WotLK Quest Achievements Howto Part 1: Mine Sweeper

As many of you probably know, there are a hefty amount of achievements under the quest tab generally involving the completion of quests in zones. Yet, there are two achievements that are commonly overlooked by people every day, and they are really easy to do if you have lady luck, patience, planning, and time. These achievements are: Mine Sweeper and Rapid Defense.

Both achievements add ten points to your total (which if you’re like me means everything) and completing them will finish off the quest section of the Wrath of the Lich King tab (considering you’ve done everything else). I am going to cover with you a little guide of sorts to show you the easiest and best way to do both achievements.

In the Storm Peaks, a few seconds west of K3, is Sparksocket Minefield. This little area is covered with land mines, each on the verge of detonating as soon as you take a step. This is the location of the Mine Sweeper achievement.

To do this correctly, you must be blown up by the land mines, while never “landing.” In this, the word “land” is misused. When you hit the ground, a timer starts and you cannot be on the ground for more than two seconds. This leaves you enough time to take one or two steps at most to get to the next closest mine.

First walk to the very center of the minefield where the goblin is. While facing outward run at one of the mines, (when they blow up they send you in the direction you ran from) and then cross your fingers. It will explode and hopefully you’ll land next to another mine, as that one explodes it sends you into the air again, and again hopefully to get the credit. If you get unlucky and don’t land on top of a mine, if you’re close enough, then walk a little bit to the next one.

There is also a chance that you will be more than a two second walk away from the closest mine. If this happens the timer hits two seconds and your explosion count gets reset to zero. If this happens, do NOT just run into the closest mine! Chances are that it is too far away from the group and it will explode you outward even more. If you do fail, find the safe path into the middle, and start again. Practice makes perfect.

Some things to look out for:

Health: The explosions only do 600-700 fire damage, but continued explosions will drop your health. Keep a health pot or if you’re a healer pop instant heals in the air time.

If you’re a pally pop fire resistance aura, this greatly mitigates the incoming damage.

Combat log: The amount of explosions is NOT the amount of times you’re in the air, it’s the amount of mines that explode! You could get three mines to explode at once, and send you in the air once, but that counts as three explosions, not one. The combat log will show you how many times a mine has gone off.

All in all, stay on your toes, watch your health, and in this case look as you leap. For getting every achievement is one way to set yourself outside the common crowd.

Next Time Part II: Rapid Defense