. And finally, the players: they put together not only profiles of the top 8 players, but after it was all said and done, an interview with the $100,000 winner. The French player ran undefeated for 12 rounds to win it all, and how'd he do it. "Aggressive Horde, always." For the Horde! All of Upper Deck's coverage is available on their website. Odds are that you didn't win the tournament, but worry not-- WoW Insider has your chance to win another WoW TCG prize later this week. Congrats to all the winners in San Diego, and cheers to Upper Deck for putting on what sounds like a terrific TCG event.
