Everything you need to know about account-wide achievements in Mists of Pandaria.

The
Mists of Pandaria expansion
is all about making things easier for the players who love the game.
Anything that was deemed to be detrimental to fun has been hit by
Blizzard with a giant easy stick, which is sort of like the easy
button, but in stick form. Many of these changes will prove to be
blessings, while others may ultimately become curses.

Focusing on the positive we
look at one of the blessings that have blossomed out of the easy stick
bludgeoning Blizzard has given to the game; account-wide achievements.
In Mists of Pandaria most achievements count for every character a
player has, regardless of if that particular character has actually
completed the achievement.

Wondering what else you need to
know about account-wide achievements? Below you will find the answers
to most of the burning questions posed about account-wide achievements.

Account-Wide Achievements in
Mists of Pandaria

style="padding: 5px; float: right; width: 250px; text-align: center;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/236796" target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/236796/preview"
width="245">Achievement
points are
only gained once for each achievement. 

Most achievements in Mists of
Pandaria are now account-wide. This means that the achievements you
earn on one character will most likely count for every other character
on your account. However, despite the fact that all characters will
earn the achievement the player will only earn the points associated
with each individual achievement once.

Don't think that your
characters won't get recognition for their achievements though.
Blizzard has made it so that milestones such as reaching level 80,
maxing out a profession, or killing that uber hard raid boss for the
first time will still prompt a pop-up notification. Remember, these
notifications are for show only and no extra points will be awarded.
This is to prevent players from feeling they *need* to play the
character with the most achievement points.

Mists of Pandaria Achievement
Criteria

Not everything concerning
achievements has gone account-wide. One such something is the criteria
needed to complete achievements. In other words, if you begin an
achievement one character the criteria you have completed will not
carry over to any other character. For example if you begin exploring
Ashenvale on character A, you can not finish exploring the area on
character B and expect to receive the Explore Ashenvale achievement. As
with most things, there are exceptions and some achievement criteria
will carry over to the rest of the characters on a particular account.

Mists of Pandaria Meta
Achievements

These achievements are the
exception to the rule of account-wide achievement criteria mentioned
above. Meta-achievements require that the player get other specific
achievements to complete. One of the most popular and one of my
personal favorites is "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been."
Achievements like this are usually account-wide and if one of your
characters earn one portion of the achievement such as Fool For Love
and another of your characters subsequently earns The Flame Keeper then
your account would get the meta achievement What a Long, Strange Trip
It's Been.

Mists of Pandaria Account-Only
Achievements

style="padding: 5px; float: right; width: 250px; text-align: center;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/236797" target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/236797/preview"
width="245">Meta-Achievements
that require other achievements to complete,  like What a
Long, Strange trip It's Been,
can be completed on more than one character.

Realizing that in some cases
achievements were just to darn hard to complete on one character, some
achievements have become account only. Examples of these may be
achievements that require the player to do a ton of quests, collect
many honorable kills, or otherwise complete objectives that are near
impossible on just one character.

While I cannot confirm it from
my current experiences in the expansion, it is also possible that
another instance of account-only achievements could come into play.
Examples of these achievements may be leveling two Druids to level 90
or leveling one of every class to max level. Once again, as of now I
have not personally seen these achievements in game, but that doesn't
mean they aren't there or won't be added in the near future. Blizzard
has a way of sneaking things in on us when we least expect it.

Mists of Pandaria Achievement
Rewards

You may be wondering what will
happen to achievement awards that you earn from the various
achievements. Will they be account-wide or still belong to each
individual character? It seems that most pets, tabards, mounts, and
other achievement based rewards are also account-wide. There may be
certain restrictions on certain rewards, but for the most part players
will be able to enjoy the rewards they have earned on every character
they choose to level up on an account.

How do you feel about
achievements becoming account-wide? Is there anything you would change?
Do you have more information concerning the new Mists of Pandaria
account-wide achievements? Feel free to share your thoughts with the
rest of the Ten Ton Hammer community by using the comments section
found below.