The achievement system is a new feature in World of Warcraft (introduced in the Echoes of Doom patch) that allows players to track accomplishments and statistics of characters in all aspects of the game. World of Warcraft's achievements system will launch with more than 500 individual achievements covering every aspect of gameplay, including world exploration, PvE, PvP, professions, and character development; from the purely whimsical to the truly epic, there will be something for everyone. Some achievements come with in-game rewards such as tabards, vanity pets, and titles. All of these rewards are purely cosmetic and just for fun, but you'll certainly stand out when you proudly display them. And don't fret about running out of achievements anytime soon. The list is easily expandable, so you can expect additional achievements with each new World of Warcraft content update. Upon starting your journey in Wrath of the Lich King, you'll see a new button on your main action bar. Click that button to bring up the achievements window.
The top of the window displays the total number of points you've received for completing achievements. Below, each achievement appears with its name, description, point value, the completion date, and a progress bar (if applicable). Some achievements expand to display a list of individual components, highlighted to show which parts you've finished. You can also designate which achievements to track as you play, similar to the existing quest tracker. An important design goal is to provide players with everything they need to know to unlock an achievement.
It's great to be able to see your own achievements -- but it's even better to let the world know what you've accomplished. By right-clicking other players and selecting the appropriate option, you can compare your achievements to theirs. Every time you earn a new achievement, your accomplishment is announced to your guild and everyone in your immediate vicinity -- and the custom achievement animation and sound effect are unmistakable. Also, your achievements will be viewable on the Armory, allowing you to track and show off your accomplishments via the web.
World of Warcraft's achievements come in several varieties. Some simply require specific actions to unlock, such as getting a haircut or defeating a member of each race in your opposing faction in PvP. Others involve a progress bar and require you to do something several times -- such as give out 10 hugs. Some achievements are progressive; for example, once you complete an achievement to collect 10 vanity pets, you might next be asked to collect 25.Finally, meta achievements unlock when you complete other achievements -- unlocking all World Exploration achievements(see below) unlocks a World Explorer meta achievement. Some achievements, including those that involve quests, honorable kills,items currently in your possession,skills (including professions), exploration, and reputations,will be applied to your character retroactively. What do you get for completing achievements? Bragging rights, and that's just the beginning! Completing certain achievements will reward you with special titles or items like pets, tabards, and mounts. Check the details in your achievements window to see which achievements include special rewards. If an achievement has a reward, it will be listed at the bottom of that achievement.
There are several categories of achievements viewable on the left side of the achievement window. Click them will show what achievements you’ve earned and the achievements that you have left. The categories are as follows:
- General: Achievements in this category are a mixed bag focusing a lot on various things such as levels, reading books, drinking, mounts, looting gold, etc.
- Quests: Focuses on completing difficult quest lines and meeting various total quests completed milestones.
- Exploration: Exploring a map to 100% will unlock an achievement here.
- Player vs. Player: Reaching honorable kill milestones, killing the leaders of the opposing faction, participating in the arenas, and other pvp related activities will unlock achievements here (some even reward mounts).
- Dungeons & Raids: Killing certain bosses in instances, obtaining a certain number of any of the badges of honors, and other instance related activities end up here.
- Professions: Everything professions. Reaching a certain level in a profession to doing profession quests unlock achievements here.
- Reputation: Getting to exalted with various reputations will unlock achievements here. See our reputation guides.
- World Events: See our guide portal for guides to world events, but basically each seasonal event has one or more achievements here.
The question at this point is why bother? At the current time other players in the game can inspect you and view your achievements while you can do the same to them. By right clicking another player’s portrait you’ll gain access to their achievements. They’ll be able to see your total score along with what you’ve earned. So if you got the world first for a Kel’thuzad kill then they’ll be able to see proof that you’ve done it. So in summary, the achievement system is designed as a way to help you show the world just what you’ve done in the game and keep track of nearly every neat to amazing thing you do. Keep an eye on this guide while we continue to expand it to include how to get the easy achievements quick and a full list of the achievements and how best to obtain them.
