going-down
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The most obscure Alliance Achievement in WoW
While most achievements in game are available to both factions, there are a few here and there that are limited to one faction only. Of these few, one is so obscure, so out of the way that most Alliance players don't even know of its existence, unless of course they've spent a lot of time carefully looking through their Achievements tab. But even then, there's no real direction or quest to discover this particular achievement. It's just there, hidden out of sight in the northern reaches of Darkshore. It's not often I tell people to go jump in a lake. But you're going to want to go jump in a lake for this one. Specifically, the Maw of the Void -- a swirling vortex of water unearthed with the Cataclysm. Upon discarding all sense of self-preservation and leaping forthwith into the water, you'll be treated to a short cutscene as your character is abruptly sucked under the water, the screen doing dark. And that's when things get really weird.
Real-life Going Down achievement nets donation for Make-A-Wish Foundation
Sometimes it's not the biggest events that demonstrate how a love of World of Warcraft can inspire real-world achievements. Sometimes it's the tallest. When McChoppy of Cenarion Circle (US) heard about a Make-A-Wish event that would send him down the side of a 32-story Austin, Texas, high-rise to raise money for children with life-threatening medical conditions, the first thing that leapt to his mind was WoW's Going Down? achievement. It was fate both online and off -- he knew this was one achievement combo he just had to nab. By drumming up a fat pledge total for Make-A-Wish's Austin Over the Edge, McChoppy earned a spot along with more than 170 other supporters to rappel off the edge of the city high-rise. The project raised more than $175,000 for Make-A-Wish, enough to cover 260 wishes for kids in central and south Texas this year. So was his real-life slide slightly scarier than the somewhat silly splatter McChoppy scores in the more seemly spaces of Stormwind? With no spirit healer in sight as he perched on the edge 32 stories up -- resoundingly so!
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.
Breakfast Topic: Getting a certain achievement down
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Whatever goes up must come down, right? That isn't always the case in WoW. Between islands in the sky in Outland, a floating city in Northrend, and many other places from which to fall to your doom, WoW has many manifestations of gravity and its effects on your character. In the realm of gravity-based achievements, there is Going Down. Most achievements offer just one way to earn them; either you have killed the Lich King, gone Insane In The Membrane, or killed enough turkeys, or you have not. There is just one way to get each of those achievements. But of all the achievements available in WoW, few have as many ways to earn it as Going Down. Just survive a 60-foot fall.
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)
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?
The Queue: Punching our way to greatness
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Yesterday we were talking about the Bros Before Ho Ho Ho's achievement a bit. Specifically, do you need to be level 77 to get it if you're a Horde player? Most of us thought yes, you do, but stacy (one of our readers) popped in with some pretty creative instructions on how to do it. Check that out, then we'll get on with the Q&A!Classy asked...Anyone know a good place to fall to get the "Going Down?" achievement?
