We've decided to remove the titles for the Realm First Feats of Strength that are associated with reaching level 80. We've also removed the titles associated with the Realm First Feats of Strength associated with gaining 450 skill in the professions and secondary skill. Lastly, we've removed the title associated with Realm First to accomplish the Northrend Vanguard achievement.
Realm First boss kill achievements will still grant a title.
As a side note, Beta characters will retain their titles or end up displaying a broken title. This won't carry over to the live realms but it is merely a symptom of removing these titles from the game. If we were to do another wipe of the achievement system, the Beta titles would go away.
Sep 4, 2008
And so it goes...
As mentioned earlier today, I wasn't a fan of the "Race to 80" achievements. And apparently Blizzard figured out it wasn't a good idea as well.
Hex Lord Vanquished!
Last night, in a triumphant return to Zul'Aman, the Gold Team was able to obtain the third timed chest for the first time ever (with 2 minutes to spare) and we then went on to kill the dreaded Hex Lord Malacrass! Congratulations to my good friend Dylana who won the Tiny Voodoo Mask and Mercreus who got his Trollbane. I also obtained these Footpads of Madness which I'm still unsure about. I love my Boots of Blasting, but another 25 haste could get my Fireball down to 2.7 seconds potentially.
I also just discovered that last night I was running the whole night with the wrong pair of gloves on. My Spellfire Gloves were sitting in my bank the whole night, basically gimping my damage by 7% and also putting me under the hit cap, resulting in another damage loss. I did enjoy running last night with my two pieces of Tier 4. Sporting the Collar of the Aldor and Pauldrons of the Aldor allowed me to cast straight through any bird interruptions on Akil'zon and also during the spirit bolts on Malacrass. And while the tooltip mentions just uninterruptable fireballs, it seemed like my scorches were going off without interruptions as well. So next time in (a.k.a. tonight), I'll be going in with the correct gloves and my two pieces of Tier 4.
So we've finally got another boss off of our Gold Team list and Zul'jin is the last left. On our very first attempt, we got to the lynx stage - which I thought was quite good since 7 of us were seeing him for the first time. Our best attempt was our last (of probably 4 or 5) where we once again made it to the lynx stage with 7 or so people up, but we lost our priest early in the stage and without the group heals, we were done. But it was a great learning experience and I hope we can get him down soon.
I still a bit skeptical that we can get the bear mounts, but we are now able to get three timed chests which is a great advancement. We also are doing much better on Akil'zon which is great progress for us. We are able to hatch one whole side each time eggs are hatched which greatly cuts down on time required to kill him.
On a side note, I have added another pet to my collection, however, I think my screenshots were not properly kept over the past few sessions, so until I can get screenshots, I am not announcing him here.
I also just discovered that last night I was running the whole night with the wrong pair of gloves on. My Spellfire Gloves were sitting in my bank the whole night, basically gimping my damage by 7% and also putting me under the hit cap, resulting in another damage loss. I did enjoy running last night with my two pieces of Tier 4. Sporting the Collar of the Aldor and Pauldrons of the Aldor allowed me to cast straight through any bird interruptions on Akil'zon and also during the spirit bolts on Malacrass. And while the tooltip mentions just uninterruptable fireballs, it seemed like my scorches were going off without interruptions as well. So next time in (a.k.a. tonight), I'll be going in with the correct gloves and my two pieces of Tier 4.
So we've finally got another boss off of our Gold Team list and Zul'jin is the last left. On our very first attempt, we got to the lynx stage - which I thought was quite good since 7 of us were seeing him for the first time. Our best attempt was our last (of probably 4 or 5) where we once again made it to the lynx stage with 7 or so people up, but we lost our priest early in the stage and without the group heals, we were done. But it was a great learning experience and I hope we can get him down soon.
I still a bit skeptical that we can get the bear mounts, but we are now able to get three timed chests which is a great advancement. We also are doing much better on Akil'zon which is great progress for us. We are able to hatch one whole side each time eggs are hatched which greatly cuts down on time required to kill him.
On a side note, I have added another pet to my collection, however, I think my screenshots were not properly kept over the past few sessions, so until I can get screenshots, I am not announcing him here.
Achievements, Part II
Rohan shared his thoughts on the subject already, but I thought I'd chime in as well. I absolutely hate the "World First" feats. At least they're not achievements, but I don't think anyone should be rewarded for these feats.
First gnome to 80? Who cares. First tailor to 425? Whoop-de-do. First player on the server to 80? Way to prove you can either a) take a week off work or b) take a week off school or even worse, c) share your account with others and power level.
If I see anyone running around sporting one of the "server first" titles, I'll just laugh a little on the inside. All the other achievements I have no problem with. Exalted with the Timbermaw? Sure, it takes time (a lot of time), but you can do a little here, a little there, but it doesn't take a week of straight playing.
Also, what does happen if someone gets seriously injured from sleep deprivation or too many energy drinks? I have an energy drink here or there, and when seeing the latest Batman film, I drank too many in a short period of time and I swear I thought my heart was going to explode (why I still continue to drink even a single one is a mystery...). So what does happen if someone drinks too many, goes into cardiac arrest, and dies - while trying to accomplish a feat that Blizzard set up in game? Could they be sued? Maybe. They are officially sanctioning the race to 80. They are saying - go for it - we know you'll play 24x7, but we don't care. You want to be the server first, congrats.
I doubt they'll change their mind about this, but in my opinion, it's probably one of the stupidest things they've done in a while. Let's hope they do go back and realize the mistake they've made.
First gnome to 80? Who cares. First tailor to 425? Whoop-de-do. First player on the server to 80? Way to prove you can either a) take a week off work or b) take a week off school or even worse, c) share your account with others and power level.
If I see anyone running around sporting one of the "server first" titles, I'll just laugh a little on the inside. All the other achievements I have no problem with. Exalted with the Timbermaw? Sure, it takes time (a lot of time), but you can do a little here, a little there, but it doesn't take a week of straight playing.
Also, what does happen if someone gets seriously injured from sleep deprivation or too many energy drinks? I have an energy drink here or there, and when seeing the latest Batman film, I drank too many in a short period of time and I swear I thought my heart was going to explode (why I still continue to drink even a single one is a mystery...). So what does happen if someone drinks too many, goes into cardiac arrest, and dies - while trying to accomplish a feat that Blizzard set up in game? Could they be sued? Maybe. They are officially sanctioning the race to 80. They are saying - go for it - we know you'll play 24x7, but we don't care. You want to be the server first, congrats.
I doubt they'll change their mind about this, but in my opinion, it's probably one of the stupidest things they've done in a while. Let's hope they do go back and realize the mistake they've made.
Aug 22, 2008
Achievements
Earlier today, Matticus talked about achievements that will soon occupy my time. As of press time, there are 694 listed achievements and I look forward to completing as many as I can. I have no more reputations to grind (though I have a few left I can complete through some instance runs) and I only have one pet left to grind (that damn Emerald Whelp will probably never be mine), and there's just not much to do these days.
I've been spending much of my time helping out my friendly backstabber, Tockett (yes, I couldn't get Tiddlywinks.com, but I did get Tockett.com). Tockett was the first of us gnomes to reach level 60 and also was able to obtain the rank of Knight Captain back in the day. He also heavily raided ZG, MC, and AQ20. Oh, the good ol' days. So while there's not much to do with Tiddly, Tockett is going strong. However, once he reaches 70, I fear there will be little left. What's the point of gearing up as it will all be obsolete in a few scant months?
Back to achievements though, some are insane...
40 Exalted Factions - I'm at 22...could probably hit 25 to 26 if I tried, there will be some added in the expansion, but 40!? Dang! Luckily I'm already past the levels of 10, 15 & 20.
100,000 Honorable Kills - Wow...I've got 2,200. I plan on getting up to maybe 5,000 by the time the expansion comes out as I want to stockpile some honor points so I can get some nice honor rewards at level 80. So maybe I'll stay on defense more in AV rather than going to the front like I enjoy.
Complete 3,000 Quests - I love this one. I'm pretty sure I'm already over half way there as grinding all my faction reps (including the Goblin reputations) has had me go all over to quest. Add in the fact that I plan on exploring more locations prior to Wrath, I should probably focus on picking up any quests I see. Luckily, they are thinking about adding in grey ? so we can more easily find quests we have not completed. In fact, I did two quests last night from the Area 52 wanted board. Nice to have that section clear.
Master of Alterac Valley - This one should be fun! Some of the individual achievements within this grouping seem tough, but it will be a challenge. I'm not sure how you can assault & defend a graveyard and assault & defend a tower in the same game.
Shop Smart, Shop Pet...Smart - Already done! (Obtain 50 pets) Yay, pet skunk, here I come.
World Explorer - I've been working on this one already. I hope to have every place explored. Sometimes though, there's areas on a map that you don't know you haven't explored as they aren't "shaded" on the world map. Not quite sure how they'll handle that.
My Sack is "Gigantique" - Great, I have to spend 1200g on a bag. Guess I should buy it soon so I can actually get some usage out of my 1200g...
Twenty-Five Tabards - If only I had room to start collecting them now, I would. But once I can stable my pets in Wrath, I will have room to collect tabards and since I'm exalted with 22 factions and have some unique tabards as well, 25 should be no problem.
Skills to Pay the Bills - Easy! I'm already 375 of fishing, cooking, and first aid. No problem to level them come Wrath.
The Cake Is Not A Lie - HAHA. Love it. Need to go bake me a cake. Already have the recipe.
The Diplomat - Reach exalted with Timbermaw, Kurenai & Sporeggar. Done and done!
The Justicar - Wow, this will be tough. Granted, I would love to get those three reputations to exalted as it is, but AB and WSG are just so painful to grind. I think I just need to put more time into them during their respective weekends. Plus I can rack up some HKs while doing so.
Well Read - This should be tons of fun. I've read a few, but there's a lot more I have to go find.
I've been spending much of my time helping out my friendly backstabber, Tockett (yes, I couldn't get Tiddlywinks.com, but I did get Tockett.com). Tockett was the first of us gnomes to reach level 60 and also was able to obtain the rank of Knight Captain back in the day. He also heavily raided ZG, MC, and AQ20. Oh, the good ol' days. So while there's not much to do with Tiddly, Tockett is going strong. However, once he reaches 70, I fear there will be little left. What's the point of gearing up as it will all be obsolete in a few scant months?
Back to achievements though, some are insane...
40 Exalted Factions - I'm at 22...could probably hit 25 to 26 if I tried, there will be some added in the expansion, but 40!? Dang! Luckily I'm already past the levels of 10, 15 & 20.
100,000 Honorable Kills - Wow...I've got 2,200. I plan on getting up to maybe 5,000 by the time the expansion comes out as I want to stockpile some honor points so I can get some nice honor rewards at level 80. So maybe I'll stay on defense more in AV rather than going to the front like I enjoy.
Complete 3,000 Quests - I love this one. I'm pretty sure I'm already over half way there as grinding all my faction reps (including the Goblin reputations) has had me go all over to quest. Add in the fact that I plan on exploring more locations prior to Wrath, I should probably focus on picking up any quests I see. Luckily, they are thinking about adding in grey ? so we can more easily find quests we have not completed. In fact, I did two quests last night from the Area 52 wanted board. Nice to have that section clear.
Master of Alterac Valley - This one should be fun! Some of the individual achievements within this grouping seem tough, but it will be a challenge. I'm not sure how you can assault & defend a graveyard and assault & defend a tower in the same game.
Shop Smart, Shop Pet...Smart - Already done! (Obtain 50 pets) Yay, pet skunk, here I come.
World Explorer - I've been working on this one already. I hope to have every place explored. Sometimes though, there's areas on a map that you don't know you haven't explored as they aren't "shaded" on the world map. Not quite sure how they'll handle that.
My Sack is "Gigantique" - Great, I have to spend 1200g on a bag. Guess I should buy it soon so I can actually get some usage out of my 1200g...
Twenty-Five Tabards - If only I had room to start collecting them now, I would. But once I can stable my pets in Wrath, I will have room to collect tabards and since I'm exalted with 22 factions and have some unique tabards as well, 25 should be no problem.
Skills to Pay the Bills - Easy! I'm already 375 of fishing, cooking, and first aid. No problem to level them come Wrath.
The Cake Is Not A Lie - HAHA. Love it. Need to go bake me a cake. Already have the recipe.
The Diplomat - Reach exalted with Timbermaw, Kurenai & Sporeggar. Done and done!
The Justicar - Wow, this will be tough. Granted, I would love to get those three reputations to exalted as it is, but AB and WSG are just so painful to grind. I think I just need to put more time into them during their respective weekends. Plus I can rack up some HKs while doing so.
Well Read - This should be tons of fun. I've read a few, but there's a lot more I have to go find.
Aug 8, 2008
Enjoying the Spirit of Competition!
Well, the "Competitions" started today and I was off to the battlegrounds. I teamed up with some guildmates and we headed into Alterac Valley. After losing the first game due to our team's inability to hold the Relief Hut, my party and I decided we'd take that first rather than Iceblood Tower. So the next two games, we quickly went down, capped the hut, took the towers, and with that we were able to quickly win both games. After the second game, I got my Competitor's Tabard and after the third game, I got my Spirit of Competition. This is my 72nd pet and here's a picture of me with the tabard and the pet as I farm Dreaming Whelps as I look for a Tiny Emerald Whelp.
Jul 31, 2008
Unprepared
As stated previously, we went back to 10 man raiding this week and I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was unprepared. I had no Wizard Oil. I had one flask and I ran out of mana pots. I had to ration my food. I was not ready at all. So this weekend will be spent getting back to raid-ready status. I will be doing the cooking dailies, grinding mats for pots, flasks, and oils. I will not be caught off-guard again. It really was pretty sad when a friendly warlock came up to me to bum a hit of Wizard Oil, only to find I had none...at the beginning of the raid...I had none!
We did manage to take down Halazzi, Akil'zon and Nalorakk, almost getting the third chest (probably needed 5-8 more minutes). Jan'alai continues to frustrate us, but we had a few new people with us this week and I'm sure when everyone gets the fight down, we'll do just fine. Last night, it was an alt run through Kara. I showed up late, so I subbed in at Curator and we almost cleared the place by the time we had to call it. Unfortunately, Aran continues to withhold Sunfire from me.
On a completely unrelated note, I bought an enchanting pattern yesterday for 1500g. Enchant Boots - Vitality are mine. However, with the purchase of the formula and the firefly, I'm very low on cash, so it's back to doing dailies. I thought 5kg would last me for a while. I guess not.
We did manage to take down Halazzi, Akil'zon and Nalorakk, almost getting the third chest (probably needed 5-8 more minutes). Jan'alai continues to frustrate us, but we had a few new people with us this week and I'm sure when everyone gets the fight down, we'll do just fine. Last night, it was an alt run through Kara. I showed up late, so I subbed in at Curator and we almost cleared the place by the time we had to call it. Unfortunately, Aran continues to withhold Sunfire from me.
On a completely unrelated note, I bought an enchanting pattern yesterday for 1500g. Enchant Boots - Vitality are mine. However, with the purchase of the formula and the firefly, I'm very low on cash, so it's back to doing dailies. I thought 5kg would last me for a while. I guess not.
Jul 29, 2008
Zul'Aman...We're Back!
Trolls, you're on notice. Tonight, after a very long absence, the Gold Team 10 Man group will be heading back to Zul'Aman. We're going to aim for 3 timed bosses and try and progress as we have not yet cleared the instance. Time to die trolls, time to die.
Jul 28, 2008
Back...
((Well, I'm back from Comic-Con. Got a chance to sit in on the World of Warcraft panel and hear all about the comic books, the manga, the card game, the figurines, everything except...the game. But that's what I expected. It was a talk about the merchandise. Only when they opened it up for Q&A did the game get discussed, and even then, questions like..."Why no legendary for hybrid druids" came up and just frustrated all those involved.
Alas, no pet was handed out and the "special gift" mentioned in the description of the panel was a lame WoW trading card game pin. We did get a very nice exclusive Comic-Con issue of the comic book which we got signed by the artist, so that's a nice bonus. But the panel was pretty...blah. Except of course meeting up with Vetarra and Narina from my guild. Always nice to meet guildies outside of the game and especially ones who are as nice as they were.))
So after my vacation, I was amped to get out and start killing things again, especially with my new Ethereal Soul-Trader following me around collecting Soul Credits. I made room for my Firefly in the bank and now just carry my Soul-Trader and my Rocket Chicken.
Oh yeah, I'm currently carrying Don Carlos' Famous Hat with me as the aforementioned wonderful Vetarra, Aracely, and Khyras helped me obtain it yesterday. Don Carlos is a pushover really and we killed him a few times in heroic with just 4 people (probably could be done with 3 or even 2 if you could get enough DPS) and we all got our hats. I also obtained my pattern for Dress Shoes as it was sold out the first time I tried to buy it. Together with the Haliscan items, I could make a nice little outfit. Though I'll probably go for the Soul-Trader outfit first.
With the addition of my Soul-Trader and Ghost Wolf, I sit at 71 of 83 pets collected. An impressive feat and I cannot wait until I can free up 71 bag spaces with the expansion.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)