In The Beginning...

Okay, so this isn't "The Beginning" as such, but hey, I like the line.

So I want to start where I am comfortable, and that would be World of Warcraft. I started playing just before Burning Crusade was released and have enjoyed almost every minute of it. I'm not a big PvP player (which is why my brief foray into Warhammer Online wasn't very successful) and I don't often have the time to raid (because I work retail and don't get home to be online till the raid has already started) so I spend most of my time doing daily quests and finding everything I can that is strange or obscure.

I suppose that is why I love Achievements. On my old main, which was a Paladin, I started doing the exploration achievement as soon as they were released. Most of it was just rediscovering places I had already visisted in the old world, but there were places I had never been before, world-boss dragons I had never seen, and little known sites that you almost had to be standing on top of to discover. I've done the same with my new main, a Death Knight, and it was like talking to an old friend again. Riding through the Thousand Needles and onto the Shimmer Flats reminded me of the time I spent at the Races, looking for scorpions and basilisks on that white sandy expanse.

So now we have these achievements and some of them give cool rewards, like the fast flying Violet Proto-drake, given for completing certain achievements that relate to the World Events like Noblegarden (Easter) and Winter Veil (Christmas).

There is another that involves killing the faction leaders in their capital cities that awards a different mount, an Armoured Bear that you can parade around on, showing everyone that you have been and done the most you can for your allies.

I guess that Achievements are like the glue that holds the game together for me at the moment. Without them I might not have hunted for eggs under carts, in forges or behind strategically placed fence posts. I definitely would not have dragged an orphan into the middle of the fight against a Valkyr King unless I had to. I hope the poor blighter recovers.