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The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast Topic: Achievements that should have been
by Aiden James Kosciesza 
Feb 1st 2011 at 8:00AM
The advent of achievements changed the game of WoW in many ways. Not only do they provide recognition for time and devotion put into the game, such as the Loremaster or Justicar achievements, but in Wrath content and beyond, they can actually change players' approaches to game encounters. Consider the meta achievements for the Wrath raids. Who would have actually tried downing Sartharion with all three drakes alive if there had been no reward? Achievements prompt us to try more daring or difficult strategies for boss fights, do crazy or counterintuitive things in PvP combat, or run headlong into live mine fields. They also allow Blizzard developers to work in hard modes for certain bosses, giving them a scaling difficulty that provides accessibility for casual players and challenge for the hardcore.
So what about the vanilla and BC encounters? With a few notable exceptions, classic and Burning Crusade content has not received the achievement treatment.
If achievements had been part of WoW from the beginning, what would they have been like? Which crazy boss strategies deserved their own achievements in classic and BC encounters? Have you ever done something awesome in older content and thought, "Man, that should have been an achievement"?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 9)
Dendallin Feb 1st 2011 9:23PM
@roidrage
I know probably no one cares, but as one of the few people who actually knows what the eth (ð) means, I feel obligated to tell everyone that it is not a variation of an "o" but rather is the "th" sound in Old English. Just for some useless information that no one really cares about.
Amaxe Feb 1st 2011 11:21AM
Well I understand your annoyance. Seeing the toons with "æ" in places where it would be gibberish to pronounce makes me want to say "You know, if you are using Classical Latin, it's pronounced "eye" and if you are using Ecclesiastical pronunciation it's "aay"
akiva Feb 1st 2011 1:05PM
or "Rockzo"
it's not that Feb 1st 2011 2:02PM
And let's not forget using an ess-tset for a B!
devotedaversion Feb 1st 2011 11:35PM
I would totally reroll as "Feelgood"
Zenith Feb 2nd 2011 5:03AM
I already made freaky looking undead warrior with killer grin years ago for this achievement, just need to level him over 15 ish
Rockso wants his title, a ka ka kayeah!
(I just need to find something to shout that won't have other players or GM's getting ban happy)
ghola Feb 1st 2011 8:39AM
The Reaper (title):
Defeat every dungeon and kill every hostile creature in those dungeons (full clears) within 6 hours.
Kriegle Feb 1st 2011 4:26PM
Why is this downvoted? Yeah it would be an unbelievable grind and probably impossible, but if the numbers were tweaked (maybe to 24 or 48 hours) I think it could be pretty fun :)
MsMoo Feb 1st 2011 8:46AM
Goind down the squeal - Fall from the Aldor elevator in Shatt and Live if at all possible.
swatmat Feb 1st 2011 8:46AM
Kill a paladin after he has bubbled, healed to full nuke him down again, lay on hands, nuke down again and finally killed him.
Docseuzz Feb 1st 2011 8:48AM
I thought 'hidden' achievements would be good... Take the wrath zombie pre-event... have the server track the stats... and post event, get a feat of strength if you infected 10,20,50 other players... You'd just have to keep the datafiles with the achievement away from the PTR until after the event finishes so no datamine for you!
parkerwilliamson89 Feb 1st 2011 8:48AM
"Where Did the Time Go? - Find and kill the Time-Lost Proto Drake as well as Aeonaxx.
Just finding these things would be an achievement in itself.
Luke Feb 1st 2011 8:49AM
"Don't Go Towards The Light"
"Bandage-inating The Peasants."
"You Can Put An Eye Out With That Thing."
"Keep An Eye On The Peasants."
"Pain in the Anathema."
All related to the the quest, Balance Of Light And Shadow. For various reasons:
completing the quest at an appropriate level
equipping Anathema / Benediction
don't let any of them die
use x bandages
etc
Brent Nelson Feb 1st 2011 8:50AM
"I hear it's catching" - die to the Zul'Gurub Corrupted Blood Plague while in Ironforge or Orgrimar.
Sir Josiah Feb 1st 2011 8:51AM
No way... just earlier this afternoon I was thinking how much I'd like to see this as a breakfast topic. Awesome!
Separation Anxiety - Kill the Twin Emperors without allowing them to heal.
TOO SOON! - Defeat Ragnaros in (x) minutes.
Roidrage Feb 1st 2011 8:55AM
Healer Squealer
Complete all Cata dungeons without using a single CC…..Everyone seems to be doing that one achievement or not ;)
Maymer Feb 1st 2011 8:59AM
"I'll Stop Yakin When You Start Smackin"- *insert your favorite old vanilla or BC boss that CONSTANTLY badgered you by screaming how powerful he was before you laid the righteous hand of whoop-ass upon thy buttox region...mine will be Baron Rivendale*
"I'm Gonna Get 24th Century On His-" -Kill 10 Ethereal in Shadow Labyrinth within 60 seconds.
"Blue Me!"- post a reply or comment on WoWInsider.com and have it upvoted to Blue status
Aruhgulah Feb 1st 2011 3:11PM
Vanilla or BC???? Let's put that achieve in for Lady Deathwhisper in ICC -- I know a whole server that'd dearly love to put the smackdown on HER just to shut her up before she launches into that speech.
Sorphius Feb 1st 2011 8:59AM
I agree with you entirely, Stella. Achievements *should* be relevant. Much as professional athletes can't compete in high school sports, you should be able to run around at lvl 85 picking up achievements you missed out on years ago.
That having been said, if there had been achievements in the game during vanilla I think killing Garr with all his adds up would have been a good one. Maybe also one for killing Ragnaros before his sons came out to play.
Grimmwrath Feb 1st 2011 9:01AM
"Bringing Down the (Auction) House", kill at least 12 people in the Ironforge or Orgrimmar AH by summoning your pet that still had the Living Bomb debuff from MC.