I spent years achieving the achievement and all I got was this lousy title…
Finally, finally, with a lot of help from my friends and awesome support from the PuGs, I got Resilient Victory,
the last achievement I needed for Master of Arathi Basin,
and more importantly the last achievement I needed for Battlemaster.
So yes, I am now officially Battlemaster Gnomeaggedon, Justicar of Gnomeregan. Well I would be if you could chain titles… Guess I will stick with Gnomeaggedon of Gnomeregan.
Of course, with what comes next, you will probably re-title me Gnomeaggedon, Master Whinger of Gnomeregan.
Meh whatever…
The Hard Slog
Not all the achievements for any of the Master achievements are easy. For some people winning 100 of any BG is hard enough. Some of the achievements are even contrary to the goals of the BG, or the winning of the BG at least.
Still “the achievement” exists, the combination of 5 Master achievements, comprising 54 achievements in total (AV: 10, WSG: 11, SotA: 13, AB: 12, EotS: 8).
For that you get a title… A title… nothing more (and thankfully nothing less), unless you want to include 50, yes a whole 50 extra achievement points.
So what’s my gripe?
Well for one, What a long strange trip it’s been…
Remember the bitching about this achievement, it takes 12 months (brew of the month), included achievements that required some dedication, or at least being online at the right time.
- What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been: 8 master achievements
- To Honor One’s Elders: 12
- Noble Gardener: 8
- The Flame Warden: 6
- Hallowed Be Thy Name: 11
- Fool For Love: 12
- For The Children: 6
- Brewmaster: 6
- Merrymaker: 11
- Total: 72
Sure quantitatively there are a more achievements to earn, but many of them are givens. Ultimately this isn’t a hard meta achievement, although its reliance on RNG at times is frustrating, at the end of the day it’s a join the dots achievement and a full 12 month cycle of playing.
People wanted the big purple drake and were prepared to bitch about it, because it was too hard… god forbid you have to spend years waiting on the Spirit Healer, or accepting that to get the wins you will have to go through the loses… lots of loses… for a title… a title… No bonus gear, pets or mounts along the way… just a title.
... and my stats aren't *that* bad...
Elite skills and a bit of gear
What about the Instance and Raiding achievements. I’m not going to say they are easy, I know people dedicate themselves to the perfect moves for some of them. Still, at the end of the day, 5, 10, 25 people can walk away with titles and mounts, all within a single patch period.
Know the right people and you can piss fart around an entire expansion then get your high reward achievement once your over-gear the situation… in fact, why do that, why not just wait until your are and expansion or two down the track and solo the instances and raids for the achievements.
Try soloing a few BGs a couple of expansions down the track and see how far it get you.
Looking for the Justice in Justicar
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t resent the other meta achievements coming with more tangible rewards, bloody hell, would you even bother with What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been if not for the Purple Drake waiting at the end? The little bonuses along the way encourage your to chase the ultimate goal, but in the end, it’s the drake that you ignore your real life lover for during Love is in the Air.
I do think that at some point someone at Blizzard needs to have a look at something that while not broken per se, just doesn’t seem to add up. Hell, Blizzard have proven in the past they are more than happy to fix things that aren’t broken, so why not fix Battlemaster, and while they are at it, why not spice up Justicar?
If For the Alliance can reward you with a mount…
If you can get the Stormpike Battle Charger for a handful of honor – without even needing to be exalted any longer…
Not to mention the other honor mounts, like the Black Battlestrider, for more handfuls of honor…
Why don’t you get a battle mount for achieving Battlemaster, in fact why not get a mount for each of the factions represented by the sub-achievements as you progress?
Hardest of hardcore PvP
Of course if you are in the top 0.5% of players in the arena each seaon you will receive one of the Gladiator’s Twilight Drakes…
… and if you win 75, 150 and 300 Rated Battlegrounds, then you can get your hands on a Vicious War Steed, but don’t expect a different model for knocking yourself out… no you just get a better title!
Once again, not trying to detract from the achievements in Arena or Rated Battlegrounds (something I am extremely unlikely to ever achieve at this point in time), but I have to ask, what, beyond a title which I will most likely never display (I am Gnomeaggedon of Gnomeregan!) was the point of chasing Justicar and Battlemaster.
Yeah, yeah… I know personal satisfaction… pffft!
I’m just left wondering whether Blizzard understand the term Achievement and the concept of being rewarded appropriately.
Anyway, on a final note, I’d like to thank all the people, guildies and PuGs alike that assisted me in achieving Battlemaster. Apologies for not getting a screenshot of all the Alliance that stuck through against the odds to pull off the Resilient Victory. I know you doubted the strategy, like so many before you, but you unlike the others kept the faith till the end and for that I am very grateful.
In particular that thanks goes to the PuG Sylthren from Muradin. It was your confirmation of the strategy that steadied the other PuGs.
As for my guildies (Arivina, Daraiste, Daror, Deady, Dingo, Doamy, Fando, Giggitty, Informer, Magok, Maiyen, Meli, Oromic, Plaguezilla, Salex, Tickk, Xero), who so mercilessly taunted me after gaining Resilient Victory in a Rated Battleground while I was on Squidly. Who for another 2 months laughed at the suggestion that we attempt Resilient Victory (OK, you were scared that once I had it I would delete Gnomeaggedon, then delete WoW)…
I thank you for being at my side, even though for many of your Battlegrounds and PvP in general was the last thing you wanted to do.
Although, I’m sure you will admit… we had fun taunting and crushing the Horde!
Gnomer and Out!
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http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/02/14/and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy-title/
Grats! You are a bit of a tease, though. What was the strategy that finally worked for you?
Thanks… Might get around to documenting it… though it isn’t a well kept secret. Search YouTube for resilient victory to see it done (the videos can be annoying, but you’ll get the idea)
Serious big congratulations, my gnomish friend!
Thanks Cyn.
It is of course old news, I got the title back in Nov, it’s just taken me this long to finish off the post.
but… dude….
the BATTLEMASTER title carries weight more than basically any mount in the game. granted, it took me a year to get my purple drake, and i worked HARD for it, and almost didn’t get it (to HELL with you, Warsong Gulch… i may never return!), but even still — it’s nothing compared to a title like that. you don’t see your title very often. i don’t even know if i’ve EVER seen it. it’s like sporting , , or . it’s enormous cred, as far as i’m concerned. a thousand congratulations to you. you deserve them!
Ohh I don’t disagree that the title carries some weight (I know I am more likely to pay attention to a PuG wearing it), however as the only indication/reward for the achievement, I find it a bit lame.
Especially as it is unlikely I will ever display the title beyond the 30 seconds it took to grab the screenshot.
oh poo — i just noticed that my examples of titles didn’t make it into the post. they were: [Hand of A'dal], [Scarab Lord], or [Gladiator].
if i had your title, i’d wear it permanently.
… but could you ever ask me to give up … of Gnomeregan for anything more than a screenshot?
No, don’t bother, not going to happen!
Wow! Congratulations on getting the title! I agree with you that the title deserves something a bit more as a reward, like a mount. That takes the same amount of dedication as one would for the “What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been” achievement.
Still, way to go, Cynwise!
It was a long hard slog, but considerably more fun than the long strange trip, especially those times shared with mates.
What an awesome achievement! They should definitely allow you to be Battlemaster Gnomeaggedon of the Gnomeregan
I’m not a huge fan of titles myself. I think I wore Firelord for an entire week before I went back to my titleless state. Battlemaster is *the* most difficult title in the game to earn, and it’s a shame that there isn’t a bit more recognition available.
Yeah, I must admit that titles don’t grab me… don’t get me wrong, I’ll definitely quit the day they take “of Gnomeregan”, but otherwise… meh…
I think I have probably seen less people sporting “of Gnomeregan” than I have seen with Battlemaster.
Congratulations, my friend. That’s amazing!
And welcome back with such a bang.
Something coming right at you BBB.. duck now, or forever.. well you will give me your piece.
[...] Comments « … and all I got was this lousy title… [...]
I figure if I wait long enough, there will be enough whining about how hard all these PvP achievements are and Blizzard will nerf them in to the ground. Then I need only to wait by the mailbox for my mount/title/key to the city/million gold reward.
I kinda figure you are out of luck when it comes to the PvP achievements getting much easier.
Cynwise recently posted (and I think I had a rant in the past), that where PvE rep grinds get easier every day, they seem to make the PvP ones harder to obtain – yet don’t increase the rewards there either.
Grats Gnomey! That is one title that I guarantee I will never earn. I’ll be getting my fifth violet proto drake this week. I may have to PvP to do it because there are no human DKs on Drak’Tharon to throw rose petals on .. for reals. I am cringing just at having to do *that* much PvP. You’ve done over 600 WSG? Yeah … that deserves more than a title JUST for that part, not even counting the rest.
lol, believe it or not, WSG is now a firm favorite. It’s rarely dull and often easy – just so long as people are trying to win.
For a while I had a steady crew of 1-2 heals and at least a frost Mage. We had one strat that just worked 8-9/10 times. Got to the point where they were flag carrying even when they were primarily in PvE gear. Nothing was touching us, we were too fast.
[...] I had such a nice surprise this morning, a lovely meme from Gnomeaggedon, as if it wasn’t enough that he announced yesterday that he’d finished the long, arduous climb to Battlemaster! [...]
Congratulations my short friend. That is one hell of an achievement! To date I haven’t been able to focus on it, instead choosing to go after some of the more “fluff” achievements, to each his own I suppose, but I am not complaining, I am quite content with my choice!
As long as you are happy… well, hopefully that’s why you play.
I’ve found since doing this, that I have lack enthusiasm for the little ones… I remember turning up at the new Darkmoon Faire.. a BG popped, I took it and never went back to the Faire.
[...] first of these is about his earning the title Battlemaster, and after seeing what really went into earning that title, all I can say is, “Holy crap, [...]
Gratz Gnomer! Can we offer you a cookie instead… oh wait you can make your own
And I must say – your win/loss ratio is impressive! I finally found that you can see the statics tab on the armory and I was looking through mine just yesterday. I was surprised to see how close to 50% win/loss ratio I actually have – it doesn’t feel that close.
AV I do well … battle for gilneas – generally horrible (although on my druid he’s only done 9)?
Yeah… Mage cookies… I should write a post about them…
As for the win/loss ration, I think that once you have a fair sample, the numbers will be pretty close for most BGs… as they say, you win some, you lose some.
I get a little shirty when I hear people saying “Alliance always lose” (and I have heard it from the other side as well). Usually there is someone in the BG with you that will clearly say they have won the last 6 in a row.
Some nights, some BGs, you just have to leave and lick your wounds… if it feels like you are always losing, then it’s a good time to take a break, maybe pick another BG to mess about in.
Of course it’s always easier when you are with mates… for a couple of months we normally had close to 5 if not 10 of us queuing at once.. I think the most was 14.
We laughed, we drank, we stirred each other up.. only time it was ever silent was when we hit RBGs… then everyone would go into raid mode and wait for direction from a leader… whereas in the normals, we all lead, we all directed, we all laughed.
We still lost some… usually we were just being too silly, other times PuGs just overwhelmed us (gear etc wasn’t a consideration in choosing people, just fun).