Project Lore

Most people know by now that I love Achievements. I also love world events. Adding new and interesting things to do during world events and tying them to achievements sounds just great to me. Initially when I saw that Patch 3.1 would add achievements to Noblegarden, I thought that must mean 3.1 will come out before the event, which is currently scheduled for April 12-18. Makes sense right? Well, I was wrong. Kisirani has let us know via blue post that the developers' plan is to simply delay Noblegarden should 3.1 not be ready before then. That makes more sense. What has me excited, though, is that after the patch, Noblegarden will be a true world event, Blizzard style. Looking at the list of Noblegarden Achievments and seeing a hint that egg hunting will be "a wee bit different this year," the event seems like it is going to have much more interactivity than in previous years. Before, players would have to find eggs hidden in the starting areas in hopes of finding a dress. Not a great reward, but something that is good for collectors and roleplayers. According to the achivement list, this year's Noble Gardeners are going to hide eggs, place rabbit ears, plant flowers, find love, and of course eat chocolates as part of the event. As the meta-achievement for Noblegarden is going to be part of the meta-meta-achivement, What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been that rewards a 310% speed Violet Proto-Drake, I'll be ready to hunt down eggs all week long, whenever 3.1 comes out.

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So some of you have finally earned your very first title. A large block of text above your head, that says, "Yes, I've completed enough of this game to be adorned with a wall of text." Titles have always kind of been a way to separate yourself from the masses and declare yourself better than someone else. It used to just be your PvP titles, "Of The Shattered Sun", or the occasional "Hand of A'dal" (the ever glowing pre-nerf beacon that said, "I don't enjoy sunlight"). Then all of the sudden, WotLK dropped and we got a metric crap ton of titles poured upon us. Ambassador, Chef, Salty, the Love Fool, the Seeker, and Elder are all titles that have been crammed into the new world we totally have come to love. The real question is, What are the best titles? Is Champion of the Frozen Wastes the best? Does the Seeker or Guardian of Cenarius mean that you are the baddest on your block? Maybe, However I will be giving you a 5 title primer. A primer that says, "If you have one of these titles, they garner respect, admiration... or will at least keep you from getting ganked." Lets be honest, That's all that matters right? If I have X title, it makes me E-Peen way bigger than yours. Nonetheless, on to the titles (in no particular order)!

• Arena Titles (Challenger/Duelist/Rival/Gladiator): This title is one that garners instant respect. Not one of the old world "Private" titles that could be gotten much easier. The simplest PVP title meant you had to be in the top 35% of the arenas in your team bracket to achieve it. It meant you slaved for hours in PvP, and you could pretty much gank at will. It means when you turn to tap a node, people really wouldn't want to attack you. You also only keep the title for the next season of arenas. These titles are fresh, new, changing always and mean that you recently have been polishing your armor with the blood of arena noobs. If someone even attempted to target you, you would give them a rain of pain so bad they'd need a "Rambo Shower" to cleanse themselves.

• Salty: This title is maddening, but so rare to actually see in game. This title has many components, of which I'll just list a few. You have to fish up the really rare fishes from Ironforge/Orgrimmar known as Old Ironjaw and Old Crafty. You have to go to your weekly fishing tournament, Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza and win it which is one of the hardest things to do in game to date. Completing the entire Accomplished Angler achievement will garner it for you, but as a person who's currently trying to complete Salty -- I've found little harder than fishing up all the coins, fish, and manuals needed for it. This is still one of the rarest achievements in the game. Only 52 salty titles are given a year per server, so put that in perspective.

• The Immortal: First off this achievement is like the Highlander, except not. THERE CAN ONLY BE 25! The premise is during one lockout period, you have to fight, and kill every boss in Naxxramas without anyone dying during the boss fights. Frogger doesn't count as a boss, neither do any trash pulls. So you can make people stand out of rooms, you can even sub people in and out (though only the 25 that pull Kel'Thuzad will actually obtain the title). It's quite the achievement to get people with the same latency, the same skill, and laser like focus. Our guild has personally tried to do The Undying, and we've had a few unfortunate losses of focus that prove 10 people barely communicate. So to scale up to 25 and pull it off sets you aside as one of the baddest PvE asses that are out there. If only that title came with the highlander theme song, I'd give a kidney for it.

• Loremaster: Though this basically says you don't love sunlight, it's one hell of an achievement and title.It's 2,720 on the horde side or 2,878 quests on the alliance side. This is not only a good idea because the sheer amount of gold that you'll make but you actually learn a lot of the back story of Qarcraft. It'll feed your offsets and let you practice and hone your skills with your other spec's of your class. It's also a great way to pass time between raids. It'll really say you're a completionist. Someone who has loremaster really has a dedication to the game that you can respect and admire. I've only seen 3 people with it on my server, one of them being Juggynaut. Loremaster also awards a tabard with the infamous exclamation point. So you don't have to wear a tabard that isn't that great, and you can celebrate how much you've dedicated to the game.

• Of the Nightfall: This is the Twilight Zone achievement. This is the 10 man 3 drake up Sartharion achievement. Now dont get me wrong, the title sounds extremely weak. Ghostbeezy of the Nightfall? That is worse than being in the front row of a madonna concert and your picture being put in the newspaper. It's embarrasing like the time you were chapperoned by your parents on a date, and your father has to sing "Hooked on a Feeling" while you get driven to a bowling alley. However, the title MEANS a great deal more. It's a healing/tanking/dps check the whole way around. You really have to be on your A-game, and not a bunch of people on servers world wide have this achievement. So when you see that title pass by, you understand that person is one of 10 elite players of the guild that they represent. That title is one to be proud of.

I know, I know there are some of you saying, "What about Magic Seeker, or Conquerer of Naxxramas?" I don't count either of those as titles that even should be acknowledged. I personally enjoy having an adult life and from time to time even basking in sunlight. If you were one of these people to have those titles, while I respect your dedication... I can't include you in this list. You may or may not have a social life, in a may not sort of way. Plus so few people have the title, and even less actually wear it. It's a scarlet letter of anti-social behavior. What is your vote? Which titles do you think make you a warcraft ninja? Which titles do you strive to achieve?

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Bornakk, blue poster on the official forums, broke the news today that the Glory of the Raider and Heroic Glory of the Raider meta-achievements are going to have their mount rewards removed upon the implementation of Patch 3.1. While the achievements themselves will still be... achieveable, there is no longer a 310% mount rewarded for completing all of the requirements. Of course, players who have already obtained the mounts will keep them. This change will keep the extremely fast mounts limited to those who are either extremely lucky or have the dedication to complete the most difficult challenges that Blizzard sets forth to players at their intended difficulty level. The proto-drakes will be proof that a player was able to complete the achievements without having to get gear from higher tiered raids. It is bad news for players who are more casual WoW players, but makes a lot of sense. It also falls in line with the removal of the Amani War Bear reward from the timed event in Zul'Aman when patch 3.0 went live. Patch 3.0 made many changes to player abilities and lowered the health and damage of level 70 raid bosses, making completion of the event much easier. The silver lining is that MMO-Champion has uncovered a couple of new Proto-Drakes, Ironbound and Rusted that will be added in 3.1 and in my opinion look even cooler than the Black and Plagued ones. They will probably serve the same purpose, only for Ulduar Achievements. What are your thoughts? I for one am in favor of this change. Now I just need to finish off those 10 man achievements!

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Nothing says "I love you" like getting shot by a dude with giant eyes and razor-sharp teeth.

Let's start this off with the most pressing matter, Love is in the Air.  Blizzard's take on Valentine's Day kicked off early wednesday morning aside an amusing bug.  I am sure those that logged in saw the server wide message that the "Ice Stone has melted."  The erroneous message stems from last year's Midsummer Fire Festival and the encounter with Lord Ahune.  The kicker is that Blizzard had no idea what was causing it, or how it slipped into 3.0.9.  It has taken Blizzard's superstar team over a day to track down the root of the problem, which will require a realm restart later today.  At least Kisirani had some fun with the flooding of Azeroth. For those of you looking to participate in the Love is in the Air seasonal, you best take a look at WoWHead's excellent guide.  If you are one of the hardcore achievers out there, then you are hopefully well on your way with Fool for Love for the meta-meta achievement, What a Long, Strange Trip Its Been. It is also worth a mentioning that the Lunar Festival commenced earlier this week. Unlike previous seasonal events, this is one that doesn't interest me, much.  Despite my general lack of excitement, the bastards at Blizzard made it pretty difficult for me to ignore the event entirely, due to the addition of an amusing non-combat pet.  I love those little useless distractions.  To obtain the pet, players are required to get jiggy with guards and/or NPCs of their factions for Gifts of Adoration.  If you are incredibly lucky, than a Truesilver Shafted Arrow will be found in there, otherwise you must wait an hour to try again.  I'll be going after gifts as often as possible, but I will leave the achievement grinding to Juggynaut.

Aww, he's so tough.

On the news front, the PvPers out there are probably ecstatic to hear that the World of Warcraft Arena Tournament will be returning for its second run.  The 2009 season has been updated to include Wrath's changes, pre-made level 80 characters, a prize pool of $200,000 and even in-game objects usable on the live realms like the “Vanquisher” title and this cute Murloc pet.  God, are they trying to make me fail at PvP on a global scale? Any one a Fool for Love yet?  Remember folks, the V-day event closes on Monday, so get a move on.  I am 0 for 5 in my endeavor for Kwee Q. Peddlefeet.  Any readers gonna sign-up for the Arena Tournament on the 17th?

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While love might be a little bit of a strong word, I can at least say that I heartily embrace the achievement system that was introduced to World of Warcraft back in patch 3.0. My enjoyment of what amounts to a small pop up and a few more points is probably evident by anyone who has looked at my WoW Armory Page or had a glimpse of Executus' page on WoW-Achievements (where, btw, I am in the top 20 on the server... no biggie, I'm just sayin'). Contrary to what many people will tell you, I don't complete achievements to inflate my online ego (that's what WoW-Heroes is for). A lot of the rewards I've been granted by achievements are sitting in my bank, and many of the titles have graced the space above my character's head for just a few seconds before they were replaced with my old favorites - namely Loremaster, the Seeker, or, most recently, the Undying. No, I complete the achievements for completion's sake. WoW has a lot to offer players, and I want to see as much of it as I can. I've completed nearly every quest in the game on the Alliance side (and a bunch on the Horde side, too). I know the monotony of grinding Timbermaw Hold rep. I know the exhilaration of the last 30% of Kel'Thuzad on an Undying run. I know where to find all of the Elders for the Lunar Festival, and I've opened every single red envelope that they sent me. With Love is in the Air coming up this week, I have a short window to get a little closer to that 310% speed Violet Proto Drake. I don't know about you, but I'll be following WoW Insider's Fool for Love Guide until that golden window comes up. Maybe longer. I didn't used to be like this before the achievements were introduced, so part of it might be an obsessive compulsion in me to see those pop ups and hear the distinct sound they make. I know plenty of people who don't want to go around /loving and killing critters, people who only like achievements that take "skill," and people who will only do the achievements that have rewards. I can see where all of them are coming from. People play WoW for a million different reasons. I'm not an AH junkie or an arena fiend, I'm an achievement whore. It's just what I do. Do you complete achievments, or do you just not care?

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One of my favorite things about playing World of Warcraft has always been the sense that the game is unbeatable. There is always something to do, always ways to improve yourself, and always something to suck up your time if you want it to. Getting a bit of a late jump into TBC raiding, the sense of things I hadn’t done and bosses I hadn’t seen was overwhelming. I loved having far off carrots to chase after and drive me to work on my character day after day. Lately though, I have grown concerned. I know lots of people are saying it, but I am honestly starting to believe that the current amount of content is very inadequate. I have long ago downed every boss in the game. When I saw Malygos go down for the first time, it was bittersweet, but I knew there was lots more to do because of the achievement system. I was content with the fact that while there weren’t any new bosses, there were plenty of new and challenging ways to kill those bosses. The problem now is I’ve spent the time over the last month or so and earned a lot of those achievements. And now I’m faced with the feeling that there aren’t even enough achievements left to keep me very interested. Sure I will likely keep farming Naxx until I have my gear looking exactly how I want it, and I still have the matter of killing Sartharion with 3 drakes up, but I very much want a longer laundry list of things I could still be doing. I consider myself a fairly strong raider, but I am nowhere near as hardcore as a lot of people. If I am running into this issue, I’m sure there are many more than myself who feel the same. In my eyes Ulduar can’t come soon enough, and if Blizzard wants to keep its more dedicated players interested there isn’t a moment to lose.

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Achievements are many things, they are fun ways to pass time, they are ways to show off some accomplishments, but there are just a few that seem to carry a little bigger meaning. These achievements are truly achievements, and they are not easy. Tonight I will start my 3^rd week of working on such an achievement: The Undying. And let me tell you, it is unlike anything I’ve worked toward in this game before. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the achievement it reads like this: “Within one raid lockout period, defeat every boss in Naxxramas on Normal Difficulty without allowing any raid member to die during any of the boss encounters.” Or in other words, it demands absolute perfection from every member of the raid. As we learned the hard way, even the tiniest misstep will end the entire attempt. First time we tried this we had zero deaths up until Kel’Thuzad where a Soul Weaver knocked back a death knight into a void zone just as it went off. It was heart breaking. The worst part about this achievement is that as the run goes on the more stressful it becomes, and if you happen to be the unlucky one to take the first dirt nap you really feel that you let down your friends. I’m sure it is not a good feeling (fortunately I do not know this firsthand). All of this is why I say that going for the Undying is unlike anything else in the game. It's tough, it's emotional, and its unforgiving. Luck plays very little role as you must play well for the entire run. For all its stress, I think it is great. If you see someone with the title, you know you are looking at a strong player, and likely one that was not carried by his friends. I plan to continue work until I have earned this one, and a true “grats” to any of you that have already done it.

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It’s one of my favorite times of the year again, holiday time in Azeroth! This means one thing for me, tons of new achievements to do. I have just started them myself, but looking over the list it seems to me that this event is going to bring out some of the best and worst in WoW achievements. Many of them seem awesomely exciting, while even more of them seem mind numbingly boring.

Let me start with the good. The achievement to honor the elders in the opposing factions cities is great. It encourages world PvP, gives you a reason to go some places you rarely go, and gives you the impression of a really fun adventure. I am glad blizzard included this, and I am looking forward to charging into Orgrimmar. I think I may be even more excited to rack up my city defender by killing Horde trying to do the same.

Now the not so good… just about everything else. Sure seasonal bosses are cool, fireworks are cool, but I really don’t like feeling like I have to wander all over the old world finding random guys in random zones, and not even getting any gold for my time. I’ve wandered around these places plenty before, first to get explorer, then to trick or treat during Hallow’s End, now I’m back at it. In my eyes this is little more than a time sink.

I can’t say I’m particularly fond of having to run through a bunch of lowbie instances either. Sure doing some of the more current content is fun, but do I really need to go do ZF of Stratholme again (especially now that I’ve got my Baron Mount)?

My one piece of advice as you embark on this incredibly dull task would be to look at your other achievements and see if you can knock anything out at the same time. Are there  squirrels that need lovin’, pests that need controlin’, or zones that need explorin'? Now is the time to do them. If you have to do something boring you might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Just keep reminding yourself, this is all for the Violet Proto-Drake.

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After some of the dust from patch day, extended maintenence, and rolling restarts settled, I was browsing my Achievements pane (default key is Y to bring that up). The first thing I noticed was that I had achieved a couple of things when I logged on for the first time after 3.0.8 was implemented. One was The Winds of the North, for being exalted with the Alliance Vanguard and the other was Vampire Hunter, a feat of strength for having a Vampiric Batling from Prince Tenris Mirkblood. Intrigued, I looked around a little more to see if I could find any other new achievements. Now, I had heard about the 75 companion pet achievment with a tiny deer as a reward, but I don't even have the 50 pet achievement yet. Apparently there is also a new 100 mount achievement with a blue dragonhawk as a reward. Those ones are so far out of my reach that I tend to ignore them. That and the mount achievement is going to be very very expensive when I go for it. There were two achievements that I found that would be well within my reach, though. Both of them have to do with my favorite targets for undeserved violence - critters. Pest Control asks you to slay some critters while To All The Squirrels Who Shared My Life is predictably a follow up to another achievement which has you loving more creatures. To those of you interested, I managed to do a little research and I can tell you exactly where to go to find the critters you'll need. I found all except for one of the targets of To All The Squirrels Who Shared My Life in Northrend:

• Arctic Hare: These are all over, most easily found in Dragonblight
• Borean Marmot: Borean Tundra, all over. Mostly the orange sections of the map
• Tundra Penguin: Borean Tundra on the icebergs
• Sholazar Tickbird: When you see a Rhino, look for the bird on its horn.
• Glacier Penguins: Icecrown, in the far north, a bit east of the islands on the map.
• Huge Toad: Zul'Drak, in the Drak'Sorta Fields. Most people tell you to go to Swamp of Sorrows, but don't listen!
• Grizzly Squirrel: Grizzly Hills, all over
• Mountain Skunk: Grizzly Hills, all over
• Fjord Penguin: Howling Fjord, on the coast/icebergs
• Scalawag Frog: Howling Fjord, Scalawag Isle in the Southwest
• Fjord Turkey: West of Expedition League Outpost in Howling Fjord
• Lava Crab: Searing Gorge, all over the place. If you know of a place in Northrend where these guys hang out, let me know. I looked in a couple of firey places that I could think of but to no avail.

For Pest Control, you'll have to do a lot more running around:

• Underbelly Rat: Dalaran sewers
• Rat: Dalaran near Violet Hold or Naxxramas, also in many other zones.
• Maggot: Naxxramas or Ghostlands
• Larva: Naxxramas or Ghostlands
• Spider: Howling Fjord, Ghostlands, or many instances such as Naxxramas and Azjol Nerub
• Crystal Spider: The Nexus - run straight in and immediately in the final boss's room will be a spider
• Gold Beetle: Halls of Stone/Halls of Lightning - both should have a beetle at the entrance
• Zul'Drak Rat: Zul'Drak, lots of them east of the Argent Stand
• Roach: Howling Fjord in Gjalerbron
• Fjord Rat: Howling Fjord
• Devouring Maggot: In the crypts near Utgarde Keep at the very bottom.
• Adder: Hellfire Peninsula
• Scorpion: Hellfire Peninsula
• Moccasin: Swamps of Sorrow
• Snake: Westfall
• Mouse: Westfall
• Fire Beetle: Burning Steppes/Searing Gorge

Hope that helps any of you achievement lovers out there get a few more points!

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^ Not Useless.  Welcome Aboard Guys - Via CNN.com

Of course this would happen.  I take the day off for some "house work" and am greeted by not just maintenance, but extended maintenance.  At least by x o'clock - who knows when the servers will be up AND playable - I can wade through all the changes for v3.0.8 that Bastosa mentioned the other day.  Until that time, we always have the patch notes to drool over/shake our fist at. Yesterday's escapades into level 80 didn't go as well as one may have hoped.  Apparently few people have off on Martin Luther King day, making it incredibly difficult to find a group to run with.  I managed to swing only a third of the dungeons I wanted to do before I got fed up with spamming the channels.  Despite the few runs, I did catch myself doing something unexpected. Since the early days I have always used gear to compare myself to other players.  Although gear != skill, it can show how dedicated you are to your toon.  The assumptions made through the technique aren't always accurate, but in general, a toon with good gear while lacking enchants or sockets means that the player just got decked out, doesn't have the money, or does the bare minimum to look good.  While checking how bad I looked in front of the PUG groups, I found another not-exactly-accurate way to measure players, Achievements. I am one of the few people around these parts that isn't too found of Achievements.  Aside from being an Xbox Live rip-off, I just didn't see much cause for them.  Personally, I would rather something like WAR's Tome of Knowledge, a personal diary of sorts, rather than these arbitrary points.  That being said, it can serve a purpose beyond bragging rights.  Paired with a simple gear check, an Achievement check can lend you extra knowledge about your new teammate, partner or prospective guildmate. There are actually a ton of ways this can be used, but here are a few examples.

• A player has good gear, but their achievement score is pretty low for a level 80 and lacking numerous dungeons.  One could reasonably assume that the character is an alt or new player in general.
• A Druid has average gear, but a very high score, including most of the quest based objectives.  Player probably enjoys the game for the universe and may intend on finishing everything the game has to offer.  Likely to continue to subscribe for the foreseeable future.
• Character is decked out in an odd mix of PvP, PvE and crafted gear; has most of the PvP achievements completed.  Get this player on your 2v2, 3v3, 5v5 and PvP guild ASAP, likely a min-maxer based on his eclectic gear choices.

I am pretty shocked that I never really thought of this useful aspect before.  Perhaps I was blinded by my hatred of the Achievement system as a whole.  At least we don't have to pay $50 a year to use it though.  Anyone have some real-world examples?  I know there has to be some GM's out there that have used this as part of their recruiting measures.

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