This post is part of the WoW Blogging Challenge! Originally inspired by Saga at Spellbound. Reposted after the great Blogger post-swallowing event.
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While I do wish there was a thrilling tale behind the name of my blog...there isn't. I know, I heard the /gasps from here!
I decided the word 'achievements' had to be in there somewhere, mainly so that people didn't get lost/confused and mistake me for a genuine class-related source of information.*
Then it was a choice: 'Achievements (insert word)' or '(insert word) achievements'? Yep, that's the limit of my creativity when it comes to names. It seemed snappier to keep it to two words in my defence!
I tend to append 'ahoy!' to words as a statement of fact or intent when I'm in a good mood...so that solved the problem really. I'm never in a bad mood when I'm hunting achievements (note that 'bad' is completely different from 'frustrated' in this context) and so it was decided:
Achievements Ahoy!
Happily I've not thought of changing it once - I think it's a keeper. Was yours a spur of the moment choice or a carefully brainstormed process?
*Never expect that from this blog! Try the ones on my blogroll ;)
Last challenge - Your workplace/desk
Next challenge - 10 things we don't know about you
May 09, 2011
WoW Blogging Challenge Day 06 - Your workplace/desk
This post is part of the WoW Blogging Challenge! Originally inspired by Saga at Spellbound.
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My desk is where I spend nearly all of my spare time at home. It's the first time I've had a proper office room with a desk in it! Although I have to share the room, the desk is MINE. A few weeks ago it was transformed - there was a shaft of golden light and the faint sound of choirs singing - by the addition of a new widescreen monitor. No more too-close-to-the-laptop-screen headaches for me!
I bought the fan when I went to Japan a couple of years back, and Kitty is the closest I'll ever get to having a cat (allergies, bah). There's actually a whiteboard behind the screen and it normally has a tally of WoW currencies or an important reminder of some kind on it. It's also magnetic!
My laptop won't get replaced with a desktop setup for a year or so but the monitor, keyboard and mouse provide a close substitute and it really has stopped the aforementioned headaches. I'd be lying if I said I got the monitor just for health reasons alone though - I can finally have both a functional UI and screen space when playing WoW!
Eagle-eyed readers may have spotted which molecule I have featured up top there. A clue: it's closely linked to that can of beverage lurking near my mousepad (other brands available but not preferred). It's unusual not to see a mug of coffee here too! It seems I'm by no means alone in my caffeine-loving ways in this community, so I hope you won't judge me too harshly for that ;)
Last Challenge post - Your favourite items in game
Next Challenge post - The reason behind your blog's name
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My desk is where I spend nearly all of my spare time at home. It's the first time I've had a proper office room with a desk in it! Although I have to share the room, the desk is MINE. A few weeks ago it was transformed - there was a shaft of golden light and the faint sound of choirs singing - by the addition of a new widescreen monitor. No more too-close-to-the-laptop-screen headaches for me!
I bought the fan when I went to Japan a couple of years back, and Kitty is the closest I'll ever get to having a cat (allergies, bah). There's actually a whiteboard behind the screen and it normally has a tally of WoW currencies or an important reminder of some kind on it. It's also magnetic!
My laptop won't get replaced with a desktop setup for a year or so but the monitor, keyboard and mouse provide a close substitute and it really has stopped the aforementioned headaches. I'd be lying if I said I got the monitor just for health reasons alone though - I can finally have both a functional UI and screen space when playing WoW!
Eagle-eyed readers may have spotted which molecule I have featured up top there. A clue: it's closely linked to that can of beverage lurking near my mousepad (other brands available but not preferred). It's unusual not to see a mug of coffee here too! It seems I'm by no means alone in my caffeine-loving ways in this community, so I hope you won't judge me too harshly for that ;)
Last Challenge post - Your favourite items in game
Next Challenge post - The reason behind your blog's name
May 02, 2011
Children's Week 2011
I haven't written a guide for this as I didn't attempt any of this meta last year. Instead I'd like to link you to some resources I found helpful:
WoW Insider - The Overachiever: Guide to Children's Week 2011 has all you need to know about where to obtain the items you'll need and how to complete each achievement.
Cynwise's Battlefield Manual - Cynwise has posted an excellent guide and tips regarding the School of Hard Knocks achievement. I rapidly discovered why this achievement is so widely loathed and this was a very useful resource!
I started working on this meta at 8pm yesterday and I finished it at 8pm today. Check out the above resources if you're stuck on anything and keep trying! It'll require a hefty amount of perseverance and a thick skin in battlegrounds (if you're in the Vindication (EU) battlegroup, you have my sympathy).
Good luck and remember: we're doing it for the kids.
P.S. I got myself two pets out of this holiday: Sleepy Willy and Scooter the Snail. Bonus! That takes my pet count up to 64/75. Getting there!
April 24, 2011
Noblegarden 2011
Noblegarden is upon us so I'd like to offer up some tips and advice from my experiences so far! If you know nothing about Noblegarden yet, read this fantastic guide over at WoW Insider first, which is how I got started.
- Azure Watch is the quietest place to work on this (on my server at least). As it's a circular settlement on a hill it seems that eggs will spawn no further out than the back of the buildings, which makes your hunting easier.
- Do not camp the egg spawn locations! I promise that it will be much slower this way - I've tried both camping and constant movement today and if you keep moving you will find more eggs.
- Vary your route. This is especially important if there's a quiet patch with few people hunting as the eggs must be collected before they can respawn in new locations.
- The speed boost from the Egg Basket is not always your friend. I watched people whizz around like bunnies on speed, missing eggs that were right in front of them.
- Empty your bags beforehand! Keep an eye on free slots too. It's extremely annoying to run out of bag slots and watch someone else grab that egg.
- Lastly, don't take 'egg thieving' seriously. It's every rabbit for themselves and there are plenty of eggs to go round.
If you haven't hunted for eggs in Azure Watch before, here are some visual clues to where you might find them (click to see larger):
There are 10 achievements to get during Noblegarden, but you only need to complete 8 to get the Noble Gardener meta and title. Completing those 8 will require items that can be bought from the Noblegarden vendors in each town, but you shouldn't run off and buy them as soon as you can.
Here's a list of the items you need to acquire:
Noblegarden Egg (5 chocolates)
Blossoming Branch (10 chocolates)
White Tuxedo Shirt and Black Tuxedo Pants (25 chocolates each)
Spring Robes (50 chocolates)
Spring Flowers (50 chocolates)
Spring Rabbit's Foot (100 chocolates)
Sounds pretty daunting - if you bought all of them, you'd need to gather a total of 265 chocolates plus another 100 chocolates for the Chocoholic achievement. 365 chocolates!
Here's what dropped for me while I was working towards that total:
5 Blossoming Branches
3 White Tuxedo Shirts
Black Tuxedo Pants
Spring Robes
2 Spring Flowers
3 Spring Rabbit's Feet
The first thing I bought was the Spring Rabbit's Foot, for 100 chocolates, which dropped about 10 eggs later. 100 chocolates could have been used for the Chocoholic achievement so I then had to gather 100 more. Once I'd learnt that lesson, I only had to spend 5 chocolates on a Noblegarden Egg to hide in Stormwind.
My advice is to keep a running total of how many chocolates you need. Some of the items will drop while you hunt, at which point you can subtract their price from the total you still need.
Lastly, here are some tips for completing the various achievements:
- You'll have to team up with a friend to complete the Hard Boiled achievement, as it requires someone else turning you into a rabbit using a Blossoming Branch, preferably near the Golakka Hot Springs in Un'Goro Crater or it's a long hop there! If none of your friends or guildies can help there will likely be some other people there that could if you ask.
- If you're feeling especially nice yourself, travel around in the Elegant Dress (drops from the eggs or can be bought for 50 chocolates). This will allow people with the shirt and pants to get their Blushing Bride achievement with a minimum of hassle - a lovely way to spread some Noblegarden spirit. Of course, you'll end up covered in kisses...
- The dress, shirt and pants all remain tradeable when equipped. Try and find a friend or guildmate who has the dress and/or suit, and borrow them. You can swap outfits to get the achievement for both of you! I'm a big fan of how this makes the achievement easier whilst still allowing you to keep the snazzy clothes for a bank alt or just chilling out-of-combat.
- Try and combine Spring Fling with Shake Your Bunny-Maker. The 5-minute cooldown on Spring Flowers should wear off as your travel between towns, and you should be able to complete most races in your faction this way.
- Speaking of Shake Your Bunny-Maker, finding females of the other faction can be hard. When I was looking the advice from various quarters was to lurk over/outside the other faction capital, their Tol Barad camp, raid portals and busy quest hubs. In the end, I dive-bombed into Orgrimmar to catch two, found two at Razor Hill, and two outside Orgrimmar gates. (Hordies, I'd recommend trying Stormwind and Goldshire). This is the hardest part of the meta in my opinion and if you have any great ideas I'd love to hear them!
April 22, 2011
WoW Blogging Challenge Day 05 - Favourite item(s) in game
This post is part of the WoW Blogging Challenge! Originally inspired by Saga at Spellbound.
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Today is the first day of 11.5 days off work for me, which means I have a lot more time for blogging. I won't lie - there won't be a sudden influx of posts (scheduled posting is not how I roll) but I will endeavour to get on with this challenge.
By nature I'm a hoarder. Naturally it extends into WoW as well, leaving me with bags full of items I don't need/use but refuse to delete. That doesn't automatically grant them 'favourite items' status though, so in the name of honest and transparent blogging I've logged on and had a good hard look at what my favourite items really are:
Bone Fishing Pole and Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat
I'd been doing the fishing dailies for so long that I'd given up on getting these items. After a few weeks not doing them, I decided that sulking about it was a silly reason to lose my guild that exp. The first day I went back to them I got the fishing pole and the very next day I got the hat. Chance is a fickle mistress.
Titanium Seal of Dalaran
My fondest memory of wasting time within the game is fishing in the Dalaran fountain for coins. If the lore (at times sad, at time hilarious) on the coins wasn't enough, there were three achievements to get and this nifty coin. Granted it does nothing but trigger an emote, but that's not why I chase these things! It's a good reminder that perseverance will get me far in this game.
Sea Turtle
Fishing for Glacial Salmon in Northrend, minding my own business...BAM. Fished up the Sea Turtle. I squealed and did a little dance, guildmates were jealous and I got whispers in Dalaran about it. My first ever 'look at me' item and I'd be telling a big fat lie if I said I wasn't chuffed to bits with it. The noise and animation when you jump whilst mounted are adorable too.
Fossilized Hatchling
Proof that Archaeology would drop nice things for me! The noise it makes when you click on it is beyond cute. Now, if only I had the Fossilized Raptor to match...
Singing Sunflower
Those quests were hard, ok?! It took me quite a few tries to get the lovely sunflower and it's a very fitting pet for Aralosseien.
Tranquil Mechanical Yeti
Just because it's a yeti. And yetis are awesome.
Now, if you'll excuse me, me and my Sea Turtle are off on a tour of Stormwind.
Last Challenge post - Your best WoW memory
Next Challenge post - Your workplace/desk
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Today is the first day of 11.5 days off work for me, which means I have a lot more time for blogging. I won't lie - there won't be a sudden influx of posts (scheduled posting is not how I roll) but I will endeavour to get on with this challenge.
By nature I'm a hoarder. Naturally it extends into WoW as well, leaving me with bags full of items I don't need/use but refuse to delete. That doesn't automatically grant them 'favourite items' status though, so in the name of honest and transparent blogging I've logged on and had a good hard look at what my favourite items really are:
Bone Fishing Pole and Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat
I'd been doing the fishing dailies for so long that I'd given up on getting these items. After a few weeks not doing them, I decided that sulking about it was a silly reason to lose my guild that exp. The first day I went back to them I got the fishing pole and the very next day I got the hat. Chance is a fickle mistress.
Titanium Seal of Dalaran
My fondest memory of wasting time within the game is fishing in the Dalaran fountain for coins. If the lore (at times sad, at time hilarious) on the coins wasn't enough, there were three achievements to get and this nifty coin. Granted it does nothing but trigger an emote, but that's not why I chase these things! It's a good reminder that perseverance will get me far in this game.
Sea Turtle
Fishing for Glacial Salmon in Northrend, minding my own business...BAM. Fished up the Sea Turtle. I squealed and did a little dance, guildmates were jealous and I got whispers in Dalaran about it. My first ever 'look at me' item and I'd be telling a big fat lie if I said I wasn't chuffed to bits with it. The noise and animation when you jump whilst mounted are adorable too.
Fossilized Hatchling
Proof that Archaeology would drop nice things for me! The noise it makes when you click on it is beyond cute. Now, if only I had the Fossilized Raptor to match...
Singing Sunflower
Those quests were hard, ok?! It took me quite a few tries to get the lovely sunflower and it's a very fitting pet for Aralosseien.
Tranquil Mechanical Yeti
Just because it's a yeti. And yetis are awesome.
Now, if you'll excuse me, me and my Sea Turtle are off on a tour of Stormwind.
Last Challenge post - Your best WoW memory
Next Challenge post - Your workplace/desk
April 20, 2011
Leading the Cavalry
This post is brought to you by sunshine and delicious cheesecake.
A few of you may have read my recent posts on deciding which achievement to aim for next, and the decision I made. Well, I have some good news:
I hit that 50 mount total last night and finally got Leading the Cavalry, complete with Reins of the Albino Drake! Not one to do things inefficiently the 50th mount I acquired was the Armored Brown Bear...which comes with its own achievement.
The next achievement I'm going to pick up is a small 10-pointer called Well Read. I'm having a bit of a bookworm phase at the moment so it strikes a chord! Despite not being a flashy achievement it'll take a fair bit of travel and searching to find and read them all, so I'll be posting a guide to their locations (with tips on reaching them if needed) once I've completed it.
What are you working towards lately?
A few of you may have read my recent posts on deciding which achievement to aim for next, and the decision I made. Well, I have some good news:
I hit that 50 mount total last night and finally got Leading the Cavalry, complete with Reins of the Albino Drake! Not one to do things inefficiently the 50th mount I acquired was the Armored Brown Bear...which comes with its own achievement.
The next achievement I'm going to pick up is a small 10-pointer called Well Read. I'm having a bit of a bookworm phase at the moment so it strikes a chord! Despite not being a flashy achievement it'll take a fair bit of travel and searching to find and read them all, so I'll be posting a guide to their locations (with tips on reaching them if needed) once I've completed it.
What are you working towards lately?
April 15, 2011
Ambassador Aralosseien
Although it's not a hard achievement to get now that Blizzard have added city faction tabards, I'm still proud to say that I got Ambassador of the Alliance mid-heroic last night and the title 'Ambassador'. There was no sudden urge to spoil anyone with Ferrero Rocher, much to my tank's dismay :D
Lately I've been working my way through the new city tabards while we run heroics. I seriously recommend you do the same for any city factions you haven't hit exalted with yet, especially if you only need to get from revered to exalted. Collect the tabards you need from the city quartermasters located next to/near the flight points. They also sell cloaks which incorporate the city colours and coat of arms - these look great as part of a non-combat/RP outfit.
It goes without saying that you should always have a tabard equipped if you're running dungeons as you level!
As an added bonus for those efficient achievement hunters, each reputation will count towards achievements like 25 Exalted Reputations (my next milestone) or maybe 50 Exalted Reputations (a lot of respect to anyone who's aiming for that one).
Happy tabarding!
Lately I've been working my way through the new city tabards while we run heroics. I seriously recommend you do the same for any city factions you haven't hit exalted with yet, especially if you only need to get from revered to exalted. Collect the tabards you need from the city quartermasters located next to/near the flight points. They also sell cloaks which incorporate the city colours and coat of arms - these look great as part of a non-combat/RP outfit.
It goes without saying that you should always have a tabard equipped if you're running dungeons as you level!
As an added bonus for those efficient achievement hunters, each reputation will count towards achievements like 25 Exalted Reputations (my next milestone) or maybe 50 Exalted Reputations (a lot of respect to anyone who's aiming for that one).
Happy tabarding!
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