♫This is Hallows End!♫

Cataclysm has brought a few changes to Hallows End and they are all amazing.

Currency

To bring Hallows End in line with other festivals like Noblegarden, Tricky Treats now function as a currency. All the bits like pieces like the sinister squashling can now be purchased from a vendor. Because of this, Trick or Treating from the Innkeepers has been removed. No more frantically logging every waking hour to try and ensure you got everything you needed.

So now it doesn’t matter how bad RNG is, that squashling or hallowed helm can be yours. However the drop rate on the Squashling from the Headless Horseman’s bag does seem high, so it might be worth holding off on that particular purchase until the end of the festival.

In the Candy Buckets, there is a chance to get your G.N.E.R.Ds, masks, wands and Hallowed Helm so I imagine most if not all of these bits and pieces could be found there. So again, it might be worth waiting until you’ve collected all the candy buckets before committing to buying anything. You also get 8g 27 for each bucket at 85.

Masks

Masks no longer replace your helm and so can be worn at all times.

So far I’ve received them in my pumpkin goodie bag from the Headless Horseman and in my handful of treats (received from interacting with the pumpkins full of sweets scattered through Azeroth’s Inns). However you can also buy all the masks.

The wands can also be purchased for 2 tricky treats each so completing all the achievements should be easy this year.

Quests (from an Alliance perspective)

The Worgen have brought their own version of the Wickerman Festival to Stormwind, so we can share in the fun (and the experience/reputation grinding buff).

Hallow’s End is a time for celebration and reflection, though many of us have forgotten why. Indeed some aspects of the festival, like the Wickerman, have been lost to time… until now, with the return of the Gilneans to the Alliance fold.

So both factions now have a bunch of dailies revolving around celebrating our own take on the festival and sabotaging the opposing side. There is a quest to light your own bonfire (which gives the exp/rep buff for 2 hours) and one to put out the Forsaken’s. There is a quest to clear up stinkbombs in Stormwind and what has to be the best daily ever, one to bomb Undercity/Stormwind from the back of a broomstick.

There is a also a new quest chain starting for the Alliance in the Gilded Rose (I imagine the Horde one starts in one of the Orgrimmar Inns) which is well worth doing for it’s reward.

All in all, with the addition of two new mini-pets (creepy crate and the feline familiar), a Wickerman Festival I don’t have to crash and the bombing quest, I’m loving the new Hallows End.

Happy Halloween

Lady Luck and the Wickerman

Lady Luck seems to favour Druids.

My Druid got her reins and a sinister squashling in the same bag. Mr Harpy got the mount on his druid too and out of the other four Druids in my guild, so far three of them have received the horse. Of course, my Priest, the character on which I’m collecting mounts only gets evil squashes with legs in her bags.

Hallows End remains my favourite festival. From the swarms of bats fluttering around, to the Headless Horseman attempting to burn down Brill every ten minutes it has far more personality than a lot of more recently added holidays. However much to my surprise, it turns out there is an element of Hallow’s End that I wasn’t aware of.

I was hanging out in Dalaran making netherweave bags when I noticed a conversation taking place between two of the Bloodelf Commoners.  When they weren’t trying to scare each other with their male draenei masks, they were talking about the Wickerman Festival and how it begins at 20.00. Now having crashed it a couple of times on various Alliance characters, I knew it existed but I really didn’t know much more than that. Every time I’d been it was either already burning or like the picture below, not yet in flames.

A quick port to Undercity later and I was outside the walls looking up at the giant statue. At the 19.30 mark and then again at 19.45, I noticed that Darkcaller Yanka would announce that the party would soon be starting.

(The time in the log is local time not game time).

Then suddenly at 20.00 on the dot, there was a flash of light and much to my surprise the Dark Lady herself appeared. It turns out that the Banshee Queen lights the fire every night, basically burning Arthas and quite possibly everyone else who isn’t Forsaken in effigy for the duration of the Festival. I can’t help wondering if next year, it’ll be a wicker Garrosh up there with the flames licking at his boots.

Once the fire is lit, piles of embers appear all around and when you loot one you receive the Invocation of the Wickerman.

Whilst I’m not sure how rubbing your face in burning embers should increase your reputation with any given faction, it does and that includes reputation gained from quest hand ins.

This was my first proper visit to the Wickerman Festival but it won’t be my last. If you haven’t been to witness it yourself, it’s definitely worth going to see, even if you are Alliance. If you play an Undead and you haven’t been, shame on you!

At the end of the Brewfest

I flattened Coren Direbrew on at least three characters every single day and this is what I received. It seems that the drunken gods of Brewfest favour me far more than the frosty gods of Midsummer but I wouldn’t have said no to a ram.

• Kodos: 2
• Rams: 0
• Dire Remotes: 4
• Barman’s Bloody Shanker: 4
• Tankard of Terror: 3

I’m also now a Brewmaster on three characters.

My longest tussle with Mr Direbrew was 53 seconds. Although that was a pretty weak group including a lv 78 rogue who died somehow. The best was around 14 seconds which really was a blink and you’ll miss it feeling.

Out of all the bits and pieces I picked up, my favourite has to be the Dire Remote. At the moment I’m farming the last little bit of rep I need to for exalted with the Hydraxian Waterlords and being able to port to the Bar and then run through the last little bit of the instance into Molten Core makes it so much quicker and easier. Plus being able to grab a dwarf disguise whenever I feel like it, without having to trek all the way to Blackrock Mountain is awesome (yes I’m lazy).

Over all, Brewfest is still one of my favourite festivals. Sure Coren could have a done with a few ICC runs to boost his gear but this close to the expansion, I admit I’d rather they were working on new shiny stuff rather than upgrading a two week holiday.

Drunken Brewfest Ramblings

In a complete reversal of fortunes since the Midsummer Fire Festival, my keg shaped treasure chest does indeed seem to be filled with treasure. With more than a week to go, I’ve already secured a mole machine and a Brewfest Kodo (although ungrateful as it seems, I can’t help wishing it was a ram) on my priest.

Whilst I do love Brewfest, primarily due to the ram racing, a couple of things have bugged me this year. Up first is how ridiculously easy Coren Direbrew is. I feel bad signing up as a healer because I’ve yet to meet a group who needed any healing. As it stands, I shove a shield on the tank and then get down to practising for cataclysm, smite, smite, smite, smite. I had a vague recollection from previous years that he spawns some dark iron girls who throw beer at you, but haven’t seen them this year at all. I suppose deep down I just have this feeling that a “boss” who hands over the current top tier of badges should be a little harder than this.

That isn’t even our best time. My Boomkin managed to knock a second or two off that whilst “accidentally” aggroing half the bar at the same time. Starfall and small spaces really doesn’t mix well.

Then there is the mysterious case of the vanishing quests on the EU servers. Like last year, both the shooting pink elekks and capturing Wolpertingers have been removed. You buy your mini-pet from the vendor for 50 silver (the price goes down with faction discounts) and as for the pink elekks and the forty tokens it’s worth, well tough. I tracked down a blue response from last year and I must admit it’s left me surprised in two regards. Firstly that if anyone was going to have issues with the game, it would be people killing and netting small animals whilst drunk that caused the problem. Not poisoning people, not killing animals whilst sober, not kidnapping, nor torturing and not committing wholesale murder, but shooting pink elekks whilst drunk. There are plenty of other things in-game which involve getting drunk and yet they don’t seem to fall foul of any legislation, drinking for a stamina buff (rumsey rum) springs to mind, the Brew of the Month club and so on. In fact the filled festive mug is surely far more dangerous to impressionable minds as it allows you to slowfall off mountains whilst drinking but that’s obviously deemed ok.

The other issue I have is that, knowing they can’t have these particular quests in Europe, they’ve done nothing to change the quests so that they would be acceptable here, meaning that we lose out in terms of tokens again. Although I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

All that said, it’s still one of my favourite holidays. Cheers!

Happy Pirate’s Day!

Even the most grizzled and bad tempered of pirates would have been impressed with the carnage taking place in Booty Bay on my server.  There was drinking, plundering and plenty of fighting, in the Inn, on the roof tops, in the water and along the dock. Anywhere in fact that two or more people of opposing factions could fit. I rather like the costumes too, as shown below on mine and Mr Harpy’s warlocks.

I know there isn’t much to Pirate’s Day, but it’s pvp opportunities and costumes definitely make it worth doing in my book. Fifty pirates chasing each other around Booty Bay adds quite a surreal feel to the place. The fact that the UI was showing everyone wearing a pirate hat regardless of whether or not they are in disguise is a nice touch too.

I call shenanigans

I feel slightly nit picky about this but I’m disappointed in both Operation Free Gnomeregan and Zalazane’s Fall. Yes, I had fun and I love the flavour items you receive but…

Rawr

Firstly it’s all over in about twenty minutes. Now maybe I’ve just got high expectations but there is nothing epic about that. Taking the Alliance chain for example, we spent time checking how a spider tank work and then we attack Gnomeregan on foot… why not have dailies which involve taking spidertanks for test drives? I’m not the greatest fan of dailies but I feel this is one instance where they should have been used. A proper build up to the main event in which vehicles have to be tested, recruits have to be found, planes have to be built all over a period of time, say a week or two. Then and only then should we be attacking. Instead we get twenty minutes of new content and that’s it. You do it once per character and then forget all about it. This is the first new content since December and we breezed through it. If we hadn’t had to wait for the High Tinker to reappear, it would have taken even less time. I realise that they are working on an expansion which is quite possibly late but I was expecting more.

Then there is the fact that if your character is level 74 or below, you can’t take part in the fun stuff. Especially for little Trolls and Gnomes that doesn’t seem very fair. Since you get buffs to your health pool in all these types of events (the Battle for Undercity and the Battle for Light’s Hope being examples) why can’t low levels take part? Everyone’s health could be set to the same healthpool, say 100k regardless of level when they pick up the quest. Yes, lower levels would do less damage but mobs were falling over dead as soon as someone breathed on them today. Having a few low levels along for the ride would make zero different to anyone.

I’m also slightly grumpy about the  fact that you can’t use your Gnomeregan pride or Darkspear pride in battlegrounds. I can’t see the harm in being  a Infantry gnome whilst in Strand of the Ancients. People will be able to figure out very fast what class I am when they get a frostbolt in the face. I could be hidden behind a tree so they can’t see my character but they still know that they are being attacked by a mage so what harm can costumes possibly do? I pvp all the time as a Bloodelf using an Orb of Sin’dorei and yet I can’t use my gnome suit. Mr Harpy on the other hand is pleased that hordes of trolls wearing masks can’t pursue him across the field of Strife. He doesn’t like people using noggenfogger, deviate fish or any other disguises whilst in PvP. Actually I don’t think he likes people using them at all, regardless of location.

Having got Gnomeregan pride on two druids today and planning on getting Darkpear pride on another tomorrow, I’m also bad-tempered about the fact that you lose the debuff on shapeshifting. Ghostcrawler said the other day that they don’t balance around duels yet that was basically why druids lost the ability to shapeshift with things like noggenfogger in the first place. Surely at this point in the game, they could reverse that decision.

All in all, I preferred the Horde event. That may have had something to do with the amazing tropical storm taking place over the Echo Isles when I was doing the quests though. Took me back to watching lightning flash down over purple skies in the Bahamas.

The ending possibly played a part too. Narrowly escaping being blown up was hardly the conclusion I wanted for my little gnome. Where is the triumphal procession into the lost city of the Gnomes, where is the standing on that evil Mekgineer Thermaplugg’s corpse (again) and most importantly where is my brag bot?

For Gnomeregan!

Although keeping a semi brainwashed army of gnomes for yourself is tempting. Also, why can’t we have an icecream pink, blue and yellow mechanostrider?

To join the fight, report to High Tinker  Mekkatorque  in Tinkertown, Ironforge. In your mailbox you should have received a letter from him asking you to come and fight the good fight which is well worth reading.

The first thing you have to do is bolster the Gnome forces by persuading the inhabitants of TinkerTown to fight for their old home. (I have to admit, I felt marginally guilty riding off to war like the Pied Piper with a bunch of “motivated” gnomes all asking questions like “Will it hurt? trailing behind me”.)

Once you have motivated your five recruits, take them down to Steelgrill’s Depot and hand them in to Captain Tread Sparknozzle. If your server is anything like mine, he’s the guy stood under all the mammoths and bits of machinery.

Next you have to learn how to follow a few basic orders and so the Captain tells to you follow Drill Sergeant Steamcrank’s instructions. You just have to target the Drill Instructor and emote when he tells you to.

Then you get to test some machinery… yay for spider tanks. For “In and Out”, you learn how the Ejector seat works and unlike most Gnomish technology it never seems to backfire. To complete “One Step Forward”, you have to try out the leg servos and the evasive manoeuvres and  for “Press Fire”, you shoot the target dummies. Much to everyone’s surprise, nothing blows up.

Next up, you get to go on a short flight over to Gnomeregan where you have to help monitor radiation levels in the city by throwing a gizmo down the radiation shafts. As you get close the shafts are marked with big green arrows and even if you’re slightly off target, it counts.

Now it’s time to test out the High Tinker’s speech. You’re tasked with playing the speech back to three different gnomes and gauging their response to it.

• Gnome number 1 is Milli Featherwhistle, Mechanostrider Merchant who is found at Steelgrill’s depot next to all the mechanostriders.
• Gnome number 2 is Tog Rustsprocket, he’s located in Kharanos next to the Warlock Trainers, (next to the Inn but slightly back from the road).
• Gnome number 3 is Ozzie Togglevolt. He can be found in the little gnomish house on the outskirts of Kharanos.

Once you’ve done this, you return to Captain Tread Sparknozzle and get your first reward of the day. Gnomeregan Pride, which transforms you into Gnomeregan Infantry for thirty minutes on a four hour cooldown. Of course Shapeshifting breaks the disguise but it’s still awesome and cute. If your level 74 or below, unfortunately your part in Operation Gnomeregan ends here.

If you’re level 75 or higher, you can continue onwards to try and retake the city. The Captain gives you a quest to take a flight to the High Tinker and return his speech to him. Now you take the same plane you used for Vent Horizons and just like the final quest in the Death Knight start chain, if the Battle is in progress, the High Tinker won’t be there and you’ll have to wait.

Once he reappears, hand in your quest (shift V or whatever your keybind for friendly targets will come in useful here to target him through all the mounts), pick up to the one to retake Gnomeregan and follow his lead.

Good Hunting.

At lv 80, for completing the entire chain you get close to a 100g and a Gnomeregan cloak as well as an achievement.

Midsummer Memories

Across Azeroth the bonfires are dying down, leaving only a few scattered embers glowing in the dust as a reminder of the Fire Festival. Midsummer is over for another year.

The fires are extinguished

Next to Hallows End, Midsummer has always been my favourite festival but this year I ended up with mixed emotions.

The Good

What with the whispers of something cataclysmic coming on the wind, a reason to revisit old areas is always good. I took plenty of screenshots whilst collecting fires, just in case any of my favourite areas vanish under a large quantity of lava any time soon.

The experience buff was amazing. 10 percent extra experience from mobs plus all the experience from collecting the flames and the dailies saw my Gnome warrior rocket up from around lv 40 to 58 really fast. We got to skip zones like Searing Gorge and Un’goro this time around, choosing instead to do things like steal the flame of  Undercity. Have to say I was amazed that the Forsaken allowed two lv 54s to wander around pinching stuff without killing them. Seemed very out of character for the Horde (not that I’m complaining or anything).

My little warrior also got the spirit of summer to keep her company through all the long autumnal nights. That has to be one of my favourite pets, I imagine it’s soft glowing light evokes summer blossoms, warm breezes and the aroma of freshly baked fire-toasted bun. Just the thing to keep the winter blues away.

The end of the Festival party. I love fireworks and those toasting cups are awesome. I want them all year around please.

—

The Bad

Ahune and his satchels. I killed him every single day of the Festival on two characters. My boyfriend did likewise, which I think makes 60 kills. Neither of us got the pet and neither of us got the scythe. In fact the only people I saw getting anything other than emblems in their bags, were two deathknights and a paladin who all got….. the scythe which they can’t use. I know it’s fairly pathetic to whine about a mini-pet, but I’ve always collected them. I had bags full of cute little critters way before achievements made them cool to the majority. The fact that I couldn’t do anything to increase my chance of getting this one made me slightly sad.

Now I love the queue system, it’s great and hassle free but I can’t help wishing either the vanity items had a higher drop rate or like the mace from the brewfest, they were BoE so those who have no interest could sell them to those that do.

—

So that’s my whining over until the next festival, although I’ve got sinister squashlings on pretty much every character I possess so the rest of the year should be drama free. We also had some really weird groups for Ahune. I saw at least one mage and several hunters only manage to do around 30 000 damage on the whole fight. They were not surprising out dpsed by the healer. The number of all druid or close to all druid groups surprised me as well. 2 ferals, 2 boomkins and resto… how can you go wrong with that!

Midsummer Screenshot Madness

Today’s screenshots are all influenced in some way by the Midsummer Fire Festival.

Midsummer is one of my favourite festivals, combining as it does faster levelling for alts and a reason to visit far flung locations. Running around picking up flames on all my characters has given me lots of chances to visit old familiar places, taking pictures as I went.

Winterspring –  looking tranquil as always. The Midsummer Fire Festival always seems out of place amongst the snowy landscapes though. Bet Ahune would prefer it here to that damp cavern he currently spawns in. The Ice Stone wouldn’t melt in Winterspring, bad planning on his part really.

Feathermoon Stronghold – looking mysterious and moody.

Terokkar Forest – Really they should light the bonfire on the bone wastes. I guess someone likes to live dangerously.

Grizzly Hills –  a certain outhouse that any Alliance who have completed the Amberseed quest chain will remember with mixed emotions. Nice to see they dress it up for the festival though.

Wonder if the blossom hides the smell?

Given the fiery nature of this festival we decided to visit the hottest place on Azeroth, Molten Core itself. I haven’t really been back since Vanilla (a small trip 18 months ago to kill two bosses hardly counts) and the first thing I noticed is how small it seems these days. The second and perhaps scariest thing was that a disc priest and a feral druid now do the same dps as a 40 man raid did back then. Anyway, insects we may be, but it was too soon for Ragneros and down he went. He still didn’t drop my tier 2 pants though.

You just can't get the minions these days

The hardest boss for us was Sulfuron Harbringer. We were struggling on the dps front (stupid healers)  until I remembered I had mana burn and then it suddenly became trivial. We did however both get the achievement which was fair enough for Tabby, after all that druid has only existed since March but my priest farmed Ragnaros for a 9 month period.. grrr. In which time I think my guild saw one pair of tier 2 pants drop, about as many priest pants as we got priest dresses from Nef in fact – random loot maybe random but it sure doesn’t feel like it when you get hunter/warlock loot for the 10th week in a row. Unless of course, you are a hunter or a warlock in which case, it’s random and well deserved.

Finally, we have a spot of Dark Iron art. This beauty can be found hanging on the walls of Blackrock Depths.

Happy Midsummer Fire Festival and may your loot bags drop scythes and mini-pets!