Category Archives: Achievements

Which coincides with me briefly doing two jobs at once which, despite being very fun, left me exhausted after work and pretty unable to write.

Anyhow, I’ve been playing lots of games. But I thought rather than a Sims update or another game update, I’d go with a WoW update.The last time I actually wrote about WoW was early January this year, so three months ish. Since then a fair lot has been done!

Since January I have become “Mystically Epic”. I have “got around” with the Shado-Pan, become a Champion of Chi-ji and completed Operation: Shieldwall, as well as more recently plundered a Thunder, defeated some ancient mogu, paid to slay, /bowed to Kroshik and destroyed an expensive vase, as well as finally mopping up the Klaxxi bombing quest. I have discovered over 10 lost treasures of Pandaria and hunted down all Pandarian champions.

In PvP, I reached the Private ranking. In raiding, I killed Ragnaros Heroic and Sinestra, finally killed Galleon and excitingly completed my second challenge mode – getting Silver in Gate of the Setting Sun. I mopped up 3 more of the “collect 5…” archaeology achievements, became exalted with Operation: Shieldwall and in scenarios completed the Assault on Zan’vess and the Dagger in the Dark scenarios, as well as aiding the Jinyu and the Dwarves in A Little Patients, finished a Brewing Storm with 2 thunderpaw guardians alive and destroyed all Broodmaster Noshi’s eggs in Scenarios.

I’m now sitting at 16,315 achievement points, which is nice, but the leaders in guild are way ahead; Zal is at 17,655, the chap behind him at 17,635 and behind him there’s someone on 16,770. THEN person number four is on 16,415. Then me! I like to think I have a job, in contradiction to all these people, and satisfy myself with that

…and certainly never writes anything productive about WoW, or druids, or STUFF.

So instead, I’m going to do a recap of all the things I’ve been playing recently, as well as an update on my progress towards my pre-Mists goals, which I finally have a timeline on, since we have, you know, A RELEASE DATE!

Steam Games

SO! Did you know the Steam Sale happened? My wallet knew. Oh yes my wallet knew. As well as being incapable of curing that dreadful habit I have of buying things for people, I also picked up a huge number of games myself.

I’ve actually split my Steam games in to a variety of categories now. These are:

95% complete

- this is for games I’ve basically “almost” finished – ie, completed the story line but not picked up all the easter eggs/hidden items, etc etc.

- This is currently almost empty – it just includes Alice: Madness Returns, Assassins Creed, Assassins Creed 2, Braid & Faerie Solitaire. YES A SOLITAIRE GAME. IT’S GOT A STORYLINE, OKAY.

In Progress

- this is category number 2. Here are all the games that I have started and made decent headway through. I’m only ALLOWED (unless there are extenuating circumstances) to be playing these games at the moment. This is in an effort to try and get some games finished rather than starting more and more.

- this category includes;

And Yet It Moves (2/5…this bored me in all honesty – I think it went over my head a bit).

Bastion (4/5 – loving this. Genuinely a great, enjoyable little game but it doesn’t have much pull on me. I have no desire to play it for hours).

Cogs (4/5 – great little puzzle game but I did that thing where I got stuck on a level, shut it down and haven’t opened it since).

Crayon Physics Deluxe (4/5 – another awesome one that again I reached a struggle point on. I should just pick it up and power through).

Darksiders (5/5 – I love this game. I love the graphics, the styles, the combat and finishing moves, the works. All gorgeous. Again I struggled a bit and gave up…I’m so slack).

Galcon Fusion (3/5 – you know I have no idea if this game is even finishable. It doesn’t have much pull on it to be honest…it’s not really exciting enough to keep pulling me back in. I feel like I should be more interested).

Grand Theft Auto IV (5/5 – I love the GTA games, I really do, and I love Nico. He’s such an awesome protagonist. However I think the likelihood is when my PC changed, my save file got wiped. I’ll have to start from scratch which is what is holding me back to be honest).

Machinarium (4/5 – an amazing, amazing indie puzzle game that kept me utterly gripped…until I got stuck. I’m like a broken record).

Magicka (5/5 – I love this game, but I get the feeling it’s ten times more fun coop. I need to either force it on other people, or just…well. Force it on other people. I may just buy a four pack and distribute it amongst my L4D2 buddies).

PvZ (5/5 – I finished this, and then my PC got wiped. So it got downgraded from the 95% pile to the in progress pile, until I pull my finger out and whip through the story mode again.

Portal (5/5 – everyone knows the Portal games are amazing. I’ve still not finished this, however. I think I’m on one of the last levels though).

Portal 2 (5/5 – I haven’t started the single player story mode on this but I have completed all of the co op story, and had a really really good time doing it. It’s an awesome co op).

Psychonauts (5/5 – one of the best games of recent years, Psychonauts is just out and out AMAZING. Again, another game where my progress (about 75% through) got wiped on a PC re install.I had to start again so am now on the second “level”. I’m actually looking forward to playing through the crazy party girl level again, which I believe is next).

Torchlight (5/5 – Diablo remake yadda yadda yadda aside, Torchlight is amazing. I like it, and think it has the edge on Diablo for a variety of reasons – one, it’s a LOT easier, and to be honest, I like easy. Two, I like the cartooney graphics. Three, I like the pet mechanic. And Four, well it’s just awesome. I have finished the main “story arc” but I’m only level 32. I’ll knock it over to the “95% complete” section once I reach level 50, as from there on up it’s just grindy grindy really).

Trine 2 (5/5 – this only knocked itself into this section by proxy of being one of the thousands of games I bought in the Steam sale, and bought for two of my friends as well. Although we haven’t played as a 3 yet, I’ve played 3 hours with one friend and 1 hour with another. It didn’t get much easier on the second play through – whether that was because friend number 2 just threw himself around with reckless abandon, or because I’d already forgotten the first hour’s worth of puzzles, I don’t know. But regardless, it’s a fun little platformer, I like the pretty colours and environment and the fact that at the end of the day, it’s just a scrolling platformer with co op mode. Simple is best!).

Your Doodles Are Bugged (3/5 – things are bugged at the moment, as I tried to boot this up last night and just got out of range error after out of range error. If anyone knows how to fix that…well, I’d be very appreciative. the normal “force steam to boot it up windowed” thing didn’t work. This is a cute little puzzle game though and once I can get it open, I look forward to finishing it).

Barely Played

- this is my next category. These are the games I’ve started, and not got very far in. Once the “In Progress” category has been completed, I can move on to this category!

- this category includes:

Atom Zombie Smasher (41 minutes played – awesome awesome oh I’m stuck emo quit)

Batman: Arkham Asylum (69 mintues played – OMG AMAZING NEED A CONTROLLER. (now I own a controller))

Ben There, Done That (14 minutes played – got bored)

Blocks That Matter (8 minutes played – couldn’t work out the controls, emo quit)

Capsized (23 minutes played – creepy. Died. A lot. Emo quit)

Demolition, Inc (69 minutes played – just…got a bit dull.)

Dragon Age: Origins (2 hours played – got to the area where you first control a group of people. Got totally confused by the whole “pause and line up these actions” combat. Emo quit. PC install wiped save)

Eufloria (8 minutes played – “da fuq?”, log off)

Greed Corp (38 minutes played – it blew my old PC up. Not touched it since)

Half-Life (49 minutes played – “WHAT DA FUQ ARE THOSE CREATURES”, log off)

Limbo (8 minutes played – as with Capsized)

Orcs Must Die! (57 minutes played – got to one level, couldn’t get past it. Emo quit)

Osmos (45 minutes played – at which point I entered a trance like coma state and didn’t wake up for a month)

Recettear (35 minutes played – at which point I went…”what…what is the point of this?”)

Rock of Ages (23 minutes played – after which point I think I just got a little bored)

Saira (18 minutes played – after which point again, I just got a bit bored)

Tales of Monkey Islands: Chapter 1 (12 minutes played – apparently this is an amazing game. But the controls made my face hurt)

Toki Tori (19 minutes played – picked this up LAST big steam sale, was amazed by the whole thing but utterly sucked at it)

World of Goo (33 minutes played – another amazing puzzle game which I just didn’t have the time to start and follow through with).

Non-Completeable

- these games have their own little section. These ones can be played whenever and have most of my (excluding WoW of course) gaming hours racked up on them. These are the games with no end – the multiplayer, the FPS, etc etc.

- this category includes:

CoD MW 2 & CoD MW 3 Multiplayer – never played

Counter Strike, CS: Condition Zero, CS: Source – never played

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – 16 hours played. I got stuck. On a dragon.

Left 4 Dead 2 – 39 hours played. I’ve killed a LOT of zombies.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V – 92 hours. Yes. 92. On Civ. Ouch.

The Sims 3 – 2 hours played.

Team Fortress 2 – 107 hours played. 107. Fuck.

Terraria – 14 minutes played.

So right there are all the games I’ve got that are looking interesting at the moment. The other category on my Steam list is the “Never Played” category, which contains a relatively long list of games, as you can see.

I recently bought an xbox 360 controller, so I can now play some of my very “consoley” games using a controller, like they’re meant to be played – Batman for example. I also really struggled with my Skyrim keybinds, so I’ll probably try that with a controller too.

So, that’s all my Steam games.

Other things I am playing at the moment are of course my two MMOs – Rift (where I have a level 26 cleric named Abygael and a level 9 Defiant mage whose name I forget) and WoW.

So, let’s mention that big daddy of games should we.

Some things aren’t going to happen pre-Mists – I’m not going to make it to top of the guild in achievement points. I’m missing 2 tiers of raiding’s worth of points basically. I am really aiming to catch up in Mists though. It’s a pointless pixellated crown I would like to hold.

Some things may happen – I’m still holding out hope for a 1550 rating in my 3v3 team.

AND some things really should happen. My horde project is pottering along nicely, I have a level 30 blood elf warrior, level 30 troll rogue and level 30 goblin hunter now, as well as a level 15 tauren paladin. That means I’m well over half way, with just the moo cow to get to thirty, followed by the orc shaman and then last of all, the undead mage. I’m getting a little bored of Northern Barrens, I have to say. I may do Azshara on the orc shaman.

So I should definitely finish the Horde project in time.

My final alliance character is also moving along nicely – I had no real plans for her, but she is sitting at level 64. Really hoping to get her up to 85 pre Mists now though.

My other big job right now is once again to go through my resource lists and update them – remove the ones who have stopped blogging and add all my new ones. Our guild is moving to a new forum soon, so I’m hoping to get them done over the next couple of weeks so that I can include them on the new forums too.

Anyway – that’s my big update, so you should see the new resource lists update coming through again soon, but it may take a while.

Bring on the next payday anyhow…I need me some Secret World, some GW2 and some Mists pre order!!

After the comments on my pet post, I decided maybe I could give camping Jadefang and the shale spider a go.

And, well…

All I can say is:

Fuck yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa

And I managed to build up a list of the thirteen pets that are currently in game and achievable for me – 3 holiday pets, 3 purchasable and 7 grindable. So today, I’m going to take a look at mounts.

I actually had a horrendous moment of realisation when I thought about my pets guide and how it’s going to have to change with Mists. I reckon I’ll do it, and it’ll be something I’m bloody proud of, but it might not be quick!

Real Life wise, as I know everyone definitely gives a damn, I’ve been inching closer to having lost 2 stone in weight (or I was, until this weekend, when I somehow managed to put 4.5lbs on in 3 days), everything is going all sorts of awesome, all sorts of happy, and I’m giddy excite about most things. Work has all sorts of scary and exciting and interesting things going down as well, so if I do go dark, it’ll be because of work going all sorts of bat shit crazy.

ANYHOW!

Mounts.

Sitting at 22nd on the  Terokkar rankings, I’d like to be in the top 20 before the end of Cataclysm.

Collected: 133

Missing: 58

WELL, there’s a few of these I can remove from that list of 58 right away

Because, as with pets, I’m not forking out ALL the monies for mounts, which means that a few of them are OUT right away; I won’t be buying the Amani Dragonhawk (~£130), The Big Battle Bear (~£60), Blazing Hippogryph (~£170), Corrupted Hippogryph (~£100), Magic Rooster (~£160), Mottled Drake (~£130), Riding Turtle (~£95), Savage Raptor (~£135), Swift Spectral Tiger (£450), Wooly White Rhino (~£170), X-51 Nether-Rocket-X-TREME (~£180), Spectral Tiger (~£400) or X-51 Nether Rocket (~£180).

That’s 13 down, 45 still viable.

World Events are a bit of a kicker, mounts wise

Due to the incredibly low drop rates of the two remaining world event mounts I don’t have. Although I can’t guarantee I will get these, having 9 capped characters (although the likelihood of them all being up to level 90 the next time these holidays come round is low) means farming up the Headless Horseman’s Mount and Love Rocket will not be EASIER, but will at least give me a slightly better chance.

That does however put me at 135 possibles.

Time to grind some tokens…

If I man up and do the grinding I should do, collect 300 crystal powder and (as I already have the battle tokens) I should be able to walk away with two new talbuks. Along with several months more (seeing as my motivation has dropped down to purely doing the monthlies/dailies once a month) of grinding the Darkmoon Faire, now I have all the pets, I could pick up the two mounts. Four easily achievable mounts right there.

That takes me to 139 possible mounts.

Oh look, 2 free mounts

Or if not free, incredibly cheap. I’m an engineer, yet for some reason don’t have either of the engineer only flying machines. Two more mounts right there, knocks me up to 141.

Profession wise, there are also two grindy mounts I haven’t bothered with, but should. Archaeology and Fishing both offer up the chance at a mount each, which would put me up to 143. I’m also obliterating the flying carpets from these counters, as I’m not a tailor and won’t ever be on Elsen. 44 viable mounts. If only I wasn’t so lazy when it came to grinding.

There are also a lot of mounts that are simply grind fests – drops in instances and raids.

There are some I can solo now, and really, should be doing on a daily basis. Both Rivendare’s Deathcharger and the Raven Lord are easily soloable by me, as is Attumen for the Fiery Warhorse. That’s 146.

There are a few that I can’t solo (I’m a terrible chicken and therefore Skadi kills me) and lots of raid drops.

The Blue Proto-Drake, Ashes of A’lar, Azure Drake, Blue Drake and Vitreous Stone Drake whilst not soloable now, should be soloable OR duo-able in Mists. Onyxia should also go on this list, as should the VoA mount. As should, ideally, the tiger and raptor from Zul’Gurub – 155 right there.

Some are still a long way off being easy to farm

such as the Yogg+0 Mimiron’s Head, LK HC Invincible, and all the Cataclysm raid drop mounts.

Although they exist as achievable, I’m not pushing them on my total right now:

This is narrowing down the field some what…

There are a couple of other *grindy* mounts that come from rare world drops – both of which are viable for me to get, just unlikely. These are the White Camel, the Subdued Seahorse, the Phosphorescent Stone Drake and the Time Lost Proto Drake.

There is one mount I’m going to grab pretty soon

Which is the rocket – one more month of sub from my second account and it’ll be mine! Just before it disappears from the game too, which is ace!

And one mount I’m probably never going to get, because I’m a cheapskate:

And then there are some achievement rewards. 

Again, it’s unlikely I’m going to pick these up before the end of Cataclysm, but, if WotLK content has been anything to go by, I look forward to running old content and clearing up these metas once Mists is released:

And also, if my plans for a casual RBG team come about, I look forward to picking this mount up too:

Which leaves me with one last mount, that I’m farming for every three days and who refuses to appear.

I HATE YOU GREEN PROTO DRAKE.

I’m slowly slowly pottering towards Mists of Pandaria with a bucket list as long as my arm. Whereas some of my goals have been shunted into the solidly “unachievable” (read: can’t be arsed to arena) in some ways things are moving on quite nicely.

My mage is a good 50% through level 84 now, and when she hits 85 that’ll be my 9th level 85 character. My goblin horde side is level 27 so getting close to 30, which was her first “point”, although I haven’t really looked at my other horde characters.

I finally transmogged both my priest and my paladin, and I did a major pet hunt on my hunter – which made me realise I *really* need to open up the Molten Front dailies on her, for access to the spiders, crabs, metal beasts and the spirit beasts of the Regrowth, if nothing else.

I also found out some pretty impressive (read: embarrassing) stats the other day. Terokkar is, as we all know, a bit of a backwater, and it turns out when it comes to pet collectors on said backwater, I’m pretty much up there.

Whereas I’m languishing in the middle on some of the charts:

and it’s a little out of date – I’m on 12845 now.

(the top achievement point person on Terokkar is sitting at 14305, and the top Jane Doe-er on 13340),

(top mount person on Terokkar is sitting on 156…)

when it comes to pets I’m frighteningly near the top:

I’m not sure if I should be proud or horrified of this.

Anyway, it’s made me think a little about mounts and pets that I’m missing as we push towards Mists.

Whereas the entirity of the pets system is going to be obliterated and changed, mounts are very much staying the same – there aren’t going to be 500 new ones for example.

So really, it makes sense for me to make a nice little list of what I’m missing, and the chances of getting some of these.

So, here we go.

Pets:

Collected: 174 (again, that’s a little out of date)

Missing: 27

There are several pets in existance Blizzard clearly deems unachievable for me so I won’t cover them.

Achievement Rewards:

I still don’t have Lil’Tarecgosa, and the likelihood of me getting it seems low as we have a shed load of half finished staffs in guild and nobody with a finished one.  This is mildly frustrating but not really anything I can fix.

Patience & Grinding

Never been my strong point, have they?

There are a few BoP pets that I’d simply have to grind out myself to get them.

The Fox Kit, Magical Crawdad, Sea Pony & Giant Sewer Rat would all take me just sitting down and grinding for hours at a time. Although I like these pets, the likelihood of this happening is low. I just find it hard to see grinding something out which *may never appear* a worthwhile waste of my gaming time. I wish I did, because I’d have so much more cool stuff. I just tend to keep FINDING other things to do.

And the Crawling Claw comes under the same cover as it is also horribly grindy:

The Tiny Shale Spider also comes under this umbrella, as although it’s a guaranteed drop, actually camping the spawn point is a trial in itself.

It ain’t ever gonna happen:

I like Warcraft, but I don’t like Warcraft enough to pay over a grand for a vanity pet:

This means that the Zergling, Panda Cub and Mini Diablo are all TOTALLY out, as are Frosty and the netherwhelp (although WoW doesn’t even count that in their pets listing for me).

I’m also going to include in here a variety of TCG pets that are simply too much for me to fork out for – Bananas (~£50), the Tuskarr Kite (~£65), Dragon Kite (~£120), Hippogryph Hatchling (~£45), Ethereal Soul-Trader (~£230), Rocket Chicken (~£70) and Spectral Tiger Cub (~£120).

I also refuse to pay for CE’s of games I have very little interest in, which means no Mini Thor or Fetish Shaman for Sophs:

I suppose if I must fork out some cash…

It’s likely I’m going to fork it out into these two:

as I can grab a Cataclysm CE for just £35 on eBay, and the grell is less than a fiver. I’ll also probably pick up the Sand Scarab when it finally enters the game. Those three would push me to 177.

I also have no objection to forking out in-game cash

which means I am continuously checking the Auction House for the last hatchling that I’m missing from the game, the Gundrak raptor:

That’s 178 achievable pets.

So apparently I have patience for some things

and am REFUSING to pay for a Horde Festival Lantern, as I now have enough horde to pick one up myself when next February comes around. So although it’s a long time coming, this pet WILL be mine, and for free.

That’s 180, right?

RNG always comes into play

in that there are two other holiday, BoP, RNG horrible pets that I haven’t got yet which will hopefully eventually be mine. I did open presents every day for Lumpy last year, but never got him. I missed last year’s Midsummer, so hoping for the Frostling this year, and the holiday is quite soon.

That takes me to 182 pets, 188 if I actually work on my grindy pets. When I look at it, it’s unlikely I’m going to push about 180 pre Mists, although that’d be a nice goal to aim for.

Viable or not, what do you think?