How Blizz Got It Wrong By Getting It Right

It seems these days that poor Blizzard just can't win one. As the title says, they got something very wrong in getting something very right in Wrath.

Achievements. Love 'em, hate 'em, ignore 'em; whatever floats your boat. Me, I'm a completest. When I was younger, I was so into Pokemon I actually caught all of the originals on my Yellow cartridge - just to find out that you did not get Mew, or the ability to buy some super awesome item for $10, but instead you got to print out a certificate that says "I have no life!" On a Gameboy printer neither I nor anyone else I knew even had heard about.

Yeah, I started over.

But back to World of Warcraft's Achievement system. In Burning Crusade (and possibly in Vanilla) end game, there wasn't really anything to do other than PvP, raid, or level another toon. To combat this ending of the game syndrome, Blizz decided to copy Xbox and give you titles, items and mounts for doing certain things in the game. Uncovered all of the map while herbing? Have an Achievement! Reach level 80? Have another! Mastered your craft? Here you go - a fancy ding! just for you. Got the Bloodsail hat, pointlessly making all of the goblins south of Northrend hate you in the process? Erm, yeah, have a ding, a title, and seriously - go get some fresh air.

On paper it sounds like a ton of fun. And I'll admit, it's nice to see something for doing something you'd do anyway, like train a craft or hit a new level. But there's people in this world where the casual, "Oh hey I got something done" mentality just doesn't work. People like me.

I have already decided I will have the Admiral title, the Loremaster title and tabard, that little skunk minipet, and as many proto-drakes as I can stuff in my digital bags. And when they decide what to do with the points that come along with the cool stuff, I'll be able to buy everything in the store. And since my work is keeping me from raiding right now, this gives me a nice reason to keep playing my toons.

The real problem comes in deciding what I'm going to work on. In the past week, I've powered Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting to 300 on my Paladin (yes, I am crazy), leveled Leatherworking on Xanthelei from 1 to about 370, started collecting items for turn ins with Cenarian Circle, gone through a third of the quests needed in Ice Crown to inch my way to Loremaster... and a bunch of other stuff I can't even think of right now.

How am I supposed to DO it all? I can't even keep track of what I was working on two days ago, let alone filter through all my "dailies" for rep, items, and such today!

The solution? Permanent Achievement tracking. Blizzard is on the right track in making Achievements filterable, and allowing you to track a certain one per session. What they really need to do now is fine tune this. I would love to see Achievement (and quest!) tracking saved between sessions (and in fact Overachiever has already proven this can be done), as well as letting you track more than one Achievement at a time. Even if this meant you could only track up to six Achievements and/or quests at once, I would be happy with that.

So what's the bottom line, in my opinion? Love the Achievement system, but want to buy better basic tools for working with it. And I'm really hoping the rep returns in Booty Bay have increased, because 5 per kill is cramping my Steady Shot finger...

A Letter From Thrall

I been keepin' busy dis mornin', what with runnin' round an' grabbin' herbs outta da ground. Got me a few shinies for dat, too.

I had just returned ta Razor Hill when de inn keeper, Grosk, told me a letter had come for me. He seemed ta tink it be important, so I checked de mailbox - an he was right.

Thrall, de great warchief o' da Horde, had summoned me ta Orgrimmar for an audience.

O'course I went immediately! Kneeling before da great warchief was thrillin', mon, even if it be a bit scary. He told me der be a corruption near Orgrimmar, and asked me ta find and kill a person o' rank in dis Burning Blade cult. His idear were ta get whatever marker dey use ta identify der higher-ups, den test an ally o' his - Neeru Fireblade - an' make sure he not be one o' dem nasties. So I done it and got meself a stone rune what say I be important, den go talk to dis Neeru fella.
Les just say, I can see why Thrall be da warchief. Sure enough, Neeru starts tellin' me how we be part o' da Shadow Council and rippin' on Thrall's honor. Was all I could do ta not shoot an arrow in his eye right dere, but Thrall said to just get his reaction to da rune. My pet Scorpid, Bloodtalon, sure picked up on me bein' outta sorts, so I got outta dere 'fore he decided ta sting dat filthy liar in de foot.

I were surprised ta see Thrall was bein' so cheerful 'bout all dis when I reported back. I told him all dat Neeru had said ta me, an' I was told ta head into dat Chasm in de city ta shoot arrows in de faces o' two leaders o' da Searing Blade. I weren't ta let Neeru know it were me, o'course, since dat'd blow my cover 'n all, but I be happy ta oblige de warchief. Jus' as soon as I know I ain't gonna die in dere, yanno?

Show And Tell

'Ello mon. My name be Nykol, and dis be my story 'bout runnin' round Azeroth. Now, Xanthy dun know 'bout my talkin' to ya, so keep it down-low, ya?

It took me a while ta get outta dat valley where dey make ya do chores for your allowance, but now I be on my own in Durotar. Lotsa runnin' mon, and I tell ya, someone need ta make shoes we Trolls can wear. Dem rocks hurt!

One o'da first tings I wanted ta do was ta go and train up in de arts of skinnin' and herbin'. I figure if I's got gold, what I need craftin' skills for mon? I can just buy what I need! Besides, dem mounts ain't free, and I ain't walkin' my whole life. Anywho's, best place ta train up in somethin' be Orgrimmar, so dat's where I headed. Found a few tings ta do along da way, so I had a few silver which ta buy some trainings with when I got der. But, heh, what's a girl ta do when some goblin promises a whole new look for under a silver? So I let 'em chop off da mane and add some ogre spit, and I must say, dis be sassy.


So after blowin' half my moneh at dis place, I got around to da trainin'. And whaddya know, some orc be runnin' round Org tellin' everybody 'bout some fairground outside of Thunderbluff. I knows an opportunity when I sees one, and dis be an opportunity for fun, so off I go.

Problem is, I forgot about da runnin'. /grimace

Fairs always seem to be more hype dan dey are fun. After all dat runnin', all I could do was turn in the voucher that fashion-deprived orc gave me for five tickets, then hearth back home, where I celebrated my 10 season milestone. At least I found a few flight paths for later.

Now I gotta snag a few beasties for dis orc what be trainin' me ta befriend 'em, so I better get to it. Later mon.

Comma =/= Period

So I've been on a small hiatus from WoW the past, oh, three days, while I get my finances in order. It's hard to enjoy shooting things in the face with a bow an arrow when you're screaming inside about a bill bigger than rent, electricity and internet all rolled into one (yes, I'm glaring at you, Sallie Mae!).

Meanwhile, I have found another blog I may read sporadically that serves a dual purpose, the first being to enjoy reading. Lienna the Belf Huntress is Surviving well in Northrend, it seems. Love the down to earth style of writing, but the run on sentences make me cringe inside. Ah well, not everyone is anal about writing like I am, and I can live with that. Check her out, random Pike-person who apparently checks my blog every so often. (Seriously gal, you came back? I'm impressed!) :P

Meanwhile, I shall return to crunching numbers and shortly fall into bed. I am blessed, I have a job... too bad it's an hour's drive from here. =(

And yes, I've left off the second purpose off on, well, purpose. I'm not ready to share with the class yet. :D

Rep: It's The Original Achievement System

I have been AFB due to the fact that 1) I need rep and 2) I need gear. First Strike is a raiding guild, first and foremost. And it's ok to be a non-raider in a raiding guild (no, really, it is); but if you want a decent shot at the raid lewts when you go in, you have to make Raider status.

So I've been grinding reps and trying to get geared for 25s. We do 10s, but it's informal. Anyone can sign up, first come first serve, and loot goes to whoever needs it most. But once we get the 25s going, things will go back to the old rules.

I'm ok with this. Heck, I signed up for this! But with working two jobs, juggling finances - I'm glaring at you, Sallie Mae - and every day life stuff, WoW has become a treat.

So I did some math on the three reps I'm actively grinding right now: The Kalu'ak, Sons of Hodir, and Frenzyheart. Two are 'for fun', but I can get away with that - I wear an Argent Crusade tabard exclusively these days.

With the Kalu'ak, I have only 8 more days of quests before I can snag that penguin minipet and epic fishing rod, and then it's on to another rep. For the Frenzyheart, it will take longer... I decided immediately I wanted the Mercenary achievement, but I went Oracle at first without realizing the Frenzyheart have no concept of Phat Lewts. So I switched... about three days ago. Time until I can go back to my minipet-and-mount-giving Bigtongues: 4 days in Honored and 12 in Revered. Ugh.

And finally, the Sons of Hodir. These guys stink, seriously. Two of the three dailies that give rep have limited spawns that are heavily camped, and the other requires a decent-ish droprate item from mobs being farmed, not just for the daily, but for Crystalized Waters. I'm only about half way through Friendly, so I figure it will take 5 days to get Honored, another 8 days to get to Revered, and finally 12-ish days until Exalted. Total time: 25 days.

Sigh. It'll be a while before I get to work on my Dungeonmaster achievement... or coin fishing... or Loremaster... Sometimes it stinks being obsessive about completion. :)

What's A Blog? /level

Ah yes... I have a blog.

I'd almost forgotten, in the glow of Expansion glory. So what is Xanth up to now?

Making a Death Knigget to do his farming. Meet Tenderizor, Skinner and Miner extraordinaire. He is the sole reason Xanth may soon revert to Leatherworking - I had dropped Skinning/LWing for Mining/Engineering, and am NEVER dropping Eng! Those goggles are the hotness. :P

Speaking of. New goggles! Must have! And they only require level 70! *mines like crazy*

I've also gotten myself one of those stunning bald eagles from Grizzly Hills. Seriously, this guy is just gorgeous. We used to have a few Bald Eagle families living around here, so I have a small soft spot for the feathery guys.

And last but not least, Xanth is L72. Huzzah! I've finished all of the regular Borean Tundra quests, and am now milking XP and gold from Howling Fjord. Yes, yes, I should just move on to Dragonblight or something, but I want to experience all of this expansion. And if I learned anything in the grind from 60 to 70, it's that you save as MANY quests as you can for pure gold. Might as well get all the XP I can from the lower areas before it's too late!

Oh, and there's a small project-idea floating around in my mind, but we'll see if I even do it... ;)

The Death of Karazhan

I realize they nerfed the health of bosses a short while ago. I even realize why.

I also realize that the players in my guild are Tier 6 and, even if the gear doesn't quite match that level of play, the playing still does.

But this is just... is just... AAAAAAHH!


Netherspite has always been my favorite boss fight in the game. Kael in TK is more epic. The Council in BT is longer. And Illidan is probably more technical (we never did make it past Council, thanks to time issues).

But there was nothing like learning Netherspite with my old guild, Round Table Raiders.

That fight is nothing but Do X Or Die technicalities. And I LOVED it. RTR had to stay in on all the banish phases because we were still gearing and learning and didn't have the DPS to kill him if we ran out. We had to be very, very careful on heals with the Blue Beam or we'd have no one to take it come round 3. And we had our share of "AMG You stepped in the red beam! OUT! OUT!" moments.

There is nothing like seeing everyone wipe, switching to Monkey, popping Deterrence, and tanking that dragon in the red beam while the PVP Shaman heals your blue tail until a black hole spawns to gank you.

And now... Netherspite is nothing. His HP is gone. His difficulty level is nil. My favorite boss is dead for the last time before Wrath.

RIP Netherspite. RIP.