After all I read about School of Hard Knocks I expected to hate it and to not get it done because it's so difficult. I got all of the requirements within 1 to 3 battlegrounds each. I'd definitely agree that it's one of the more challenging holiday achievements but it's neither impossible nor a "slap in the face" (tm) from Blizzard.

I think most people who have a problem with this achievement are pure PvE players and I see how they could have a hard time with this, it is doable though. I'm not great at PvP, I've never played arena in my life and I only play a few battlegrounds here and there, not rated either. I have mostly crafted PvP gear with two or three pieces bought for honor points, I think this helps a lot.

If you are a pure PvE player and want to get this achievement get some crafted PvP gear which will at least give you some resilience. The gear isn't expensive and it's on the AH pretty much all the time since new PvP chars will buy it on a constant basis. And yes, you should use the crafted gear even if its ilvl is a lot lower than your PvE gear, the resilience on it makes up for it in PvP.

The requirements for the achievements are things that come up in normal play in the battlegrounds. Of course they depend on you getting there first and lag doesn't help but there are tons of achievements that become a lot harder or even impossible if you're lagging badly.

Best advice for this achievement would be to come prepared (get some beginner PvP gear, know the battlegrounds and how to do the things that are required for the achievement, wowpedia and youtube can help with that) and just keep trying. It's not as hard as it's made out to be.

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