The OverAchiever: Mountain O' Mounts from achievements, part 2
by Allison Robert 
May 12th 2011 at 7:00PM
Bloodbathed Frostbrood Vanquisher, Icebound Frostbrood Vanquisher
As above. I still find it hilarious that we spent an entire expansion ridding the world of the undead threat, only to top off the experience by keeping some of their more convenient creations around.
How to get them The Bloodbathed is a reward from Glory of the Icecrown Raider (10-player); The Icebound is a reward from Glory of the Ulduar Raider (25-player). As with their Ulduar counterparts, the majority of Icecrown raiding achievements pose much less of a threat at 85. Offhand, the ones most likely to be an annoyance these days are Once Bitten, Twice Shy (every person in the raid will have to do the Blood Queen Lana'thel fight at least twice to manage it) and All You Can Eat. As far as I'm concerned, Sindragosa was the single worst raid encounter of Wrath, and this achievement didn't do much to improve anyone's opinion of it.
Violet Proto-Drake
The Violet was once the only way for a non-raiding and non-PvPing character to get a 310% speed mount. Today, it's arguably the most unique mount in the game because it'll still give you access to 310% speed without your having to shell out for Master Riding at a flight trainer. If you're addicted to both alts and speed, that's a pretty good deal if you're willing to go multiple rounds with School of Hard Knocks and King of the Fire Festival.
On second thought ... it's not like 5,000 gold is really all that much anymore, is it?
How to get it The Violet does not come easy. If you want 310% flying for free, you'll need to buckle down to all the achievements necessary for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, the year-long PvE meta-achievement covering most WoW holidays. And yes, you'll have to do it for each character who wants the Drake.
Volcanic Stone Drake
Two new drake models debuted when Cataclysm went live. One was the stone drake, quickly a familiar model to any player who leveled through Deepholm, and the other was the (for lack of a better term) "Wind" drake. Unsurprisingly, the Volcanic shares a model with the former, and I think it's one of the more attractively colored. Certainly no one questions that the Sandstone Drake is pretty cool, but you do tend to see it coming from a rather impressive distance.
How to get it As the reward from Glory of the Cataclysm Hero, this is the current expansion's equivalent of the Red Proto-Drake. Overall, the 5-man achievements in Cataclysm feel a lot easier than their Wrath counterparts were, or at least they are generally less dependent on multiple trips to dungeons and frustrating coordination issues.
That said, there are still some doozies in the meta, and probably none more so than Headed South, which is still challenging even in raid gear. As a quick note for anyone who's read our earlier looks at the Cataclysm Hero meta, Faster Than the Speed of Light has gotten the hell of a lot easier as of a pre-4.1 hotfix. You are no longer going to lose this to Anraphet's little roleplay event, which was absolutely maddening; you'll get the achievement as soon as you kill the last of the four elemental bosses in the Vault of Lights.
Drake of the East Wind
In contrast to the Volcanic, the East Wind drake is (you'll never guess!) a "Wind" drake. I have to confess that I can never remember which of these drakes is which ("Is it the Tol Barad one? The Altairus drop?") and have had to pull Wowhead up every time I see one referenced.
How to get it Hoo boy. You'll only get your hands on this if your guild can stomp Glory of the Cataclysm Raider, and right now, that's a pretty select group. From everything I've seen, this is still an exceptionally rare mount, and the world first by Immersion of Auchindoun (EU) didn't happen until early March. For comparison, from what I recall of Wrath, the world-first tier 7 drakes occurred a month or less (I think?) into that expansion. Then again, tier 7 didn't have Stay Chill.
Dark Phoenix
Must ... resist ... urge to make ... X-Men related jokes. Blizzard's tinkered with the look of the Dark Phoenix since it went live, and right now it's quite a bit more well-defined than it was. Previously, it was somewhat hard to tell exactly what players were riding. (VarstJasol on Wowhead summarized it thusly: "Reins of the Not-So-Dark Phoenix.") A big blob of purplish light was rather less compelling than its cousin, the Ashes of Al'ar. I'm not sure whether this was a bug or intended.
How to get it This one's off limits unless you're in a guild that's capable of clearing tier 11 raid content in order to earn Guild Glory of the Cataclysm Raider and exalted with the guild. However, it doesn't matter whether you do it on 10- or 25-man as long as a majority of the raid (eight of 10 people on 10-man and 20 of 25 people on 25-man) is rocking the same guild tag.
Blue and Red Dragonhawk
We started this guide with the halfway mark; it seems only fair to end it with ... well, the end. While we're not actually finished with our series on Mountain O' Mounts, this is the reward you can expect for getting to 100 mounts on a character. Alliance players receive a Blue Dragonhawk; Horde receive a Red Dragonhawk. One of my guildies was riding this very early in Wrath due to a bug related to Blizzard's achievement reset (I think), which wound up giving players double credit for pets and mounts they'd had to learn twice.
How to get it 100 mounts! It's one hell of an expensive and time-consuming grind, but at least you'll get a nice bonus for your trouble.
Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.
Filed under: Achievements, The Overachiever
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Santo May 12th 2011 7:06PM
The angle of that screenshot makes it look like the bear is wearing a giant pointy bone as a hat. That's the mount I want.
llcjay2003 May 12th 2011 7:15PM
Meh. The reward for 100 mounts is meh. The blue one for Alliance is cool, but the red is very plain. The Sunreaver dragonhawk is definitely better, which may be Horde's consolation. I have always loved the albino drake and still think it is much better than both the dragonhawks. I think they could have done a much better job with making the 100 mount reward fancier.
Sorcha May 13th 2011 9:53AM
I freaking love the red dragonhawk. I love riding just a plain but gorgeous mount. The minute I got into Eversong and saw those dragonhawks I wanted one.
Revynn May 12th 2011 7:32PM
- "A big blob of purplish light was rather less compelling than its cousin, the Ashes of Al'ar. I'm not sure whether this was a bug or intended."
It's bugged. When you see someone in Org/SW riding one, all you're really seeig is the glow and particle effects. The actualy skin isn't showing for whatever reason. It was -supposed- to be fixed in 4.1, bt the same patch note is showing up again on the 4.2 page.
What it's supposed to look like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSPsKOmuQRU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Neirin May 12th 2011 7:34PM
I used to try going for all the holiday achievements on all my alts. Then I realized that with a faction discount and the guild perk 310% speed was significantly cheaper than your average BoE on the AH and I'd much rather have faster alts than slightly more geared alts.
Noyou May 13th 2011 12:55AM
I kind of agree with that. From a financial vs time spent standpoint. I used to not like how the proto drakes looked with their wings flopping on the ground kind of folded. Until I got my Violet-Proto. I no longer cared how I looked on the ground. The proto-drake is more compact and I think elegant. It may be an illusion but I think it rides better too. I know what you are saying- a drake is a drake but I have the albino (and same model) the nether and the proto and for some reason the proto seems to ride better. Like I said it could very well be an illusion perceived on my part. The nether drake is probably my second favorite and is now easier to come by with increased rep gains. If all you are looking for is the 310% flying it's probably better (easier+faster) to shell out the cash and go to work gathering/crafting or playing the AH for money to recoup it than doing WaLSTiB but there is just something about having the Proto. The new drakes look cool too. I will have to fly one first before I can comment or rank them :)
Andostre May 12th 2011 8:49PM
I'd love to get an easy-to-obtain drake or dragon-type mount for my leveling Tauren Paladin. He just looks over-sized on wind riders or the bat mounts he's sometimes rides on flight paths. He's currently leveling through Wrath, and none of the grinds are worth it. It would be faster to level to 85 and then get a Cat dragon mount. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to get a scaly mount now?
hicks May 12th 2011 9:08PM
Bronze Drake is probably the easiest, but you've got to be 80 first. Albino only takes a long weekend of grinding Kurenai/Maghar rep to push over 50: 7(ish) mounts per faction x 5 = 35, plus I think 8 flyers gets you to 43, then there's the two Goblin mounts since you're Horde. Kurenai is 7 talbuks, I assume Maghar is similar.
Or there's the Red Drake if you're inclined to wear the Wyrmrest tabard and do dailies for a bit.
lady.silverdragon May 12th 2011 10:57PM
The netherwing dragon mount grind is a lot quicker than it used to be. There is very little competition for eggs now, and the dailies are easy if you're in wrath gear. Also, who doesn't love throwing a boot at lazy peons?
Revynn May 12th 2011 11:10PM
25M OS3D can easily be done with 10 people at 85, and I'm fairly sure you can do 10M with 6 people, assuming the DPS is on par. It might take a few tries to win the roll, but it's not a difficult fight at all these days.
As soon as you hit 80 you can queue for heroic Culling of Strath, as it's a guaranteed drop if you beat the timer.
You can also do the Netherwing grind. With guild perks it goes pretty quickly and you'll get some pretty awesome drakes in the process. I've done it twice and I believe the second time only took about two weeks.
Revynn May 12th 2011 11:13PM
Sorry for the double post.
When you hit 85, the Skyguard grind is incredibly easy. Terrok is soloable at 80, but it can be a little hairy. I went from neutral to revered in one day with only a handful of quests, mostly just by repeatedly killing Terrok.
Noyou May 13th 2011 1:01AM
@Revynn
I know rep gains have increased but I started that grind on my rogue not long before the shattering. It still seemed pretty grindy. Maybe I was doing something wrong. Could you elaborate on the most efficient method or post a link to a guide? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
Revynn May 13th 2011 5:34AM
@ Noyou - Start it the standard way. Pick up the breadcrumb quest in Shatt and go through the quest line to unlock the ability to summon Terrok, saving up all the Shadow Dust and Time lost Scrolls you get in the process. After that, just make passes around the lake (I mostly just stuck to the platforms and bridges in the trees) killing everything that moves for more scrolls and more dust. If you move fast by rounding things up and AoEing them down, you can almost make a full pass around the entire lake with one Elixir of Shadows and net yourself enough scrolls to summon each mini-boss and then Terrok. Each dust turn-in gives rep, each mini boss kill gives rep, each npc kill gives rep, each Terrok summon gives a huge chunk of rep. You'll also end up with truckloads of Netherweave (I sold almost 2000G in Netherweave bags in the process) as well as a few dozens BoE blues, greens and a bunch of vendor trash. It's still very grindy, but being able to round things up and AoE them down more efficiently than you could at 80 makes it a much faster process and Terrok can be easily soloed by any class.
I was assuming you were asking about Skyguard. If you were talking about Netherwing, then the process hasnt changed. Do all the quests, unlock all the dailies. When you're done with your dailies (and while you're doing them) farm eggs. The only difference is that you can one-shot more things and move faster. WoW-pro.com has a rep guide on getting exalted with Netherwing in 2 weeks. It was also written before guild Rep bonuses and doesnt account for egg farming.
Again, still grindy, but not as much as Mag'har, Timbermaw or Bloodsail . . . /shudder. That said, I'm working on Hydraxian Waterlords with a friend (which is pretty brutal since you only get rep from boss kills after revered, making revered --> Exalted take months) so my definition of "grindy" may not jive with others.
Texanatthedoor May 13th 2011 9:40AM
Assuming you’ve been doing dungeons through Northrend and have some Justice saved up, the fastest will be the Red drake from Wyrmrest Accord. Dragonblight, Coldarra and Oculus quests will get you to Honored. After that visit the justice vendors in Dalaran to buy Wyrmrest Accord rep tokens, 500 rep each for only 16 JPs.
Raginghobo May 12th 2011 9:31PM
"Garrosh doesn't inspire quite the same loyalty"
Garrosh or Thrall if you step inside our office don't expect to walk back out again.
FOR THE HORDE!
Amaxe May 12th 2011 9:33PM
The most annoying thing I find about the killing the enemy leaders is those of us who killed Thrall and Cairne have had our achievements changed to Garrosh and Baine.
Seriously, is it too much to give us the FoS to say we did it in the old times?
Noyou May 13th 2011 1:01AM
That sucks. I never checked that on one of my toons that did it. I was hoping it didn't so I could get it again (achieve not bear). I do regret not doing it on my 2 other 80s I had at the time. It will be interesting how things will change to be able to do that when the guards and leaders are much tougher. Maybe towards the end of Cata when health pools and armor improves a little more. It will also be interesting to see if any of the boss mechanics have changed. Sylvannas was always kind of a little pill to take down :p
Manadar May 13th 2011 4:16AM
We don't need more pointless FoS. That tab have become some kind of trash bin for old achievements.
Amaxe May 13th 2011 8:54AM
@Manadar
I prefer to think of it as reminders of past glories, (to paraphrase Blizz). I'd like a record of the achievements I have done back in a time when the world was different than now, and not have it retconned.
Randomize May 12th 2011 11:01PM
While Varian and Garrosh (especially) are hard as hell to beat at almost any hour, if anything the other bosses are a little easier. People have a lot more time to get from one city to another and simply can't react quickly enough to stop a city raid. Orgrimmar and Stormwind just have the benefit of having massive amounts of level 85s sitting around AFK waiting to do something.