Phenomenal Cosmic Power - 2400 rating is ridiculous

Gameplay Achievements
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For those unaware, Phenomenal Cosmic Power is a Feat of Strength that was added in 8.2. It requires players to get all Essences for the Heart of Azeroth that were added in 8.2 to Rank 4. It awards the achievement and the “_____, Azeroth’s Champion” title.

Now, in order to get this achievement, you have to do the following:

  1. Get your Heart of Azeroth to Rank 70
  2. Get your 3 Nazjatar Bodyguards to Rank 30
  3. Get the item reward mission from your Island Expedition map
  4. Loot 25 Supply Chests in Nazjatar as an Assassin
  5. Get 100,000 Honor Points from instanced PvP
  6. Complete Operation: Mechagon on Hard Mode with 0 deaths
  7. Kill Queen Ashzara on Mythic and get the essence to drop
  8. Get a low drop rate item from the Mechagon Paragon cache
  9. Get a low drop rate item from the Nazjatar Paragon cache
  10. Complete every M+ dungeon at +15 level within the time limit
  11. Reach 2400 rating in Arenas/RBGs

Now, the reason for this post is that one of these requirements is not like the others. Can you see which one it is? If all of these tasks aren’t familiar to you and you don’t know, the answer is decidedly the last one; to get to 2400 rating in Arenas/RBGS.

When you compare the difficulty of the other requirements to get this FoS, the 2400 rating one is just absolutely on a different level of difficulty for various reasons. Rated PVP is truly one of the hardest things you can do in this game, and to get to 2400 rating is something that only a sliver of a sliver of a sliver of people are realistically going to be able to do. This is due to a lot of factors, comprising of but not limited to: the gear you have, the players you are matched against, and more importantly the class you play. There are classes that just are not competitive enough to ever see a 2400 rating, which is very clear to see if you look at the leaderboards.

Every other requirement of this achievement ranges from easy (Heart Level 70, all Nazjatar bodyguards to 30, Island Expedition map) to grindy-but-not-necessarily-hard (100,000 honor points, 25 supply chests, RNG drops from caches), to hard (Operation: Mechagon hard mode no deaths, Mythic Azshara+drop chance, all +15s in time)… But to get to 2400 rating is not easy, grindy, or hard… It’s on a COMPLETELY different level past “hard”. It is to ask for people to get to places where less than 0.1% of players currently sit at.

Let me offer a hypothetical: Let’s say 5% of the WoW playerbase decides to go for this FoS. Not a large percentage of WoW’s total number of players, but also not insignificant. Getting a group together for Mythic Azshara is not very hard, it’s content from a year ago that is outleveled now by our ilvls. +15s in time is tricky but not too hard either, hundreds of thousands of players are capable of timing +15s. Operation: Mechagon no deaths just basically requires mastery of 1 small mechanic on the last boss, the rest of the dungeon is easy because it’s also from 8.2 on M+0 difficulty.

But 2400 rating? This is something that almost no player sees, and even players who want to go for it (like me) won’t be able to, because my class isn’t “meta”. 99.5% of the 5% are going to be stuck in this horrible situation: getting 10/11 rank 4s, and then not be able to pop this FoS because of 1 requirement that several orders of magnitude harder than the rest.

I normally disagree with people who call for nerfs to achieves/ cosmetic stuff because it does take away some of the prestige and feels bad to those who did it pre-nerf. But that hasn’t stopped Blizzard from nerfing things before, and it shouldn’t this time because of the sheer unfairness of a less than 10% portion of the achievement. If we had a scale of 1-10, 1 being very easy and 10 being nearly impossible, most of the requirements in this feat fall from 1-7, whereas the arena one is a undoubtedly a 10.

My suggestion is just to knock the requirement down to a “7”. Make it as hard as the other hard prerequisites of the achievement, not drastically more difficult as it is in its current state. Make the requirement to get to 2000 or something; this is still very difficult to do for most players, but it isn’t verging on impossible. It just feels so unfair that this great Feat and title is going to be gated for 99.5% of people going for it because of 1 requirement that seriously is so much harder than the rest.

I know many people share my feelings, at least in the achievement community. Some excerpts from Wowhead:

Hope they will nerf the pvp ones in the future so it could be actually achievable

2400 rating is REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Dumb!

Achievement is full about 2400 only.

That last one in particular sums it up best. This achievement is hard to get, but nothing in it is as realistically impossible as 2400 rating, something only a few thousand players will be able to achieve.

Hopefully this thread can serve as a place to discuss this achieve or drum up support.

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I don’t necessarily like to see achieves that are way out of scope, but at the same time there are people with this achieve, and to nerf it would invalidate what they have earned. I do agree that the 2400 is probably the most defining element of this achieve, but at the same time most 2400+ players will also not ever be able to get this achievement either because they aren’t dedicated in the other areas of the game. This achieve is about dedication plain and simple. 2400 is less about what class you play and more about dedication and ability. People are over 3k already this season, so every class is fairly well represented over 2400. Of course there are certain comps that have an easier time with it (not going to mention everyone’s favorite wizard cleave :joy:)

Don’t get me wrong, I have never been 2400, so I understand and sympathize about the level of difficulty. I have been over 2300 on a few classes though, and with a relatively small time spent doing arenas in the grand scheme of things. I think with enough dedication this achievement is totally doable. This is one of those FoS that really is worthy of the title. Also, I would imagine that people that have earned this might say the worst part is not the 2400, but the RNG paragon low drop. Would be interested to hear from someone who has earned this achieve.

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No achievement in the game except maybe getting Hall of Fame is as hard as 2400+ in Arena PvP. Can you imagine if getting R4 Azshara essence was only for Hall of Fame?

2400 in RBG is more like world first Azshara only…

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I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. This achievement is mostly older content, such as the Mythic Azshara kill. Mechagon and the Mythic+ dungeons are challenging, but they are something that can be attained if players take the time to learn the dungeon mechanics, and any class or specialization can achieve this with enough work (Pushing your own keystone, spending time gearing to surpass the dungeon level, etc). Additionally, corruption and the cloak help to clear mythic dungeons.

PvP is an entirely different system. There is no outgearing PvP, and you are going to be going up against people who are easily 475+, especially if you include those tanking rating to farm echoes on lower ranked players, which will severely hamper your abilities to proceed. And, ultimately, not every specialization or class is going to be viable. Many tank specs simply cannot compete in arena matches, and the same could be said for some DPS specs. There are very few, if any, mages or warlocks who are playing something other than Fire and Destruction. Those other specs just aren’t realistically viable.

Lastly, 2400 is the highest ranking that really matters unless you are trying to push on the leaderboards. It is the highest achievement you can get with your rated PvP. This achievement doesn’t ask you to progress against Mythic N’zoth. The 2400 rating is greatly inflated past any of the PvE challenges, or even the other PvP challenge they created. The requirement should be lowered in some way. Either by altering the rating, or creating another way to achieve the Rank 4 essence, such as through enough Conquest completions or even Arena victories or Honor gains, to mirror the Battlegrounds Essence. Failing that, making the Rank 3, which is obtainable, guaranteed, through grinding to 1000 honor, and completing your conquest bar, as opposed to competing with the highest tier of PvP players in the game.

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A nerf to Rank 4 Conflict and Strife requirements would devalue the achievement earned by some, that’s true. At the same time, that factor should be balanced against how the achievement fits into the framework of the current game, which is as a reward for broad and significant engagement across the spectrum of game activities.

It doesn’t require people to be clearing 25+ mythic keys for all dungeons, or to be getting server firsts for mythic raids, or even to be getting Cutting Edge (N’zoth’s essence isn’t required for the achievement, and Azshara’s you can earn despite her being a tier behind in gear). It’s even quite possible that those Rank 4’s will be a cosmetic you can still obtain after the expansion ends.

Without the Rated PvP Rank 4 essence, you would describe the achievement as built to reward someone who was a “jack of all trades” player with a bit more dedication than most. Everyone knows that phrase, “jack of all trades, master of none.”

If the achievement has one particular requirement acting as an extreme bottleneck, it’s less described as an achievement for broad engagement and more accurately described as a secondary reward for those few players that can get 2400, should they so choose to pursue it. It’s not a reward for a “jack of all trades, master of none.” It’s a reward for “master of rated PvP, who’s a jack of every other trade.”

I actually might be more against the nerf if we existed in an environment where 2400 rated PvP had nothing else to show for it. “Hey, it’s not like you get to see those guys show off any other rewards, it’s fine for them to have this cool achievement they can go for after getting 2400” might be my mentality in that situation. But of course, that’s not the situation. 2400 rating obviously carries a pretty substantial reward on its own.

Anyhow, balancing the factors, I’d say a nerf is justified here. 2400 is pretty severely out of line with everything else.

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I am currently working on this Feat of Strength. And getting 2400 is actually not the hardest part. One just simply needs to learn how to pvp then do it. The hardest part for a person like me that plays with my friends, and wont leave his friends of years for personal progression of raiding Cutting Edge is the raid kill of Mythic Queen. As my guild did not kill that during current and every and i mean every single pug group i join falls apart after Ashvane. As many are just going for a shot at the crit trinket from Ashvane. If you are having trouble getting to 2400, my first suggestion is to watch pvp’ers on twitch and how they play, watch the Arena tournament that also happen on Twitch. Learn how to pvp, learn what the arena comps are and how to play them. Learn how to counter comps that counter yours. Learn positioning in pvp. But as to the Hardest aspect of the feat of strength of Phenomenal Cosmic Power, for someone like me that loves his friends and is loyal and wont leave them for a Cutting Edge raid team, it is the Mythic Queen rank 4 essence, as only 3 to 4 only drop, and being a healer or if one is a tank there is even less of a chance to receive unless people set their loot spec to healing/tank. Just take the time to learn how to pvp better. If i can do it, so can you <3

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The hardest part for a person like me that plays with my friends, and wont leave his friends of years for personal progression of raiding Cutting Edge is the raid kill of Mythic Queen.

Totally disagree here. Eternal Palace is outdated, our ilvls and corruptions provide a huge advantage to taking down Azshara. I know it may be considered subjective as to which is harder (PvP or Mythic Pve) but the difference is in PvP, everyone is on the same level or higher (as far as skill/ gear goes) whereas Mythic EP isn’t tuned for +40 ilvls and corruptions. Sorry, but finding a PUG every week for an Azshara kill or getting your guild to progress on an undertuned raid… I just can’t compare it to fighting against players at your ilvl or above, with the same gear or better gear.

On another note, seeing that Blizz has added Bad Luck Protection to the Naz/Mech rank 4s, maybe there is still hope they will nerf this rank 4.

Again, I need to restate that 2400 is just so much more ridiculously hard than the rest of these rank 4s.

Blizzard, in essence I feel as if you are kind of screwing your most dedicated players here who have grinded and played basically all of BFA (which is almost universally hated, even though I don’t think it’s a bad expansion) and squeezed as much content out of this expansion as possible. Having us, the most dedicated players of BFA get shafted at 10/11 essences rank 4 for an achievement/ title that is worthy of a player who played all of BFA… It just feels super bad.

Hopefully this all makes sense and Blizzard nerfs it like they did the RNG rank 4s.

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It’s really not debatable that 2400 vastly, vastly outstrips all the other parts. While there are some people for whom that’s not true, it’s really the exception that proves the rule, because those people are just the fractional sliver of players on the other side of the clear bottleneck.

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While there are some people for whom that’s not true, it’s really the exception that proves the rule, because those people are just the fractional sliver of players on the other side of the clear bottleneck.

Exactly. Like my original post states, it’s not very fair that this is the only part of the achievement that is leagues above the rest. 2000 or 2100 is still a very hard, but obtainable, challenge for most people, whereas 2400 is downright near impossible for most people.

Can I also mention that you need to do this all on one character? So great, if you happen to main a class (like me) that isn’t tuned correctly and isn’t part of the current meta, you are even more screwed.

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Every class has at least one viable spec in PVP right now that has people at 2400+ rating. It can be in 2s, 3s, or RBGs for the essence.

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Every class has completed all mythic dungeons at +25.

Why is it just +15 for this achievement?
+15 mythic dungeon is not even 2000 in PvP.

The achievement is ridiculous because of the disparity in difficulty in between PvE and PvP, not because of considerations regarding classes having or not players who fit the criteria for it.

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Exactly. At the end of the day there IS a huge difference in difficulty between PvP and PvE, no offense to PvErs. PvE is all about memorization, pattern recognition, and the fights/ encounters have little to no RNG. PvP is completely random, you have other high skill players actively trying to stop you from winning, and on top of that if you’re not with the “meta” you get shafted.

Blizzard seriously, this thing needs to be nerfed. Especially after reading the new “What’s going away with Shadowlands/ pre-patch” post, it made me even more upset to see no changes had been made. This title is the most fitting for people who played BFA and enjoyed it. 99% of them are capable and have gotten the other requirements of this achievement, except the 2400 one. It just seems like a slap in the face.

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This is entirely true. Any high-end PvP player basically has everything done for the achievement. I was hoping they would adjust the achievement, but, all they seem to intend is to delete it with the release of Shadowlands.

Blizzard, this needs to be fixed. Asking for a Non-PvP achievement to have you reach 2400 rating is unreasonable. It doesn’t fit the achievement’s difficulty in any way.

Honestly, it shouldn’t be removed, either. Add in a Feat of Strength for getting it in BFA, but the title and essences should remain available through future expansions, if only to add to the collections of players.

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List of things before of Shadowlands means we have to get a 5kk mount (already got it) and 2400 rating on pvp. I played almost the entire of the expansion, only skipping Azshara patch (already did everything but glory achievement) and it’s not fair, i mean, Legend of Pandaria was an equivalent achievement to this, makes no sense of BFA achievemente be so harder.

I suck at PVP, i’m happy knowing that i won’t just get Gladiator mount, achievement, feats. No problem, seriously, i get it. But take me the expansion title is hard for me to accept. Why just Blizzard don’t make this like get 12/14 essences since we have 2 extra from 8.3 that doesn’t count for achievement? Stills gonna be hard and it would retire this aberrant pre requisite of geting 2400 rating on PVP. It’s not like +15 or just defeat N’Zoth, it is comparable to achieve +20 of all dungeons or something.

Please, don’t let this post die, someone in Blizzard need to hear the fans. That’s just sad i won’t get an “expansion master” achievement that i played and achieved almost everything (miss glory of achievements but i gonna do all when i get the last dungeon mount on JY).

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REEEEEEEEE
its cosmetic, its not the end of the world if you dont get it

if it is, because whatever personal reason, buckle up and get good at the game instead of constantly expecting handouts for being a subpar player

ps 2400 is not that difficult, every class is capable of it and most classes well beyond
the number of bfa gladiators is substantially higher than any expansion before and the essence can even be obtained from 2s (joke bracket btw)

subpar players complaining that they have to put effort or actually accomplish something, smh

this post being flagged is precisely proving my point that many people dont like the idea that the issue is them, and that the game is not supposed to be tailor made to the low hanging fruit
take personal responsibility and you might actually achieve something (as well as in your actual life)

3 Likes
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Yeah, here is hoping Blizz either nerfs the essence unlock, or they make it not required for the PvE achievement.

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You don’t deserve any kind of attention. But well, i’m here. The problem is not about cosmetic or something, the game have already plenty of PVP high end rewards and kill last boss from previously patch is not even close near 2400 rating.

It’s simply unfair and argue that “2400 is not that diffcult” even if you don’t have it or calling us subpar players doesn’t make it less unfair.

I’m just uncomfortable that i won’t have an expansion title that i got everything but PVP things. Just doesn’t make sense for me and for some others in this post.

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why? because being confronted with a horrible mindset is so difficult to deal with?
the forums are not a personal safe space to complain in, people will disagree with you and you’ll have to learn to take criticism

I have yet to hear any argument why you having to improve to obtain a cosmetic achievement is unfair
just calling something unfair doesnt make it unfair
try to articulate why you are wronged by blizzard, other than of course being expected to actually get good at the game (oh the drudgery!)

you dont meet all the criteria to obtain the title, so you havent earned the right to get the title, it’s not that difficult of a concept
it’s not even like the title is 99% pve and 1 difficult pvp essence, there are a bunch of pvp essences that are required as well (theyre just stupidly easy)

its a title to reward players who excel at all aspects of the game. you certainly dont but you want the title anyway so your three options are a) git gud and earn it b) accept being a subpar player and make peace with not obtaining the title or c) expect the world to be tailored to your inadequacies

people who gravitate towards c have the worst of bad attitudes you can find, take some personal responsibility and when a ton of people have earned what you cant reach, you should save your energy on whining and put it into improving yourself

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It seems you live your life whining about people complaining things. Well, it’s your life, do what you are best of.

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Just curious, if Blizzard decided to nerf the arena rating requirement for all of the complainers and they got their titles (many still won’t, because they haven’t attempted Azshara and don’t know what they’re in for), would you be proud of it? What about people who got the title pre-nerf? Would you see your title as equivalent to theirs? The fact is, you have not earned the achievement, and no matter what happens, if you don’t meet the original requirements, you haven’t met the spirit of the achievement, and therefore don’t deserve it.

After seeing so many of these though, there is obviously a demand amongst the population for some relief so I propose that they introduce a lower tier, where R3 conflict will do. They can call it Azeroth’s Runner Up.

3 Likes