How do you keep track of your World of Warcraft tasks?

There’s so much to do in The War Within that you’ll never accomplish anything without a reliable way to keep track of your progress. No matter if you’re a solo player or part of an active guild, a Delver or a PVPer, an achievement hunter or a gear grinder — without a way of knowing which tasks to prioritize, you might as well be bring a fly swatter into Nerub-ar Palace.

While I was writing up our Season 1 Weekly Checklist, I relied heavily on my abomination of an Excel spreadsheet. What started over a decade ago as a way to track transmog drops has become my all-in-one daily, weekly, and lifetime checklist. It has everything — a d100 table for low-engagement farming and old achievements, a color-coded weekly tab for my army of alts, and even my extensive notes on my preferred parties for old pet battles. All that’s missing is the red yarn.

I heard from a few folks who used websites, software, or addons to track their progress. This makes a lot of sense from a streamlining point of view. These things were created and coded specifically to help with the daunting task of remembering hundreds of priorities which reset on varying timers. The main drawback is customization — the more broadly applicable the software, the harder it is to make it remind you which of your characters have already had their shot at looting a fire pony this week.

I used an honest-to-goodness pad of graph paper back in Wrath of the Lich King. It was the first time that I dedicated enough playtime to World of Warcraft that I needed to make a chart to keep it all straight in my mind. I think my current system works better (especially from a wrist-cramping point of view), but there was something eminently satisfying about ripping off the top sheet and penciling in my list of chores for the week.

So how do you keep track of what progress you’ve made towards weekly rewards, long-term achievements, or whatever else you’re hoping to accomplish in-game? When was the last time you started fresh with whole new way to keep track of your Azerothian to-do list?