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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What if achievements had existed in classic WoW?
by Allison Robert 
May 13th 2009 at 8:00AM
One of our readers, Eli, wrote in last night with a suggestion for a Breakfast Topic: if achievements had existed in classic WoW, what would they have been? It provoked some back-channel discussion here with staffers wondering how the game would have been different if beating the boss or dungeon wasn't the only thing on your plate:Me: What would a hard-mode Ragnaros have been like?
Adam Holisky: Kill Ragnaros using only one tank!
Eliah Hecht: Domo comes back from the dead and starts randomly sheeping raid members in revenge.
Other suggestions included killing Hakkar with all of his priests still up, hearthing with Hakkar's debuffs and infecting at least 500 players with Corrupted Blood (back when this was still possible, of course), killing at least 500 Dwarves without dropping combat in the Lyceum, the Stratholme timed run, and -- as Sacco suggested -- "getting through an UBRS run without (anyone) quitting." Having recently leveled a Shaman through this content, I can tell you that's one achievement I wouldn't have managed.
If you were back in classic WoW again with no chance of advancing beyond level 60 talents and gear, what would make for a worthwhile achievement?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Humor, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Grak May 15th 2009 7:16AM
"I wish blizz never stole the idea of achievements from Warhammer"
/facefist (for when palm just doesnt cut it)
Nuka May 13th 2009 2:37PM
I think you'll find City of Heroes had "badges" for meeting various criteria before WAR had even dropped by Climax.
Wulfkin May 14th 2009 6:55AM
Achievements actually come from various console games (one of the few good things consoles have brought to the world of PC gaming).
Why does everyone have this Warcraft steals from Warhammer obsession? Used to be funny, know its ridiculous.
Evivrus May 17th 2009 9:46PM
“Mission Impossible” – Witness the Headmasters Charge drop in Scholo.
“Mission Impossible… Again!” – Witness the Baron mount drop in Strath.
“Betrayal of the King” – Defeat the Princess of Ironforge in BRD
“Incoming Repairs” – Defeat a top-end raid boss, (I.E Rag, Ony etc) after wiping three or more times.
“Beep Beep I’m a… train?” – Use the /Train emote 500 times.
“Cha Ching!” – Loot a BoE epic.
“I’m Spent” – Purchase epic mount training along with the mount.
“I Win You Lose” – Defeat every class in a duel.
“The Undying” – (Feat of Strength.) Reach lvl 10 without having any deaths.
“BUR” / “KEK” – Laugh at a dead member of the opposing faction.
These any good? :D
ghola May 13th 2009 9:30AM
First off I'd just like to see each of the Loremaster quest achievements for the Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms broken down by zone like they've done for Outland and Northrend, which would have happened if achievements were implemented back then.
Second? Hardcore: Reach level 60 without dying.
Phyl May 13th 2009 9:43AM
You'd miss the BRD key :)
Throck May 13th 2009 11:30AM
Does death by Videre Elixir count?
ghola May 13th 2009 1:24PM
Well there would have to be some exceptions I suppose... how's this:
Hardcore: Reach level 60 without ever self-resurrecting via corpse run or using the graveyard angel. Getting resurrected/revived/etc in any other manner does not nullify this achievement.
Hardcore Extreme: Reach level 60 without dying in any way, shape or form.
Super Hardcore Extreme: Reach level 60 without dying in any way, shape or form on a pvp server.
Avrus May 13th 2009 9:57AM
Stratholme:
'Power to the people'
Kill Baron Rivendare without the group slaying a citizen.
'As you wish'
Kill Baroness Anastari without anyone in the group being mind controlled.
Syme May 13th 2009 10:02AM
I am very glad that classic WoW didn't have achievements. It would have really killed the sense of place and the better pacing that the original game had.
Zamn10210 May 13th 2009 10:15AM
I'm with you on the sense of place, but pacing? Your glasses must be so rose-tinted all you see is a pinkish blur, the pacing of original WoW was just staggeringly awful. It's one area in which the game has indisputably improved.
Bizzy May 13th 2009 10:21AM
Spend 30 minutes in the Barrens without someone saying a Chuck Norris joke
Doffencrag May 13th 2009 12:25PM
This.... is a Feat of Strength.
Mike May 14th 2009 4:44AM
A feat of Chuck Norris-like Strength, even.
... I just costed someone their WoWInsider achievement, didn't I? *shamefaced*
Cyrus May 13th 2009 10:30AM
" What would a hard-mode Ragnaros have been like?"
Same as hard-mode Sapphiron: with no member of your raid group having more than a certain amount of fire resistance.
"'getting through an UBRS run without (anyone) quitting.' Having recently leveled a Shaman through this content, I can tell you that's one achievement I wouldn't have managed."
This would have been really hard. Maybe the biggest difference between vanilla WoW and both expansions is the size of the dungeons. Even the instances that are physically big (Old Hillsbrad) or that are representations of physically big places in the storyline (Azjol-Nerub) are laid out a lot more directly than instances in vanilla WoW, with fewer bosses, fewer scripted events, fewer alternate routes, etc. Check out a wowwiki list of bosses in almost any old world instance: they each had a dozen, and most groups would only kill half of them on any given run. Truly clearing any instance would have been worthy of a hard-mode achievement.
Similar achievements: kill all bosses of Blackrock Spire in a single run. Complete the UBRS key quest chain. Kill Princess Theradras without anyone in the group using the portal to the waterfall. And, in Burning Crusade: complete the Karazhan quest chains in one instance lockout period.
Kill the boss of LBRS (some dragonkin, I forget his name) while under the effects of Mother's Milk. That would have been a great one.
Drager May 13th 2009 11:10AM
Kill 1000 members of the opposing faction in the area between Tarren Mill and Southshore.
world pvp ftw!
Erogroth May 13th 2009 11:15AM
How about a Barrens Chat Achievement. "I survived Barrens Chat"
http://worldofwarcraft.mmocluster.com/img_achievements/ca5fb1e80c9ba7be7e9002d1afe3bb81.jpg
CDave May 13th 2009 11:30AM
"Over 9000"
Slay the Twin Emperors without letting them get more than 15 yards away from each other.
rosencratz May 13th 2009 12:13PM
If vanilla WoW had achievements all the decent titles would be gone :P
odawr May 13th 2009 12:21PM
feat of strenght : Gutrot! 'nuff said