Tag Archives: Achievements

Chasing Completion

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I’ve alluded to it multiple times but I feel like I’ve done pretty much everything I wanted to do in the World of Warcraft. As such I’ve been trying to come up with new things to keep me occupied in the game, rather than taking an (extended) break. So when all else fails, or better when I don’t want to do challenging group content, I return to my completionist roots and start working away on earning achievements again. One of the more notable ones that I was close to was to get 100 reputations to Exalted. I think I only needed 5 more before the weekend. I found out that I could get two “free” reputations to Exalted by going back to Desolace and finish a, for some reason, resetted questline involving two centaur clans. After completing said questchain I got awarded with both their reputations being set to Exalted. The next reputation that I managed to get up, with the help of Timewalking, was the Sha’tari Defense reputation from Warlords of Draenor. For some reason though that one didn’t count towards my 100 so I had to think of other reputations to grind.
And that’s how I spent two to three hours of my Sunday grinding out Gadgetzan, Ratchet and Everlook reputation by committing pirate genocide in Tanaris. I got lucky with another player seeking to do the same and we grouped up, making the farm twice as fast. At the end of that grind I walked away with all those reps to Exalted, the achievement completed and a mount and title earned. There’s not many reputations that I’ve not touched now. I think three PvP ones are most notable, Silverwing Sentinels from Warsong Gulch, League of Arathor from Arathi Basin and Wrynns Vanguard from Ashran. I doubt I’ll ever get those to Exalted since I’ve not been interested in running battlegrounds for a long time now.
As far as PvE reptutations go… I still have Ravenholdt on Neutral and if I really wanted to I guess I could go for Insane in the Membrane, but I’m not that crazy yet. There’s Chromie rep to get and a variety of fishing reputations aswell as Draenor Garrisson bodyguard stuff. Nothing that is very appealing to me right now. I’m also still steadily working away on getting Exalted with the Rajani, I’m done with Uldum Accord, but that rep is limited to the assaults and dailies that I can do. I’m currently sitting around 17.5/21k though so I think I should be done with them around the weekend.

I’ve also started to do achievements that are specifically tied to Battle for Azeroth. Killing all rares in the various zones. Finding all treasures. Read scrolls and ride rickety planks or find grey items that are hidden in plain sight, if you know where to look. Eventually I’ll get to the harder to get ones and back to Nazjatar and Mechagon meta achievements, if I can keep interested until that.
There’s also some older “group” achievements that I’m eyeing to do. They mostly evolve around raid/dungeon achievements that also give a mount and I see that I’ve basically stopped doing them around Mists of Pandaria. Since that is all outdated content now I’m going to try to do as much as I can on my own and maybe ask a friend or two to assist me with the rest. That should keep me busy for a while atleast.

I’m also maybe planning to casually level up some Allied Race toons, if only to unlock their respective heritage armours and get those achievements out of the way aswell. Leveling is pretty braindead right now and fast enough to keep me entertained while also getting reasonable progress when I play for an hour or so. I’ve been poking around on a Lightforged Draenei Paladin and a Zandalari Troll Monk. Seeing as how I play tank and healer respectively I get pretty fast dungeon queues and when I don’t feel like doing dungeons I can just switch to a dps spec and quest my way up. By no means is this a big time consumption for me and I’m not going to make it some sort of “must do” goal but it’s nice to sometimes play a lower level toon and not have to think about too much.

Anyway, before this post turns even more rambly that’s what I’m mostly up to in WoW these days and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. I’m also still playing FFXIV and leveling my Dark Knight there now, but that also limits itself to doing the pixie dailies and a random dungeon when I feel like it. I feel like summer is kind of taking away my will to game and instead I’m trying to be more outside. Be it in an active way or just lounging on my balcony while reading a book, it feels good to be in the fresh air and about instead of staying cooped up in my apartment the entire day. Especially now that my vacation is over and I’m back to work I feel like I need to make use of my free time to get away from my house, before the walls start closing in on me.
And inbetween that I’m satisfying my completionist urges. Let’s hope those can tie me over untill the Shadowlands prepatch.

Heritage Armour: Achieved

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I’ve been spending a lot of time playing World of Warcraft over the last two weeks. I’ve not been in a very good mood and I needed something to provide me with some comfort and WoW does that for me. I didn’t really want to play any endgame activities so instead I decided to finally unlock my first set of Heritage Armour on my Nightborne Mage. I achieved that goal last friday after I dinged level 110.
Personally I think the Heritage Armour looks really good. Ofcourse there are some clipping issues but it just fits the race it was designed for so well. I’m pretty sure that this will be my permanent glamour on this character for the forseeable future. I just need to get a different weapon so I can transmog it to match my gear but that’s not something that is high on my priority list right now.
With the nerfs to the experience needed to level up I could enjoy doing this casually. I’d take about 30 mins per level and I played for about 1-1.5 hours per night so the entire level up process was really smooth. Now that I’ve hit BfA content it has considerably slowed down. Since I’m now dividing my game time up in chunks it’s even more slowed down than when BfA launched and WoW was the only game I played. I tend to just play for an hour and see how far I come. I picked Zuldazar as first zone and am slowly working my way through the zone story. I’m also picking up all the sidequests that I can find and I’ve just gotten enough warmode resources to start the War Campaign again.
Leveling a Horde character the second time around I’m less focused on the zone stories and more on the scenery and just running around and having fun. Not having to read quest text helps a lot when it comes to just chaining content so that’s what I’m doing at the moment.

Next to my Nightborne I’ve also picked up leveling a Void Elf Hunter. She’s sitting at level 31 now and I’ve just finished Duskwood and am about to go into Northern Stranglethorn Vale. It’s really odd to be back at such a low level again, even with the levels flying by (5-10 minutes for one level depending on the quest hand-ins). Hunter is probably my most comfortable class to play and I really enjoy having the Blood Elf aestethics over on the Alliance side. For this character I’m also in no rush. As mentioned before I divide my evening into chunks now so I can do more than just play one game. So I set aside an hour for WoW, an hour for FFXIV and an hour for either reading or watching a show. It’s a really great way to be getting things done during my weekday evenings because I’m much more focused on the game I’m playing, knowing I only have about an hour to play. It’s atleast gotten me my Nightborne to level 110 and my Alchemist close to 30 on FFXIV.

All in all I’m quite happy with my unlock and my more concious planning of games. I’m getting stuff done while still enjoying myself in a casual manner.

Tons of WoW and a bit of Zelda

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Violet Spellwing

Seeing as I’m taking the time to deep clean my room this week I figured I would dust off the blog aswell.
I’ve had a rather busy month last month. A lot of IRL stuff has happened. I said goodbye to one of my coworkers who has gone on maternity leave and to our interim manager who unfortunately had to leave us due to not getting a permanent contract. I’ve also transitioned into a new position at work, one I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while, and found myself immensly tired after being trained for two weeks. This week however I have a week off and I’m hoping to spend it reading books, playing games and continuing to get rid of stuff on our attic. Hayfever has kicked in immensly and the tons of dust that seem to nestle itself everywhere in my room has made me sneeze more than I want to admit but it’s nice to have a truly clean room again, even though I know it will only last for a week or two.

Next to the IRL business I’ve also spent a lot of time playing games, or more specifically a game: World of Warcraft. I have set a goal for myself to obtain as much of the Artifact skins as I possibly can before BfA launches, with a special focus on the Mage Tower ones. I really want to get atleast all the Warrior, Monk, Paladin and Priest skins and will probably take a jab at Hunter aswell for atleast Beast Mastery and Marksmanship. I feel the Mage Tower challenges are not that hard to do but having to gear all my characters to be able to do them takes a lot of time and I rather focus on the classes I actually play over the ones I levelled up just to experience the stories.
Speaking of that, I only have the Rogue left to level. My latest toon, the DK, has gotten to 110 and I’ve finished her class campaign. I hated it (SPOILERS AHEAD). I feel like a Lich King slave all over again, especially when I was basically forced to annihilate the Silver Hand just to attempt to resurrect Tirion Fordring. I don’t feel comfortable at all making more Death Knights and I certainly don’t appreciate the telepathic link the Lich King seems to have permanently instated in my head again. Out of all the class campaigns I’ve done so far I’ve liked this one the least purely because of the story. I know it’s strong storywriting on Blizzard’s account otherwise I wouldn’t have these strong feelings about it. And even though I hated how the story played out I’m curious to see what ramifications my actions had and how things will go in the future for the Knights of the Ebon Blade and the Lich King himself.

Another goal I had on my list was to get the “Ahead of the Curve” achievement before BfA hits. I think the mount is super pretty and I would be sad to not have it. I have gotten every Ahead of the Curve achievement since it was instated in Warlords of Draenor except for the Kil’Jaeden one. So last Friday one of my best friends arranged for me and him to join an Antorus HC group. I was the lowest geared of everyone and didn’t have my Curve achiev but I think I did pretty well. I had minimum deaths and my DPS wasn’t super bad. All in all the run took about two hours after which I had my achievement, and my mount, and feel like I don’t have to do this raid anymore at all, which is a relief all on it’s own. My next big achievement is to get M+15 done. I’ve pushed up to +11 so far on my Monk and I’m confident I can get +15 done if I get a bit more gear.

Priest Class Mount

For now though I’m slowly ticking off goals of my list as BfA draws nearer. I’m slowly obtaining all my Class Hall mounts, working on the Field Medic achievement, gearing up to take on Mage Tower challenges and hunting Hidden Skins. It’s keeping me busy and I’m happy playing with my own goals set in mind. I’ve also almost decided what class I will be rolling as new main in BfA. Unfortunately since my Alliance guild is dead and I don’t really enjoy playing with the majority of people there I’ve decided to roll Horde so I can play with friends over there. I’m currently leaning heavily towards rolling a Protection Paladin but am still undecided because I just love my Windwalker Monk so much that I can’t make the final decision yet. It will mean that I am moving away from my Warrior at the start of BfA but I intend to level her up fast aswell so I can see the Alliance story.

Even though WoW is consuming a lot of my time I’ve still found some time to tackle other things. I’ve started reading the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb and am halfway through The Assassin’s Apprentice. I’m also finishing off The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat. Reading is a nice diversion from staring at a screen all day and seeing as I have about five books on my shelf that are still untouched I will be reading for a while to come.
I’ve also finally started my first serious playthrough of Ocarina of Time on my 3DS. I never had proper Nintendo consoles when I grew up, only handhelds, so I didn’t really experience any of the Zelda games. I bought Ocarina of Time when it became a select and now finally bit the bullet and started playing it. My first impressions are that it’s a rather confusing game which doesn’t give that many clues and the clues you do get are rather cryptic. I know there is a ton of side content to do in the various villages and I have been peeking into a walkthrough every now and then when I was really stuck but otherwise I’ve been trying to make it through on my own. OoT really is a game that wants you to explore and test and do a lot of things on your own so I’ve been wrecking every jar and box I’ve come across, headbutted every tree and talked to every dude in every village. I’ve made it to Dodongo Cave right now but I’m shivering when I think about what’s to come. I heard the Water Temple is legendary and notorious at the same time so I’m quite curious as to what it entails.
I’m also slowly advancing through Dragon Quest 8, for when I’m stuck and frustrated in Zelda, and completed my party by adding Angelo. I’m really enjoying the story, although the monsters are still very bizarre. I think I’m about 8 hours into the game where I know it’s about 80 hours or so long so I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface but still. It’s a nice game to fire up every now and then and play for an hour or two before putting it away again.

There’s more games I would like to focus on after I finish Zelda and/or Dragon Quest 8. I still have Persona 5 and Horizon Zero Dawn that I want to finish on my PS4 and Kirby: Star Allies on my Switch. For the time being though I only have one week off and not enough time in the world to do everything I would want. So I’ll see how far I come with my books and my games, aslong as I get to relax and be happy.

Helping the Ehcatl Nine and More Beast Tribe Silliness

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After my recent levelling spree, I decided to turn my attention to the last “A Realm Reborn” beast tribe I needed to get max rank reputatin with: The Ehcatl Nine (better known as the Ixali). A group of Ixali who don’t believe in worshipping Garuda, but instead searching for a way to get back into Ayatlan, a floating paradise high up in the sky… And their home.
Over the course of the quests you help build components for their airship, making it a unique Beast tribe… Seeing as the quests were meant to be completed on Disciples of the Hand, rather than Battle Classes/Jobs.
I was very happy to see the happy ending here, which mostly constitutes of the airship you helped build doing a succesful test flight.

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After I completed this tribe, I picked up a new questchain (SPOILERS AHEAD) that would send back to all the old beast tribes. At first I had to return Little Solace and the Sylphs, where they had me steal back a batch of podlings that were kidnapped from their camp. While surveying the Sylphlands I encounter a mysterious lady called Sylvie, who tells me the podlings were kidnapped as part of a bigger, darker plot… And then she heads off to La Noscea.
After that I paid a visit to the Sapsa Spawning Grounds and the Sagahin, where the youngest of Novv’s clutch has been kidnapped by a mysteriously masked Miqo’te… Who then almost murders Novv!
Going out on a short sidenote here, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Sahagin. The story of their Beast Tribe is about protecting family most of all, and in this questchain Novv tells you you are like a daughter to him, not only that, his only and strongest daughter. It really struck a chord with me and reminds me how Square Enix has absolute gems of story in their game.

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Our story continues with Sylvie showing up in Aleport, telling me she is after the same masked Miqo’te that I just encountered. Apparently he is known as the Ebon Claw. She sents me to Baderon in the Drowning Wench, who starts the next part of the chain which sends me to the Kobolds of the 789th Order in Outer la Noscea. Where entire scores of Kobolds have been disappearing.
(How do you kidnap so many at once, really!)
Our friend Sylvie is at the scene and gets wounded by the mysterious “Ebon Claw”. She tells us the Ixali are the next target, so I hurry to Ehcatl Nine, hoping to get answers there.
The Ebon Claw raided a party of Ixali near Hyrstmill and luckily for us, a part of his airship fell off and I could take it back for identification. Which then sends me to Ul’dah where I encounter an Amal’jaa from the Ashen Brotherhood frantically running around in the city, who tells me the Ebon Claw stole mere hatchlings away from the encampment in Southern Thanalan. After a brief talk with the Warleader, and (involuntarily) recruiting Loonh Gah the Miqo’te to my search for the Ebon Claw, Sylvie introduces me to the chairmain of the organization she works for: The Ashcrown Consortium. It has been dealing with friendly beast tribes forever and wants to put an end to the kidnappings.

For the last leg of the quest I have a few friends that help me track down the Ebon Claw and the organization he works for: The Laughing Alchemists. After running around all over the city talking to various people it’s time to for the encounter with the Ebon Claw, who confirms earlier suspicions that the head of the Laughing Alchemists, Memeriga, has been kidnapping the beast tribe younglings to turn them into an undead army! Sylvie turns out to be Silbexio, a Sylph who escaped death by the Ebon Claw before.
A final battle ensues in the Invisible City in Eastern Thanalan. We save the day, blow up Memeriga’s cauldron with zombie mixture and kill the Ebon Claw and put a stop to all the Beast tribe abductions once and for all. Beast tribes unite!
A lot more details happen in the quest obviously, but you really need to play through it yourself to fully grasp the story.

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So yeah, that was my Saturday evening! That last Beast tribe chain quest was quite a monster and took me about 2 hours to complete. In the end I managed to get an achievement and I unlocked additional wares to buy from all the old Beast tribes, including pets. So my collector’s heart is at ease.
Oh, I also managed to obtain my Lore tome chest for Ninja… Doesn’t it look pretty?

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Settling On A Routine

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After a crazy week last week, I’m trying to settle down in my normal work routine. I don’t have that much IRL appointments coming up so I can start putting some more time into games again.
I am hitting a wall in the sense that first off I really need to unlearn the habit  of lying on bed after dinner. I often fall asleep for an hour or two, causing me to wake up groggy and deciding to either go to bed completely at a very early hour or it makes me awake for the rest of the night which causes me to have issues falling asleep later on. I also feel like I’m wasting my evenings doing this and I have so much to do in so many games that I don’t want to feel like I’m wasting even a minute of my time.

Yoshimitsu Zenith

Last weekend I’ve been mostly consumed with playing FFXIV. I pushed through my Ninja 2.0 relic quests and obtained the Yoshimitsu Zenith in about two hours of work. Immediatly after I picked up the White Mage quest for Thyrus, which I plan to complete today. It’s really not that much work to do and it gives me a sense of completion, so I’m happily ploughing away at the quests again. It also helps there’s an achievement for getting all the relics done, and seeing as I’m a completionist… It’s right up my alley.

Next to doing the old relics I’ve been doing some work on the new relics too. I’ve tried my best to do my beast tribe dailies every day, which makes me able to obtain a few more of the items I need today. I tend to skip FATE dailies though because either they aren’t up or people do them so fast I can’t even participate to get the item I need. The “spare” quests this leaves me with I’m using to level to the last rank I need with the Ixali… Which in turn benefits my crafter levelling. It’s a nice routine that I’m easily able to keep up after work. Doing all the beast tribe dailies takes me about 1-1.5 hours, it’s relaxing and rewarding and it doesn’t involve me having to wait in queues for god knows how long.

Valentione is Here!
Events Everywhere
It’s that time of year when most games turn their attention to Valentine’s day, and the Valentione Event has come around on Eorzea again aswell. I don’t remember previous years, but this year requires you to party up with someone to complete the quests, which is both fun and mildly frustrating. On Moogle I have a friend I can party up with to do the quests, on Cactuar however not so much… And I want to complete the event on both my characters. I could probably make a Party Finder party for it and complete it that way, but I’ll see what I do over the course of today or maybe the weekend.
I decided that the best times for me to do these events, or anything not daily related, on any of my games is during the days I have off. Then I don’t have to rush stuff and can focus on one thing at a time without feeling so tired. I hope to atleast finish the Valentione event on Moogle today, as I do like the rewards that are obtainable.

On another Isle in MMO land, Blizzard has released the Lunar event for Heroes of the Storm this year. It comes with being able to obtain a special ingame portrait and a 50% chance to spawn an Elder Monkey every game, that drops an envelope with 100 gold if you kill it. It’s a nice little way to get an extra 100 gold every day and I’m always a sucker for obtaining new portraits, so I’m definately partaking in the event this year.  Coinciding with the Lunar Festival, Blizzard has introduced a new hero: Li Ming the Wizard from Diablo 3. She came with an awesome skin/mount bundle… And I caved and bought it.

Li Ming the Star Princess

I tried her out a bit last night and my god is she fun to play. Her gameplay reminds me a bit of Lux in League of Legends. She has a talent that makes it so that one of her damaging spells “marks” people for extra damage. Like Lux’ passive. And would you look at the amazing skin? I literally get to play as Sailor moon. I love it so damn much and she’s so much fun to play that I see myself spending more time in Heroes of the Storm than I have been spending for a long time.

World of Warcraft will swing around with their usual Lunar and Valentine’s event. I don’t think they added anything or much new to these, so not going to discuss that in detail. What I do however want to bring up quickly is the recent Hearthstone changes that have been announced by Blizzard.
Personally I can see the pro’s and con’s of Standard Mode. For someone like me, who has been playing catch-up since last year, it’s nice to be able to “skip” the old adventures now. I don’t have any of the OP cards like Dr. Boom anyway so I really don’t care that much that they are leaving them out. On the other hand I can empathize with the people who feel like they are pulled out of their niche decks and that they will become impossible to play, even in Wild Mode. Assuming Blizzard will no longer balance the old cards with the new, it feels like a lot of people will have invalidated collections which they may have paid a lot of money for. And it sucks for them. I guess we’ll see how it works out when it actually goes live. For now I’m still truding through the Adventures, purely for completionist purposes.