So it's Holiday time in Azeroth again and players on every server are laboring over achievements to try and win themselves a fabulous purple protodrake, by far the shiniest sparkliest flying mount in the game, inspired by Liberache and Elton John's love child. And the need for this mount has brought out the worst in Azeroth, pitting players against each other for spawns and drops to increase their numbers for MORE achievement points. It's kind of sad to see how people are dominating at the expense of others for gear that will only help minimally. Granted, some of it is quite fun (The Heartbreaker cracks me up and must be acquired for my mage) and cute (I love my Toxic Wasteling), but is it worth the trouble in the end?

Perhaps, but if you have multiple characters, it gets a bit old. I currently have my original main, an 80 hunter, who sits around and plays go fish with her pets most of the time. I simply don't enjoy the hunter that much anymore. However, I worked pretty hard at getting her all the metas of most of the other holidays and she's 3 metas away from the Violet Proto: The Love Fool, Elder, and Matron. Luckily Elder I require a single elder in a single dungeon I missed last year because she wasn't 80 yet and couldn't get into the heroic version. But The Love Fool is a long arduous achievement that requires dailies, one of my arch nemeses. Brewmaster was just as painful with it's token trade and dailies, but I managed. This one, I'm not so sure I will, simply because so much work is required. Perhaps if she was still my main, the story would be different, however I have taken up the mantle of the mage, on top of having a tanking DK, and a quickly rising Ele/Resto shaman. The DK I really have no plan to get metas on just because I'm not a melee fan. The Shaman can't achieve them yet because she isn't 80 yet and I don't think I have the time or energy to devote to that before Love is in the Air expires. But the mage has gotten several other metas and is closer than any other.

So I ask myself "what's so great about the purple proto?" and I find myself stumped. It's a faster mount, having the 310% speed upgrade, but it's butt ugly to put it simply and being the vain mage I am, I won't ride it. Even if I get it for the hunter, she's behind in gear and I don't enjoy her so she won't get much play time with it.

So all I can figure is that I really want the nerd points, that magic achievement point number that says "I spend way too much time playing WoW for no return!" I was discussing this very thing with guildies today and it kind of stumped us why the Red Proto that requires arduous amounts of time and SKILL to achieve doesn't have the speed bonus. The hard mode drakes do, but this little guy doesn't. Is it too easy to get? Surely not, as anyone whos attempted Less-Rabi 500 times can attest. Despite Blizzard nerfing a bunch of the achievements required for the Red Proto, it's still not completely attainable unless you get really lucky or have some friends with mad skillz. And it's a heck of a lot better looking than Violet by far.

Despite the logic behind letting these achievements go, I still pursue them with vigor, finding it necessary to finish what I've started and get an item that will rot in my mount list. Besides, the extra mount will help me get closer to the ugly Red Dragonhawk achievement...