Deja-Vroom
It occurred to me as I was flying to Stormspire to talk to Dealer Rashaad about purchasing a parrot, rabbit, dragonhawk and cockroach pet that I might have a problem.
I can’t consider a character “real” until they have achievement points, pets, and mounts.
I don’t know when this started – heck, I played the game before achievement points even existed. I remember that fateful day in October of 2008. I received credit for some of the things I had done, and even things I hadn’t known I’d done. I was annoyed that it didn’t know I had done all of the heroic Burning Crusade dungeons (I only went back to re-do them all for ‘credit’ years later. If you ask me why I did this, I couldn’t even tell you).
I’ve had a lot of time to think about this over the past few weeks, as I’ve been gathering the materials to make another Mekgineer’s Chopper, and disguised as a fel orc doing tasks for the Netherwing (there’s a Broken in those mines who cuts off his own hand and gives it to you, did you know that? He’s so committed to the task that he does this because he knows if he doesn’t, it’ll blow your cover. Now that’s dedication… Do you think he got ten achievement points for it?)
This is a sickness. I earned 100 Valiant’s Seals to become a champion of four more factions so that I could be a Crusader and reclaim the pallycorn that was mine by rights. This may also be my third Crusader character, or not quite, but it’s definitely my second. Yes, I know, draenei paladins (Vindicators!) received a very racially appropriate elekk that robbed me of my beloved horse. It’s ideally suited to male draenei – who’ve been crushing mounts beneath their prodigious bulk since coming to Azeroth – but Vid likes to be a bit more low profile. So now she’s a Crusader, and has a horse (and a motorcycle) and a Cenarion Hippogryph and somewhere in the neighbourhood of sixty mini-pets. You can see where this is going.
I don’t even really mind that I’ll have to do Loremaster again. I’ve been meaning to see all of the “new” old quests in any case. Plus, I really like “The Seeker” title. I tried just focusing on character appropriate achievements/pets and mounts – that’s why Vid has the Legs pet (from Zangarmarsh) and will need the Firefly, as well as riding the Cenarion Hippogryph mount. She’s spent a lot of time in Zangarmarsh over the years (Sporregar rep is naturally on my “to-do” list).
Three hours of farming in Tol Barad has failed to yield another Fox Kit, though. I’m not sure I’ll have the heart to re-do all of the achievements Millya has.
The Dalaran Fountain coins? …ugh.
Another Mr. Pinchy? …This would be the third character I’ve fished him up with.
I think being an achievement hunter and an altaholic may be a dangerous combination. I’ll tell you more about it, as soon as I’m finished my daily Winterspring cub quest. If I do that for enough consecutive days, I’ll get another mount which will put me at nearly fifty!
…please send help.
A dwarf asked me to carry this keg back to Ironforge. It has wings because that's how in touch with the Light I am. I only did it because there's this achievement if you complete all these tasks, though...
Manalicious 
Comments on: "You’ve Earned The Achievement: Re-Earn All The Achievements!" (26)
Hahahahaha.
… I feel your pain. ;_;
Same here.
I solved it the brutal way: I’d rather stop playing WoW than switching away from my main with all the achies. And in order not to be tempted, I only have one 85.
Good thing she’s a pally and the guild likes me as tank…
I wouldn’t be able to switch my main from my warrior… Ever. There’s the fact that I have over 10k achieve points (I’m heavily invested) and all the jc and bs patterns in the game except for a few raid drops, as well as nothing compares to the warrior playstyle.
When ever I make an alt, I never go out of my way to get achieves or titles: if I get them then cool, if I dot, oh well.
I forgot the other thing I was going to say! >.<
I am of the opinion that all mounts, titles, and pets should be BOA. So when you roll a new toon, you have all the mounts that your main has, all the pets, an you should be able to link/show your main's achieves, but able to earn them on the alt.
Switching mains is such a painful thing to do if you like to do achievements and gather pets/mounts. I definitely feel your pain, because I’ve been there as well.
I started the “What a Long, Strange Trip…” achievement on my Warlock.. then switched to my Warrior because the guild needed a tank in Wrath and did it on her.. two holidays from completing it on the Warrior I eventually realised that I wanted to be a Warlock again in Cataclysm and had to finish the last bits on the Warlock.
On the Warlock I also miss several raid achievements. Some Heroics achievements. I had to do the Argent Tournament grind all over again for the mounts/pets. And she still hasn’t gotten all of the stuff the Warrior got during her “time out”.
Sometimes I wish that you could send pets/mounts to other characters on the same account. But at the same time I can understand why they’d never do it. (But I keep a spare Headless Horseman’s mount that I got 2 (!!!) of on my alt.. you know.. just in case it ever becomes BoA..)
A spare Headless Horseman mount, haha! Geeze. 😉 I sometimes think if you looked at my alts’ achievements and lined them up chronologically it would read like a history of “what I was doing at this time.” Naxx-Malygos on my priest, then Ulduar on my druid, then Ulduar-TOC-ICC-Cata on my mage, and now my paladin (who still has some ICC via alt runs at the end of summer). I guess all I can really do is embrace this about myself, as you have, and be willing to re-do things I may have done on other characters. As Voss put it, “You were looking for something to do, anyway!”
Vid you’re a lunatic. 🙂 I solved this issue my own way, and I know we talked about it when you were considering making Vid your raider this time around, but I do all my achievements on Rhii (currently 104 pets, 72 mounts) and I do all my raiding on Rhee (about six account bound pets and 4 mounts or so) and for the most part it works pretty well. I get to keep in touch with my beloved main, and I get to raid as a healer.
My problem is when I want something specialty, like the Justicar title or a raid-only mouht. Some things I guess I have to live without. Oh and my druid somehow is only short one book for Higher Learning. What the HECK I was thinking there, I simply do not know.
See! I know we did talk about this. The problem that I have, is that all the things I’ve gathered, I love to use/enjoy. So before a raid pull (when I was raiding as Millya!) I’d use my random macro to pull out a pet. It was actually a raid joke, “Oh, don’t pull, Millya needs the right pet.” ;p I got her collection up to 137 (/tear) before switching to Vid. I think it’s a bit easier for the mounts because I already had the “hundred mount” achievement and so haven’t been collecting them as avidly. Still, I really like using different mounts, and using different pets, and fooling around with the archaeology stuff I have. 😦 I guess if I really only used one mount, or had the achievements just to “have” them it’d be easier. (Not saying this is what you do by any means, just kind of musing aloud to myself). I think I just have to embrace the crazy.
Um, maybe Voss ought to stage an intervention.
With some memories of what all my druid went through over achievements and rep grinds, my hunter has been a bit more cautious with his choices. It must be in the “family blood” though. He still manages 1-3 achievs a day. (well, most days) Druid is so far gone though that he “retired”, just to have the time to go insane. Along with many other afflictions.
Love the post! I think it really hits home for many players.
This is a big part of the reason I’ll never switch mains. Every so often I’ll get a wild notion that this alt totally nerfs this achievement! And then I try to get a grip on myself, because that way lies madness.
That being said, Alas 2.0 was the worst idea ever for me. She’s a mage! She’s named Alas! She deserves shiny achievement points! And then I wonder why I’m having such a hard time just getting to the level cap.
Hahaha I laughed, well written and humorous. I guess I should be happy that achievements never caught on with me, I’m generally not very willing to do much grinding, I once was but if I had to start now, I’d be hopelessly behind getting all the mounts, pets and achievements out there, so I try and stay clean.
For me, a new alt doesn’t start to become “real” until she has a talent spec, and she doesn’t become “real” enough to be at least moderately safe from being deleted and rerolled until she’s either gotten a mount or obtained some holiday item that I don’t feel like waiting around the year to get again.
Early on, I decided to make Kamalia my designated collector and achievement hound. That hasn’t stopped some of the others from deciding that they NEED specific mounts, pets, achievements, or quest rewards.
I understand your sentiments about the Vindicator Elekk. As truly awesome as the Sunwalker Kodo is, one of the main factors that kept me from deleting my BE Paladin (before I decided to start leveling her again through LFD) was that I wanted to have a Paladin with a Paladin Horse. Both of my Paladins will certainly want to be Crusaders, but I haven’t decided yet if both of them will go after the Crusader Paladin horse or just the BE.
You’re definitely masochistic, but then I’m contemplating doing the exact same thing, so at least you’re not alone!
Some people like to slay virtual dragons other don’t feel complete without getting all achievements. What would really help you here vid is if all your toons would help toward the same total. So you complete ulduar on your mage you wouldn’t have to back and do it on your pally. Because I think the sum all your toons make you who you really are. Think about it ok? If you are happy then by all means continue. If you are not then consider trying to do it less and make one of the toons your only achievement toon and change the way you look at the game entirely. Were here to support you either way. So hugs above all else.
I wonder if linking all achievements to battle.net accounts would help solve this for you. I know it would for me, but I don’t know why. My true main, Paladi, doesn’t have a lot of the ICC stuff (including the drakes) because I was on Stubborn at the time. I have no desire to go back and get them, though, which is where you and I differ. I like to get my cheevos, but after the first time I’m less interested. I wonder what this reveals about your personality; perhaps you’re showing a strong desire for extrinsic motivations, or maybe you’re hiding a desire for approval from other achievement hunters. I haven’t a clue, of course, but you might. Games reveal a lot of who we are in subtle ways, if we just take the time to look (or blog). Great post!
It’s a funny thing: When I think about the idea of trying to re-obtain all those achievements and pets and mounts and so forth, it seems too daunting to even consider it. But once I actually set out to do it, it’s kind of fun. I mean, I’ll never have quite as much as I do on the original Lara, but it’s surprisingly fun to go back and fill in the blanks a little at a time on a new alt.
The key seems to be moderation. Doing it too much can probably lead to insanity (and not the kind that gives you a title, at least not in game). Also, it’s a fun thing one can do with friends, in addition to running dungeons.
[…] has a problem with achievements. Achievements are an interesting compulsion. I should write more about my own issues with […]
My original Tauren hunter main has Loremaster. She was the first to get a Violet Proto-Drake and an Albino Drake and a Stinker.
Then in Wrath between Uldy and ToC I changed not only mains, but also factions. My human mage got over 8k achievement points, a Mekgineer’s Chopper, the Vial of the Sands, a Cenarion Hippogryph, Guardian of Cenarius, the Timbermaw, Sporeggar, Kurenai … need I mention the Violet Proto or Nuts the 100-pets pet?
NOW … well, I have two other toons that have Violet Protos and I’m working on my fifth. Both of my paladin mains (!) are Crusaders with Argent Chargers. My belf pally just got Nether Rays from Skyguard rep. He has over 60 mounts and at least as many pets. I’m saving up money to have my DK make him a chopper, and yes … he is an alchemist and the long-term plan calls for a Vial.
It’s a sickness, I tell ya!
If there had been achievements in Vanilla/TBC, and if I hadn’t taken my break, then I might have been an achievement addict. Especially having had one main character that whole time. As it is… I honestly can’t be bothered. There’s no achievement for getting my Rhok’delar or for dancing with the Shatterspears; why would I possibly care about getting 10 achievement points for dragging an orphan through a battlefield?
Titles are kind of cool, I guess, but I have the display of them turned off so I can’t even see my own.
[…] Manalicious has a very serious problem that I share — a fierce addiction to achievements. […]
Hi :), I’m with you completely here because I’m exactly the same. Loremaster (pre-Cata of course) was the thing for me, all of my level 80s had to be Loremasters, and then that led to the other achievements that they all had to do. At the moment I’m trying not to level a character to 85 because I don’t have time to do the Loremaster stuff. Luck to you with your achievements, Carolan.
I don’t think I could ever be persuaded to do Loremaster, but I recently got Stinky & my albino drake, so I think the achievement bug is gradually taking hold. And I find myself eating some very strange foods & reading a lot of books, for those achievements which don’t require a huge amount of play time. I don’t have the long WoW ‘history’ of some of the other responders – and I certainly don’t have the single-minded determination required for some achievements, but then, everyone has a different idea of fun 🙂
[…] wrote about how her characters don’t feel complete without achievements; I don’t feel like a group of alts on a particular server are fully established unless […]
This article sums up how I feel a lot. I find a lot of times I don’t “adknowledge” a character until it has a sufficient amount of investment in it. I’m REALLY trying to break this habit! I am a person who must do something with 100% focus and effort, because there is no point in doing anything halfway. Unfortunately, I am trying to let go for this with WoW, and just focus on “completing” things in general instead of “OMG must complete this before the end of the week”. Right now I’m stuck in the latter and I end up never getting anything done. I’m also indecisive; I want to play horde but making new friends would hurt. But, I really really want to raid on horde. Sigh.
[…] wrote about how her characters don’t feel complete without achievements; I don’t feel like a group of alts on a particular server are fully established unless […]