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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPlagued and Black Proto-drake rewards to be removed
by Zach Yonzon 
Feb 26th 2009 at 4:00PM
With Patch 3.1 already on the PTR -- although without Ulduar yet -- the clock is ticking for aspiring drake riders. All hope isn't lost, however, as Blizzard is introducing two new reward mounts to go with the 10- and 25-man Ulduar raid Achievements. Pictured above as mined from the PTR files by MMO Champion is the Ironbound Proto-Drake, which I suspect is the reward for the Heroic Ulduar Achievments. There's also a Rusted Proto-Drake, which is likely the reward for the 10-man meta-Achievement. For those of you working towards the Plagued and Black Proto-Drakes, you don't have long now! Hop to it and don't die!
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.Filed under: News items, Raiding, Mounts, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 8)
schm0 Feb 26th 2009 9:57PM
Epic Fail.
I've seen one, count it, ONE plagued proto-drake on my server and not a single black proto-drake at all.
In fact, I'm not even sure more than one guild even *has* this acheivement. I don't care if the uber-guilds have "earned" it or not... Epic mounts from extremely difficult acheivements should not be limited to .001% of the gamers out there. Some people have jobs, kids, lives, not to mention other interests *GASP* and don't have the time to invest in a game and grind their way through Heroic Naxx in a week.
The fact that this achievement is going to become otherwise worthless and we're just going to have to "race" to get the next 310 speed mount from Ulduar makes me despise this decision. Is that how it's going to work? Each content patch means the elimination of another epic mount?
I'd be happier if the reward was changed to a token which could be exchanged, along with an exorbitant amount of gold, for the drake itself. That way at least casual players have a meager shot at going back for the mount after grinding gold until their eyes bleed.
Ugkul Feb 26th 2009 6:03PM
So you're going to miss out on a couple of mounts.
There are like at least 80 more to choose from.
Get over it.
RogueJedi86 Feb 26th 2009 6:08PM
But there's also a 100 mount achievement. 80 others is still 20 shy of the 100 mount achievement. Raiders get 2-up on the mount achievement over casuals, who are what achievements like that are made for. The people who will grind Ambassador of Horde/Alliance and then spend 1000+ gold buying all 5 faction's mounts, then doing grinding in Nagrand for days to get all the Talbuks, and etc. Raiders do this crap for the epic loots, not the mounts, so why give them to them? Isn't the fact that they're decked out in Tier 7 enough of a status symbol?
meme Feb 26th 2009 6:29PM
Dont you feel just a bit stupid for cry for that two mounts?
Its just a bunch of pixels, but if the 100 mount achievement is so important to you, improve to get the plagued and black drakes. Or wait till the next set of mounts you´ll get in a future patch.
I dont understand the 'I want that and I want it know' philosophy. Some thing in the life requires some effort.
Please, try to understand that hard achievements must be... hard! And its pretty fair to put the rewards in the difficult things and not in the "give 10 hugs" achievement.
RogueJedi86 Feb 26th 2009 7:51PM
"Dont you feel just a bit stupid for cry for that two mounts?"
With those achievements, every mount counts. 2 less is 2 more to be found elsewhere in even harder places. Who says Glory of the Raider is hard? Just because it's hard now doesn't mean it was always meant to be hard.
If people can bitch at ghetto hearthing meaning they have to spend an extra 15 minutes getting back to Dalaran by boat/zeppelin/flightpath, then I am fully allowed to bitch at having to grind elsewhere for weeks to get the 2 more mounts I now cannot get via Glory of the Raider just because apparently some people are more hardcore than me and it'd be too easy for them. Change the game for the hardcore crowd, screw the casuals. Who cares if they have weeks more work? Can't have raiders getting 2 reskinned protodrakes easier than usual.
Pipquin Feb 26th 2009 6:05PM
I'm a little dissapointed in this move myself. While I can understand that they don't want to trivialize the content, I think it should still award something... for at least a patch. I just don't like the idea of having to rush to get it. Our guild is a bit more on the casual side than the hardcore side, but we were slowly going to be working on doing these (we only raid 2 nights a week, to try and get OS, EoE, and Naxx in, 10 man) and now I feel we won't ever do it because we aren't willing to sacrifice in order to get more raid time in.
Achievements should be more about doing something hard, not doing something fast.
I'd be fine with not getting the drake, but to have Glory of the Raider give NOTHING to you in 3.1 just makes me less likely to push to complete it. Maybe doing it when it's relevent can give you a Mount and Tabard (or Title) and doing it when it is no longer relevent only gives you the Tabard (or Title)... at least then I would feel that I'm still getting some reward for completing it. I'd even be fine if this was then removed completely in 3.2 (as the next raid would trivialize it too much)... it would just give those of us trying to achieve this at a slower pace a chance to do it and still be rewarded somewhat for our efforts.
Foxwind Feb 26th 2009 6:36PM
My dream's been dashed to the ground. ._. WRY BLIZZARD?!
Theostratus Feb 26th 2009 6:49PM
Couple mounts that do nothing, but people who play this game feel entitled to are getting removed? Sounds like the usual complaint since day one of WoW.
Get over it, if you can't make the time, then it's no one's fault but your own.
Yes, this game is becoming quite casual, but there is a thing called "Too Casual" which just ruins things. Get to work now instead of crying about it, and if you can't, oh well maybe something else will come along.
And to Rogue, achievements weren't made for casuals or hardcores, they were made for "goal-oriented players." Which is pretty much everyone, but like I said, get to work.
supersaint Feb 26th 2009 6:56PM
As usual, Actiblizz alienates the casual-player base, which is the majority of their monthly take, while catering to the no-life fanbois.
tython25 Feb 26th 2009 7:12PM
A lot of elitist BS by people like Manatank and others. The point is keeping these achievements in game would have made the game more fun with an additional goal to aim for. Taking them out just diminishes it. No amount of reasoning changes that fact.
PeeWee Feb 26th 2009 7:06PM
I get my pr0n elsewhere.
Adman Feb 27th 2009 2:15AM
Does anyone remember when you were 60, and an epic was epic? I get how wow is more 'casual-friendly' etc, but from my end (being a semi-hardcore raider) i am watching people drop out of raids becasue they have gotten all they want (seen the content, got the gear, don't care for achievements). It looks like achievements are the way it is heading, to adress the original casual players complaint of "we don't get to see the content" - so they stuck in achievements so the hardcore could have something to show for the fact that they have put a lot more time and effort in (which used to be clearing to content).
Causal's, and anyone else that is unhappy about this change - i urge you to look past your selfish "i want a drake too" and look at what it actually stands for - rewarding someone for completing an achivement. This is the key here. Read that sentence again, take it in, and understand it. Its not gear, it's not more content, it's simply a vanity item. It wasn't intended as welfare epics, because they will put them in too anyway.
For me, the item itself isn't all that great - i use druid flightform anyway. But if someone has this, i will probably whisper them "wow grats dude, thats awesome - well done". - and this, at it's core, is what the idea is all about.
If everyone could get this - and one step further, if all achievements were casual - then that would be limiting the game ONLY to people that can play casually, because the hardcores would simply get bored. This would in turn bring about the end of WoW, as even the casuals would drop out then - "i can only play 2 hours a week, and it's impossible to find someone else that can only play those 2 hours"
Imagine that - only casual's play (because the hardcores have been and gone) - imagine trying to find a group then... WoW has its own eco-system, and like it or not, the casuals benefit from the hardcores being there. So in turn, there has to be stuff to keep the hard-cores there.
Casuals need to get what they can out of the game. Ask themselves if this is enough to keep them playing, and are they getting enjoyment out of it. Same thing applies to the middle-range, the hard core, and the super hard-core.
When i see some of these comments about people being "selfish" - i imagine a casual asking a blizzard employee - "rename the level 80 server first title to 'i got to 80' and make it so everyone gets it" - what would be the point of server first if it got given out to everyone - even if they were not first.
*Note - i will be aiming for this achivement, but i don't think i will get it in time. Thats what makes it awesome.
Blixkreeg Feb 26th 2009 7:14PM
Blizzard's arguments are completely stupid and unfounded. Consider this: they're trophies. Trophies for completing content.
If you're completing content in Ulduar, a MUCH more difficult and progressed raid, you're worthy of the trophies you get there as well as the more trivial trophies that came before. If you're not geared for Ulduar, you're not going to get the items that would make these current trophies trivial to get.
James Stevenson Feb 26th 2009 7:17PM
I call this a bunch of bull poop! Sure I could easily be a hard core raider but I have a job that requires me to work. I have a family that actually I enjoy. I am in a guild that is full of people like me, we are damn good but have limited time, see we are adults. So Blizz can suck it on this one.
Oh and those who bytch can suck it to, sorry you have more time than me cause you are nothing but college kids or slackers.
Fozz Feb 26th 2009 7:27PM
Perhaps this has been mentioned, and if so I apologize.
I ride my flying mount for about 3 minutes a week, so I don't care about these mounts, but alot of people do and I understand why.
The thought occurred to me: what about the shelf-life of what is an innovative encounter?
If blizz incorporates some of the suggestions in these comments, like 280% instead of 310%, or making it a rare drop, etc., they will give people a reason to continue doing this encounter.
Otherwise OS is guaranteed to turn into Gruul or Mag: an encounter no one does once the new stuff is available.
This is an even more dangerous problem now that the higher level raid content is designed to be accessible to more than 5% of players.
In other words, a higher percentage of people than ever already have their tier stuff before the next level of tier is dropping, so the old content is more likely than ever to gather dust, which is both regrettable and avoidable.
So, go go blizzard, mitigate this proposal.
Dreadskull Feb 26th 2009 8:13PM
Yay, Blizzard kills the point of doing those achievements with the next patch.
syco Feb 26th 2009 8:25PM
So this is a terrible idea.
I never thought I would be walking around in current Tier gear, as a fairly casual player. I wasn't 60 when BC hit, I was only 70 for a few weeks before WotLK. At the time I was working on my blue set. There IS no 80 blue set. It's obvious that they are trying to get normal people to raid. And they've succeeded, I've got 4 of the 5 10 man T7 (i'm missing the hat). I'm wearing more epics than I could have dreamed of three months ago. My guild has been working on the race through Spider quarter achievement, but haven't done it yet... You only get one shot a week at most of these achievements, it seems incredulous to pull it out from under us when we've barely had a chance to work on it.
This essentially is a big reward to the people that, in my view, are the source of most of the problems in WoW, the extreme hardcore fringe. These people have been the reason it has taken me 3 and a half years to catch up to endgame. They are the reason every alt I have has his rotations change every month in the name of "Class Balance" i.e. Arenas. Every time I get close to the bar, it gets moved. I haven't even stepped foot in EoE yet. Am I ever going to be able to while it's still relevant? Is Ulduar going to be possible for someone who hasn't? Is it going to be possible at all?
Blizzard needs to pick, Us or Them. If they keep catering to the extreme hardcore, they will never be able to make them happy and will spend so much time tweaking classes and building progressively more and more ludicrously impossible raids that the rest of us will just quit and play Guitar Hero or something.
Or they could pick us, slowly release lore-filled, beautiful, accessible raids and 5mans, and tell the priority-disabled psychopaths to bug off. And make huge piles of money to put next to their other huge piles of money.
kamikazmik Feb 26th 2009 10:19PM
dumb. dumb. dumb.
why remove mounts at all?
even if i'm a year late, if i do the meta, i should get the reward. sure in T8 it would be easier, but the albino drake can be awarded even before gearing in the slightest, and it's still in. who's to say i'm in T8 going for the mounts anyway? the guild i'm in right now was full of raiders and clearing naxx regularly, then something happened (drama) and it's now down to gearing our newly level 80's up to get into naxx even, and i decided to stay with our GM, because she's a great player and a great GM. she's ready for ulduar but now she's the only one who is. you're telling me she can't get it unless she /gdisband's and joins a different guild? what about the hard work she put in? if it's a question of speed, nerf it. not hard. let the folks who got it early keep their speed, but leave the vanity in. how the hell do they expect us to get 100 mounts anyway when they keep taking everything out? i have a TLPD, but i wanted the black one, however i can't get it in the guild i'm in presently, due to lack of raiders.
most will say, move guilds and blah blah, but why would i ditch the people i like to play with just so i can beat a removal date? it makes me not even care if i ever finish the meta at all. where's the fun in that?
ok blizz, i'll quit my job, drop out of college, break up with my girlfriend, ostracize myself from my family just so i can get the end of your content EVERY TIME so i can feel "special". asinine.
the point being: if you do the achievement, geared or not, you should get the reward. and now, just because i'm not a teenager w/o a job, i can't get a mount i've been working on, at my own pace, to get.
LEAVE THEM IN.
deffo Feb 26th 2009 10:45PM
not sure if anyone else has suggested this but why not just make the achievements unattainable if you're running the raids with gear over a certain level?
deffo Feb 26th 2009 11:05PM
because in all honesty if they plan on only ever rewarding the top %1 or so hardcore players from now on then what's the point? it never said anywhere that these were rewards for being one of the first to achieve something...