In World of Warcraft , developer Blizzard changed an achievement last week that has been annoying players for years: This should finally make Children’s Week in WoW more enjoyable for everyone. PvP-haters have been cursing for years over an achievement that forced them into PvP. They desperately wanted the achievement because it was linked to a cool mount, the violet proto-drake.
Which achievement is it?
- The achievement is called “A Hard School”: It involves bringing an orphan into 4 classic battlegrounds and performing a special deed there. The orphan can only be obtained during “Children’s Week.” In 2022, it took place from May 2 to May 9.
- The annoying part was mainly that players were forced into PvP and had to perform a deed relevant for victory there: capturing flags, turning in flags, returning flags.
- The achievement was considered super annoying in WoW, but it was necessary to obtain the highest honors of the achievement collector and a cool mount. However, Blizzard has now changed the achievement via hotfix in the middle of Children’s Week.
Achievement hunters were forced into PvP and despaired
Why was the achievement so annoying? On Wowhead, there are 388 comments in English about the achievement (via wowhead).
Essentially, the problem was that achievement hunters were forced to play PvP, even if they had no idea about fighting other players and even less desire to do so. In PvP, they then had to do something relatively difficult and that in a competitive environment: Other players were preventing them from getting the achievement.
This had been an achievement that really annoyed people for 14 years – and many were still missing it.
Especially annoying was the fact that the achievement was only possible during Children’s Week, because only then can you obtain an orphan.
These are the rarest mounts in WoW:
Suffering for the proto-drake
Why did people do it then? The achievement has been part of the meta-achievement “A Heart for Children” since 2008, and that in turn is part of the larger meta-achievement “What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been” – and for the achievement, you get a violet proto-drake, a cool mount.
Blizzard changes achievement in the middle of the week it was possible
What is Blizzard changing? In the end, Blizzard is not changing the achievement, but is turning it into a “heroic feat” and thus removing it from the whole “meta” thing: The achievement is no longer necessary to complete the meta-achievements.
The change came on May 5 – apparently, many have since received their proto-drake (via wow-forums).
Backgrounds of Blizzard’s problems:
Blizzard is looking for “Easy Wins,” some say
This is the discussion: On reddit, people are discussing the change. One user asks: What has changed that Blizzard is giving in after 14 years?
The answer is given by another user: “PR disaster after PR disaster – Now they are looking for “Easy Wins.”
A user expresses their relief in clear words: “Holy shit. I thought this would never happen! I struggled through this awful achievement a year ago and can only say: Goodbye forever! It never made sense for a PvP achievement to be part of a meta achievement when every other achievement could be completed without ever doing PvP.”
Apparently, something has indeed changed at Blizzard in recent months. What is meant by “PR disaster after PR disaster” can be read here:
The horror year 2021 at Blizzard – All incidents and the future
