Has another year gone by already?

Thinking about the new year to come, well, that will unfold in its own time.

As I stand here looking back towards the year that was I smile.

It has certainly had some moments, both good and bad. Taking my que from such esteemed bloggers (and friends) as Kestrel, Tami, Larisa,  Matticus, and Pike, amongst others that populate my feed reader I will give a bit of a look back.

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A glance, as it were, at the year that was.

January saw the death of my old gaming machine, and the arrival of it’s replacement. My hunter finally quit trying to make a broken spec work and I finally figured out a good use for DKP. Overall it was a good, if cold, month.

Early February bore witness to a one of the few pieces of fan fiction that I have made public with the (very) short story Blood in the Water. Towards the end of the month there was call to be happy as my Priest Morham (now renamed Dechion) became my second level 80, and the lights grew dimmer in the blogosphere as we said goodbye to one of my favorite blogs, Gun Lovin’ Dwarf Chick.

March was a very melancholy month for me, and it showed in my posts. I had to leave town for an unexpected funeral, those are never really a pleasant thing. The month also saw one of the first posts about an asshat, one I was guilded with no less.

As April dawned I reexamined my priorities, not just with WoW but with life as a whole. I lamented about always how we always seem to be waiting for the next big change, instead of playing the game as it exists.  Patch 3.1 blew up the servers and I nearly deleted my Priest in anger.

In May life was much busier outside game than in, causing me to spend a lot of time AFK. What I had going on in-game was not too pleasant either. I simply did not post about a lot of it. It did see my blogs first birthday and oddly enough me discussing PvP in a way that shows that I actually like it when it’s done right.

June was a time for family, particularly towards the end as my wife and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. I did manage to squeeze in a short post about welfare epics, and a few looks at the upcoming 3.2 changes. Overall it was a quiet month.

In July real life critted again right before the fourth of July weekend.  Not for the first time, and surely not the last, I noticed WoW becoming more like a job than hobby and took a step back. I also wondered what people would ask if given a chance to talk to one of the game designers one on one.

August was a frustrating month, and most of my posts show it. I enjoy instancing, and I simply could not get in. I ended up so damn frustrated that I canceled my subscription. On the plus side, the problem was fixed before the time I had already paid for ran out.

September was a really lean month as far as the blog goes. I answered a few questions about why it is that I have so many Hunters, and why I have a priest at all. I also tried (in vain as it turned out) to change the direction of the blog. It is what it is, and shall stay that way.

October was an interesting month around here as I wrote about how Wow was for me more like an emotional vacation  from the stresses of life than a mountain to be conquered. I wrote of a way to level alchemy from nothing to 450 on the cheap, and then answering a question I received I put my money where my keyboard is and proved it could work by doing it.

As November arrived it brought with it the first of the microtransactions that I think will one day change the very nature of Warcraft. I pondered this as I asked folks to wake up and smell the future. I looked forward to the future of Warcraft in Cataclysm in the great retcon. I said thanks to veterans around the globe and ran with a ton of wonderful folks in Raid for the Cure.

December. We will just call December “The Month of Pugging Dangerously”. Thats putting it mildly. It was a whirlwind of pugging heroics. Right now the new tool is shiny and new, I am pugging my way along and for the most part having a grand old time. Pretty soon though, the shiny will wear thin and groups might be a little harder to come by.

I had a few problems with elitist prima donna’s  thinking the world revolves around them, and experienced a shiny and new (to me at least) exploit. On the plus side some of the comments got me to looking at ways I might be able to improve my own performance, and I am having fun trying out a few new things.

I also mentioned getting into tanking on my Death Knight. I even went so far as to set up a gear plan, but still have not actually run anything as a tank. Something about not wanting to be horrible at it.

Looking back at 2009 I am pretty happy with where things sit right now, both in game and out.

I wonder what the next year will bring.

How to be a Merrymaker for Winters Veil

Winters Veil is upon us once again, and HERE is a guide to all your achievement related activities.

Should I have waited till today to publish it? Possibly.

Then again if you stop by often you already know that I rarely do anything that makes sense. So go, be merry, slaughter Greenches and throw snowballs at Thrall. Drink eggnog and holiday cookies. Have fun with the holiday. After all, Greatfather Winter is watching you.

You don’t want coal as a present again this year do you?

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In other news the votes are in for what profession I should choose on my Priest. With a whopping 92% of the vote Tailoring wins hands down.

Inscription is gone from him now. I started leveling Tailoring already, getting it to 325 before I called it for the day. I already have the mats on hand to make it well past 400, which I will do later today.

Then I’ll start cranking out winter clothes with the mats I had left over from leveling.

That should be fun, or at least profitable.

Wow what a sale

Dear readers,

I just noticed a little something interesting.

Starting today (11/27/09) and going thru Sunday (11/29) the original World of Warcraft game will be on sale thru the Blizzard store as a digital download for a mere five dollars. Apparently hard copies will be similarly priced this weekend at retail stores also.

My roving reporter/price checker lovely wife who is out shopping at oh dark thirty this black friday morning also tells me that the World of Warcraft battle chest (original game+Burning Crusade+near useless guide book) is going for twenty. Then again, that may be a local sale at one store only, I can’t confirm anything right now on the battle chest.

Been thinking about using Refer-a-friend to multi box your way to 60?

I know I have. I simply never got around to it.

Will I do it now?

Possibly.

Have a friend that you have been trying to talk into Wow for ever?

Drop five bucks and get them the first month and first sixty levels.

I know of a dad who is planning to buy accounts for his sons this Christmas. They have been using his and/or his wifes accounts up till now, but with both parents and three sons all playing they can field five mans in-house.

Am I recommending it to you?

No, not particularly. I just give information, what you do with it is entirely up to you.

I am just pointing it out to you, my wonderful readers, the same way I might point out an ad in the sunday sales flyer to a friend. This just happens to be the way I talk to you, as opposed to over a cup of coffee at the local Waffle House.

Enjoy the weekend,

-Dechion

This post brought to you be the fact that I would rather gouge out my eyes with a spork that go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. My wife calls it Black Friday and looks forward to it for weeks. I call it National Asshat day. I am a firm believer that trade chat will be quiet at the moment, and all pugs will run like clockwork. All the asshats are already busy.

Not all the shoppers this morning are asshats, but most of the asshats will be there.

That by itself is enough to keep me at home.

Winter’s Veil

So here we are, the lights in the pumpkins have gone out. The headless Horseman has gone back to sleep for another season, the cackles of his laughter are a fading memory.The air is getting crisper, the frost is starting to make it’s early morning appearances. Fall is here, at least where I live.  Just like the real world it’s time to start thinking about Winters Veil.
Yes, I know, I really should wait for after Pilgrims Bounty before I post this, but I figured all the stores are getting decorated already. I might as well go ahead and write this up for those that (like me) are trying for the Merrymaker title.

Particularly those looking towards that Violet Proto Drake from What a Long Strange Trip it’s Been.

For starters I suppose I’ll just list the achievements involved in the holiday. As you read you’ll see why I am posting so early. There are a few things you should have in order before hand, and some money-making opportunities for the prepared.

If you plan to do your farming in advance you will need the following to complete the achievements:

• 6 Small Eggs
• 4 Bolts of Runecloth
• 2 Bolts of Woolen Cloth
• 1 Copper Bar
• 4 Rugged Leather
• Cooking skill to 325
• Quests completed to open the “Bomb them again” daily with Ogr’ila.
• Everything else can be bought off of vendors in your capitol city.
• If you plan to do the Tailoring or Leatherworking portions yourself the skill required if 250.

Now on to the meat of the post.

The Merrymaker meta-achievment simply requires the 12 other achievements to be completed. It rewards the title “Merrymaker” as well as counting as one of the eight achievements needed for What a Long Strange Trip it’s Been.

On Metzen! Save Metzen the Reindeer.

The quest for this comes from Kaymard Copperpinch just outside of the Auction House in Orgrimmar, or Wulmort Jinglepocket (coincidentally) just outside the bank in Ironforge.

You’ll receive a ransom letter about Metzen the reindeer and the two locations you can find him.

One will be in Tanaris over in Lost Rigger Cove at about 68. 41. The other location will be in Searing Gorge at 70. 34. In both locations he will have four guards ranging in level from 44-47. If you’re at a low-level you may want to bring friends to help. All you need to do is talk to Metzen and use the reindeer dust on him to complete the quest.

Scrooge Throw a snowball at Cairne Bloodhoof during the Feast of Winter Veil. OR Throw a snowball at King Magni Bronzebeard during the Feast of Winter Veil.

Fortunately snowballs are easy to come by this time of year. On a side note, a bank alt full of snowballs will make you a killing in mid summer. I bought my first ever ground mount that way.

During the holiday they can be purchased from your friendly neighborhood Smokeywood Pastures vendors. Engineers that were lucky enough to get the pattern can craft a Snowmaster 9000, which can turn water into snowballs. Last but not least, for the truly cheap amongst us (like me) you can gather free snowballs from the ground in Alterac Mountains. I figure I will have to spend some time looking for The Abominable Greench over in Alterac anyhow, might as well save money.

Note: Remember to pick up the quest “The Reason for the Season” from your Smokywood Pasture friends, which will lead you to talk to Cairne or Bronzebeard anyway. Don’t be like me and forget.

‘Tis the Season During the Feast of Winter Veil, wear three pieces of winter clothing and eat Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake.

This is probably going to be the most annoying to finish, or at least the most expensive. The three pieces of winter clothing are:

• Red Winter Hat / Green Winter Hat: These drop from bosses in some regular (or heroic) WotLK instances. The Red one is available from Grand Magus Telestra in The Nexus, and the Green one is available from Mage-Lord Urom in The Occulus. I plan to do the Nexxus so the hat will match my other stuff.
• Red Winter Clothes (Alliance) / Green Winter Clothes (Horde): Tailoring 250.  The pattern is sold by the Smokywood Pastures vendors in Orgrimmar or Ironforge. Then again you will sometimes receive one in the mail after completing the Metzen or Greench quests. Makes sense to wait until after you’ve done those. If you get lucky so you can save yourself a few coins. Also I recommend farming the mats now rather than waiting to buy them in the Auction House. People like me will be making a nice profit from those who waited.
• Mats for the clothes are Bolt of Runecloth x 4, Bolt of Woolen Cloth x 1, Red Dye x 2, Rune Thread x 1.
• Winter Boots : Leatherworking 250. Same as the clothes. These can be bought or received in the mail after doing the quests, Farm the mats now, yadda, yadda, save money.
• Mats for the boots are Copper Bar x 1, Bolt of Woolen Cloth x 1, Rugged Leather x 4, Rune Thread x 1.

Simply Abominable Complete the quest to retrieve the stolen Smokywood Pastures’  treats and receive a Smokywood Pastures’ Thank You.

You can pick up the quest for this from Kaymard Copperpinch over by the bank in Orgrimmar, or Wulmort Jinglepocket just outside the bank in Ironforge. Yes, the same ones you got “On Metzen!” from.

This will send you to Alterac Mountains  to locate a snowman 35. 72. He’ll give you a quest to kill The Abominable Greench, who spawns every couple minutes nearby. Unfortunately, the area will likely be heavily camped, especially early on in the season. Here are a few ideas to make your life easier.

• Go early in the morning or late at night, possibly even putting this one off for a few days till the crowds die down. I plan to do this one last.
• He has three spawn points: 30. 52, 29. 61, and 40. 73. Pick the one with less people camping him. He spawns randomly at any of the three, so just stick it out.
• If your there with friends group up and all camp the same spawn point, your odds get much better.
• Make a macro, and keybind to something handy. I use “x”, your mileage may vary. Here is the one I used, just add in your instant cast tagging shot. I use Arcane Shot on the Hunter, Shadow Word Pain on the Priest, and plan to use Death Grip (yank and spank) on my Death Knight. 

/tar The Abominable Greench
/cast [exists] WhateverYourInstantCastIs

 
Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s Use Mistletoe on the Horde “Brothers” during the Feast of Winter Veil. OR Use Mistletoe on the Alliance “Brothers” during the Feast of Winter Veil.

To get mistletoe, you need to emote a /kiss at the Winter Revelers inside any of the inns in the major cities. Like trick-or-treating you can only do this hourly. They will randomly give you some Mistletoe, a Handful of Snowflakes (needed for the achievement Let it Snow) or Fresh Holly (can be used in the achievement Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la).

 This achievement is a bit different depending on faction. The Horde are a bit better off if you are already 77 or higher, where the Alliance have more running around to do.

 
Horde: There are 3 brothers to find. 

• Brother Malach can be found around 51.22 in Undercity,
• Durkot Wolfbrother can be found at 40.54 in Borean Tundra, 
• Brother Keltan is found on the floating ship in Icecrown.

Since the only way to get to the airship is by using your flying mount I hope you are 77 or better with Cold Weather Flying. Well, I suppose you could be doing this on an alt and purchase the tome of cold weather flight for them, or even getting a summons from a friendly Warlock. Either way, you have to find a way up there.

 
Alliance: Here you get lucky, while there are a few more people to visit getting to them is way easier, especially for lower level players.

• Brother Wilhelm – Goldshire near blacksmith 40.65
• Brother Kristoff – Stormwind Cathedral Square 45.38
• Brother Benjamin – Stormwind Cathedral, near pillars 41.28
• Brother Joshua – Stormwind Cathedral, end of corridor 38.26
• Brother Cassius – Stormwind Cathedral, inside the right room 43.26
• Brother Crowley – Stormwind Cathedral, entrance to right catacombs 41.26
• Brother Nimetz – Stranglethorn Vale, Rebel Camp 37.3
• Brother Karman – Theramore, near the target dummies 67.47
• Brother Anton – Nijel’s Point, Desolace on the balcony of the inn 66.7

He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty Open one of the presents underneath the Winter Veil tree once they are available.

Just like my house as a kid you don’t get to open the presents until the morning of December 25th. On the plus side they will be there until the end of the holiday on January 2nd. For those of you (like me) who may not log in on Christmas day you can still get this later. Rumor has it that opening a present from a previous year will work, however I can’t test it since I opened mine all last year 🙂

With a Little Helper from My Friends Earn 50 honorable kills as a Little Helper from the Winter Wondervolt machine.

The Winter Wondervolt machines are located outside of Ogrimmar and Ironforge, with a nicely placed one in the center of Dalaran. Very similar to the G.N.E.R.D. rage achievment from Hallows End with one notable exception. One that makes it a true Pita.

The costume doesn’t persist through death.

Oh, and I feel sorry for Druids since it counts as a costume and is dispelled when you shape shift. I suppose 50 honorable kills isn’t too annoying, especially since we have two weeks to do it. Myself, I plan to go heal me a few AV runs, I need the honor anyhow.

Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la Complete the Bomb Them Again! quest while mounted on a flying reindeer during the Feast of Winter Veil.

Note: Kaelynn  pointed out that you can now start the quest chain at the quest “The Crystals” and skip a lot of the intro quests. I have not confirmed this (since I already did all the pre-quests), but I take her word for it.

If you have done the Bomb Them Again! quest for the Ogri’la dailies you are pretty much set. Otherwise you will need to do a series of quests to open up the dailies. Unfortunately that puts a lot of new players (or newly leveled alts) in a place where they have to go back and work on rep with what amounts to a dead faction. If you haven’t done those pre-Ogri’la quests they start with Mog’dorg the Wizened. There is also a good guide to the questline in the comments for the Bomb Them Again! quest.

Also note that the group quests are now soloable, at least by a level 80.

Once you are done with that you need to get your hands on some Holly (Preserved or Fresh works). This can be a reward for blowing kisses or from the quest to save Metzen the Reindeer. They can also be bought can be bought from other players through the Auction House since they also are not Bind on Pickup. Doubtless someone will be selling their extra (I know I will).

Note: Once again Druids take it in the shorts. You will have to be on a real flying mount to turn this in. One good thing though, you don’t have to be on a reindeer when you are doing the quest, only when you turn in. So save that Holly in case you get dismounted, just use it right before turn in.

Crashin’ & Thrashin’ Gain 25 crashes with your Crashin’ Thrashin’ Racer during the Feast of Winter Veil. 

Note: As of 2009 this is no longer required for the meta achievment.

Christmas morning everyone should have one of these sitting under the tree. Um, use it until it crashes 25 times. Not quite as simple as waking up in the morning, but close.

Let It Snow During the Feast of Winter Veil, use a Handful of Snowflakes on each of the race/class combinations listed below.

• Orc Death Knight
• Tauren Shaman
• Undead Rogue
• Gnome Mage
• Blood Elf warlock
• Human Warrior
• Night Elf Druid
• Troll Hunter
• Draenei Priest
• Dwarf Paladin

You can get Handfuls of Snowflakes by doing a /kiss to a Winter Reveler in any major inn. There is a chance at getting Mistletoe or Fresh Holly as well, which will be useful anyway. It feels oddly like trick-or-treating again in that you can do this only once an hour. I plan to hit the inn every time I go past, just to make sure I have enough.

I personally plan to do this one the same way I did the Pumpkin on the head one from Hallows Eve. I will sit outside the bank in Dalaran, possibly running around town a bit. I suppose you could do this in a battleground or out in the world as well, but I am entirely too lazy for that.

The Winter Veil Gourmet During the Feast of Winter Veil, use your culinary expertise to produce a Gingerbread Cookie, Egg Nog and Hot Apple Cider.

Huzzah! another grind (well, maybe). This achievement requires you to have a cooking skill of at least 325.  The three recipes are available quite easily by either by purchasing them from the Smokywood vendors or as a random quest reward in the mail after whackin’ the Greench. I have also seen these recipes listed for fairly high prices in the Auction House, but that’s not really necessary.

Of all the ingredients you need the only one that you can’t buy right in your home city is the Small Eggs. Depending on where you are and what faction and level you are, check out the mobs that drop there Here.

The other option (and one I would frown upon) would be to buy them on the Auction House. There are people out there that will, so people like me will list them at hugely inflated prices during the holiday. I don’t do it because I am evil, I do it because people are willing to pay it.

As a side note you can’t get the achievement by simply having these items nor by eating/drinking them. You need to actually craft them! There are those out there who will list the cookies, cider, and egg nogg in the Auction House as well, hoping to get money from those who don’t read the tooltip carefully enough. That’s one I won’t do.

If you would also like to finish the quest Treats for Greatfather Winter  you will need a total of 6 small eggs.

A Frosty Shake During the Feast of Winter Veil, use your Winter Veil Disguise kit to become a snowman and then dance with another snowman in Dalaran.

You should  have received The Winter Veil Disguise Kit is a reward from completing the Stolen Treats quest. Remember, the one  to kill the Abominable Greench? It’s actually not a quest reward, but you should receive it in the mail soon after completing the quest. I don’t know offhand where the group of dancing snowmen will be, probably somewhere in Dalaran. I suppose I’ll just keep on the lookout while looking for people to throw snowflakes at.

Hopefully this helps a few people along their way to the title of Merrymaker.

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There is another holiday achievement that is not required for the Merrymaker title, I suppose I should list it too for those that may be curious.

BB King (Alliance)

Pelt the following leaders:

• Cairne Bloodhoof
• Lor’themar Theron
• Vol’jin
• Lady Sylvanus Windrunner
• Thrall

BB King (Horde)

Pelt the following leaders:

• King Varian Wrynn
• High Tinker Mekkatorque
• Tyrande Whisperwind
• Prophet Valen
• King Magni Bronzebeard

The State of the Blog

November is a wonderful time.

The leaves are changing, the air is crisp, things are starting to settle down for the winter.

There are holidays such as the Day of the Dead, Veterans day, and Thanksgiving. It is a wonderful relaxing time of the year.

This year though, along with everything else, there is a little something new.

Something that will likely consume all my free time, making blogging infrequent at best.

 

For the curious, it is a challenge. An attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. Needless to say I likely won’t be posting much here during the month of November.

I do have a few things that I have already written that are scheduled to go up, but not much. A Winters Veil guide to the achievements, a veterans day post, and a mostly finished post on leveling tailoring similar to the way I did Alchemy (although I would still have to do the experiment).

So there you have it. I’m not going away for good, but taking an insanity break.

I’ll stop by to check comments and respond to emails, but otherwise the blog is on autopilot until December.

Kick back and enjoy the archives, theres beer in the cooler and a pot of chili on down by the fire.

Try not to mess the place up too much before I get back.

The same, except completely different

There was a time, not so very long ago, that a young Draeni named Drupadi crawled from the wreckage of the Exodar. She was a cheerful young thing for the most part. She was excited and eager to go leave her mark upon the world.

Through the twisted wreckage of Bloodmyst isle, through the steaming jungles of Stranglethorn, through the burning sands of Tenaris and the frozen wastelands of the north she has fought long and hard to make a name for herself.

She was hoping for something more along the lines of “hero”, but I guess Brewmaster will serve while she works on it.

Besides, it sounds like a good way to have some fun with friends after a hard days adventuring.

After all, why else would one go to the tavern but to hoist a few and laugh with friends?

 

Then there was another.  Diashan, twisted by Arthas, was made into something both more and less than human. Every day she fights her own battles with the voices in her head. The same voices she has heard since her reawakening. 

Some say the Ebon Blade wants to hunt down Arthas to avenge what has happened to them. For some that may even be true.

Diashan just wants him the shut the hell up.

She has only found one way to do that so far. It may not make the voices go away, but they become muffled and indistinct. So do the memories of what she has done.

You can find her at one of the back tables of the Booty Bay inn, drinking alone. On a good night no one will get hurt.

She considers her title more a mark of her weakness than a thing to be celebrated.

It would do you well not to remind her that she has earned it, or why. 

 

Murphy strikes again

Curse you Murphy!

As those who follow know, I am trying for the achievement What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been. Not only am I working on it but I am trying to do it on two characters at the same time. Drupadi and Morham have been running all over the world doing one thing after another. With a few days of perseverance they have both managed to knock out all the requirements for Hallowed be thy Name save one.

Sinister Calling.

Oh, how you mock me random number generator. Drupadi got incredibly lucky on Saturday, not only seeing the Sinister Squashling drop but winning the roll. Leaving her but one random drop away from completing her achievement. All she needs now is the Hallowed Helm.

Sunday it dropped four times, and the loot-fu was not with her. Five players in the instance, four drops. Guess who walked out without one. /Sigh

Monday was more of the same, it dropped two times for her group. She managed to roll a 99 and a 98, yet she still does not have one. Both times someone else rolled a 100. I guess its back in the saddle again after maintenance today. Perhaps said maintenance will fix her broken RNG.

 

I had a blast on Morham yesterday. After getting ready to go do some PVP for G.N.E.R.D. rage  I realised that all the G.N.E.R.D.S. I had gathered the day before were gone. /Epic Fail at reading tooltips. So I Logged over to Dechion and hit up a few candy buckets to support Morhams achievement habit, then went to do a bit of PvP.

While it is no secret that I have never really been a fan of PvP I can honestly say that I had a blast. Even doing it as a PVE specced and geared holy priest was not too bad. I walked out of one Alterac Valley with 3 or 4 achievements complete and well over 130 HK’s in one engagement. Not only did I come in tops on the healing done chart but I managed to get two killing blows with only one death.

I understand that if you PvP regularly that this probably seems very Meh to you, but it’s my blog and I’ll babble if I want to.

 

Now Morham was all caught up with Drupadi, just Sinister Calling left to do. Grabbing a group He headed off to go do the Headless Horseman and challenge his luck with the dreaded RNG. He was pretty fortunate in getting a solid group for the days attempts, Every time having the Horseman down before his adds sprouted. We went through it so fast that when it was all over there were five flaming bodies on the ground. The last was down before the first despawned.

On the last attempt the loot-fu was finally with me. The drop I had been waiting for popped up on my screen. The rolls scrolled past…. Morham with an 88 picks up none other than, you guessed it.

The Hallowed Helm.

The Hallowed

I know, I know.

Yesterday I said I would do a breakdown on my priests talent spec similar to what I did for my hunter. This morning I woke up to find that there is a new build on the PTR and likely a few more changes on the horizon. I don’t want to do an entire article on a build that may very well be useless in a week or so. What I will say is that I chose a spec very similar to the 23/38/0 Improved Divine Spirit build that I have healed with for the last year. I am now running with THIS 23/38/0 Improved Divine Spirit build. It seems to work well for what little I have done with it so far.

Once things settle down I will do the full breakdown, likely revisiting the Hunter class then as well.

On the plus side, Hallows End has started today, offering tricks, treats, and titles.  I did a long rambling post about all the achievements tied to my favorite holiday a few weeks ago which you can check out HERE.

We interrupt this blog to bring you breaking news…… Apparently Blizzard has reconsidered its position on allowing random occurrences effect the outcome of meta achievements. In an announcement today Blizzard has removed the A mask for all occasions  achievement from the meta achievement Hallowed be thy name . We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Having the requirement to get all the Hallows Eve masks removed will be a big help in removing the randomness from my efforts to complete the meta achievement. One thisg still to consider though is the horrible drop rate on the one other random item. I refer to none other than the  Sinister Squashling pet  thet drops from the Headless Horseman.  I will need to have that drop, and win the roll, to complete Sinister calling . Perhaps the drop rate on that item has been increased slightly, we shall see. At any rate I plan to continue my efforts to complete Hallowed be thy name this Hallows eve regardless of drop rate on the pet.

In the bigger picture I understand its crazy right now. There are new talents, new spells, new pets for hunters, achievments, glyphs, new everything it seems. What better way to get used to them than running around wired on candy or smacking the Headless Horseman around? In 26 days everything will change again anyway, quit worrying about three weeks from now.

Have fun with what we have while we are here.

All Hallowed out

Well friends, it looks like another holiday is rapidly approaching. No I am not talking about International call in sick to work day on November 13th (at least its not a Friday), I am talking about  one of my favorite holidays, Hallows Eve. It runs from October 18th thru November 1st, so it is right around the corner.

 

 

Do you love the headless horseman events, the wands and masks, and eating candy till you get sick?

I certainly do. This year is even more exciting. Not only is it rumored that the headless horseman will drop a mount in the form of his horse, but for the truly nuts amongst us are now 13 achievements associated with the holiday. Completing all of them results in knocking a rung off the “what a long, strange trip its been” achievement and the title “the hallowed”.

I figured as long as I was taking notes for myself I would selfishly deny you a real post and put it up here where I can’t lose it. So in place of a real post, here it is.

 

The overarching achievement for this holiday is Hallowed be thy name. It is the one that awards the title “The Hallowed” (Must have for my holy priest). The requirements of this one are simple, complete all 12 of the other Hallows eve achievements. Oddly enough I plan to list them all here. Go figure.

Trick or Treat! starts out simple enough, Receive a handful of a candy from one of the Candy Buckets located in an inn.  Piece ‘o cake so far.

Out with it seems like a pretty simple one as well, simply eat so many Tricky Treats that you get an upset tummy. After getting tanked up at Brewfest, this will be second nature.

Bring me the head of… Oh, wait Getting a little harder to do now, this one requires you to be in on a Headless Horseman kill. You have to be a minimum on level 20 simply to walk into Scarlet Monastery’s Graveyard. Unless you can get a very understanding group you will not be doing this one unless you are 70. I do know of people that brought lower levels through last year hoping to have an epic ring waiting in the bank when they hit 70. There is enough to say about this one for it to rate it’s own post. I will try to have that written and up before the start of Hallows eve.

The Savior of Hallow’s End Calls for completing one of the “save the village” Daily quests, Either of which involve putting out the fires when the Horseman comes. 

Every 4 hours ( at 4, 8 and 12), the Headless Horseman’s “Shade of Horseman” will attack Kharanos, Goldshire, Azure Watch, Razor Hill, Brill, and Falconwing Square. He will start off by circling and lighting fires. Put out the fires and he will land to fight as a level 11 non-elite mob. Beat him up and take his candy.

A Mask for all occasions is going to involve both luck and persistence. It calls for you to collect all twenty of the flimsy masks. Although if you don’t get them all this year they will still be recorded towards next year. Too bad they are BOP. I really hate thinking that somewhere a random number generator is deciding whether I can got this one done or not. I guess I’ll just trick or treat a lot and hope for the best.

That Sparkling Smile seems pretty straight forward. Simply use a toothpick to show off your sparkling smile. Unless you are Gatetruby, in which case you can show off your sparkling upper jawbone.

Rotten Hallow has two different versions and they sound like a good bit of fun. Particularly on a PVP server. The Alliance version calls for you to ruin Hallow’s End for the Horde by completing Sergeant Hartman’s quests in Southshore. These involve crashing the wickerman festival in Tirisfal Glade and cleaning up the stinkbombs from Southshore.

The Horde version calls upon you to ruin Hallow’s End for the Alliance by completing the quests given by Darkcaller Yanka’s at the Wickerman festival in Tirisfal Glade. These involve going to Southshore, ruining the kegs with rotten eggs and tossing stinkbombs into the town.

G.N.E.R.D. Rage sounds like a good bit of fun also. It calls for you to get 50 honorable kills while under the influence of the G.N.E.R.D. buff. I will probably grab a stack of these and head off to do the battleground daily.

Check your head is another fairly simple one. Just Use Weighted Jack-o’-Lanterns to put pumpkin heads on each of the ten playable races. Sounds like a job for Shattrah outside the bank.

The Masquesrade could be a bit more tricky. It calls for you to be transformed by all 7 different Hallowed wands. Since you have to be in a party to use it on someone and cannot (if I remember correctly) target yourself, this will require a bit of cooperation with others. Expect to see people in trade chat asking to be transformed into a Bat or Leper Gnome. Still, easily doable.

Tricks and Treats of Azeroth is yet another with both Horde and Alliance versions. These are both simple and look to be really time consuming. It calls for you to complete the Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms and Outland Tricks and Treats achievements. Those in turn call for you to visit every candy bucket in the world. I won’t list them all here as you can find complete lists behind the link, but I did do a quick count and found 44 total for the Alliance and 47 for the Horde.  There is enough going on with this one to rate it’s own post as well.

As time consuming as this one looks to be it holds not a candle to our last challenge.

Here it is the big daddy of them all. You have spent the time, done the quests, killed the boss, ran all over the world, eaten candy till you turned green. Whats left you ask? Buy a lottery ticket and pray. The final achievement, and the one most likely to make or break your try for the title is Sinister Calling.

It sounds simple enough, just get two drops from the Headless Horseman. It sound easy until you realise that the drops are the Hallowed Helm with it’s 9% drop rate and the Sinister Squashling with it’s wonderful 2% drop rate. Not only do they have to drop for you, but you still have to win the roll.

Well, I think that enough of an overview for now. Look for a post coming up on the Tricks of Azeroth achievement as well as one for the Headless Horseman.