The OverAchiever: The 25 most entertaining achievements, part 2

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.
This week we continue our series on World of Warcraft's most entertaining achievements. Again, this isn't really a list of WoW's "best" achievements -- I think the term's too vague to be of any real use -- but I wanted to spotlight some of Blizzard's funniest, most compelling and most thought-provoking work. This is what we've done so far:
- OverAchiever: Pure Win
- The 25 most entertaining achievements, #25-21
- The 25 most entertaining achievements, #20-16 (today's post)

I wasn't sure whether it was right to include these, but finally decided I had to because they're just so much fun. Class-specific quests and achievements aren't very common; Blizzard isn't enthusiastic about pouring developmental time into something that a limited number of players will see. But if you play characters fortunate enough to have big, class-specific moments, they're always a hoot. Not only do they get you involved in the lore behind your class' inclusion in the game, but they also get you invested in the result. It's not for nothing that many paladin, druid and warlock players continue to use their special mounts even as they amass dozens of additional options. OK, I'll admit that Swift Flight Form will always be convenient as an instant cast, but it's not my fault that druids are better than everyone else.
The Charger and Dreadsteed quest lines were huge and expensive undertakings during classic WoW, and even today a player attempting to do them at 60 (20 levels past the point you can train them now, sadly) will have to enlist help. Buying your way into the Swift Flight Form quest line (yes, it's also trainable these days) is even more expensive, but as any player who's done it could tell you, completely worth it.
19. Into the Wild Blue Yonder
From OverAchiever: Pure Win:
Just the thought of being able to leap into those beautiful Outland vistas as a stormcrow was enough to keep me leveling at a manic rate. This culminated in the only all-nighter I've ever pulled in game, until I finally hit 68 and, in a blissful haze, trained Flight Form, hearthed to Outland and took off. I spent the next two hours doing absolutely nothing but exploring the world from above.
Getting your character airborne is a seminal moment, and not least because of the two levels you'll still spend trudging around Hellfire Peninsula contrasting the beauty of the sky with the godforsaken wasteland beneath it.
18. Icecrown: The Final Goal
There's no individual achievement for the separate quest lines in Icecrown, so I'm just going to go with the all-inclusive zone version. There are tons of great quests in Wrath of the Lich King -- you'll see this as a persistent theme in this series -- but Icecrown is an absolute triumph of lore moments, revelations and unsettling glimpses into the expansion's multiple storylines:
- interfaction hatred and another nail in the coffin of Alliance/Horde cooperation
- the Ebon Blade's savagery and having to "phase" Crusaders' Pinnacle and the Shadow Vault back into friendly control
- Arthas' mind and past
- Tirion Fordring giving up on the Lich King's humanity
- fighting one of Arthas' lieutenants and being allowed into the Jotunheim arena
- and in one small, freezing corner, a bit of desperate hope in Crusader Bridenbrad
Mine Sweeper has a frustrating element of RNG, but it's kind of hard to resent it while your character's being blown from one end of a mine field to another. It took me a while to angle my character correctly to nail the achievement, but watching anyone else do it (or, better yet, multiple people careering around the field) is never not funny.
16. Twenty-Five Tabards
I have a sneaking love of any achievement that, while perfectly fun to do on its own, goes the extra mile and shoves a cool title or item your way. Twenty-Five Tabards is among the best of these, although I do long for the day we'll get a tabard "keychain."
Twenty-Five Tabards probably veers more toward the "evil" end of things if you're trying to do it on a fresh character that's staring down a line of neutral or friendly reputation ranks, but think of it this way -- you can get Twenty-Five Tabards for "free" if you're working toward 40 Exalted Reputations and The Exalted title. In Cataclysm, it's only going to get easier with whatever new tabards come our way and an extra five levels to make grinding BC heroics easier if you're playing a class that can't efficiently solo them at 80. Well, that, and the extra stamina we're all getting sure won't hurt.
If you're interested in getting your own spiffy Tabard of the Achiever, OverAchiever has a guide here that I hope you find helpful.
Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! We've covered everything from Glory of the Hero and Insane in the Membrane to Master of Alterac Valley and Lil' Game Hunter, and you can count on us to guide you through holidays and Azeroth's special events. Filed under: Achievements, The Overachiever






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Samutz Jul 22nd 2010 5:15PM
I did Icecrown: The Final Goal last week with my pally to get Northend Loremaster.
Soloing all the group quests was a lot of fun, like the Valhalas battles, and the fight with Overthane Balargarde as the Lich King watched. And there were a lot of great lore moments that I didn't know about previously, such as Westwind's true identity.
Pyromelter Jul 22nd 2010 6:09PM
It's kind of a shame that Mal'Ganis is hidden in such a remote area as part of a very remote questline. Unless you are going for Loremaster or The Final Goal, it's not likely that people would run into that quest. Granted, you need pretty good raid gear to be able to solo that specific questline for most classes, but it's still a shame that that specific quest is hidden away.
GhostWhoWalks Jul 23rd 2010 1:53AM
@pyromelter: I was actually able to solo Mal'ganis in assorted Triumph emblem/heroic dungeon gear on my Affliction warlock, but it was one of the closest battles I've ever fought; I ended up using every trick in my arsenal to stay alive, and even then I was down to 1 or 2k health by the time he beat a retreat, but it was worth it. When I went back later to help someone else complete the quest, and he went down like a chump to 5 80s, I had one of those wonderful little moments when I thought to myself "Yeah...but I could've taken you on my own."
vazhkatsi Jul 22nd 2010 5:16PM
minesweeper is painful, the only quest achieve i havent finished.
garyism Jul 22nd 2010 6:11PM
you can do it on your flying mount. shouldn't take more than 30 seconds. really easy.
Pyromelter Jul 22nd 2010 6:14PM
Minesweeper is not a quest achieve. :P
I actually got minesweeper on my druid totally by accident. I was actually doing the quest where you have to get to the goblin in the middle of the mine field, winding my way in Swift Flight Form. Of course, I set off a mine, and my big cow tauren started flying all over the place... boom... boom...boom.. all the sudden "Minsweeper" popped up on my screen. I was like "o sh** lol." I was just happy I was able to toss some hots on myself as well as barkskin when my health got low so i didn't die.
Sometimes the most fun achievements are ones you don't even realize you are doing. :)
Donhorn Jul 22nd 2010 6:18PM
When I did Minesweeper I kinda cheated a little. I was already on a bad connection as it was, but I also went onto YouTube and opened as many videos as I could. Sure enough the latency was horrid, but that latency also let my run across the minefield before they started exploding me. I lagged out and died, but when I logged in I had a new achievement!
I'm glad that latency is a long ways behind me now. That was the ONLY good thing that ever came from it! XD
MrJackSauce Jul 22nd 2010 5:17PM
That video is so full of win I jumped around the room while watching them, laughing delightedly at the pure awesomeness.
blizzardsprules Jul 22nd 2010 5:28PM
When I saw the picture, I was like, NOOOOO! HIGHER LEARNING!? THIS IS MADNESS!
Pyromelter Jul 22nd 2010 6:17PM
Higher learning is kind of fun, and kind of evil. If you are on a good server where people are known to say "Schools of Arcane Magic on the second floor of legerdemain" it makes it kind of fun. I always do that myself. Only problem with that is that people mix up the violet hold and violet citadel. The reward from Higher Learning is definitely one of the coolest rewards in the game for an individual acheivement.
Task Jul 22nd 2010 5:43PM
When I saw the video, I could only think of 2 things:
1. Dances With Mines: The Bear Edition
and
2. RocketBare Version 2 :)
Syggy Jul 22nd 2010 5:58PM
It took my priest an hour, but I got Minesweeper..
Valt Jul 22nd 2010 6:06PM
Just reminder about warlock epic steed quest.
You only need one (1) with LAST mats in the group to finish the quest. I was doing it with 1 lock and both bought those about 250g(?) mats to summon the steed in DM. Oh man how annoying it was when I noticed we could've shared the money to buy last mats. 250g as first char and (in BC tho) still leveling was bit pain to spend.
Because the quest will get completed once you have defeated it whether you used the mats or not.
David Soto Zambrana Jul 22nd 2010 6:08PM
Mindsweeper was one of those really fun and really chaotic achievements that made me so glad when I got it.
Trido Jul 22nd 2010 6:24PM
haha That video was awesome.
Oh, and this article was too short. Stop trying to split it into 3 posts. :)
AltairDusk Jul 22nd 2010 6:26PM
It still annoys me to no end that the trainer will just give you the dreadsteed. It's not like locks who are too lazy to do the quest couldn't just get the racial mount. It would make the dreadsteed more meaningful if they had to earn it like the locks who came before. For those of us who got it the right way making it trainable diminishes it.
Docp Jul 22nd 2010 10:00PM
Hmm, it's interesting that you got upvoted when usually that argument is met with disapproval (the 30% ICC buff makes my Kingslayer title less important, the welfare epics make my epics less valuable, People getting starcaller in 3.3 gear makes my title less special).
I wonder if it's because of the sheer size of difference, i.e. going from one of the toughest and longest quests in game, to being a mere button click.
Lars Petersson Jul 22nd 2010 7:03PM
I think I'm one of those people who really miss the requirements for the charger/dreadsteed/flight form and so on.
I'm pretty casual, so I'm glad that certain parts of the game has gotten easier/simpler but I still remember with fondness how in BC my guild would help out fresh 60+ locks to get the dreadsteed.
I'm making a point of doing these quests on new toons wherever I'm aware of them...
SlimPickens42 Jul 22nd 2010 7:08PM
A little note on the Charger quests: They scale with your level. At lvl 80 they award as much gold as other lvl 80 quests (~13g or so). This can make what was originally a very expensive quest line a little more manageable.
Answer Jul 22nd 2010 7:12PM
as one of the bears in the video, I support this post.
Answer on Dark Iron
CAW: the vaguely-annual DI Alliance druid partay
http://www.wow.com/2008/04/29/shifting-perspectives-druids-just-wanna-have-fun/
/shamelessplug