Wow Secret Santa: Need Heals!

Do you remember how I posted a few weeks ago about Discopriest's Secret Santa? Well, after a long and rather hot day today, I got home to discover a parcel on the doorstep! Sproutling and I unpacked it and found all sorts of goodies from the awesome @noaidikins, thanks sooo much!

Firstly, there was a most delicious smell coming from the box - and in a shower of pretty leaves there was a snowman containing some bath bombs from Lush! I shall certainly be soaking my roots in those once I'm on holidays tomorrow!

Under all that was a box containing some gingerbread men in need of healing! Judging by the colours, there was an attack on a bunch of monks, warlocks and paladins.

Sproutling and I got stuck into those right away.

Thank you so much @noaidikins, and thanks to Liala for organising the whole event.

If you're interested to see what goodies I made for my Secret Santee, Cymre, check out her post about it at Bubbles of Mischief!

The Great Noblegarden Egg Hunt 2012

Just a quick note to let you know, if anyone is still out there!

The Great Noblegarden Egg Hunt is on again, hosted once again by the awesome Kamalia.

Sign up here, hide an egg on your blog and join in the fun on Noblegarden Sunday (April 8th)!

Furtive Father Winter: Is Great Father Winter Real?

As Winter Veil approaches, the Blog Azeroth community has once again come together for the yearly exchange of posts. This year, the exchange is known as Furtive Father Winter and was organised by Akabeko of Red Cow Rise. 

I was delighted to find my present in my inbox this morning - from Beruthiel of Falling Leaves and Wings. Thanks so much, Beru! Happy Winter Veil to you!

~o~

One year as Winter Veil approached, Angelya was at home working on mulling her sparkling apple cider when her Sproutling approached her and said “Momma, some of my friends say there is no Great Father Winter”. Angelya thought on this for a minute, and encouraged her Sproutling to ask The Azerothian Sun if it was true, “because if it’s in the Sun, it’s so”, she told the Sproutling.

And so the sproutling sat down, and wrote to the Sun:



Well, as it turns out, that Sunday – on page seven of The Azerothian Sun – they answered the all important question: Is there a Great Father Winter?

(Author’s Note – The “Yes, Virginia” editorial dating back to 1897 has always been fascinating to me for many reasons, but most of all because of what it says. This year has been rough on me personally, and reading through this again in drafting this post, has given me the reminder that believing in the fantastical and impossible is not a bad thing and is what gives us heart and hope. While I did modify the text of the editorial slightly from the original to fit into the Azeroth world, the majority of the text remains the same, as does the integrity of the message the editorial writer was sending. As such, I would like to give credit to the original author of the editorial, Francis P. Church. As the story has been retold many times over the years, I did not think he’d mind my borrowing it one more time to share the message with Angelya and her Sproutling on this holiday season).

Pilgrim

Pilgrim's Bounty has arrived! Stuff yourself silly, level up your cooking and get messy in a food fight!

Above anything else, however, the most important thing to do this week is sign up for the Blog Azeroth Thanksgiving Event! Amerence has come up with this lovely way for bloggers to show how thankful they are to the community around them, so make sure you join in and you could win some great prizes! Check out the Blog Azeroth forum for more information.

Hallow's End 2011 - All the Candy Buckets

Hallow's End has arrived! Everyone is busy with battling the Headless Horseman and burning the Wickerman, and of course, collecting candy! But have you collected all the candy you can?

This year, Tricky Treat have been made currency. You can buy all the Hallow's End paraphernalia from the vendors outside the capital cities, including three two companion pets: Sinister Squashling, Little Wickerman and a Feline Familiar (incidentally, Sinister Squashlings also drop from candy buckets so don't buy it first!).
Edit: In fact, Little Wickerman is not a companion pet but a usable object that creates a wickerman that you can cook on. How sad!

Tricky Treats are obtained by doing the festival's quests, but if you're going to do the Hallowed Be Thy Name meta-achievement then the easiest way to collect the candy is by visiting the candy buckets scattered all over Azeroth.

Last year, I wrote two posts explaining a route for each of Alliance and Horde to visit the buckets.  This year, not only have some of the locations changed, but I noticed that for the Kalimdor (Horde / Alliance) and Eastern Kingdoms (Horde / Alliance) achievements, the Horde has way more locations to visit than the Alliance.

*EDIT FOR 2012* The achievements have been updated - Alliance and Horde now have an equal number of buckets to visit for the achievement. Also see below for Pandaria location map.

On closer inspection, I found that the Alliance have got off lightly with their achievements.  Not only are some of the shared buckets such as the one at Karnum's Glade not listed for Alliance, there are also many more buckets that are not part of the achievement - thirteen for Eastern Kingdoms and thirteen for Kalimdor. In fact, almost anywhere where there is an innkeeper, there's a candy bucket next to them.

Rather than creating another route for this year, I thought a series of maps showing both achievement and non-achievement buckets might make collection easier.

Characters over level 60 can just fly between locations but lower-level toons might still like to use my directions from last year to help them get around.

After preparing these maps and flying around to find all the extra buckets, I heard about the list of extra buckets someone has already helpfully put on the comments for the two Alliance achievements on Wowhead. I hope the maps are still useful!

Happy Trick or Treating!

Kalimdor

Alliance (roughly north to south)
Darnassus, Craftsmen's Terrace
Teldrassil, Dolanaar
Exodar, Seat of the Naaru
Azuremyst Isle, Azure Watch
Bloodmyst Isle, Blood Watch
Darkshore, Lor'danel
Winterspring, Everlook
Felwood, Talonbranch Glade (62,27)
Felwood, Whisperwind Grove (44,30)
Mount Hyjal, Nordrassil
Mount Hyjal, Shrine of Aviana
Mount Hyjal, Grove of Aessina
Ashenvale, Astranaar
Stonetalon Mountains, Stonetalon Peak
Stonetalon Mountains, Thal'darah Overlook
Stonetalon Mountains, Farwatcher's Glen (31,61)
Stonetalon Mountains, Windshear Hold  (59,56)
Stonetalon Mountains, Northwatch Expedition Base Camp
Desolace, Nijel's Point
Desolace, Karnum's Glade (57,50)
Southern Barrens, Honor's Stand  (39,11)
Northern Barrens, Ratchet
Northwatch Hold, Southern Barrens (65,47)
Fort Triumph, Southern Barrens (49,68)
Dustwallow Marsh, Theramore Isle
Dustwallow Marsh, Mudsprocket
Feralas, Dreamer's Rest (51,18)
Feralas, Feathermoon Stronghold
Silithus, Cenarion Hold
Un'goro Crater, Marshal's Stand (55,62)
Tanaris, Gadgetzan
Tanaris, Bootlegger Outpost (55,60)
Uldum, Oasis of Vir'sar
Uldum, Ramkahen

Horde

Orgrimmar, Valley of Strength
Azshara, Bilgewater Harbour
Winterspring, Everlook
Mount Hyjal, Nordrassil
Mount Hyjal, Shrine of Aviana
Mount Hyjal, Grove of Aessina
Felwood, Whisperwind Grove
Ashenvale, Zoram'gar Outpost
Ashenvale, Hellscream's Watch
Ashenvale, Silverwind Refuge
Ashenvale, Splintertree Post
Durotar, Razor Hill
Northern Barrens, Nozzlepot's Outpost
Northern Barrens, Grol'dom Farm
Northern Barrens, Crossroads
Northern Barrens, Ratchet
Southern Barrens, Hunter's Hill
Stonetalon Mountains, Sun Rock Retreat
Stonetalon Mountains, Krom'gar Fortress
Desolace, Karnum's Glade
Desolace, Shadowprey Village
Thunder Bluff, Lower Rise
Mulgore, Bloodhoof Village
Southern Barrens, Desolation Hold
Dustwallow Marsh, Brackenwall Village
Dustwallow Marsh, Mudsprocket
Tanaris, Gadgetzan
Tanaris, Bootlegger Outpost
Un'goro Crater, Marshal's Stand
Uldum, Oasis of Vir'sar
Uldum, Ramkahen
Silithus, Cenarion Hold
Feralas, Camp Mojache
Feralas, Stonemaul Hold
Feralas, Camp Ataya

Eastern Kingdoms

Alliance
Eastern Plaguelands, Light's Hope Chapel
Western Plaguelands, Chillwind Camp (43,84)
Hinterlands, Aerie Peak
Hinterlands, Stormfeather Outpost (66,44)
Wetlands, Swiftgear Station (25,24)
Wetlands, Greenwarden's Grove (60,42)
Wetlands, Menethil Harbour
Twilight Highlands, Thundermar
Twilight Highlands, Firebeard's Patrol
Twilight Highlands, Victor's Point
Twilight Highlands, Highbank
Loch Modan, Farstrider Lodge (83,63)
Loch Modan, Thelsamar
Ironforge, The Commons
Dun Morogh, Kharanos
Badlands, Fuselight (66,37)
Badlands, Dragon's Breath (21,56)
Searing Gorge, Iron Summit (39,66)
Stormwind, Trade District
Elwynn Forest, Goldshire
Redridge Mountains, Lakeshire
Swamp of Sorrows, The Harborage (29,33)
Swamp of Sorrows, Bogpaddle (72,13)
Duskwood, Darkshire
Westfall, Sentinel Hill
Blasted Lands, Nethergarde Keep (61,14)
Blasted Lands, Surwich (44,88)
(You could go through the Dark Portal and do the Outlands buckets now)
Northern Stranglethorn, Fort Livingston (53,67)
Cape of Stranglethorn, Booty Bay

Vashj'ir (Kelp'thar Forest), Deepmist Grotto
Vashj'ir (Shimmering Expanse), Silver Tide Hollow
Vashj'ir (Shimmering Expanse), Tranquil Wash
Vashj'ir (Abyssal Depths), Darkbeak Cove

Horde
Silvermoon City, The Royal Exchange
Silvermoon City, The Bazaar
Eversong Woods, Falconwing Square
Eversong Woods, Fairbreeze Village
Ghostlands, Tranquillien
Eastern Plaguelands, Light's Hope Chapel
Western Plaguelands, Andorhal
Tirisfal Glades, The Bulwark
Tirisfal Glades, Brill
Undercity, Trade Quarter
Silverpine Forest, Forsaken Rear Guard
Silverpine Forest, The Sepulchre
Hillsbrad Foothills, Tarren Mill
Hillsbrad Foothills, Eastpoint Tower
Hinterlands, Hiri'watha
Hinterlands, Revantusk Village
Arathi Highlands, Hammerfall
Twilight Highlands, Krazzworks
Twilight Highlands, Bloodgulch
Twilight Highlands, Dragonmaw Port (must be in the correct phase)
Twilight Highlands, Crushblow
Badlands, Fuselight
Badlands, New Kargath
Searing Gorge, Iron Summit
Swamp of Sorrows, Bogpaddle
Swamp of Sorrows, Stonard
Blasted Lands, Dreadmaul Hold
(You could go through the Dark Portal and do the Outlands buckets now)
Northern Stranglethorn, Grom'gol Base Camp
Cape of Stranglethorn, Hardwrench Hideaway
Cape of Stranglethorn, Booty Bay

Vashj'ir (Kelp'thar Forest), Deepmist Grotto
Vashj'ir (Shimmering Expanse), Silver Tide Hollow
Vashj'ir (Shimmering Expanse), Legion's Rest
Vashj'ir (Abyssal Depths), Tenebrous Cavern


Outland

Alliance (Starting at the Dark Portal and going around anti-clockwise)
Hellfire Peninsula, Honor Hold
Hellfire Peninsula, Temple of Telhamat
Netherstorm, Area 52
Netherstorm, The Stormspire
Blade's Edge Mountains, Evergrove (Ruuan Weald)
Blade's Edge Mountains, Toshley's Station (just west of Death's Door)
Blade's Edge Mountains, Sylvanaar
Zangarmarsh, Orebor Harborage
Zangarmarsh, Telredor
Zangarmarsh, Cenarion Refuge
Nagrand, Telaar
Shattrath City, Aldor Rise or Scryer's Tier (don't have to have allegiance to either)
Terokkar Forest, Allerian Stronghold
Shadowmoon Valley, Wildhammer Stronghold
Shadowmoon Valley, Altar of Sha'tar or Sanctum of the Stars

Horde (Starting at the Dark Portal and going around anti-clockwise)

Hellfire Peninsula, Thrallmar
Hellfire Peninsula, Falcon Watch
Netherstorm, Area 52
Netherstorm, The Stormspire
Blade's Edge Mountains, Evergrove (Ruuan Weald)
Blade's Edge Mountains, Mok'Nathal Village
Blade's Edge Mountains, Thunderlord Stronghold
Zangarmarsh, Zabra'jin
Zangarmarsh, Cenarion Refuge
Nagrand, Garadar
Shattrath City, Aldor Rise or Scryer's Tier
Terokkar Forest, Stonebreaker Hold
Shadowmoon Valley, Shadowmoon Village
Shadowmoon Valley, Altar of Sha'tar or Sanctum of the Stars


Northrend

Alliance
Borean Tundra, Valiance Keep
Borean Tundra, Unu'pe (78,49)
Borean Tundra, Fizzcrank Airstrip
Sholazar Basin, Nesingwary Base Camp
Dragonblight, Stars' Rest
Dragonblight, Moa'ki Harbor
Dragonblight, Wyrmrest Temple
Dragonblight, Winterguard Keep
Dalaran, The Legerdemain Lounge
Dalaran, Silver Enclave
Dalaran, The Underbelly
Storm Peaks, K3
Storm Peaks, Frosthold
Storm Peaks, Bouldercrag's Refuge
Zul'Drak, The Argent Stand
Zul'Drak, Zim'Torga
Grizzly Hills, Westfall Brigade
Grizzly Hills, Amberpine Lodge
Howling Fjord, Fort Wildervar
Howling Fjord, Valgarde
Howling Fjord, Kamagua
Howling Fjord, Westguard Keep


Horde
Borean Tundra, Warsong Hold
Borean Tundra, Unu'pe (78,49)
Borean Tundra, Taunka'le Village
Borean Tundra, Bor'gorok Outpost
Sholazar Basin, Nesingwary Base Camp
Dragonblight, Agmar's Hammer
Dragonblight, Moa'ki Harbor
Dragonblight, Wyrmrest Temple
Dragonblight, Venomspite
Dalaran, The Legerdemain Lounge
Dalaran, Sunreaver's Sanctuary
Dalaran, The Underbelly
Storm Peaks, K3
Storm Peaks, Bouldercrag's Refuge
Storm Peaks, Grommarsh Crash Site
Storm Peaks, Camp Tunka'lo
Zul'Drak, The Argent Stand
Zul'Drak, Zim'Torga
Grizzly Hills, Camp Onequah
Grizzly Hills, Conquest Hold
Howling Fjord, Camp Winterhoof
Howling Fjord, Vengeance Landing
Howling Fjord, New Agamand
Howling Fjord, Kamagua

New for 2012: Pandaria

You don't need the Pandaria buckets for the meta achievement, but there's a neat map created by heyoz and linked on imgur.com (he also linked my original maps there and on /r/wow... thanks so much for crediting me :). I've listed the locations below. The co-ords were copied from the comments on the achievement on wowhead.com. If you have the TomTom addon you can copy and paste these waypoints directly into your command line.

Alliance
/way Vale of Eternal 35 78 Mistfall Village
/way Vale of Eternal 87 64 Shrine of Seven Stars (inside at innkeeper)
/way Townlong Steppes 71 58 Longying Outpost
/way Kun-Lai Summit 54 83 Westwind Rest
/way Kun-Lai Summit 62 29 Zouchin Village
/way Kun-Lai Summit 64 61 The Grummle Bazaar
/way Kun-Lai Summit 57 60 One Keg
/way Kun-Lai Summit 73 92 Binan Village
/way The Veiled Stair 55 72 Tavern in the Mists
/way The Jade Forest 42 23 Tian Monastery
/way The Jade Forest 56 24 Sri-La Village
/way The Jade Forest 46 44 Dawn's Blossom
/way The Jade Forest 55 63 Jade Temple Grounds
/way The Jade Forest 45 84 Paw'don Village
/way The Jade Forest 60 83 Pearlfin Village
/way The Jade Forest 48 35 Greenstone Village
/way Valley of the Four 84 20 Pang's Stead
/way Valley of the Four 20 56 Stoneplow
/way Krasarang Wilds 76 7 Zhu's Watch
/way Krasarang Wilds 51 77 Marista
/way Dread Wastes 56 32 Klaxxi-vess
/way Dread Wastes 55 71 Soggy's Gamble

Horde
/way Dread Wastes 55.93 32.27 Klaxxi-vess
/way Dread Wastes 55.21 71.20 Soggy's Gamble
/way Jade Forest 45.77 43.6 Dawn's Blossom
/way Jade Forest 48.09 34.62 Greenstone Village
/way Jade Forest 28 47.4 Grookin Hill
/way Jade Forest 28.45 13.27 Honeydew Village
/way Jade Forest 54.61 63.32 Jade Temple Grounds
/way Jade Forest 55.72 24.4 Sri-La Village
/way Jade Forest 41.68 23.14 Tian Monastery
/way Karasang Wilds 28.25 50.73 Dawnchaser Retreat
/way Karasang Wilds 51.42 77.25 Marista
/way Karasang Wilds 75.93 6.87 Zhu's Watch
/way Karasang Wilds 61.03 25.14 Thunder Cleft
/way Kun-Lai Summit 72.73 92.28 Binan Village
/way Kun-Lai Summit 62.77 80.50 Eastwind Rest
/way Kun-Lai Summit 64.21 61.28 The Grummle Bazaar
/way Kun-Lai Summit 57.45 59.94 One Keg
/way Kun-Lai Summit 62.33 29 Zouchin Village Approximation (Phase Issues, Acknowledged in Blue Post)
/way The Veiled Stair 55.09 72.25 Tavern in the Mists
/way Townlong Steppes 71.13 57.80 Longying Outpost
/way Vale of Eternal Blossoms 35.15 77.75 Mistfall Village
/way Vale of Eternal Blossoms 61.98 16.26 Shrine of Two Moons (2nd Floor)
/way Valley of the Four Winds 83.64 20.14 Pang's Stead
/way Valley of the Four Winds 19.87 55.79 Stoneplow (Phase Issues, Acknowledged in Blue Post)

Midsummer Fire XP Festival

Breaking News (to me, anyway): Honoring and Desecrating Fires Awards Experience!

You may remember a little while ago I was disappointed to discover that visiting Elders no longer awarded xp. Well, I was pleased to discover tonight that visiting the Midsummer Festival Fires of both factions still award xp, gold and reputation. Enemy fires award more of each!

WowHead's Guide is now up-to-date with the new locations, so break out your alts if you can bear the thought of riding around all over the world.  It's a lot easier if you can fly!

The festival runs until July 4.

For the Children

Firstly, congrats to Rades on winning the Great Blog Noblegarden Egg Hunt for the second year! Also grats to the runners-up Christine and Anslym and a big well done to Kamalia for organising the whole thing this year!

However, Noblegarden is over and we've been thrown straight into Children's Week. These two holidays only run for a week each, so we don't have too much luxury to get the achievements done in time. Leesah didn't do [For The Children] last year - the necessary achievements are quite time consuming, plus it involves one of the least-liked achievements of all the holidays - [School of Hard Knocks].

If you're like me and the thought of capturing the flag and such in battlegrounds scares you to death, I recommend having a read of Cynwise's guide to the achievement from last year. He's done a great job of making it feel more achievable. I'm going to give it a red hot go, anyway.

Good luck to those doing Children's Weeks achievements this year!

Time To Hunt Egg

Happy Noblegarden!

Here in Australia the day is already almost over, but the Great Blog Noblegarden Egg Hunt II is about to begin!

There is an egg hidden on R&R. It's pretty easy to find so I won't give any clues just yet.

If you'd like to take part in the hunt and have a chance to win some great prizes, Kamalia's blog has a full list of participating blogs. You have until midnight UTC on Thursday April 28th to send in your list of egg locations!

Big thanks to all the bloggers hiding eggs this year, and to Kamalia for doing the organising.

Good luck, hunters!

Great Blog Noblegarden Egg Hunt 2011

It's on again! The GBNEH was so much fun last year that it just needed to be done again! This year it is being organised and hosted by Kamalia from Kamalia et Alia, since she knew I was busy with my Sproutling.

For all the details on how to take part, go and visit Kamalia's blog. 

All Bloggers and non-Bloggers are encouraged to take part, all you have to do is hide an egg on your site and/or hunt for the eggs!

This year the prizes include a comic from the very talented Liala of Disciplinary Action, or a sketch of your character by the amazing Fyreuni of Daily Quests for two lucky runners-up.

Happy Hiding and Hunting!

Almost Hunting Season

The Bunnies are busy at work!

Remember the Great Blog Noblegarden Egg Hunt?  Well it's about to happen again. Can you beat Rades and Poneria this year?

Watch this space for more information!

Love is in the Air Again

The Lunar Festival is still not yet over and already we're starting another one - Love is in the Air!

The achievements look to be the same as last year, with a few bugs that will be ironed out over the coming days in hotfixes or the looming patch (which, by the way, Keeva has covered quite comprehensively), but the important thing to note is that the holiday boss(es) in Shadowfang Keep now drop iLevel 346 neckpieces.  If you still need your last few items of pre-raid kit like I do, it's worth running a few times to pick up the Winking Eye of Love.

You can queue for the Holiday boss not through LFD this time, but via the Steamwheedle Shyster in Orgrimmar or Stormwind.  The Orgrimmar one is just in front of Grommash Hold.

I haven't been about much this week as it's been stiflingly hot in my computer room so there's not much new to report, but I just had to share this gorgeous bit of Link Lovin' from Qieth - Flight of the Moonkin. 

Lunar Festival: New locations in Kalimdor

Due to the Cataclysm, some of the Elders' locations have changed.

I took Aefa for a run around Kalimdor tonight, and I must say things are made much easier by the ability to fly from place to place rather than taking taxis and riding.

I used the Horde guide on Wow-Pro as a basic guide. All Kalimdor locations are still correct, apart from the following:

• Orgrimmar - no longer in the Valley of Wisdom, but up near the zeppelin towers.
• Darkshore - the Elder from Auberdine has moved north to Lor'danel, coords 50,19.
• Barrens - the Elder from Camp Taurajo has moved slightly north to Vendetta Point.
• Thousand Needles - the Elder at the Mirage Speedway is now on the Speedbarge, at 77,75

I haven't visited all the Eastern Kingdoms locations, but most seem to be in areas that weren't badly affected by the Shattering so I would assume they are still accurate.  Please comment if they aren't!

Reminder: Lunar Festival

The Lunar Festival begins today!

This festival is a favourite of Druids of all types as the centre of festivities is Moonglade, but there will be Elders all over the world in towns and cities for you to honour.

You can find more information about the achievements associated with the festival at Wowhead.

Getting around to the Elders
NOTE:  Visiting the Elders is now purely an activity for achievement chasers or costume collectors.  In previous years, the Elders awarded experience or money for max level toons - now sadly, those rewards have been removed.

But there are still plenty of achievements to complete and if your toon is high enough, you can also earn the title of Elder. Last year there was an Elder in Heroic Gundrak so level 80 was required to complete all the achievements.

Due to the changes to Horde and Alliance towns all over Azeroth, there are likely to be some changes to the locations and optimal routes for visiting Elders. Keep an eye on the Wowhead guide and on Wowpedia for the updated information.

Just remember, while you're out and about visiting the Elders - be respectful.

Making Merry

Happy New Year to you all!

I've had a great lazy week, this week. I had the whole week off work and in between our social commitments, I've just been mucking around in-game - A few dailies here, a normal dungeon there, leveling my Mage here, leveling Leesah's archaeology there.

I did try to Moonkin a LFD heroic at one point since Leesah's gear is just good enough, but the group wiped at the first boss and everyone left. I was a bit disheartened after that - after all the queues on my server are between 30-45 minutes for DPS.

In general I am just pottering around and enjoying the new things. I have lots of guildies who are 85 now but we haven't had enough heroic-ready people on at the same time to try one out. We've all been busy over the holidays so hopefully in the next few weeks people will be back on at normal times and we can start with the gearing up. Raiding still looks a way off at this stage, but we'll get there.

Making Merry
In the meantime, I got on with some Merrymaking on Leesah! I wasn't going to bother with it since we were going to be pretty busy this week, but after I went into a Tol Barad as a Gnome and got the achievement in one go, I figured the rest of it couldn't be too hard, right?

I managed to pick up the Red Winter Hat in a normal Stonecore, and borrowed the boots off a guildie (top tip - they're not soulbound). The two remaining that were the work of several days, off and on, were [A Frosty Shake] and [Let It Snow]. There just really aren't many people in Dalaran these days, and those who are are level 70-ish alts who aren't likely to be there for snowmannish purposes. I was actually hanging around looking for Allies for the Let It Snow achievement, when lo and behold, there was a snowman before me! Thanks Deenah of Nagrand, you made my day!

/dance

Alliance?  Where Art Thou?
The first problem with [Let It Snow] was getting the snowflakes in the first place.  You get them by blowing kisses to Winter Revelers in the inns of any city or town, but my bags were heavily laden with holly and mistletoe before I got any snowflakes at all!

My first five handfuls were quickly used on the Horde classes around Orgrimmar, but now that we don't have a central location for Horde and Alliance to mingle, the Alliance races proved more tricky.  I picked up a couple of them around Dalaran, but the place was pretty much a ghost town so I decided to try my luck in the non-battle part of Tol Barad. After a few circuits I had only a Gnome Mage remaining.

The problem with Gnomes, is that they are small. By the time I realised a character was a gnome and determined their class, they had usually ridden off into the distance and in any case, the only gnomes I found were Warlocks for some reason. I went through two Tol Barad battles and a Wintergrasp, but PvP battles are just so furious and Gnomes are kind of lost in the spell effects.

After the second Tol Barad battle, I was riding back out across the bridge for another loop around the Peninsula when I spied a Gnome, riding in the other direction! A Gnome Mage, in fact! I gave chase while I found the snowflakes in my bag, and must have just managed to hit him with it before he rode out of range.

Have you got a favourite place for finding the opposite faction now that Dalaran is no longer populated?  Do share!

A Druidy Secret Santa

You may have seen other posts around the place this week from the Blog Azeroth Secret Santa. This year's was organised by Ophelie from Bossy Pally and when Santa visited me, I found this post from Gazimoff of Mana Obscura!  Enjoy!

I’ve been wracking my brains trying to come up with something to talk about. There was the idea of new druid forms, but I struggled to get beyond siege engine Mammoths. I was going to try a geeky play on words for Tree before I found out that xkcd had beaten me to it. I contemplated something about Gilneans being Gentleman Druids, all Earl Grey and Eton Mess complete with an image in my head of a bear wearing a top hat and monocle, carefully drinking from a bone china teacup. Pinky finger out of course.

In the end I settled on something I could actually talk about, even if it meant digging through my own Warcraft history. I’ve never played a druid properly (getting to 60 on refer-a-friend then mothballing the character doesn’t count), so I thought I’d talk about my experiences playing alongside them. These days having a druid in the group is great, especially if they’re dishing out Moonkin Aura like some kind of jolly avian Santa. It wasn’t always the case though: my perceptions of the class started off skewed and went downhill from there.

Back in Vanilla I saw druids as a multipurpose swiss army knife, a filler for the cracks and gaps in our raid. With a team of 40 people to organise the arithmetic was simple: each class gets five slots to distribute as they saw fit. Hybrids were largely seen as making up the numbers, occasionally allowing a priest to go shadow or a warrior to bezerk out for a while. The ‘hybrid tax’ seemed to reinforce this view. It looked to me like druids were intended to be inferior to other classes, paying the price for their flexibility in reduced threat generation, damage or healing output.

It’s only natural that this inferiority gave rise to players who went on a crusade to prove this wrong. The raidgroup I was in while we progressed through Molten Core and Blackwing Lair had their share of druids determined to show that they were able to compete with pure role classes. This usually took the form of bear main tanking on progression nights without being properly geared. Needless to say we wiped a lot.

The move into Burning Crusade laid the foundation of the now well-known mantra ‘bring the player not the class’. You can trace the changes from Scholomance and Stratholme class raids through to the rigid 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raids as the starting point for this. Every class needed to play their given role on an equal footing, be it healing, tanking or dealing damage. It took a while for perceptions to fade but it began to feel like the hybrid tax was on the way out.

As the game has changed so has my attitude to Druids and other hybrids. Dual talent specialisation has made them one of the most useful classes to have in the guild – almost all are either capable tanks or effective healers regardless of their main spec. I think the attitude of druid players has also mellowed into one that’s prepared to be flexible in order to help the guild succeed.

From my cozy DPS bubble, druids seem to be in a great position at the moment. Veterans of the class seem to be reasonably comfortable at 85, while newcomers are trying out the class for the first time with the new Worgen and Troll forms. Levelling changes also mean that a lot of the traditional problems with getting a druid to Outland and beyond have been ironed out. It’s enough to even make me consider giving it another go.

To my inexperienced outsider’s eye, Druids have fought battles with game design and player perception, battles that have changed Warcraft for the better. I can’t say if the druid players of old agree, but the increase of bear tanks and tree healers means that raids are more likely to happen and that LFD queues are shorter. For this and more besides, we all win.

Happy Winter Veil 2010

I wish you all a very Safe and Happy Winter Veil, whether you're in the tropical rain, driving snow, blazing sunshine or fiery elemental fires of Twilight Highlands.

I hope Greatfather Winter is kind to you!

Hallow's End 2010 - Tricks and Treats for Alliance

Hallow's End is upon us!

Today it's time to take a look at the Alliance's route through Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, to get those parts of the [Tricks and Treats of Azeroth] achievement.

I've made a list of the locations of the Alliance buckets, and arranged them roughly in an efficient order. These lists have been done before in a few places, but they are mostly aimed at level 70s or 80s who already have all the flight points. I've tried to make it lowbie-friendly, by including the level range for each zone.  You might like to risk running through high-level areas, or if you're short on time or on a PvP server, skip them.

Don't forget, once an hour you can Trick or Treat an innkeeper for a chance to receive items for other achievements like the wands, masks or tooth picks! Just talk to the innkeeper and the Trick or Treat option should be there.

Small disclaimer:  This may or may not be the most efficient route - if you can suggest an improvement please let me know!

For each instruction, take a taxi if you are able. Otherwise, you'll have to ride! Don't forget to pick up flight points along the way if you don't have them!

← Go to the Horde tour

Alliance Candy Bucket Tour

Start in Stormwind, Trade District.

Ride to Elwynn Forest (1-10), Goldshire. You can do [The Saviour of Hallow's End] here if the Headless Horseman is about!

Ride to Westfall (10-20), Sentinel Hill.

Fly/ride to Duskwood (18-30), Darkshire.

Fly/ride to Redridge Mountains (15-25), Lakeshire.

Fly back to Darkshire, then ride to Stranglethorn Vale (30-45), Booty Bay (or fly directly if you can).

Take the boat to The Barrens (10-25), Ratchet, then back again.

Fly to Stormwind, then take the tram to Ironforge, The Commons.

Ride to Dun Morogh (1-10), Kharanos. You can do [The Saviour of Hallow's End] here if the Headless Horseman is about!

Ride to Loch Modan (10-20), Thelsamar, or ride back to Ironforge and fly to Thelsamar.

Fly/ride to Wetlands (20-30), Menethil Harbor.

Fly/ride through Wetlands and Arathi Highlands (30-40) to Hillsbrad Foothills (20-30), Southshore. If you are able to water walk you may prefer to ride over the water to Southshore directly.

While in Southshore, pick up the quests for [Rotten Hallow] from Sergeant Hartman. One of the quests is done in Southshore, but the other involves a trip to the eastern side of the Undercity, outside the ruins.  The giant wickerman is protected by a few PvP guards, you can't miss it.

Fly/ride through the pass behind Durnholde Keep to Hinterlands (45-50), Aerie Peak.

Fly/ride through the pass to Western Plaguelands and on to Eastern Plaguelands (53-60), Light's Hope Chapel.

Fly back to Menethil Harbor, then take the ship to Auberdine but don't pick up the bucket yet, take another ship to Exodar, Seat of the Naaru.

Fly/ride to Azuremist Isle (1-10), Azure Watch. You can do [The Saviour of Hallow's End] here if the Headless Horseman is about!

Fly/ride to Bloodmist Isle (10-20), Blood Watch.

Fly back to Exodar, take the boat back to Auberdine, then another boat to Darnassus, Craftsman's Terrace.

Ride to Teldrassil (1-10), Dolanaar.

Ride back to Darnassus, take the boat to Darkshore (10-20), Auberdine.

Fly/ride to Ashenvale (18-30), Astranaar.

You can ride through the Talondeep Path to Stonetalon Mountains (15-27), Stonetalon Peak if you are high enough level to get past the mobs at either end. Otherwise you'll have to ride the long way via the Barrens, or you could just fly directly, if you are able.

Fly/ride to Desolace (30-40), Nigel's Point.

Fly/run south through Desolace to Feralas (40-50), Feathermoon Stronghold.

Fly back to Astranaar, then ride through Felwood (48-55) and through the Timbermaw Hold to Winterspring (53-60), Everlook (or fly directly). If riding, getting through Timbermaw Hold will involve some corpse-running for lowbies.  Don't say I didn't warn you!

Fly to Auberdine, then take a ship to Stormwind then another one to Theramore Isle.  Alternatively you can just fly directly to Theramore.

Fly/ride to Dustwallow Marsh (35-45), Mudsprocket.

Fly/ride through the Barrens and Thousand Needles to Tanaris (40-50), Gadgetzan.

Fly/ride to Silithus (55-60), Cenarion Hold.  If riding, drop in at Marshal's Refuge in Un'goro Crater (48-55) to pick up the flight point.

And that's the end!

If you're high enough level, you might like to continue to take care of [Tricks and Treats of Outland].

Best of luck!

Hallow's End 2010 - Tricks and Treats for Hordies

Hallow's End is upon us!

This is one of my favourite holidays in the game, what with the Headless Horseman haunting Scarlet Monastery and throwing pumpkin heads at each other, plus the chance to get The Hallowed title if you didn't already have it.

Of course the reason the Horde have for celebration is the Forksaken breaking away from the Scourge, but the nations of the Alliance have been celebrating Hallow's End for much longer, and so they get to join in the fun as well.

Most of the achievements associated with Hallow's End are fairly straightforward, but the most time consuming is the tour of the Candy Buckets. Most of the inns across Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outlands and Northrend have Candy Buckets in them, which reward handfuls of candy.

The Candy Buckets also reward some very nice experience for those still leveling, and hard coin for those at level 80, so the tour really is worth doing. You don't even have to rush it, because Hallow's End runs until October 31st!

Not only are the rewards worth it, but it is a great opportunity for a last look over these zones before Deathwing rises and blasts most of them into little pieces.

I've made a list of the locations of the Horde buckets, and arranged them roughly in an efficient order. These lists have been done before in a few places, but they are mostly aimed at level 70s or 80s who already have all the flight points. I've tried to make it lowbie-friendly, by including the level range for each zone.  You might like to risk running through high-level areas, or if you're short on time or on a PvP server, skip them.

Don't forget, once an hour you can Trick or Treat an innkeeper for a chance to receive items for other achievements like the wands, masks or tooth picks! Just talk to the innkeeper and the Trick or Treat option should be there.

Small disclaimer:  This may or may not be the most efficient route - if you can suggest an improvement please let me know!

For each instruction, take a taxi if you are able. Otherwise, you'll have to ride! Don't forget to pick up flight points along the way if you don't have them!

Go to the Alliance tour → 

Horde Candy Bucket Tour

Start in Orgrimmar, Valley of Strength.

Ride to Durotar (1-10), Razor Hill. You can do [The Saviour of Hallow's End] here if the Headless Horseman is about!

Ride to The Barrens (10-25), Crossroads.

Fly/Ride to The Barrens, Ratchet.

Fly to Crossroads then ride to The Barrens, Camp Taurajo (or just fly directly).

Ride to Mulgore (1-10), Bloodhoof Village.

Ride to Thunder Bluff, Lower Rise.

Fly to Camp Taurajo then ride to Dustwallow Marsh (35-45), Brackenwall Village (or just fly directly).

Fly/ride to Dustwallow Marsh, Mudsprocket.

Fly to Camp Taurajo then ride to Thousand Needles (25-35), Freewind Post (or just fly directly).

Fly/ride to Tanaris (40-50), Gadgetzan.

Fly/ride to Silithus (55-60), Cenarion Hold.  If riding, drop in at Marshal's Refuge in Un'goro Crater (48-55) to pick up the flight point.

Fly to Freewind Post, then ride to Feralas (40-50), Camp Mojache (or fly directly).

Fly/ride to Desolace (30-40), Shadowprey Village.

Fly/ride to Stonetalon Mountains (15-27), Sun Rock Retreat.

Fly to Crossroads then ride to Ashenvale (18-30), Splintertree Post (or fly directly).

Ride through Felwood (48-55) and through the Timbermaw Hold to Winterspring (53-60), Everlook (or fly directly). If riding, getting through Timbermaw Hold will involve some corpse-running for lowbies.  Don't say I didn't warn you!

Fly to Orgrimmar, then take the zeppelin to Undercity.  Don't go into the city yet - ride to Tirisfal Glades (1-10), Brill first. You can do [The Saviour of Hallow's End] here if the Headless Horseman is about!

On your way back to the Undercity, swing around to the west to pick up the quests for the [Rotten Hallow] achievement from Darkcaller Yanka.

Ride back to Undercity, but don't go into the city again - use the teleportation orb in the Ruins to go to Silvermoon City.

There are two buckets in Silvermoon.  The first is in the Royal Exchange, and the second is on the west side of the city in the Bazaar. Look for buildings with curtains in the doorways.

Leave the city and ride to the east, to Eversong Woods (1-10), Falconwing Square. You can do [The Saviour of Hallow's End] here if the Headless Horseman is about!

Ride south to Eversong Woods, Fairbreeze Village.

Either ride back to the flight point outside Silvermoon and fly, or just ride to Ghostlands (10-20), Tranquillien.

Next is Eastern Plaguelands (53-60), Light's Hope Chapel. The easiest way is to fly directly from Ghostlands, but if you can't do that you can either ride into EPL from Ghostlands, or fly to Undercity and ride there through Western Plaguelands. If you're not high enough level to beat your way through, it's really worth skipping this one.

Fly to Undercity, Trade Quarter.

Fly/ride to Silverpine Forest (10-20), The Sepulcher (or fly directly).

Fly/ride to Hillsbrad Foothills (20-30), Tarren Mill. Don't forget to visit Southshore to do the quests for [Rotten Hallow].

Fly/ride via the pass behind Durnholde Keep to the Hinterlands (45-50), Revantusk Village.

Fly back to Tarren Mill, then ride to Arathi Highlands (30-40), Hammerfall (or fly directly).

Next is Badlands (35-45), Kargath. If you can't fly there, this involves a long run south through Wetlands (20-30) and Loch Modan (10-20) and across to the other side of Badlands.

From here, if you already have the flight point to Stonard, you can fly there directly, followed by Grom'gol Base Camp and Booty Bay. If not, you'll have to take the long way.

Fly to Undercity, take a zeppelin to Orgrimmar, then take the other zeppelin to Stranglethorn Vale (30-45), Grom'gol Base Camp.

Fly/ride to Stranglethorn Vale, Booty Bay.

Fly to Grom'gol then ride through Duskwood (18-30) and Deadwind Pass to Swamp of Sorrows (35-45), Stonard.

And that's the end of the story!

If you're high enough level, you might like to continue to take care of [Tricks and Treats of Outland].

Best of luck!

Brewmaster

Brewfest is upon us again! It's time once again for the citizens of Azeroth to eat, drink and whip rams.

This year was slightly different for me in that it was the first time I took part as a member of the Horde.

Now I don't want to sound disloyal but... I have to agree with Windpaw that Brewfest is better suited to the Dwarves.

For one thing, Durotar is hot and red. As much as I like a cold beer on a hot day, how on earth are they keeping all that beer, cheese and sausages cold? It's a disaster waiting to happen - do they really think the three port-a-loos are going to cope with the backlash?

Also, the festival is run by Goblins, whom I automatically suspect of ripping everyone off. A half-hour of listening to Goblins' drunken cackling and I was desperate to be out of there!

In any case, it's a silly festival but a lot of fun. This one doesn't seem to involve any lore at all - simply people having a good time.

There are number of quests around the site outside Orgrimmar or Ironforge that reward you with [Brewfest Prize Token]. You need 200 [Brewfest Prize Token] to join the [Brew of the Month] club, and only 5 to buy some hops for [Have Keg, Will Travel] - the only things you need to buy with tokens in order to get the Brewmaster title. There are plenty of other things to spend tokens on as well, including a pet - [Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm] for 100 tokens.

The remaining achievements required for the [Brewmaster] meta-achievement are pretty self-explanatory - no tricks.  Rades even has a neat guide for how to do Coren Direbrew at level 47, so you don't even have to be high level anymore to get this one.

Apart from the one-off quests that give tokens as a reward, there are three daily quests that will help you save up tokens. It took me a little while to work out where they are, but they are all around the Festival site.

• Barking quest - This is available from one of the two beer-vending stands, depending on who you did the original quest with (Cort Gorestein/Ja'ron for Horde or Daran Thunderbrew/Becan Barleybrew for Alliance). Requires you to ride around the areas of Orgrimmar or Ironforge on a ram.
• [This One Time, When I Was Drunk...] - Every half hour, the Brewfest is attacked by the Dark Iron Dwarves, tunneling up in their mole machines.  To defeat them, run to one of the tables around the festival area and pick up a [Complimentary Brewfest Sampler], then find it in your bags and drink it!  You'll drain the drink and chuck the mug at the nearest Dark Iron Dwarf.  You don't need to target the dwarves first.  Once the Dark Irons are defeated, they'll retreat and leave behind a big cog on the ground, which gives you the daily quest, but if there aren't enough people defending the Brewfest, the Dark Irons will get away with the booze and there will be no cog!
• More keg delivery - This isn't an actual quest, but if you go to the Ram Racing Apprentice and ask for another set of reins, the Ram Racing Master will have some more work for you to do. This will earn you two Tokens for each keg delivered within the time limit - keep going until you run out of time.  You can go flat out at a full gallop, as long as you ride past the conveniently placed apple barrels to refresh your ram. Who says no-one's thinking of the rams around here!

Brewfest runs until October 6th so there's plenty of time to get all the items you're after.  Hopefully I'll be seeing a Kodo or a Ram drop from Coren Direbrew sometime before then... 

Good luck, and cheers!

Harvest Festival Bake-Off: More Recipes

It's time for a few more recipes!

I did say yesterday that I was going to post Liala's recipe today, but she put it up on her blog for me instead, so go and check out her ‘I Love the Smell of Alterac in the Morning’ Breakfast Strata recipe!

Instead I'll share the two recipes I received by email. They are both quite appl-icious!

Nienna of Kael'thas' Dalaran Crumble

Forget fish feast! This is what I bring to family (raid) gatherings.

Pastry for a 8 or 9 inch two crust pie (The pie vendor in Ironforge has the ready made ones) But if you want to go native:

Pie crust:
1 cup [simple flour]
1/2 teaspoon [salt] (any leather worker carries some)
1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon whipped [buzzard bites] * (shortening)
2- 3 Tablespoons [Alterac spring water] (increases spirit)

6- 7 tart apples ([Crisp dalaran apple] or [goldenbark apples] are the best. Do not use [Bobbing apples] as they are too high in moisture content)

Sprinkle mixture:
1/2 cup sugar /[simple spice] (Use the simple splenda spice if your tank is getting portly)
1 teaspoon [Holiday spice] (cinnamon)
1/4 teaspoon [Soothing spice] (nutmeg)

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Lay out your pastry on a [Cheese platter] (pizza pan), Ranid Glowergold probably has extras. Then flute the edges with your dagger.
Next lay out thinly sliced goldenbark apples spiraling around the crust. Don't peel them! (I think feral kitty needs the roughage).
After crust is covered with apples, Sprinkle with the Holiday, soothing and simple spice mixture. Then top with crumble topping:

Crumble Topping:
3/4 cup [simple flour]
1/2 cup [simple spice]
1/2 cup firm "Whipped as smooth as butter" [Buzzard bites] (Trust me)
Mix this together until crumbly and put evenly over the top of the pie.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until edge is golden brown and apples are tender. Best served warm sliced up in pizza like slices with maybe some [Tigule and Foror's Strawberry icecream] on top.

~o~

Rezznul's Cactus Apple Surprise

I had just finished helping my Troll brethren liberate the Echo Isles.  It was a pleasant autumn day, so I decided to take a stroll to the Valley of Trials, and visit with some of my Orc friends.

As I was approaching the camp, I realized that the Cactus Apples were in season, and ready to harvest!  Excitedly, I picked all I could carry, and shapeshifted myself home to make my famous Cactus Apple Surprise.

Here's how to do it!

Mix:
1/2 cup dried [Tangy Wetland Cranberries] (dried cranberries or currants)
2 1/4 pounds (about 5 or 6 medium size) [Cactus Apples] (Granny Smith, Cortland, McIntosh or Rome Beauty work equally well), peeled, cored and cut up into 1/2 inch pieces (or thinly sliced).
1 tsp [Autumnal Spices] (Cinnamon)
1/4 cup light [Honey] (Sugar)
1/4 cup dark [Honey] (Brown Sugar)
1/2 tsp Lemon juice

Glaze:
1 cup Apricot jam (Peach is very tasty, too)
2 Tbs light [Honey] (Sugar)

Dough:
2 c [Simple Flour] (all purpose, unbleached flour)
7 ounces [Succulent Orca Blubber] (Butter), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 Tbs Vegetable Shortening, chilled
1/2 tsp [salt]
1/2 tsp light [Honey] (sugar)
1/3 c [Refreshing Spring Water]

For the dough, you can always cheat and purchase pie dough.  For this tart, I recommend that you buy the two-crust package, put both of them together, and roll to the correct size (as stated below):

Put the flour, butter, shortening, salt and sugar into a food processor, and pulse quickly 8 or 9 times.  When there are no large clumps of butter, add all but a tablespoon of the water to the dough, and pulse 3 or 4 times.  If dough seems dry, add more water.

Take dough out, gently knead it into a disc, wrap in plastic and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

To roll the dough out into a large oval, which should be about 18 inches long and 15 inches wide.  Transfer this to a large baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  A pizza pan works well, too, as long as parchment paper is used.

Heat the glaze on low heat until it is thin.  Take about 1/3 the glaze and brush it on the crust, leaving a 2 inch margin around the edge.  Then, pour the apple mixture onto the dough (or arrange the slices into a fancy pattern if you really feel like it), leaving the margin which was created with the glaze.

Now, take the margin of dough, and fold it up over the apple mixture.  Do not try to make the dough cover the entire tart, most of the apples will be exposed.  Pleat the dough as you go around as you see fit.

Dot the top of the tart with about 2 Tbs softened butter, and place tart into a 400 F oven for about 1 hour, or until the crust is golden brown and apples are soft.

After taking tart out of the oven, brush remaining glaze on the tart while tart is still warm.

It is great with whipped cream or even ice cream!