To achieve, or not to achieve?

World of Warcraft was not the first game to have achievements, but achievements did come to World of Warcraft with the launch of Wrath of the Lich King in November of 2008. Achievements (or achievement points) are awarded for completing a task in a game a certain way. They are sometimes awarded for completing absolutely simple tasks (perhaps there for younger audiences), and some achievements are awarded for the insanely complex or time-consuming.

Achievement points are not a currency, they cannot be traded in for anything, and usually do not help your character directly. However, some players do look at and use achievements as a measuring stick to the amount of experience a person might have in the game. I have to introduce two ideas simultaneously here so bear with me. In World of Warcraft there are players who do not raid with their guild or have one, but these players still like to raid. These players will usually run what is called a “PUG” or “Pick-Up-Group.” A PUG consists of strangers typically and they get together to accomplish the same goals as a raid group, to defeat a raid boss and get the loot from it. While forming a PUG group, a responsible raid leader does not take just anyone. Because of the level of difficulty of Icecrown Citadel, a raid leader usually looks for a few things. Achievements are usually sufficient proof to show the raid leader that the person in question has completed a boss before. People link achievements to the raid leader such as:

(The Fall of The Lich King) as this proof to get in. The achievement alone will not get an individual into a raid group; the raid leader also looks at a person’s gear for their character. This is where a raid group must put a certain amount of faith into their raid leader. If the raid leader has a vast amount of knowledge of World of Warcraft, in general he should know what is good for certain characters and classes, and what is not. If the raid leader catches a person who wants to be invited to the raid group using gear that is bad for their character or gear that is low level, they will not get an invite into the group. PUGing can be a cruel and harsh world, but it is the result of people wanting to attain a certain level of performance in their raids.


There are some addons in World of Warcraft that can add to the achievement experience. For example there is an addon called “Overachiever” that changes the default Achievement Pane to show detailed achievement information. The addon also has a suggestion tab that can give a player ideas on what achievements to work on based on the area they are in. For example, if a player is in an area near a lake, Overachiever may suggest some of the fishing achievements.

There are also some addons that have come as a clever result to raid leaders having overly strict achievement standards for their PUG raid groups. The addon, “Underachiever” (a play on the previously mentioned addon), is able to create fake achievement links to dupe raid leaders. This only works if the raid leader is lazy because when they suspect this sort of thing, they can go to the WoW Armory (wowarmory.com) and look at the character in question directly.

I use Overachiever for ideas and I typically seek-and-hunt for achievements to do when I am bored. Some achievements are much more fun than others, but a few achievements I would recommend are:


The Keymaster (http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=1187). Keymaster is an unusual achievement that asks for you to obtain various keys. The achievement may sound dopey, but there are some keys that take a little bit or work or research to obtain. This achievement is not absolutely useless either, I’ve often been the sole-keyholder in groups where people have wanted to go into a locked dungeon.


Turtles All the Way Down (http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3218). This achievement is tough. Though ultimately fishing is not hard in World of Warcraft, but beating the odds and catching this turtle is the problem. Due to probability and random number generation, the odds of catching this turtle are low, which is what makes it difficult. However the turtle is advantageous to ride in the water, because it is the only mount that you can ride that increases your speed in water.


Better off Dread (http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=2039). This achievement is done inside the Drak’Tharon Keep instance and requires your group to slay 6 additional raptors in addition to the main boss. This is a fun achievement to try, and it requires a good tank that can hold all of the raptors on themselves, and a good healer who can keep up with the damage and keep everyone healed.

These are just a few examples of fun achievements, and there are much more boring, time consuming, and other fun ones at http://www.wowhead.com/achievements or checking out the Achievement Pane in World of Warcraft.

Some people obsess over achievements, and some people do not care about them at all. It depends on the player’s mindset. I am a video game “completionist” and I usually play games long after accomplishing the main objective to unlock other secrets, etc. in the game. The same applies to World of Warcraft, and I continue to work on achievements as a way to learn more back-story, or just experience parts of the game in a unique way.