UPDATE (May 4th 2012): The GMs got back to me today.

So I got my first legendary weapon on Navitas today. Thunderfury. What I didn’t get, however, was the achievement that goes with it.

I only completed this tedious quest chain because I thought I would get the achievement simply for owning the item. Turns out I need to equip it first. And since Navitas is a Druid, I can’t equip the damn thing – because as we all know, Druids can’t use swords.

Now, I am a bit miffed about this. I invested thousands of gold into this, and what do I have to show for it? Nothing. Sure, I have the sword itself, but that’s nothing. I wanted the achievement too.

Surely Blizzard should have restricted this quest to classes that can actually use swords? Class quests do exist in the game, so it wouldn’t have been too hard to implement.

I’ve petitioned the GM’s asking for the achievement to be awarded to me. Now, some of you will  no doubt think that me doing this is pathetic. If so, go fuck yourself. I spent time and money on this and DAMNIT, I want that achievement. Otherwise, all of my effort will have been for naught.

Anyway, rant over. I just wanted to get this off my chest.

No, I don’t mean ‘PUGs’ as in those dogs (which I’m not too fond of). I mean ‘PUGs’ as in ‘Pick Up Group’. We’ve all done one at some point. In fact, before Dungeon Finder and Raid finder came along, PUGs were the only way of getting shit done.

I started playing WoW just after Burning Crusade was released. Back then, if you wanted to raid, you had to spend ages in Trade asking for people to come along. If you were in a raiding guild, chances are you had some people ready to go already. But then again, chances are you had to resort to pugging to fill the gaps.

As long as you knew how to kill the bosses, you were in. But that all changed when Wrath of the Lich King was released. Within a few months, all you saw in Trade was ‘LFM <raid name>. Link achievement’.

Despite playing WoW since TBC, I didn’t actually start raiding until Wrath. My Druid (Navitas) was lucky enough to be in a guild which was just starting with the new raids, so we all went on runs to try and get to the end. We did things at our own pace. However, on the day our raid group (which I was part of) finally completed Naxxramas, I was offline. As a result, Navitas never got (and to this day, has yet to get) the achievement to kill Kel’Thuzad.

This was pretty much it for me. I stopped raiding, because no group was willing to take me once they’d seen that I’d not completed Naxxramas. I’ve done Icecrown Citadel, but only the first three bosses. Lately, I’ve been trying to do Dragon Soul via the Raid Finder. But you don’t get the achievements for that. That, and I’ve only done one boss.

Anyway, as for achievements killing PUGs. I am yet to see someone start a raid group with the intention of actually getting the achievement. People always assume that because you’re Level 85, you’ve done everything. Its hard for (super ultra casual) raiders like me to get into a raid.

It annoys me when people don’t let me raid with them simply because I don’t have some poxy achievement to say that I’ve done it. I know the tactics, surely that’s good enough? Not for some, it isn’t. These elitist pricks seem to forget that they were in the same situation as myself and others like me at one point in time. So they have no right to decide whether or not I am fit to join them in facerolling Ragnaros, or whatever.

Don’t get me wrong, I like achievements. I’ve got quite a few under my belt, and the rewards are great. But it’s just the raiding achievements that annoy me. As soon as some people earn one, they think it’s a free pass to act like a dick to those who aren’t on the same level as them.

Anyway, to summarise. While achievements are a good way of sharing your glories in Azeroth, the stigma surrounding raid achievements needs to end. Just because someone doesn’t have one, it doesn’t mean they’re a bad player.

And what’ll it be like when MoP is released, and achievements become account-wide? All of my characters will suffer. Not one of them will get into a raid.

Just for once, I’d like to join a raid where people are going to get the achievement. I’d create one, but I just know it would end badly.

Spare a thought for the achievement-less. We may not have it, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be a detriment to your team.

Is it too much to ask for a little respect?

Holiestcow, my Tauren Paladin, is a Blacksmith. At the time of writing this post, he was still making things with Thorium. But the time will soon come when he’ll have 525 skill level (provided I get that far before MoP comes out).

However, I don’t raid on any of my characters. This means I won’t be able to get the high-end Blacksmithing plans.

I think it’s rather unfair that characters such as myself should miss out on these recipes, simply because we can’t/don’t raid. I seriously think that Blizzard should make these recipes available from vendors located in cities.

You could buy the reipes using either gold, Justice/Valor Points or bars of metal. My own preference would be for Justice/Valor points.

Some people may say that this would be pointless, but when was the last time you heard someone say “To hell with Deathwing, I want those plans!”? People raid for gear and achievements, not for the plans you can get within said raids.

I doubt this idea would ever be implemented. However with Mists of Pandaria just around the corner (I’m hoping to get a Beta key soon), there is a chance something like it could be put into action.

But what do you think?

EDIT: It would seem that these recipes are not Bind on Pickup. However, I’d still prefer to obtain these recipes using JP/VP, rather than pay an extortionate amount of gold (as is common on Vek’nilash).